Soul Strutter: 06/21/23

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

21st Century Soul - 2008 (The Best Of)

2008

The next instalment of 21st Century Soul - 9th edition 2008.

Previous Years

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Alphabetical playlist by artist against individual who selected them.

Artist	Title (Album)
Kevin Oxberry	Starpoint Radio
Adrienne Nails	It's Time To Pray (It's Time To Pray LP)
Anthony Hamilton	The Day We Met (The Point Of It All LP)
Carmichael	Angel In The Sky (All About Love LP)
Da'quela	So Happy (Blue Sky LP)
Darrius	Promise Me Love (Can't Get Enough LP)
Leon Ware	Smoovin' (Moon Ride LP)
Minister Marvin Webb	It's Time For Love (It's Time For Love LP)
Omar Cunningham	The Right Woman (Time Served LP)
Romina Johnson	As Good As This (Soul River LP)
Paul Goldsmith	Starpoint Radio
2000 Black	Simple Sacrifice (A Next Set A Rockers LP)
Chuck Arrington	My Sole Desire (I'm Gonna Praise You LP)
Foreign Exchange	Leave It All Behind (Leave It All Behind LP)
Hakim	Come 2 Me (You Gotta 'Good Thang' So 'Come 2 Me' EP)
Heston	Radio (Storyteller LP)
Jason Champion	For Better Or For Worse (Reflections LP)
Jennifer Perryman	Shall We Take A Trip (Losing My Grip LP)
Keni Myles	4 This Luv (My Rhythm & My Blues LP)
Lalah Hathaway	Let Go (Self Portrait LP)
Murrills	I Will Wait (Family Prayer LP)
Roger Williams	Starpoint Radio
Alex Lattimore	In Your Eyes (Promise LP)
Chanel	Lovely Day (Independent Soul Divas LP)
Darien	Composure (If These Walls Could Talk LP)
De-Ann Lott	Return To The Center (Return To The Center LP)
Eric Benet	Weekend Girl (Love & Life LP)
LeNora Jaye	Taking Over (Independent Soul Divas LP)
Nash Reed	Reaching Out (Mercurial LP)
Nate Smith feat. John Gordon	Come Back To Bed (Workday, Waterbaby Music Vol. 1.0 LP)
Q Harper	Hey You (One LP)
Redfootz	Wishing On A Star (The Red Sessions LP)
Roger Smith	Isn't It Love (Sittin' In LP)
Steve Aggasild	Soul Music Radio / SOTAR
Alex Lattimore	Keep Risin' To The Top (Promise LP)
Brenda Boykin	Love Is In Town (Chocolate & Chili LP)
Fabio Nobile feat. Rossella Key	San Diego (Always Love LP)
Incognito	Never Look Back (Tales From The Beach LP)
Lalah Hathaway	That Was Then (Self Portrait LP)
Sheree Brown	Adore You (First Fruit LP)
The Foreign Exchange feat. Darien Brockington	Take Off The Blues (Leave It All Behind LP)
Noel Gourdin	One Love (After My Time LP)
SoulStrutter
Al Green	Stay With Me (By The Sea) ft John Legend / Too Much (Lay It Down LP)
Anthony Hamilton	Please Stay / The Point Of It All (The Point Of It All LP)
Bernard	Never Turnin' Back (Kingdom Of Love LP)
Brian Culbertson feat. Ledisi	The World Keeps Going Around (Bringing Back The Funk LP)
Calvin Richardson	Fire In The Attic (When Love Comes LP)
Cherisse	Pretty Girl (Soul Journey LP)
The Chestnut Brothers	Mountain Of Love (RetroSoul LP)
Darrius	Get Down To This Loving / Hold On To You II (Can't Get Enough LP)
Eric Benét	You're the Only One (Love & Life LP)
Hil St. Soul	Gravity / Smile (Black Roses LP)
Swing Out Sister	Butterfly (Beautiful Mess LP)
Ty Causey	Lovin' You Ain't So Easy (Body Language LP)

Greg Manning [2023] - A Song for Peace [Self Released] (Full Album)

Nigerian born, Swiss raised, Berklee College of Music alum keyboardist Greg Manning released his fifth long player "A Song For Peace" on Friday". He previously recorded under the name Greg Wachter from the late 80s, releasing his first album as Greg Manning ("The Calling") in 2010.

The title track of his latest albumfeatures Memphis saxophonist Kirk Whalum and was released as the lead single a year ago on 17 Jun '22. The second single, "The One", hit the streets in Feb '23 with vocal and instrumental versions (its the vocal that features on the album).

The album is predominantly smooth jazz instrumentals but one of the few vocals, "Holding On" feat. Grammy nominated John Stoddart from Philadelphia, is currently on rotation.

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:	7.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Soul Jazz
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	16/06/2023
Price:	£7.99

Dennis Taylor [2023] - Let's Stay In Tonight / Can't Get Over You [Soultownie Records]

Released digitally back in March, the new single from Boston's Dennis Taylor "Let's Stay In Tonight" is now available on vinyl from Dennis' website. The flip is a new song "Can't Get Over You" (sample included in video below).

Soul aficionados will be well familiar with the recordings of Dennis Taylor as several have graced dancefloors on the UK soul scene. Most recently with a couple of covers of modern soul favourites "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me" (Johnny Bristol) / "I Can't Forget About You" (Ronn Matlock) in 2021.

He was born and raised in Charlestown, Boston, MA, and made his first public singing performance aged 12. Dennis is a self taught musician, who plays a variety of instruments, including piano and guitar. What's unique about his music is that he writes, produces, sings, does all backgrounds, mixes and plays all instruments on all of his songs.

Between 2012 and 2016, Dennis worked with Philly legend, and Grammy Award-winning producer, Bobby Eli under whose mentorship, which Dennis calls "a master class in soul", honed his craft in the classic soul.

Dennis has opened for artists including: Tavares, The Stylistics, Black Ivory, Darlene Love, Candi Staton and Bloodstone and has provided backing vocals for Alexander O'Neal, Alyson Williams and Evelyn 'Champagne' King. Earlier this year he did a six date tour in Germany and then appeared once again at The Cotswold Park Soul Weekender in the UK.

As well as solo work, Dennis became a member of Boston group, North Shore Acappella, following the passing of Paul Lopes in Aug 2017.

In addition to a new single, "Let's Stay In Tonight", Dennis has a new album "I Think We're Gonna Make It" due on CD in the coming weeks on which the single will also feature. They will be available from his website.

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:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Soultownie
Cat No:	ST 110
Date:	27/07/2023
Key/BPM:	4A/92
Price:	£16.50

Melvin Davis [2023] - I'm The One That Loves You / Instrumental [Soul Direction #SD022]

Soul Direction's Alan Kitchener acquired a master tape from the Don Davis Collection of tapes for his personal collection and was more than happy to listen and enjoy the tracks in the comfort of his own record room.

One of the tracks was an unreleased version of the Melvin Davis written song "I'm The One That Loves You" recorded by the writer but best known for Darrell Banks' 1969 Groovesville recording released on Volt with a slightly different title "I'm The One Who Loves You".

You may recall in Jan '23 we posted an article regarding Davis' health after reading about it on Rare Soul Talk facebook group who had raised a GoFundMe page to help with his medical bills (which currently stands at $15k). We, in the UK, may 'moan' about the NHS waiting times but at least we're not then hit with a huge medical bill, which we take for granted.

Prior to this, Alan, during a conversation with Jim O'Hara (a friend of Melvin's who wrote the release sleeve notes), came up with the idea of releasing the song to raise some funds to help with the medical bills.

With Melvin's approval, Alan set about remastering the tracks which was no mean feat given the age and condition of the tapes. Once contracts were drawn up and licensing fees paid, Soul Direction scheduled the project.

Alan has subsequently decided to donate all profits from this upcoming release direct to Melvin. However, Melvin, the gent that he is, was insistent that he would not accept anything unless he knew for sure that Soul Direction's costs were covered.

To discover more about Melvin's contribution to soul music go to the Melvin Davis article posted in Jan '23 and if you feel inclined, please donate via the GoFundMe page.

The song featured on a 2010 compilation "Detroit Ambassador of Soul" released by Spanish label Vampi Soul which we posted in Jan. We are not entirely sure if it is the same version as on Alan's tape and neither does Alan, so where Vampi Soul got the masters from is a mystery!

The single will be available to pre-order from Soul Direction shortly for release on 30 Jun '23 and you know will that you are helping one of Detroit's rare soul legends who contributed so much to the rare/Northern Soul scene in particular.

