Soul Strutter: 09/18/23

Monday, 18 September 2023

Don-E [2023] - 30 [Self Released] (Full Album)

Veteran of the UK soul scene Don-E celebrates his 30th anniversary with a new album called "30", of course! We posted samples in mid Jul as it was previously only available direct from his website but is now available on all digital platforms.

Donald George McLean broke through in 1992 with a single "Love Makes The World Go Round" which was a UK Top 20 hit peaking at #18 in May 1992.

The lead single "so sensational" was released on Bandcamp on Valentine's Day with "Digah D Bump" (6 Jun) and three remixes of it following on 16 Jun.

Other tracks that have been receiving airplay are "Good Clothes On", "I Got You" feat Carl McIntosh (Loose Ends) and "Out Here" feat. Omar & Eneeks. The album also contains a version of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's 1977 hit "Real Motha For Ya".

Don-E has recently been on tour with former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel.

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Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	01/09/2023
Price:	£7.99

Jewel Bass [2023] - In And Out Of Love [Soul4Real #S4RLP03] (Full Album)

Annie 'Jewel' Bass was the female lead singer in Centaura and Carbon Copies, apparently gaining the name Jewel from her "jewel" voice. She released four singles on Malaco between 1973-79 and in 2010 Garry Cape put out a dozen of her recordings (all her singles and six unreleased songs (one side was released twice and another was an instrumental)) on a Soulscape CD "Malaco Soul Sisters" along with nine tracks by Dorothy Moore.

Soul4Real has taken all twelve tracks from "Malaco Soul Sisters" for their third vinyl album release titled "In And Out Of Love" scheduled for release on 20 Oct. They have also included an unreleased track "Sweet High" which they released as a single in 2020 along with another, "I Wanna Know", from the same session at International Recording Studio, Pearl, MS, in 1981.

Sleeve notes from UK soul guru Steve Guarnori tell us that Jewel started singing in church (no surprise there) and got her start in secular music in a friend's group temporarily replacing their singer who was ill.

She joined Malaco Records in 1969 as a backing singer and recorded sessions with such luminaries as Johnny Taylor, Eddie Floyd, Bobby Blue Bland, Jean Knight, Tommy Tate, Latimore, Z.Z. Hill, Dorothy Moore as well as Barrett Strong, Tommie Young, King Floyd, Ted Taylor, Fern Kinney, Anita Ward, Denise LaSalle, G.C. Cameron, Little Milton, C.L. Blast and many others.

As well as the aforementioned groups, Jewel sang with The VIPs' (1973), Polephemus (1976) and These Days (1979).

Cliff Steele & Andy Tats Taylor's Creative Soul reissued Carbon Copies 'holy grail' recording "Just Don't Love You" along with "I Need Love" on vinyl in Oct '22.

The 2010 Soundscape CD is long deleted and is hard to come by on the resale market but now the full collection of Bass's recordings plus a bonus track are available together on vinyl for the first time.

Available to pre-order now via Soul4Real. Get your order in now as these tend to sell out on pre-order!

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Details

Rating:	8.7
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	70s Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Vinyl
Label:	Soul4Real
Cat No:	S4RLP03
Date:	20/10/2023
Price:	€24

Percy Sledge & Budapest Symphony Orchestra [2023] - When A Man Loves A Woman (Re-Recorded) [Orchestral Version] [Cleopatra Records]

On the back of the Northern Soul Proms a couple of weeks ago and several other orchestralised albums (e.g. Al Green, Motown, Myles Sanko to name a few), Percy Sledge's 1966 classic get the orchestral treatment via Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

Sadly it is probably the only song known by many from him which charted twice in the UK reaching #4 initially in 1966 and #2 when reissued in 1987 as a result of it featuring in one of the Levi's TV commercials. His only other UK chart hit was the 1966 follow-up single "Warm And Tender Love". "When A Man Loves A Woman" was his very first release which hit #1 on Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. Needless to say he never managed to equal it's success.

The song was written by two members of Sledges' group The Esquires (Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright) and originally recorded at Rick Hall's Fame Studios in Muscle Shoal. When a deal was struck with Atlantic Records, Jerry Wexler requested that it be re-recorded as he thought that the horns were out of tune. It was duly re-recorded at DJ Quin Ivy's Norala Studios, however, there was a tape mix up and it was actually the original recording that was released.

