Category Archives: Record Labels

The Harlem Gospel Travelers

“Rhapsody”

Label: Colemine Records
Release Date: Friday 23rd August 2024
Format: LP Vinyl

With The Harlem Gospel Travelers’ new album Rhapsody, the extraordinary vocalists Ifedayo, Dennis Bailey, and George Marage are able to fully explore the entire range of music that influenced them. The follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 release Look Up!, the record is a dive into a lesser-known but hugely important era in the evolution of gospel music.

Starting in the mid-1960s, local gospel groups and singers began incorporating elements of popular soul and funk styles and in 2006, Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group released Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. HGT’s longtime friend and mentor Eli Paperboy Reed approached the group with the idea of digging through the Numero catalog and recording some of the gospel-funk material, reinterpreted in their own way—from the high-energy, old-school soul of “God’s Been Good to Me” to the hip-hop-inflected “Get Involved.”

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Bridge

“Crying For Love” /“Listen”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP104
Release Date: Friday 26th July 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Paul Tillman Smith is a significant figure within in the music community of Oakland/Berkeley, California. His connections and collaborations read like a who’s who of famous musicians.

As leader of 70s Buddah Records group ‘Vitamin E’ and then onto ‘Bridge’, the subsequent band cut an album in 1981 for the CBS distributed Bang label that never saw the light of day. It was released by First Experience Records as a double LP and CD in 1999 and is recognised as being one of the finest unreleased discoveries within its genre.

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Erica Falls & Vintage Soul “Up” / “Making Of Love”

“Up” / “Making Of Love”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP105
Release Date: Friday 10th May 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

UP by New Orleans songstress Erica Falls is considered by discerning real soul heads to be one of the finest soul tracks from last year.
From the intro and opening line ‘Baby take me for a ride on your magic carpet. 747 glide through the clouds, baby be my pilot….’ you just know UP is going to be special. The incredible soulful vocals ascend in harmony until reaching the apex, and if you don’t want to come down, simply play it again – It’s ‘classic in the making’ tag ensures freshness upon multiple listens!

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Sharisma

“Trouble, Trouble” / “Something Wonderful” / “Love Is the Way”

Label: Soul Direction Records
Catalogue Number: SD021
Release Date: Tuesday7th 2024 Available to Order – Monday 29th May 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Available for the first time on vinyl courtesy of Emandolynn Music & Manny Campbell.

Emandolynn Music did release the tracks, but in digital format only. This prompted Soul Direction to strike a deal to license the tracks for a 7” vinyl release and believed that showcasing all 3 tracks together was the perfect package. This being the way it was meant to be released.

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Lawrence Beamen

“Thinking Of You” / “Been A Long Time”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP100
Release Date: 8th March 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Izipho Soul Records are incredibly proud to announce our 100th 7” vinyl single!

The unsurpassable bass-baritone voice of Lawrence Beamen originally recorded Think Of You in 2008. After years of pleas for a vinyl release; it’s finally here and sounding fresher than ever. The 7 remix has added a magic touch and beefed up this classic even further!

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Lady Lois Snead

“I Found Out” / “Until We Learn”

Label: Divine Chords Recordings
Catalogue Number: DCR001
Release Date: Expected 1^st March 2024
Format: 7′ Vinyl

Divine Who are thrilled to announce an exciting collaborative release with the legendary gospel artist, Lady Lois Snead for the brand new year!
We’re launching 2024 with this back-to-back double sided slice of audio dynamite, available on collectable, limited edition 7” single. It’s primed and packed tight with goodness to spiritualize your club session for the more discerning dance floors around the globe.

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THE STAPLES

“Take This Love Of Mine” / “Precious, Precious”

Label: Soul4Real Records
Catalogue Number: S4R34
Release Date: 1st March 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

With the collapse of Stax Records, The Staple Singers signed with Warner Bros in 1975, leading to a brief and fruitful collaboration with Curtis Mayfield. Their first work, the OST ‘Let´s Do It Again’, became the Staples’ all-time best seller. Such was the success that the major decided that Mayfield would also produce their next work, ‘Pass It On’, in 1976.

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TOMMY TATE

“I Can’t Do Enough For You Baby” / “Hold On (To What We’ve Got)”

Label: Soul4Real Records
Catalogue Number: S4R33
Release Date: 1st March 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Tommy was born in 1945 in Homestead, Florida, and after his first foray into music in a church choir, he launched his secular recording career in Jackson, Mississippi, working mostly with Tim Whitsett and his Imperial Showband in the latter half of the 1960s. After a short stint with the Nightingales, he signed with KoKo in 1971 and had six impressive singles released, followed by records on Sundance, Juana and Urgent Records.

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Atlanta – Hotbed Of 70s Soul

Label: Kent Records
Catalogue Number: CDKEND 518
Release Date: 29rd March 2024
Format: CD

The GRC Records set-up in Atlanta produced a wealth of great soul music. Because of the sudden curtailment of the company, due to owner Michael Thevis’ incarceration, so much of it never saw a release.

The tapes were preserved though and with many tracks being issued. This latest batch of tape discoveries is of shockingly high quality. Sam Dees’ presence is a major cause of this.

