Soul Strutter: 07/26/23

Wednesday, 26 July 2023

R.I.P. - Sinéad O'Connor (8 Dec 1966 - 26 Jul 2023)

Dublin born singer Sinéad O'Connor, most famous for her rendition of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" in 1990, has died today aged 56.

O'Connor released ten studio albums, the last in 2014, with another, "No Veteran Dies Alone", which was slated for release last year but remains unreleased. However, a single intended for inclusion, a cover of Mahalia Jacksons "Trouble In The Word", was released in Oct 2020.

She was ordained as a Catholic priest in the late 90s, converting to Islam in 2018 changing her name to Shuhada Sadaqat. In June 2021 she published her memoirs, "Rememberings".

No cause off death has yet been reported but she has suffered from bi-polar disorder for many years and only 18 months ago her son Shane died aged just 17 after which she indicated that she wanted to kill herself and was hospitalised.

She has also been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and agoraphobia so was quite a troubled human being.

Con Brio [2023] - Whenever You Call [Self Released]

Seven piece San Francisco band Con Brio (named after an Italian musical directive meaning 'with spirit') released a four track EP "Seasons" last Sep (2022) and today have released their second single since then and their second of 2023 "Whenever You Call" featuring Viveca Hawkins.

They were formed in 2009 and released their debut album "From The Hip" in 2010. Since then they have released a further two albums and their second EP.

Their fourth album "Scream At It" is due on 11 Oct.

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

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Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	27/07/2023
Key/BPM:	8A/108
Price:	£1

Kinsman Dazz Band feat. Michael J. Calhoun [2023] - Saved [Creative Soul]

Michael J, Calhoun's Kinsman Dazz line-up Kinsman Dazz Band released a single "Ghetto Preacher" at the end of May. It was followed up last week (20 Jul) with another gospel inspired song "Saved".

Calhoun was an original member of Kinsman Dazz who, after being signed to Motown, dropped Kinsman and were known simply as Dazz Band who had a #1 R&B / #5 Hot 100 hit on Motown with "Let It Whip" and R&B Top 10 hits with "On The One For Fun", "Joystick" and "Let It Al Blow" in the early 80s.

We noted that the label was Creative Soul and have had it confirmed by label owner Cliff Steele that it is scheduled for release on 7" vinyl paired with "Ghetto Preacher" in early October.

It's available to pre-order from Creative Soul's Bandcamp store now for shipping in Oct. We've included the music video for "Ghetto Preacher" to remind you.

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

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul / Gospel
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Creative Soul
Cat No:	None
Date:	20/07/2023
Key/BPM:	8B/83
Price:	£1

Brian Power & Cornell C.C. Carter [2023] - Sometimes [SoulHouse Music] PROMO

Dropping on Friday is a single from Brian Power featuring Cornell C.C. Carter called "Sometimes".

We are unable to share it with you until release otherwise we will suffer the wrath of promoter 'The Talented' Mr. Ripley. You don't have long to wait and at least this gives you a heads up to look out for it.

As well as joining forces with Cornell, Brian wrote the song with Reel People's Mike Patto and Toni Economides along with Wenlery Sofia Maria Manuel (aka Enlery) who provides backing vocals. Patto and Economides also perform on and produced the song.

It's a smooth modern soul dancer (not too dissimilar to his recent outing with Roachford "Got To Be") set at around 110 BPM that will surely get heads nodding and toes tapping, if not fully strutting your stuff to.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	SoulHouse Music
Cat No:	None
Date:	28/07/2023
Key/BPM:	8A/110
Price:	£1

Mountain of Soul Episode 14

The Mixcloud podcast for Mountain of Soul Episode 14 hosted by Kev Roberts.

All previous Episodes HERE

Playlist

01 - Daisy Burris [1966] - Four Strong Winds [Deesu #303] £350-£400

02 - The Secrets [1966] - I Feel A Thrill Coming On [Omen #15] £75-£150 Promo

03 - Du-ettes - [2015] - Stop, Call The Cop [Secret Stash #SSR-LP-35 2] £25-£40

04 - Otis Clay [2017] - Thank you Love [Secret Stash #SSR-2007] £12.50-£50

05 - Compliments [1969] - Beware, Beware [Midas #M-304] £117-£156

06 - Eldrige Holmes [1964] - Gone, Gone, Gone [Jet Set #765] £75-£100

07 - Little Richie [1966] - One Bo-Dillion Years 9Sound Stage 7 #SS45-2567] £135

08 - June Edwards [1967] - Heaven Help Me [South Camp #7001] £20-£40

09 - Ted Ford [1968] - You're Gonna Need Me [Sound Stage 7 #45-2604] £35-£45

10 - Tony Borders [1971] - Promise To Myself [Quinvy #Q-7101] £1,000

VA [2023] - Smooth Sailing [Charly] (Full Album)

A great twelve track compilation for lovers of 70s soul, "Smooth Sailing", was released on Friday by Charly.