Sledge died of liver cancer in 2015 aged 74.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Classic Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Cleopatra Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	05/09/2023
Key/BPM:	3B/64
Price:	£1

4MySoul [2023] - Motown Vintage Soul, Vol. 2 [M F Records] (Full Album)

4MySoul is a collaboration between Nigerian born singer/songwriter Morris Onuegbue and Dutch producer Ted Peters. Two weeks ago they released their second album "Motown Vintage Soul" and follow it with "Motown Vintage Soul, Vol. 2 ".

Whilst the title of the opening track (our choice cut) may look familiar, it is not what you might expect given the album title. In fact the album title is a bit of a misnomer as none of the tracks have that Motown sound, they are all soulful ballads with a contemporary, yet timeless, edge.

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	M F Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	15/09/2023
Price:	£7.92

The Royal Esquires [2023] - Ain't Gonna Run b/w Our Love Used To Be [Numero Group #NUM4592]

A big in-demander on the UK rare soul scene from The Royal Esquires has been reissued digitally by Numero Group. A copy on original vinyl will cost up to £600.

It was originally played covered-up as The Embers "Playing the Part of a Fool" by Richard Searling at the tail end of Wigan Casino around 1980.

Formed in Columbus, OH, in the 60s as Soul Partners who recorded two singles before renaming themselves to The Royal Esquires who released just "Ain't Gonna Run" b/w "Our Love Used To Be" in 1969 on Prix. They were drafted into the Vietnam war and disbanded after this single. Two of the original four members went on to form Segments Of Time who recorded an album and two singles on Sussex in 1972-73. One of the other members, Donny Squires, was previously a member of Enchanted Five who released two singles on CVS in 1970 including the crossover gem "Have I Ever". To add a little more intrigue, the flip "Try A Little Love" was also recorded in 1972 by The Topics (Heavy Duty) which sounds almost identical, so who actually recorded it?

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Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Numero Group
Cat No:	NUM4592
Date:	01/01/2023
Key/BPM:	8B/158 / 4A/101
Price:	£1.79

The Sextones [2023] - Love Can't Be Borrowed [Record Kicks]

The Sextones' album "Love Can't Be Borrowed" is due out on 29 Sep with the last single from it is being the title track released on Wednesday.

The previous single, "Beck & Call", was paired with "Daydreaming" for vinyl release by Colemine. Other singles included "Without You" and "Better Late Than Never".

The Sextones have made their mark this year with several cover version singles but none are included on the album which consists of all original songs.

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Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Record Kicks
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/09/2023
Key/BPM:	11B/104
Price:	£0.69

Jalen Ngonda [2023] - Come Around and Love Me [Daptone Records #DAP-076] (Full Album)

The highly anticipated debut album, "Come Around and Love Me", from Jalen Ngonda was finally released last Friday (8 Sep '23) exactly a year after the first single "Just Like You Used To" from it was presented. In total six tracks have been released as singles with a few of them featuring on 7" vinyl.

The album is/was available on vinyl but all Daptone's copies have sold out so you will have to hunt a copy down from a dealer. There appear to be some still available via Bandcamp.

Most definitely another to be filed as a contender for album of the year in the company of other retro style albums from October London, Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints and possibly The Sextones whose album is due in a couple of weeks.

Jalen Ngonda grew up on the outskirts of Washington D.C. (Wheaton, MD) and began musical studies in grade school, where he dabbled in violin, ultimately moving on to the guitar and piano. He is from a musical family and gained inspiration from listening to his father’s collection of Motown albums.

He, like so many before him, cut his teeth in the church where he played organ which helped him raise funds to send him to the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in 2014, He currently resides in London.

He was spotted by Daptone co-founder Neal Sugarman whilst performing a chance, last minute, slot for Jools Holland and he was duly signed and an album was planned but unfortunately it occurred the month before Covid-19 lock down.

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Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital / Vinyl
Label:	Daptone Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	08/09/2023
Price:	£7.99 / $24.99