Smidi Beats feat. Angie La Spina [2024] - I'll Say It Again / What about Us [Self Released]

We've come across several releases by Smidi Beats over recent months. Many are a bit hit and miss, but this one stood out. A bit of digging uncovered that the song was released by Angie La Spina in Apr 2016 as "I Said It Before" and sounds very similar and has the same running time, so a reissue or a remix? Judge for yourself as we found the original on YouTube (below).

Angie is from Nevada and the video states that it was the second single from a forthcoming album "Why Not Us" which we can find no trace of, although it was the title of the first single in Dec 2015 and is quite a nice stepper (also included below).  Curiously, it has also been released as Smidi Beats feat. Angie La Spina with the amended title "What about Us".

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul / Reissue?
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	12/04/2024
Key/BPM:	8B/74 / 12A/84
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2024 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Carl Hall [2023] - You Don't Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 [Warner Music Group] (Full Album)

A compilation of recordings by Carl Hall "You Don't Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972" from his period at Loma and Atlantic has been reissued on CD, although not available digitally. It was originally released in 2015 by Ominivore.

Hall released six singles on Mercury between 1964-66 before joining Loma for two singles in 1967-68 followed by just the one single released on Atlantic. The compilation  includes both sides of the three singles along with another thirteen unreleased tracks which includes alternate takes of four of the songs.

Hall was born Carl Henry Caldwell in Pittsburgh, PA in 1934 and began singing in church and joined Ohio based The Raspberry Singers and became their lead singer by the time they released their first single on Vee Jay in 1954. He left the group when drafted into military service and when demobbed in 1962 began his solo career. 

His first couple of singles were covers released as C. Henry Hall  and Carl Henry Hall on Mercury . His third Mercury single was produced by Gene Redd and Quincy Jones. Two of his further singes were produced by Lou Courtney and the other by George Kerr before he met Jerry Ragavoy. 

Ragavoy, impressed by his four octave range, secured him a contract with Warners Bros. imprint Loma where the flip side of his first single is a Northern Soul in-demander "Mean It Baby" but is probably now more sought after for the killer deep soul official A side "You Don't Know Nothing About Love". One more single was released by Loma before it went bust: "I Don't Want to Be Your Used to Be" / "The Dam Busted".

Despite the lack of success on any of his singles so far, Ragovoy stuck with Hall for his next release "Need Somebody To Love" / "Change With The Seasons" on Atlantic in 1972 which also failed to make any commercial impact.

Although, unfortunately  not on this compilation as it was released by Columbia in 1973, one of his most sought after recording is "What About You" (included below). Only one further single is listed for him, a house/dance song "I Just Love Makin' Love" in 1987, which we're not entirely convinced is the same artist as it is completely out of kilter with other releases.

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul / Deep Soul
Format:	Album / Compilation
Media:	CD
Label:	Warner Music Group
Cat No:	None
Date:	19/05/2023
Price:	£9.61

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Brooklyn Funk Essentials [2019/2015] - Watcha Want From Me / Blast It! [Dorado Records]

Whilst looking for videos from the new Brooklyn Funk Essentials album "Intuition" we came across a couple from their previous two albums not released as singles. So if you missed them first time around, then here they are.

The first is "Watcha Want From Me" from "Stay Good" featuring the lead vocals of Alison Limerick and Desmond Foster. The song is a re-make of "Whadda U Want (From Me)" from Frankie Knuckles' "Welcome To The Real World" album (1995) that featured Adeva on lead vocals.

The other is "Blast It!" from "Funk Ain't Ova" (2015) featuring vocals from Stephanie McKay, and Desmond Foster.

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Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Acid Jazz
Format:	Album Tracks
Media:	Digital
Label:	Dorado Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	2019/2015
Key/BPM:	4A/120 / 8B/112
Price:	£1 / £1

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Reynolds [2023] - Don’t You Worry Baby the Best Is Yet To Come [Super Weird Substance]

Forthcoming on a Super Weird Substance 7" single is "Don’t You Worry Baby the Best Is Yet To Come" parts 1 and 2 by The Reynolds. It was initially released as a 12" in 2015 and is now available to pre-order from vinyl dealers on 7" vinyl for the first time with a release date of 28 Apr '23.

The Reynolds are Merseyside twins, Carmel and Katherine Reynolds (with Katherine on lead vocals), who have worked with label owner Greg Wilson on various projects. 

The song was originally recorded by Bessie Banks on Quality in 1976 which had a reissue of her deep soul classic "Try To Leave Me If You Can" on the B side (originally on Volt in 1974). Sandy Barber then released it on her "The Best Is Yet To Come" Olde World album in 1978. 

