Kent

Thirty years on, we are still coming up with compilations from the 60s and 70s that soul fans continue to support and enjoy. These days the CD notes tell you more about the artists than the colour of DJ and LP sleeve designer Ian Clark’s odd socks. We have grown in knowledge and inquisitiveness and have almost run out of bad jokes.

Getting eventual access to all the major record labels has given us music from the Okeh, Chess, RCA, Atlantic and even the mighty Tamla Motown. This has meant our supply of sounds from this golden era is virtually limitless. Hugely influential independent labels like Stax, Goldwax, Fame, Westbound, Carnival, Mirwood, King, Scepter/Wand and others have learned to trust our integrity and have thrown open their doors saying “go ahead tell it like it was”. Smaller indies such as Sounds Of Memphis, Dave Hamilton’s Detroit productions and GWP have come up with iceberg sized vaults lying under the water level and have delivered superb soul music that had frequently unheard since its creation.

Then there are the series like Mod Jazz, Modern Masterpieces, Northern’s Classiest, New Breed R&B et al that just keep on coming. Chasing one lead will bring us a handful of tracks that we didn’t even know about and the label owner’s ex-partner will sometimes chip in with half a dozen tunes too. We’ve got solo CDs from acts as big as the Impressions, James Carr, Candi Staton and the Staples Singers all the way through runaway successes such as Doris Duke, Sam Dees, Spencer Wiggins, who were previously only known by the cognoscenti, on to O.C. Tolbert, Jackie Day, the Minits and Vernon Garrett who weren’t that well known on their blocks.