Soul Strutter: 03/08/23

Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Nancy Wilson [2023] - Sunshine / The End Of Our Love [Expansion #EXS041]

We did a Nancy Wilson Profile a few weeks ago for her posthumous birthday on 20 Feb and included one track "The End Of Our Love" on this reissue but not the other "Sunshine".

The lead side is a jazz track from her her 1979 album "Life, Love & Harmony" (also released as a single) and the flip his her only song, to my knowledge, played on the Northern Soul scene regarded as a classic.

Neither are particularly hard to find or expensive records with "The End Of Our Love" being released as the flip to a Hot 100 Top 30 hit "Face It Girl It's Over" and was reissued in the UK in 1977 to satisfy Northern Soul demand for it. However, it has never featured on any of her albums.

"Sunshine" wasn't a hit and, at the risk of contradicting myself, there are none currently available for sale on Discogs and prices have been rising for it in recent years after consistently selling for £10-£15, it will now cost you more like £40-£60 to acquire an original copy.

It's available for pre-order from Soul Brother for release in May.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Jazz / Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Expansion
Cat No:	EXS041
Date:	TBC/05/2023
Key/BPM:	10B/94 / N/A
Price:	£13

Future Flight [2023] - Hipnotic Lady / Dues [Expansion #EXS040]

A reissue of a 1981 single from Future Flight. It was the group's only single and both sides featured on their one and only eponymous album on Capitol in 1981.

Many of the songs on the album were written by Lamont Dozier including the two on the single, "Hipnotic Lady" (written solely by Dozier) and "Dues" with band members Tony Patler (also a member of General Caine/Kane) and Brynwood Tanner (aka Frank Dookum).

The record doesn't appear to be particularly rare, based on price and no. of copies available on Discogs, but there are no label scans for the B side "Dues" indicating that either most copies are same-side promos (of "Hypnotic Lady") or that issues are hard to come by. In fact the only ones available for sale currently are all same-sided promos, so it's "Dues" that is hard to find. Not any longer as the album will set you back at least a ton and up to £150 in top condition with original singles starting at around the £75 mark, so grab a vinyl reissue for a fraction of that.

Available to pre-order from Soul Brother for release in May '23.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Expansion
Cat No:	EXS040
Date:	TBC/05/2023
Key/BPM:	3A/82 / 2A/118
Price:	£13

Salena Jones [2023] - Am I The Same Girl (Soulful Strut) / Right Now [Soul Brother #SB70449]

Another Soul Brother reissue due in May and available to pre-order. It's from Salena Jones with a cover of the Barbara Acklin's Chicago classic "Am I The Same Girl" which is the vocal of Young-Holt Unlimited's "Soulful Strut" penned by Eugene Record and Sonny Sanders. Eldee Young (bass) and Isaac "Redd" Holt (drums) were earlier members of Ramsey Lewis Trio who left to form their own group.

Young-Holt's instrumental came first in Oct '68 followed by Acklin's vocal in Jan 1969 although I believe that Ackilin recorded it earlier in Jul '68 but it wasn't released until later. Salena Jones' version has been in demand for many years as it's an album only track from "Everybody's Talkin About Salena Jones" (1970) excluding a solitary single release in The Netherlands in 1970. The song has been covered many times, probably most famously by Dusty Springfield and Swing Out Sister who had a UK #21 pop hit with it in 1992. Surprisingly, perhaps, it wasn't a massive hit for Barbara Acklin reaching #33 R&B / #79 Hot 100.

The track used for the flip side, "Right Now", is from her 1969 UK only album "The Moment Of Truth" and is a cover of Mel Torme's 1962 Carl Sigman and Herbie Mann written hit. Totally irrelevant for here, but wasn't it covered by Siouxsie Sioux under an alter ego The Creatures in the early 80s?

Salena Jones (Joan Elizabeth Shaw) is from Newport News, VA, and was mainly a supper club jazz singer. She performed from the late 40s until the mid 60s as Joan Shaw, and then moved to England changing her name to Salena (contrived from her influences Sarah Vaughn and Lena Horne) Jones (a play on her first name). She is now 85 and lives in Ascot, Berkshire.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Crossover Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Soul Brother
Cat No:	None
Date:	TBC/05/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£13

Vaneese & Carolyn [2023] - Goodbye Song / Just A Little Smile (From You) [Soul Brother #SB7048]

A vinyl reissue by Soul Brother of Vaneese (Thomas) & Carolyn (Mitchell) 1978 Polydor single "Goodbye Song" / "Just A Little Smile".

The sides have been reversed from the original release, leading with the two-stepper "Goodbye Song" co-written by both singers. This was their second single together which followed "Let Me In" / "I'm Losing You" in 1977 with both songs being written by Vaneese Thomas who is the daughter of Rufus Thomas and hence sister of Carla and lesser known brother Marvell. John 'Monster' Davis arranged the first and produced the second single, neither of which dented the R&B charts and the original of the reissued single now commands around £375 based on Discogs sold prices.

Vaneese went on to release her solo debut album "Vaneese" in 1987 and has released a further seven albums up to 2019, but these appear to be the only releases from partner Carolyn Mitchell.

