News

  Stuart Cosgrove's trilogy, Detroit 67 The Year That Changed Soul (2016), Memphis 68 The Tragedy Of Southern Soul (2018), and Harlem 69 The Future Of Soul (2018) are prodigious feats of research and scholarship – musical, political, social – and are best read, considered and reviewed as a whole. It is a trilogy to match any written work on music. Cosgrove sees in the story of each complete year in Detroit (1967), Memphis (1968) and Harlem (1969) pivots in black music, politics and society that shaped not only the histories of those years but the decades to come. In the era of Black...

E. Mark Windle  29 November 2020.   Just received some news via "Man from Soul" Alan Kitchener, regarding an exciting new vinyl release on his Soul-Direction imprint, planned for early 2021: Eddie Holman – “Ready Willing Able” B/W “Too Young for Love” (Soul-Direction SD002) "Until recently this unknown Virtue acetate was unearthed from the belongings of legendary Philly producer/musician/songwriter John Stiles, and recorded around the same time as "Stay Mine For Heaven Sake" at Virtue Studios in Philadelphia. Eddie's rendition of "Ready, Willing and Able" was something that was thought to have been written for another singer which was to...

  Guest reviewer: Toby Broom  August  2020. Quincy Jones, giant of 20th century popular culture. Quincy Jones, the polymath: trumpeter, bandsman, arranger, scorer, orchestrator, song writer, musical writer, writer, band leader, tour empresario, A & R, record label executive, record label owner, music publisher, publisher, conductor, film scorer, record producer, film producer, TV producer, media mogul, educator, mentor, talent scout, philanthropist, not-for-profit director, political activist… Q: The Autobiography Of Quincy Jones does not just leave the reader marvelling at the accomplishments or shaking their head in wonder at the who’s who of 20th century popular culture Quincy Jones worked with...

Even by the standards of his peer group, soul man Bobby Womack led a turbulent, dramatic and complex life. Telling the story in his own words, the book’s opening pages set the tone for the torrid ride ahead. Caught in bed with his teenage step-daughter, Womack is chased down by his wife Barbara who gives him a new side-parting with a bullet from her gun. That Barbara is Sam Cooke’s widow and step-daughter Linda goes on to marry Bobby Womack’s brother Cecil sets a high bar for tortuous relationship dynamics among musical folk. Cooke is pivotal to Womack’s story and...

OK folks, be sure to look out for some fantastic upcoming soul releases from the new Scotland-based North Broad St Records, launched this month. Project manager Colin Law and director John Buckley are familiar names on the soul scene. The aim of the label is to present an extensive catalogue of previously unreleased material, sourced from acetates and master-tape, alongside very selective reissues of rare or hard to find 45s from the soul arena. Let's be clear, there are strictly no pigeon-holing or restrictions on sub-genres here, just damn fine soul music. Whether deep, modern, sweet, northern, crossover, dancers or ballads are...