We suspect that many of these tracks have been featured by the Charly sponsored 'Mountain Of Soul' podcast hosted by Kev Roberts (all of which, except the latest Episode 14, we have posted).

The compilation takes it's name from a Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong written song "Smooth Sailing" recorded by Three Shades Of Soul on Enjoy in 1972. The song was recorded by The Temptations a year earlier with Damon Harris on lead vocals after Eddie Kendricks' departure from the group.

Without checking them thoroughly, most appear to be 70s recordings, some released later e.g. "If We Don't" by 94 East feat. Prince was an unreleased 70s recording released by Charly on a 1995 compilation and reissued on 45 for the first time last year.

Many will be familiar with most of the tracks but for those not then you won't hear a finer Philly recording than Touch Of Class' "I Love You Pretty Baby". Other highlights include Mary Mundy's sublime 1980 two stepper "You Put A Hurtin’ On Me" and Gene Townsel's "I'm Walking Away", all of which have been previously featured here.

A, perhaps, lesser know track is from actress Teresa Graves "Every Day's A New Day" from her 1970 self-titled (and only) album.

Another perhaps not that well known is Al Jarreau's cover of Al Green's "Look What You've Done For Me" from a 1979 album "Call Me" consisting of all Al Green cover songs.

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

Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	70s Soul / Modern Soul
Format:	Album / Compilation
Media:	Digital
Label:	Charly
Cat No:	None
Date:	21/07/2023
Price:	£7.99

Tanika Charles [2023] - The Union Sessions [Record Kicks] (Full EP)

At the end of June Tanika Charles pre-released the first track from the forthcoming live EP "The Union Sessions", "Think Of You". The full EP is out today.

The first four songs appeared on her debut project "What? What! What?!" in 2010 with the final track "Since You Been Gone" from "The Gumption" (2019). Tanika has tried and tested them for over a decade at live shows and brings that into the live studio sessions so don't think that they are simply regurgitations of previous album tracks, and the EP is very reasonably priced at only £1.79! All songs were recorded off the floor in a single afternoon sitting at Union Sound without overdubs.

The band included some of the best musicians in Canada with D/SHON Henderson and Tafari Anthony on vocals, Jemuel “J3M” Roberts (piano, EP and synths) and the core band Damian Matthew (bass), Robb Cappelletto (guitar) and Austin Gembora (drums) who are members of Toronto band re.verse. We are told that James Jones popped in for all of 20 minutes to record his verse on "Parkdale".

Our picks are "Parkdale", "Since You've Been Gone" and "Think Of You".

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

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Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	Y Tracks 3 & 4
Genre/Style:	New Soul / Live
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital
Label:	Record Kicks
Cat No:	None
Date:	26/07/2023
Price:	£1.79

Bobby Boyd [2023] - Bobby Boyd (2023 Remaster) [Athens Of The North] (Full Album)

Athens Of The North has remastered and reissued a 1976 self-titled album from Bobby Boyd last Friday.

Boyd formed Bobby Boyd Congress in 1970 who released an album in 1971. The group was the predecessor to Lafayette Afro Rock Band changing their name when they relocated from New York to Paris in 1971. Boyd left the group and returned to New York with the group staying in Paris and renaming themselves Ice. They had several other identities including, for those who have the misfortune of remembering it, Crispy & Co with a cheesy disco single "Brazil" which was a disco-fied version of a 50s samba recording by Ary Barroso "Aquarela Do Brasil." This was a bit of a trend in the mid/late 70s with every man and his dog jumping on the disco bandwagon with disco versions of many standards wasting vinyl!

Anyway, we digress. Boyd released a solitary, self-titled, solo album on tax scam label Tiger Lily in 1976 having previously released two singles in 1965 on Veep and 1968 on Bang. Boyd was introduced to George Benson via Benson's manager Jimmy Boyd, and Benson produced the album. With it being released on a tax scam label, deliberately set up as a tax loss offset, the album was doomed from the start with no promotion and has remained in obscurity. Only one original is listed on Discogs with an asking price of £1,170 (and it's only VG) and none have sold there except for a promo copy in Dec 2020 for what looks like a bargain price of £387!

The opening track "Why Are We Crying" has long been admired on the UK rare soul scene and was reissued by Cambridge DJ Andy Davies on his Street Soul label in 2012 along with a later previously unreleased recording "I Went Along With Your Program" from 1991.

The album has been previously reissued twice in 2011 on CD and vinyl and again in 2012 on CD and AOTN reissued it digitally in May 2018 via Bandcamp, but, presumably, this latest release is a better quality remastered edition, or has just been made more widely available? Although we note that the new edition contains an extra track not on any of the other releases i.e. track 5 "'Cause I Love You".

The album is available digitally and on vinyl via Bandcamp.

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

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	70s Soul / Funk
Format:	Album / Reissue
Media:	Digital / Vinyl
Label:	Athens Of The North
Cat No:	None
Date:	21/07/2023
Price:	£6.49 / £22.99

Johnnie Taylor [2023] - A Love To Call Mine / When She Stops Asking [Shotgun Records #SHOT 120]

The fourth, and final, forthcoming single from Shotgun Records consists of tracks from two Johnnie Taylor albums.

The A side is a George Jackson & Robert Miller song, "A Love To Call Mine", from his 1984 Malaco album "This Is Your Night" which will be the first time on 45.

It has been paired with "When She Stops Asking", a 1986 Paul Kelly penned Malaco single from his 1985 "Wall To Wall" album.

It's due on 27 Oct '23 and, as we don't yet have Shotgun label scans, we've used scans from the original vinyl releases.

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

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Southern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl / Reissue
Label:	Shotgun Records
Cat No:	SHOT 120
Date:	27/10/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£TBC

G.C. Cameron [2023] - Hold You To Your Promise / A Night Like This In Georgia (Give Me Your Love LP) [Shotgun Records #SHOT 119] (Full Album)

Recently a four track EP of 80s recordings by G.C. Cameron ("Live For Love") was released by Soundway Records. Cameron released just one album in the 80s on Malaco ("Give Me Your Love") after leaving Motown and releasing a single for UK's Flamingo, which was the subject of the EP.

Shotgun Records is reissuing two tracks from the Malaco album ("Hold You To Your Promise" / "A Night Like This In Georgia") on 7" vinyl scheduled for 27 Oct. It will be the first time on single for these tracks as only one single was released from the album consisting of the first two tracks from it.

"A Night Like This In Georgia" is a deep soul ballad written by Frank Johnson (aka Frank-O) who was a one-time member of Motown's song writing team with his songs recorded by many top artists such as Supremes, Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Womack, Thelma Houston and many others. The flip, "Hold You To Your Promise", was written by Paul Kelly.

As we did with Shotgun's forthcoming Sandra Wright release, we'll post the full album in lieu of the single release.

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

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Southern soul
Format:	Single / Album
Media:	7" Vinyl / Digital
Label:	Shotgun Records / Malaco
Cat No:	SHOT 119 / MAL 7413
Date:	27/10/2023 / 01/05/1983
Price:	£TBC / £7.99

Sandra Wright [2023] - I Come Running Back / I'm Not Strong Enough (Wounded Woman LP) [Shotgun Records #SHOT 118] (Full Album)

Following their last release of Randolph Brown & Company (i.e. Randy Brown) in March '22, Paul Mooney's Selrec has just announced four forthcoming releases on the Shotgun imprint due in Aug to Oct.

The first, SHOT 117 due on 18 Aug, is billed as Herb Rooney "Curse The Brother" c/w Brenda Rooney "Moving Day" (sampled by Brand Nubian on Love Vs Hate in 1998). We've not received sound clips so don't know for sure whether these are alternate versions of both songs released by The Exciters on their self-titled album on an obscure New York tax scam label Tomorrow in 1977. Needless to say it's a hard one to find with only one currently for sale on Discogs priced at £120. It was also released on Sylvia Robinson's Vibration label.

Therefore, we'll skip to the next release which is actually a reissue on the label for Sandra Wright's modern soul anthem "I Come Running Back" as they released it in 2011 (it was also reissued by Outta Sight in 2019). This time though it has a different flip "I'm Not Strong Enough To Love You Again", the 2011 release had "Please Don't Say Good-bye".

There is an unfortunate back story to Sandra Wright. She released two singles on Stax imprint Truth in 1974 and recorded a full album "Wounded Woman" but as Stax was in financial difficulty around the time the album never saw the light of day until many years later when UK's Demon released it in 1989. Both sides are taken from this album.

Prior to her two singles on Truth in 1974-75, she released two singles on Coral in 1968. In 1985 she released a version of a blues song written by Ted Jarrett '(It's Love Baby) 24 Hours A Day', recorded by many other artists. Apart from these singles and the 'Wounded Woman' album the only other release, apart from reissues, was an album of jazz standards in 2003 'After Hours featuring Big Joe Burrell'

The release is a way off yet, scheduled for 15 Sep, therefore, we have decided to post the full "Wounded Woman" album as it's a superb album and was reissued digitally in Apr 2015 by Passion Music and is still available. You'd expect to pay around £100 or more for a near mint vinyl copy on Demon.

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

Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Southern Soul
Format:	Single / Album
Media:	7" Vinyl / Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	15/09/2023 / 20/04/2015
Price:	£TBC / £7.99

Jalen Ngonda [2023] - That's All I Wanted From You [Daptone Records]

Today we are treated to yet another single from Jalen Ngonda's forthcoming album "Come Around And Love Me" following the title track on 29 Jun and a few other singles released previously.

The new single is the very Motownesque "That's All I Wanted From You".

The album is due for release on 8 Sep but we posted samples of album tracks earlier this month.

Jalen has US and European dates lined up to promote the album, see below.

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

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

NB click to enlarge dates

Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Daptone Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	26/07/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£1