Soul

Bill Withers' Live At Carnegie Hall was recorded almost 40 years ago on a rainy Friday evening, but it is still regarded as one of the best live performances in the history of soul music.

Where I’m Meant To Be is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character.

Sly and the Family Stone might have psychedelicised soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalised it. Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility for their music and its meaning.

Tim Maia was born in 1942 in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and started his musical career at an early age, along with close friends such as Roberto Carlos or Jorge Ben. Carlos would eventually help him to get a deal for his first single at CBS. During the 70s Maia started to incorporate soul and funk elements into his style.

Classic jazz / funk / folk from the mercurial Callier. Possibly the greatest album ever by the legendary chicago soul singer Terry Callier!

The musical styles of 'Curtis' moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelic-influenced sound.

In a career laden with highlights and hallmarks in the annals of soul history, Just As I Am is rather overlooked as one of the best soul debuts ever issued.

The xx producer and percussionist Jamie Smith takes a stab at recontextualizing Gil Scott-Heron's excellent 2010 album, I'm New Here.

Although Simone covers songs by Bob Dylan and The Beatles, among others, most of the versions feature arrangements substantially different from the original recordings.

Four decades have failed to dull the album’s power and awe-inspiring scope. It’s been cited as a favorite by figures like Prince, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey – and Wonder himself. “Of all the albums, Songs in the Key of Life I’m most happy about,” he told Q magazine in 1995. “Just the time, being alive then. To be a father and then letting go and letting God give me the energy and strength I needed.” Credit: Rolling Stone

Aretha Franklin disproved the notion that once you leave the church, you can't go back. She returned in triumph on this 1972 double album, making what might be her greatest release ever in any style.

"Backed By Jimmy Bond And Albert 'Tootie' Heath, This Album Showcases Her (Nina Simone) Ballad Voice As One Of Mystery And Sensuality And Her Up-Tempo Jazz Style With Authority And An Enigmatic Down- Home Feel That Is Nonetheless Elegant. The Album Also Introduced A Fine Jazz Pianist. Simone Was A Solid Improviser Who Never Strayed Far From The Blues." - Thom Jurek, AllMusic

Timepeace was recorded in 1998 after a 15 year long career break and won the United Nations's Time For Peace award for outstanding artistic achievement contributing to world peace.

Al Green Greatest Hits, features the classics Let's Stay Together, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Tired Of Being Alone and Love and Happiness amongst many other gems from his catalogue.

This new volume of the Diggin collection offers a selection of rare and groovy tracks ranging from Funk to Jazz Fusion and Soul.

Donny Hathaway's third solo studio album, 'Extension of a Man', followed the soul singer's lauded 1972 collaboration with vocalist Roberta Flack.

He has left behind a series of fantastic hits plus a handful of tracks which deserve the title of masterpiece, all Collected on this album.

Best-selling, 21-track hits set that’s now on vinyl for the first time.

1973's Innervisions swings between delicate and airy ballads, Latin-influenced rhythms and his own synth-heavy versions of raw funk and soul.

Live at the Harlem Square Club is a classic live album by Soul singer Sam Cooke

Bill Withers came into his own on his third album, Still Bill. Released in 1972, the record is a remarkable summation of a number of contemporary styles: the smooth soul coming out of Philly, smoky, late-night funk via Bobby Womack, bluesy Southern soul, and '70s singer/songwriterism.

Shuggie Otis was a musical visionary whose early 1970s recordings showed he could do it all, writing, arranging, performing, and producing some of the decade's most satisfying, innovative, and, unfortunately, overlooked music.

Free Will is the second studio album by American poet Gil Scott-Heron, released in August 1972 on Flying Dutchman Records.

Arthur Verocai's long-lost solo LP straddles the continents to fuse Brazilian tropicalia with American funk, yielding a shimmering, dreamlike mosaic of sound that both celebrates and advances the creative spirit.

What a beauty here. A proper re-issue of Minnie Riperton debut album on GRT, originally puvlished in 1970.

2019 marks the 60th year of Motown, and this anniversary is commemorated with a brand new Greatest Hits compilation featuring tracks from across the label’s unique history.

Recorded in early 1971, Curtis / Live! finds Curtis Mayfield in top form at the intimate Greenwich Village club The Bitter End.

This is one of Nina Simone's more subdued mid-'60s LPs, putting the emphasis on her piano rather than band arrangements.

Northern soul floor fillers of the Eccentric variety.

Nina Simone made her first trip into the studio in New York during 1957 to record her debut album Little Girl Blue.

As the second of five consecutive albums which made up Stevie's classic period, Talking Book found Wonder at the top of his game, combining tight song writing with warm electronic arrangements and effervescent vocal performances

'Summing Up’ is the debut album from singer, songwriter, and producer Steven Bamidele. The album is a deeply personal project that has seen Steven using lyrical exploration as a form of self-therapy, often unpicking themes of racial identity, family, and self-reflection.

This is the story of how a tiny label from New Jersey changed the course of music history not once but twice. Cheri Records was established in 1974 in New Jersey and run by one Boo Frazier. Cheri's output was limited, producing a catalogue of just eleven releases between the years 1974 and 1982. On the face of it, this appears to be insubstantial output. However, if you dig a little deeper, the quality released on Cheri Records reveals an exceptional legacy of groundbreaking music.

When Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16, 2018 we lost the Queen of Soul, acknowledged as the foremost female singer of her generation, someone who sold over 75 million records in her glittering career.

Head back to the floor with this brand-new 2LP compilation featuring 42 more of the world’s most remarkable Northern Soul tunes.

Kent have released two Darrow Fletcher CDs, but he has never had a vinyl LP of his own - of any description. This compilation concentrates on his Chicago years, though it adds a rare demo, Hope For Love, only previously available on a Masterpieces Kent CD. 

This Is Mod is part of a new series aimed at vinyl buyers who wants a genre specific compilation to excite their ears. Two sides of fantastic music, at an affordable price, cherry picked from Ace and its associated catalogues.

Yaya Bey is one of R&B’s most exciting storytellers. Using a combination of ancestral forces and her own self-actualization, the singer/songwriter seamlessly navigates life’s hardships and joyful moments through music.

This set provides an accurate overview of the Stax era recordings of the only man fit to be called "The Black Moses Of Soul" — Isaac Hayes.

Born to an African-American opera singer and a Jamaican footballer who played for Celtic in Glasgow, Gil Scott-Heron was a ground-breaking musician and writer whose melding of poetry, soul and political activism paved the way for the arrival of rap and prefaced neo-soul by some decades.

Given her extensive and varied recording catalog, if you're looking for a place to explore the talents of the late Nina Simone, then 1965's I Put a Spell On You is a great place to dip your toes - particular if you want to start with her more pop oriented sides.

Debut by the undisputed kings of Staten Island Afro-funk and soul, now that the Budos are bonafide Daptone heavyweights. 

Having been brought up as much on albums as singles, it is a natural progression for Kent to make a 12-inch version of our “Masterpieces Of Modern Soul” CD series. The modern soul fan is used to wielding vinyl 12-inchers and our latest Kent LP is aimed squarely at them.

House of the Rising Sun features several guest performances by New York studio aces, including Joe Beck, Don Grolnick, David Sanborn, Fred Wesley and Michael Brecker amongst others.

Officially reissued at last! Considered by many to be a genuine ‘holy grail’ of soul and funk. Featuring Miracles as sampled by Public Enemy, Basement Jaxx, Arrested Development and many more.

Soul music has always been in Paul Weller’s blood from early Jam covers of Martha & the Vandellas 1963 classic ‘Heatwave’.

An 18 track double black vinyl LP compilation featuring many of the beloved singer’s hits.

Root Down was Hammond B-3 jazz legend Jimmy Smith's 1972 live album for Verve.

‘Promised Heights’ solidified Cymande’s place in music history and contains some of their mostbeloved and often-sampled tracks such as ‘Brothers On The Slide’.

The Collected album by the Carpenters brings a beautiful collection from the immense popular soft-pop duo. From their humble beginnings in the late '60s until today, siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter are one of the most successful duos in musical history.

Blues and Soul Award winner and double MOBO Awards nominee Ronnie Herel is back with his 2nd volume of his excellent compilation series Neo-Soul Sessions

Hotter than July is the nineteenth studio album by Wonder, originally released on Motown's Tamla label in September 1980, featuring hit songs including Happy Birthday.

This amazing album is the product of six full-time Howard University students taking the direction of department head and jazz great Donald Byrd into the Fantasy Studios along with the aid of production wizard Larry Mizell. 

Well before Shuggie Otis cut his debut album, musicianship and performance had long been a part of his life.

The revered debut from the genre-spanning guitarist, singer and songwriter, Terry Callier, has returned to vinyl. Originally recorded in 1964 for Prestige Records, the album features Callier’s version of standards such as “Cotton Eyed Joe” and “900 Miles.”