The single is available to pre-order from Soul Brother and other vinyl dealers (e.g. Simply Soul) with a release date sometime in May '23.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Two-Step / Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Soul Brother
Cat No:	None
Date:	TBC/05/2023
Key/BPM:	5A/85 / N/A
Price:	£13

Curtis Mayfield [2023] - The Philadelphia Re-edit Sessions [Simpson Uniquity]

At the blink of an eye after the last set for Philly Devotions, (and Revelation before that also in Feb) a new set of Philadelphia Re-edit Sessions from Paul Simpson is out for Curtis Mayfield.

It consists of seven tracks spanning three albums between 1979-85.

01 - Body Guard

02 - It's Lovin' Time (Your Baby's Home)

03 - Over The Hump

04 - Tell Me, Tell Me (How Ya Like To Be Loved)

05 - Victory

06 - What Is My Woman For?

07 - You Better Stop

"Body Guard" is from "We Come In Peace With A Message Of Love" (1985).

"It's Lovin' Time (Your Baby's Home)" is from "The Right Combination" with Linda Clifford (1980).

"Over The Hump", "Tell Me, Tell Me (How Ya Like To Be Loved)", "Victory", "What Is My Woman For?" and "You Better Stop" all from "Heartbeat" (1979).

"Heartbeat" was recorded at Sigma with songs either written, arranged or produced by Norman Harris and Ron Tyson or Bunny Sigler and his brother James.

"The Right Combination" was also recorded at Sigma with the included track produced by Harris. The track from the 1985 album "We Come In Peace With A Message Of Love" was written and arrange by Harris and Tyson and produced by Harris.

Full tracks are available to listen to on Paul's dedicated website available for two weeks until around 22 Mar 2023.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Philly Soul / Re-edits
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Simpson Uniquity
Cat No:	None
Date:	08/03/2023
Price:	$9.99

New Mixcloud Rules

Up until recently uploading podcasts to Mixcloud was free, one of the only remaining free services. However, a few months ago they have limited this to ten shows. If you upload a new show (and already have ten) then you must deactivate or delete one of the previous ten shows, or alternatively subscribe to a professional account to retain more than ten shows.

In addition, new SRPC rules governing Mixcloud uploads comes into force worldwide. The rules only previoulsy applied to the US but now affect all uploads. It makes it difficult to post a tribute show as the restrictions are:

Maximum 3 songs from one album (and no more than 2 consecutively)
Maximum 4 songs from one recording artist (and no more than 3 consecutively)
Maximum 4 songs from one compilation (and no more than 3 consecutively)
Shows that have more than 4 songs from one recording artist but fewer than 8 songs from one recording artist will only be available to Premium subscribers, channel subscribers or you as the creator.

Further information HERE.

So if you experience one of your older shows being no longer available it may be due to these new restrictions. I noticed a few we've posted now being blocked i.e. a couple of Luther Vandross tributes.

DJ Kool Keith [2022-03-07] - Soulful Vibes [Soul Groove Radio]

DJ Kool Keith's latest Soulful Vibes show broadcast on Tue 7th Mar 2023 on Soul Groove Radio.

His Soulful Vibes show showcases new releases whether that be brand new music or reissues.

DJ Kool Keith has two shows per week, his Soulful Vibes show Tue 16:00-18:00 (GMT/UK Time) on Soul Groove Radio and his Soulful Slow Jams show on Soul Radio Coast 2 Coast Sat 23:00 PST (Sun 07:00 GMT in UK).

All DJ Kool Keith podcast are available to listen/download from Podomatic.

Playlist:

Artist	Title
Mica Paris	Luv U 2nite (DMB Remix)
Heartbreak Alumni	Don't Go (Funk Wave Remix)
Tristan	Diamonds
Oscar Martos Feat. Essy	So Lonely
Marlon Coles	Kind Of Vibe
Alex Fanjul	Dance Into My Song
Alex Fanjul Feat. David Margam & Cristina Soto	Ain't No Money
Gail Patterson	Nothin' But The Truth
Antonio McGaha	Glass In The Air
Kierra Sheard Feat. Charles Jenkins	We Found Love
Kierra Sheard	Mo' Better
Austin Millz & Sabrina Claudio	Inhale / Exhale
U-Nam	Coastline
Les Sabler	New Bossa
The Groove Association Feat. Georgie B	Nothing Like It
Samuel Archer Feat. Lasro The King	Like I Love You
Chelsea Nichole feat. Jeff Lorber	Ain't Nobody Can't Nobody
Lizzo feat. SZA	Special (Clean Version)
Ray Greene Feat. Jeff Lockhart & Joe Cunningham	Stay
Dennis Taylor	Can You Feel It?
Dennis Taylor	I Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do
Jozzy	She Asked Me
Kenya Vaun	Overrated (Clean)
Lady King	Light Up
Blue	Any Part
Sidibe	Nothing At All
Sidibe	All Your Love Inside
Donnie Ray	I Can Do Magic Girl
Lauren Elysse	Bae-Be (Sweet Lady)
Neema Nekesa	Ride With You
Lauren Elysse	Good Time (Let's Vibe)
J-Wonn	Cross That Bridge
Methrone	Like It Was
The Walls Group	I Will
Phabo feat. Shae Universe	Out Of Touch
Alexis Brooke	Sumn Real
Alexis Danielle	Someone Like You (S.L.Y.)
Musiq Soulchild, Hit-Boy	Beat Of A Slow Dance
Zenesoul	Love Island
Jordan Orionn	Reciprocity