Standouts include Miss Louistine’s original version of ‘Con Me’ – surely a contender to be a Deep Soul Treasure, had Dave Godin heard it. Her take on Dees’ ‘Extra Extra’ is possibly the opposite emotion – sheer joy at finding her lover; equally well expressed. ‘Paperman’ is a classic mid 70s Dees’ composition, well sung by Wes Lewis with his group Alpaca Phase III. Dees collaborated with another major GRC talent, Joe Hinton, for the funkier ‘Shouldn’t I Be Given The Right To Be Wrong’. Hinton co-penned two songs with backing singer Louvain Demps who left her job with Motown’s backing girls the Andantes to move to Atlanta with Hinton. Their ‘Grant Me One More Day’ is a beautiful track and ‘Depend On Me’ is another worthy find.

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Wee

“Trying To Tell You How I Feel” / “We Could Get It Together”

Label: Soul Direction Records
Catalogue Number: SD22
Release Date: 26 January 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Both tracks “We Could Get It Together” & “Trying to Tell You How I Feel” featured in this latest Soul Direction outing were part of a master tape of unreleased tracks that never saw an addition to the album but came to light on a 2008 Numero LP. They were slightly re- mixed for the album, “We Could Get It Together” More so, but we are releasing the original tracks which came from the master tape which have never been released in this way before.

The group from Columbus Ohio were active from around 1974 to 1978 and consisted of the following members: Benji Harris, Bimbo Brown, Norman Whiteside, Spanky Jones, Vick Martin. Wee mastermind Norman Whiteside was born and lived in an entirely different Columbus than Capsoul’s Bill Moss or Prix’s Clem Price.

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The New Lost Generation

“Thinkin’ Bout Cha” (Bringing Forth) / “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP95
Release Date: 26th January 2024
Format: 7’

Legendary Chicago group The Lost Generation rebranded at the turn of the new millennium as The New Lost Generation, the lead track from their self titled album yielded “Thinkin’ Bout Cha”- an anthem on the Chicago Stepper scene and much admired by those in the know on the Modern Soul scene. The album version was over 12 minutes long – Now 7-inch friendly, we present The “Bringing Forth” Edit by Philip Ward who has weaved his magic, reconstructing the song and bringing forward Fred Simon’s spoken part to the intro, whilst including extra vocal acrobatic segments from lead vocalist Charles Jackson.

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Jesse James / Yvonne Baker

“Don’t Forget That I Love You” / “I Need Love”

Label: North Broad St Records
Catalogue Number: NBS009BL
Release Date: January 2024
Format: 7’

I suspect a number of people have been thinking that it has been all quiet on the East of Scotland front with NBS lately, but most won’t be surprised to hear that the guys gave been beavering away in the background on various deals and the processes needed to set these in flight. And now the guys are delighted to reveal the next track, a release of what looks like the songwriter’s demo of the Intentions – Don’t Forget That I Love You by none other than famed Philly producer and songwriter Jesse James. This was sourced via legendary record collector and member of the Intentions Dennis Brennan, who was very keen to see what is likely the original cut made available. Colin already had a long and fruitful relationship with Dennis over the years of buying records resulting in a strong friendship, so Dennis was keen to do business with the guys. Unfortunately during the negotiations Dennis became ill and the guys at NBS pushed through the negotiations and contracts as quick as possible to aid Dennis in his treatment, an immense expense in the USA. Sadly, Dennis did not survive to see the release, but he would have been very happy to see the realisation of his wish to see it out there.

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The Ellis Hall Group

“Those Passing Words” / “What Will I Do”

Label: Ellis Hall Records
Catalogue Number: SDE68
Release Date: November 2023
Format: 7’

We are back after a fairly quiet summer. A case of me playing too much golf and just not being able to find the quality i like when releasing new music. But stop the press, after about 7 years of trying we have finally secured this amazing modern soul winner from 1978 by The Ellis Hall Group. Hailing out of Boston Massachusetts the group recorded a show reel for tv music show “Nightshift”. This is where we first heard the incredible “Those Passing Words” and straight away knew we had to have the original studio version.

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Soul Prescription- Various Artists

Label: Soul4Real Records
Catalogue Number: S4RLP04
Release Date: 7th December 2023
Format: LP

Whatever condition your condition is in, Soul4Real have huddled together a team of the finest soul physicians to make you feel good.
We scoured all the shelves in the soul pharmacy and discovered some potions that were only just through the trial stage. Just one listen to the brilliant Aretha, Gladys, Walter Jackson and the Purify’s tracks convinced us not to wait for FDA approval, so we took the plunge and shared them with the world on vinyl for the very first time.

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New Kent Records 45’s

The Mayberry Movement
“I Can See Him Making Love To You” / “What Did I Do Wrong”

Label: Kent Records
Catalogue Number: CITY 090
Release Date: 24th November 2023
Format: 7’

This pairing was slated to be Event 218 in late 1974, but as no copies have emerged, it can be assumed that the single was pulled. It is hard to know why, but judging by its rarity the Anderson Brothers GSF release of ‘I Can See Him Loving You’ was a commercial failure – perhaps Event didn’t want to suffer a similar fate. This reading of producer Ray Dahrouge’s song is more soulful and vital than the Anderson Brothers which was huge on the Northern Soul scene, but without this take for competition at the time. Maybe the steamy finale to the Mayberry’s version was a bit too much for radio play, but surely the brilliance of the ballad A side would have compensated for that. Their loss; our gain.

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