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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History of – Paul Tilman Smith……So Far

19/07/24

The Norman Connors days.
Me and Norman were the young Jazz drummer up-and-comers in the sixties in New York. Normans momma was in Philadelphia and mine was in California. Norman could run to his momma’s house to eat while I starved to death,lol. We were best friends but god obviously had different intentions for the both of us. Norman had no idea I had a love for writing silly little songs on the piano from the age of fifteen.

After I left the Jazz Avant Garde John Coltrane era and came back to Oakland I kept playing but started writing again. In the mean time Norman became one of the best show-men Jazz drummers around and people started noticing him and the right record producer gave him a shot and making records and he then started making great records. We had made a pack that if either one of us could ever help the other we would so the band Vitamin E was born. His wife named the band and I at first hated that name but now ironically I use Vitamin E everyday, hahahahahahaha!

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Aflex Combo

“Hibaros” / “Something Blue”

Label: Jazz Room Records 
Catalogue Number: JAZZR 039
Release Date: July 2024  
Format:  7’ Vinyl

Japanese Producer and multi-instrumentalist Keisuke Yamazoe’s outfit Aflex Combo are a super jazzy jazz-funk outfit whose occasional releases are always incendiary. Jazz Room Records are pleased to release this special cover of the underground club classic “Hibaros” by B&G Rhythm (Donny Beck & Steve Gutierrez and featuring Bobby Lyle!) and after one listen you will agree that this is a must-check 45! Over on the flip is “Something Special”, a Latin-tinged jazz-funk number that’s every bit as essential as the floor rocking A-side.

Paul Murphy
https://jazzroomrecords.com/

Ben Jones (UK)
Just wanted to say it’s really good to hear the show again. Been a follower of Soul Discovery for years and was sad when I learnt it was no longer being broadcast Sunday evenings. Always a quality listen and I’ll be locked in this coming Saturday.

Steve Scotney (UK)
Hey Mick, Hope you’re well and thanks for keeping up the great show and website / Podcasts etc. Fantastic soul as always and a weekly lifeline for me 

Jerrij Johnson – California Flight (U.S.A.)
I love your Soul Discovery radio shows.

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Soul Discovery Show – An Exclusive Interview with Candi Staton 19/06/24

In the early ‘70s with a string of hit R&B records, produced by her great friend, the late Rick Hall of the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals: “I’d Rather Be an Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than a Young Man’s Fool),” “I’m Just a Prisoner (of Your Good Lovin’),” “Sweet Feeling,” “Stand by Your Man” and a cover of “In the Ghetto” that remains nearly as celebrated as Elvis Presley’s original. In the late ‘70s, she reinvented herself as a disco diva, returning to the charts with “Young Hearts Run Free.” She then returned to her gospel roots, a move that unexpectedly led to her career resurgence in the ‘90s and 2000s, as two songs originally written as Christian anthems, “You Got the Love” and “Hallelujah Anyway,” won new audiences with dance remixes.

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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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The Shades Of Brown 

“Searchin’ For Love” / “Black Woman” / “Teasin’ Woman” /“Girl In The Streets”

In 1969, a transformation in Albina was underway. Displaced by the Vanport flood two decades prior, an influx of Black residents had settled in the area after redlining practices among the city’s realty boards provided few other options. A local economy among Albina’s Black residents had flourished for a time, but soon declined due to chronic disinvestment by the city’s elites. As with many urban centers in America, the impending ghetto-ization of the neighborhood developed as the civil rights movement was in full swing. And the citizens of Albina had something to say about it. 

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Micky Gynn – Soulful Football

Soulful Football Update: 28/04/2024

Heart To Heart  “Tuff” (Raven Records) LP 1982
Although this once obscure album, was a real, collectors dream, in 2015, it got an official reissue. Why pay £1000 for an original, when you can get it for £50. The original, I would say, always sounds so much better though. Lol.
A soul group, out of,  Atlanta, Georgia. The standout tune on this 1982 album, Nowhere, To Go, is superb. My type of early 80s midtempo soul. Also, on the album is another mellow tune, Never, make A Believer of Me, which was also released as a 45.
These fabulous local labels, with this gem, out of Dothan, Alabama keep the soul world ticking along.

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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 1st 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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Sharon Shares 

Updated 10-01-24

Sharon was born in Sevierville, Tennessee but raised and musically disciplined in Detroit, Michigan.

Sharon began her career, as a teen in Detroit, Michigan. She wrote her first songs at the age of 12. After auditioning her, Ollie McLaughlin launched her writing career by publishing and producing and releasing several of her songs on his own record lables, KAREN, CARLA, MOIRA & RUTH Records. McLaughlin recorded Sharons songs on major artists, Barbara Lewis, Deon Jackson, Gracie Darnell and Johnnie Mae Matthews. He also secured a UK release for Sharon’s song, Someday We’re Gonna Love Again, recorded by the London based group, The Searchers. It charted to #11 in Billboard, in several countries and to #23 here in the United States, in 1964/65. Thus, Sharon has a tremendous fan base in the UK and Western Europe.

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