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Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Cover Version
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Super Weird Substance
Cat No:	None
Date:	28/04/2023
Key/BPM:	7B/110
Price:	£13

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Karlos Edwards [2015] - Karlito's Way [i2 Records #i2CDA-001] (Full Album)

As mentioned in the Karlos Edwards post for his new single "With You" with Elle Cato, here's his 2015 album "Karlito's Way" which features Omar, Don-E, Natalie “The Floacist” Williams, Paul Johnson, Junior Giscombe and Chris Ballin as well as Mark Harrison.

These are all new, contemporary, takes on well known 70s/80s gems.

01 - In The Stone (EWF "I Am" 1979)

02 - Hold Me Tighter In The Rain (Billy Griffin "Be With Me" 1982) 

       feat. Junior Giscombe & Natalie "The Floacist" Williams

03 - Any Old Sunday (Chaka Khan "What Cha' Gonna Do For Me" 

       1981) feat. Paul Johnson & Natalie "The Floacist" Williams 

04 - It's A Shame (The Spinners 1970)

05 - Daydreaming (Aretha Franklin "Young, Gifted And Black" 1972) 

       feat. Natalie “The Floacist” Williams

06 - I Need Your Loving (Teena Marie "Irons In The Fire" 1980)

07 - Keep On That Same Old Feeling 

       (Side Effect "What You Need" 1976 / 

       Crusaders "Those Southern Knights" 1976)

08 - Rising To The Top (Keni Burke "Changes" 1982)

09 - Love TKO (Teddy Pendergrass "TP" 1980)

10 - Velas (Quincy Jones "The Dude" 1981)

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Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul / Cover Versions
Format:	Album
Media:	CD
Label:	i2 Records
Cat No:	i2CDA-001
Date:	31/07/2015
Price:	£12

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Victor Willis [2015] - Follow Through [Harlem West Records #HWRCD 1001]

I don't think you would ever guess from this song that Victor Willis was a member of the Village People (he was the one dressed as a Police/Naval officer).  There was no such group initially as it was a studio project formed by a couple of French producers who recruited Willis to sing background vocals on some songs they had written. They released the first eponymously titled album Village People (taking the name from the Manhattan's Greenwich Village) and such was it's success that they they had to find members for live appearances and several dancers were recruited to dance around Willis.

The song "Follow Through" is from his only solo album "Solo Man" released on CD in 2015. However it was a previously unreleased album recorded for Casablanca in 1979 after he left Village People. You have to ask how on earth something of this quality could be left in the can for 36 years? It still sounds fresh to me now 43 years later!

It seems that after Willis' departure from the group, who were also signed to Casablanca, their sales plummeted and the label dropped them. Willis' contract was still with Village People and apparently the album got caught up in the contractual wrangles. Willis eventually got the rights to the tapes in 1981 and then they went missing reappearing in 2007.

Whilst the album was eventually released in 2015, as of 2019 it is no longer available on CD or digital, so to find one you'll need to search the second hand market (none currently available on Discogs). There are another three half decent ballads ("I Struck It Rich", "Could It Be You" and "Yes I Can"), but the rest of the material, as you may expect, is quite lame disco stuff.

The sound clip from YouTube is the full 5:54 album version. I believe that a sub 4 min Radio Edit may have been released.

Thanks to Gary Van Den Bussche for playing this on his lunchtime Starpoint Radio show last week which is what has prompted its posting.

Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Slow Jam
Format:	Album Track
Media:	CD
Label:	Harlem West Records
Cat No:	HWRCD 1001
Date:	2015
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£25 approx.

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Vasti Jackson [2022] - I'm Still in Love With You / I'm So Glad (We Are Back Together) [Izipho Soul #ZP84]

Vasti Jackson (pronounced Vast-Eye) is a blues guitarist and singer from McComb, Mississippi.  He was session musician at Malaco and became musical director and guitarist for Z. Z. Hill, Johnnie Taylor, Denise LaSalle, Little Milton, Bobby Bland.

He's released around five solo albums since 1994. In 2015 he released the sublime single "I'm Still in Love With You". Just prior to that in 2013 an album "New Orleans Rhythm Soul Blues", from which "I'm So Glad (We Are Back Together)" will be paired with the former on a new 7" single from Izipho Soul.

Available to pre-order from Izipho Soul for release on 10 Aug 2022.

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Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	10/08/2022
Key/BPM:	9B/96 / 12B/97
Price:	£12

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved