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Saturday 8 January 2022

Äura & NICKELMAN [2022] - Calm [Self Released] (Full EP)


Äura & NICKELMAN are a duo from Osaka, Japan, with Äura being the vocalist and NICKELMAN the producer. They released a six track EP "Calm" today (8 Jan 2021).

One for the lovers of neo soul / beats / future soul. It sounds like some songs are sung in English others in Japanese and others in both, but the music is pleasant and has a neo soul / jazzy vibe.  The standout tracks, for me, are "slowly" and 'calm morning" (original and remix).

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Details
Rating: 7.8
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Neo Soul / Future Soul
Format: EP
Media: Digital
Label: Self Released
Cat No: None
Date: 08/01/2022
Value: £5.94


Masha Mnjoyan Feat. Taiyo Ky [2021] - Garden of Eden [Self Released]


Masha Mnjoyan is Armenian, now living in Australia. She won The Voice Armenia in 2013 and reached the semi-final of The Voice Australia in 2020.

Her new single "Garden of Eden" featuring Japanese/American composer/producer Taiyo Ky  (released today 8 Jan 2022) is classy and sultry jazzy, soulful ballad which she wrote herself. No doubt the 'blue-eyed bashers' will hate it but I like it!

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

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Details
Rating: 8.2
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Neo Soul
Format: Single
Media: Digital
Label: Self Released
Cat No: None
Date: 08/01/2022
Key/BPM: 7B/64
Value: £1


Paulyae [2022] - This Time [Self Released]


Paulyae (Dawkins) is a new artist hailing from Arlington, TX, (now living in Grand Prairie) who released her third single, "This Time", today (8 Jan 2021)  having debuted only last year on 2 Oct with "Be Free" followed by a Christmas single on 20 Nov.

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Details
Rating: 8.2
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Neo Soul
Format: Single
Media: Digital
Label: Self Released
Cat No: None
Date: 08/01/2022
Key/BPM: 3B/80
Value: £1


Ray Williams & The Majortones [2022] - Girl Don't Leave Me [Epsilon # EPS 009]


You may be familiar with the song title as it was recorded by Ray's elder brother Lil Major Williams in 1978 (although Discogs lists it as 1975, see below) on Williams III Records and later got reissued on Palladium in 1979. Lee Jeffries' Sonic Wax also reissued it more recently in Jun 2020. 

All versions had "Girl (You're So Sweet, You're So Fine)" on the flip (which personally I prefer). You can ignore the prices on Discogs as one on Williams III sold recently for almost £2k and, curiously, the reissue tends to sell for even more, but I found an article on SoulSource which suggests that perhaps the Palladium issue may have been first, but consensus seems to be Williams III was the original but conjecture is that perhaps it was a private press after Palladium? 

Yann Vatiste at Epsilon has confirmed that Williams III was issued first as a private press (Williams III referring to Major Williams Sr., Lil Major Williams and his brother Garland Williams) and the masters were given by Joel Johnson (A-Ball Productions Sound Masters studios, Houston) to Palladium to re-press. Also, the Palladium issue was not registered until 1982 (25th May to be precise) so Yann believes that it was released in 1982 and not 1979 as stated on Discogs!

This is a new version of "Girl Don't Leave Me" re-recorded by Ray Williams with The Majortones who were the band behind Lil Major Williams. There is a short version and an extended version.

Here is some background which Ray (via Yann Vatiste at Epsilon) has provided:

As a young kid I always wanted to be a musician especially with my brothers. My Dad, Major Williams Sr, started it all with my brother Lil Major Williams and Garland Williams. They would travel and play music at venues all over Texas and surroundings States.

I myself stared playing the snare drum in Junior High school and eventually started playing with the Majortones Band which was my dad and brothers group. I remember the first time I ever sat behind a set of drums it was like a dream come true. We were playing at this club in Houston, called the Green Parrot. Garland which was the drummer at the time, I think he got sick or something happened, that's when my dad came to me and said this your time Ray. I was so scared, keep in mind I was only 11years old, anyway I played that night if it had not been for the bass player (Fox was his name) telling me how to work the foot pedal and high hats snare we wouldn't have made he just kept telling me to stay on the one, at that time I was wondering what was the one lol. As time went by I started really getting the hang the thing call music.

Little Major was a big James Brown fan, so we played a lot of Brown's music and if I  tell you we were tight and right.

Major wrote Girl Don't Leave in 1978 (NB Discogs lists as 1975) and I can't remember the real reason for the title of song but it did really good lot's of air play.

As time went on Lil Major, Garland and my dad passed away. That's when I started managing The Majortones Band and to this Day it's still going strong.

I re-wrote "Girl Don't Leave Me" and released it a few years ago which was the best thing I could have ever done.

I feel like it's my time in the music industry, I've been playing for over forty years and I'm still in love with it and still having lots of fun. 


The single is available now on 7" vinyl £17.50 incl. postage UK or £22.50 incl. postage rest of the world or £2 for download from Epsilon.






Details
Rating: 8.4
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Northern Soul / Modern Soul
Format: Single
Media: 7"/Digital
Label: Epsilon
Cat No: None
Date: 07/01/2022
Key/BPM: N/A
Value: £17.50 (UK) / £22.50 (elsewhere) / £2


Dayton Grey [2022] - Love Is On the Line [SoulMusic Records]


Dayton Grey from Dudley (UK) featured on the blog in Oct 2021 with his last single  "He Won't Love You Like I Do". His latest single was released yesterday (7 Jan 2022) "Love Is On the Line" which is a retro sounding, neo Northern Soul, tune to these ears. 

As we speak it is #1 on the Amazon Hot 100 New Releases and was published by David Nathan's SoulMusic Records.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

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Details
Rating: 8.4
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Neo Northern Soul / Retro Soul
Format: Single
Media: Digital
Label: SoulMusic Records
Cat No: None
Date: 07/01/2022
Key/BPM: 8B/123
Value: £0.79


VA [2022] - Luxury Soul 2022 [Expansion] (Full Album) OUT NEXT WEEK


With thousands currently attending the Luxury Soul event in Blackpool this weekend, the annual Expansion compilation of many of the best tunes of the year "Luxury Soul 2022" is due imminently.  It has already been posted last month but here's a reminder of  it's release next Friday 14 Jan 2022. It will be available as a download and as a set of three CDs.

The success of the series comes down to the quality of tracks sourced from independent soul music artists, often unsigned or with recordings previously unissued or on limited release elsewhere. Most tracks never previously on CD but have been prolific on soul music radio shows and in the Top 5 of UK soul charts, many at No.1 both veteran and new contemporary soul/R&B artists. 

Included are standout tracks from artists including Will Downing, Frank McComb & Kathy Kosins, Christopher Williams, Kloud 9 & Maysa, Alvin Garrett, The Paradise Projex, Deborah Bond, Marshella Muzic, Jarrod Lawson, Victor Haynes, Dimitirs Dimopoulos, Julian Jonah featuring Lucita Jules and Cornell CC Carter. 


Details
Rating: 9
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: New Soul
Format: Album / Compilation
Media: Digital / CD
Label: Expansion
Cat No: None
Date: 14/01/2022
Value: £9.99 / TBA


R.I.P. R. Dean Taylor (11 May 1937 - 7 Jan 2022)


Having just done an end of year roundup of soul related artists who left us in 2021 I'm sad to say that the first departure of 2022 is being reported on Soulful Detroit yesterday that R. Dean Taylor has passed away aged 82. His death was announced by Rare Earth group Rustix vocalist Chuck Brucato (who co-produced his final single in 1981) on his facebook page.

R. (Richard) Dean Taylor is a name synonymous with most Northern Soul followers for "There's A Ghost In My House" (co-written with Holland, Dozier, Holland) recorded on Motown's V.I.P. imprint in 1967 which became a monster NS tune in the early 70s. The song was originally titled "The End Was Destined To Come" and was intended for the Four Tops but was reworked and released by R. Dean Taylor as the Tops were busy on other material. It was originally played off a 1973, UK only release, budget album "Indiana Wants Me" on Sounds Superb. So popular was it that Tamla Motown in the UK reissued it in 1974 and it reached #3 on the UK pop chart on it's fifth week on the chart and stayed on the chart for a total of  twelve weeks. It was one of the earliest NS tunes to cross over to the pop charts along with Robert Knight's "Love On A Mountain Top" which had a sixteen week run from the end of 1973 to the Spring of 1974 peaking at #10.

To a wider audience he is probably best known for his 1971 #1 hit "Indiana Wants Me" and had another UK Top 20 hit earlier, in 1968, with "Gotta See Jane".
After three unsuccessful recordings in the very early 60s on Audio Master, Mala and  Barry, he was signed as an artist and  songwriter to Motown's V.I.P. label in 1964. His first single for V.I. P. was recorded in March 1964 but was unreleased. He had to wait until Oct 1965 to release his first single for the label "Let's Go Somewhere" (which would be used as the flip side to the Tamla Motown 1974 reissue of "There's A Ghost In My House" as it also had received plays on the NS scene).

That single did well locally but not nationally and his next single was "There's A Ghost In My House" in March 1967 followed by "Gotta See Jane" in April 1968, neither of which registered in the US but "Gotta See Jane" reached #17 in UK.

In 1970 he was switched to Motown's white artist imprint Rare Earth where he had his only US hit "Indiana Wants Me" which peaked at #5 on hot 100 but reached #1 in Canada and #2 in UK.

Whilst at Motown he was also involved in writing numerous hits including "Love Child" and "I'm Living In Shame" for Diana Ross & The Supremes, "I'll Turn To Stone" Four Tops and "All I Need"  The Temptations. "Just Look What You've Done", Brenda Holloway

He set up his own label 'Jane' in 1973 which released around a dozen singles up until 1977, most sung by himself. He released two further singles, the first in 1979 on Raggamuffin and a final one on 20th Century-Fox in 1981 and then seemed to go into retirement.

I'm not going to do a full discography, as to be honest much of his material was pop, rock and country music, but he is a name that most of us growing up with Northern Soul will associate with as part of our youth. R.I.P. R. Dean Taylor.