Otis Redding and the nine-man band, which includes a three-piece horn section, play a delightfully tough and varied set, delivering amazing, sweaty renditions of fiery up-tempo raves, swaggering, mid-tempo soul grinds, and intense slow numbers.

From 1967-1980, Kansas City’s Forte Records captured nearly every iteration of popular Black music.

Reflections - 1981 studio album which is widely considered one of his best releases, praised for its potent social commentary & blend of spoken word with a jazz-infused sound. It features the single 'B Movie' known as Scott-Heron's "smartest political rap ever" and backed by the Midnight Band...

KIZZY is the breakthrough EP from rising East London artist Bel Cobain, one of the most distinctive new voices emerging from the UK alternative R&B and soul landscape. Written across 18 months of late-night ideas, scattered sessions, and quiet breakthroughs, the project captures an artist in motion. Following a string of singles that introduced her raw lyricism, KIZZY marks a confident step forward with intimate, sharp, and melodically rich songs that sit in the space between endings and new beginnings.

This collection is drawn from throughout the sixties, though it does not entirely fit the commonly held belief that Northern Soul records are all ultra-rarities, because half of the tracks here actually were major hits in the US, and four of them were top twenty entries!

For the first time ever, experience Terry Callier as few ever did: live, raw, and on the brink of greatness. Captured in 1967—predating his cult-classic debut The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier - this intimate, previously unreleased live performance reveals a young artist already operating in hi...

Them Changes is an album by American artist Buddy Miles, released in June 1970. It reached number 8 on the 1970 Jazz Albums chart, number 35 on the Billboard 200 and number 14 on the 1971 R&B albums charts.

Music drawn from the Modern and Kent labels of Los Angeles.

Track Listing Sweet Music, Soft Lights and You Now Is the Time for Love Pt. 1 I'll See You in Hell First Love Highjacker I Can Fly It Hurts So Good See Saw Affair Lightin' Up Three Lonely Guys Spells & Incantations (With Debbie Lindsay) Midnight Affair When I Had You, Baby

Disregard the understated title; Small Talk at 125th and Lenox was a volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique, recorded live in a New York nightclub with only bongos and conga to back the street poet.

A 24 carat compilation of the best of the “yellow” Stax, Volt and associated labels’ recordings, many of which crossed over into the American Pop charts.

This album was another brainchild of Marshall Chess' regime at Chess Records. Here, he's getting Ramsey Lewis, supported by an orchestra conducted and arranged by Charles Stepney, to do jazz improvisations on ten songs from The Beatles (aka The White Album).

They don't come anymore classic than this.

The 1967 Impulse Records legendary Funk/Soul Instrumental masterpiece album Chicken Fat.

Today's club culture all started with Northern Soul and its roots in the Mod all-nighter scene of London clubs.

Lost dark soul/funk masterpiece from Hampton, Virginia high school champions of Pepsi’s “New Sounds Of 1972” challenge.

When Jon Lucien released the original CD in 1999, he only made about 100 copies; demand has rocketed for it ever since. It was never on vinyl originally. We have commissioned sleevenotes from acclaimed US scribe Kevin Goins to enhance the packaging of both formats.

This getaway ride mixtape strips aesthetics from the timeless East Side Story series, and poaches music from the greater Chesapeake Bay region. Roll with a jacked-up masterpiece.

Nina Simone Sings The Blues is part of the Groove Classics collection.

Eddie Piller Presents British Mod Sounds of the 1960s' is the follow up to 'The Mod Revival'. The 2LP set features 34 tracks and was curated by Acid Jazz Records and Modcast founder Eddie Piller.

Barely disco and hardly jazz, Rupa Biswas’ 1982 LP is the halfway point between Bollywood and Balearic.

Headed by the great Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions provided a critical link between '50s R&B and '60s soul.

Making Music is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies on translucent red vinyl and includes an 8-page booklet.

Labi Siffre burst onto the UK’s blossoming singer-songwriter scene with his debut album in 1970, alongside contemporaries like Elton John, Bill Fay and Mike D’Abo. Featuring early hit “Make My Day” and “A Little More Line”, the album was arranged and produced by Ian Green, noted 60s hit arranger.

Sam Cooke, inventor and true King of Soul, recorded Mr. Soul in the same year as Night Beat, and seems to be its more adult counterpart, with soulful ballads taking up most of the album.