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

Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Soul Direction
Cat No:	SD022
Date:	30/06/2023
Key/BPM:	8B/107
Price:	£15

Reuben James [2023] - Champagne Kisses [Rufio Records] (Album Teaser)

The title track from Reuben James' new studio album "Champagne Kisses" was released on 2 Jun featuring Ric Wilson, CARRTOONS & Joel Culpepper which followed two other tracks from the album, "Love Stoned" (May '23) and "Means The World" (Apr '23).

The full album is due out on Friday 23 Jun along with seven new songs, one of which features legendary vibesman Roy Ayers.

We are informed that it is his debut album although he released "Adore" in 2019 (which may be classed as an EP) along with "Tunnel Vision" which we believe is a live recording so this will be his first full studio album. In Dec '22 he also released his first set of solo recordings "Piano Love 1".

We've include the three singles released so far and will, of course, post the full album on release on Friday.

Birmingham based James made his name writing and touring with Sam Smith. He wrote songs for Smith's 4-million-selling album "The Thrill Of It All" and they have performed together around the world including at The Oscars and The Grammys.

He has worked and collaborated with the likes of Stormzy, Sam Smith, Disclosure, Marcus Mumford and Herbie Hancock which has led to James developing a unique sound and style of his own and he is now widely considered as one of the most exciting artists to have emerged from the UK in recent years.

Tracklist

01 - Toast (feat. CARRTOONS)

02 - Champagne Kisses (feat. Ric Wilson, Joel Culpepper & CARRTOONS)

03 - Means The World (feat. Braxton Cook, CARRTOONS & Gareth Lockrane)

04 - This Could Be (feat. Conor Albert _&CARRTOONS)

05 - Love Stoned (feat. House of El)

06 - Sun Goes Down

07 - Time Will Tell

08 - Do To Me

09 - Satisfaction (feat. Roy Ayers, CARRTOONS & FONVILLE)

10 - Deep End

The track most likely to get picked up on, we think, will be "Sun Goes Down" with "Do To Me" being a nice retro sweet soul style ballad and then there's "Satisfaction" which feature Roy Ayers.

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:	TBC
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album Promo
Media:	Digital
Label:	Rufio Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/06/2023
Price:	£TBC

Joe Leavy [2023] - Soul On Fire [Self Released] (Album Teaser)

Joe Leavy announced last week that his long awaited, and highly anticipated, sophomore album "Soul On Fire" is available to pre-order from his website on CD from 15 Jun for release on 7 Jul.

As you may understand, Joe and his UK promoter Steve Ripley do not want to go the traditional route of 'giving away' the album for free on promotion to DJs as it may severely hinder CD sales, so DJs do not expect to receive this album as a freebie anytime soon. We know Joe has been working on this album for a long time as it was initially scheduled for release in Sep '22

The album is currently only available on CD but Joe told us that when you pre-order the CD you will receive a digital download now. A stand alone digital download will not be available for a month or two

He relayed to us that he requests that DJs do NOT play unreleased tracks from the album until the album is officially released as he says "we don’t want to kill the buzz for potential album purchases by having unreleased songs routinely played", he goes on "Those that pre order the album receive a link to download lossless wav files of the album with a request asking DJ’s and Podcast host not play unreleased songs to support our sales efforts".

We are very saddened to hear last night that Joe's nephew Kevin Leavy Jr. has died aged only 37 and we have passed on our sincere condolences to Joe and his family at what should have been an exciting time for Joe with his album launch and upcoming tour.

Track List:

01 - Inside You (Smooth Soul)

02 - Find A Way To Love (Smooth Soul Jazz)

03 - Love All The Hurt Away ft Robin Joy & Joel Valera (Classic Soul)

04 - Give It Right ft Juanita Wynn (R&B / POP)

05 - Let it Go ft Steve Hanuman (Smooth Jazz)

06 - Do It Again ft Althea Renee (Smooth Soulful Jazz)

07 - Too Much Love (Smooth Soul)

08 - Love Me To My Soul (Soul)

09 - Words ft Donald Hayes (Smooth Soul Jazz)

10 - Up A Notch ft Juanita Wynn (R&B)

11 - Soul On Fire (Go-go / Gospel)

A solid set of eleven tracks with something for everyone, ballads ("Love All The Hurt Away" / "Words"), steppers ("Find A Way To Love") nodders ("Up A Notch"), upbeat dancers ("Give It Right" / "Soul On Fire") and downright soulful ("Too Much Love") .. just buy it as you won't be disappointed as there are no fillers and there aren't many albums you can say that about!

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:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	CD / Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	07/07/2023
Price:	£16 / £12