Soul recommendations

[winterversion]

Any soul music lovers? I got an Isaac Hayes record (Hot Buttered Soul) and really dig it. Any other recommendations?

[johansen smith]

Al Green, no doubt.

[9000]

the complete stax singles 1959-1968 box is essential. very nice starting point.

[Paul]

Sam Cooke had the greatest voice ever. Get to know it.

[flo's garage]

my dad's an old soul man (british, so its northern soul all the way), but he's got this 4 LP readers digest set from the late 70's called the history of motown and its bad ass. just stick that on and you've got a party.

[vesper]

make yourself familiar with soul jazz records and they'll make you familiar with everything else.

strictly as reference, here is the soul/doo wop/funk mix i made for the mixtrade --

1. chris clark - "love's gone bad"
2. chairmen of the board - "all we need is understanding"
3. alfreda brockington - "chained and bound"
4. four tops - "lonely lover"
5. otis redding - "fa-fa-fa-fa-fa (sad song)"
6. timebox - "beggin'"
7. bunny and cindy - "sure didn't take long"
8. the five stairsteps - "we must be in love"
9. the chi-lites - "are you my woman (tell me so)"
10. soul brothers six - "you gotta come a little closer"
11. ray charles - "i don't need no doctor"
12. nolan porter - "if i could only be sure"
13. the flamingos - "i only have eyes for you"
14. the cascades - "first love never dies"
15. the prisonaires - "just walkin' in the rain"

and here (http://matadorbb.bway.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2640&highlight=brockington)'s a (really short) thread on northern soul.

and psychadelic shack by the temptations is great!

[Elijah]

A lot of the best soul records are by artists who either didn't record full albums, or whose albums have not been in print for a good 20 years. Soul is one genre where compilations serve you well. This can be a pain, because you end up buying a lot of the same songs twice.

The following compilations are all great, containing a lot of obscurities and virtually no overlap: Dave Goodin's Deep Soul Treasures, Volumes 1-4
Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label
Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label
Motown: Hitsville USA
The Complete Stax-Volt Soul SIngles (all 27 discs)
Wheedle's Groove: Seattle's Finest in Funk & Soul 1965-75Motown is slowly re-releasing their entire singles catalog, just as Stax-Volt did in the early 90's. They've released the first two volumes (up to 1962) through Hip-O Select (http://www.hip-oselect.com/catalogue_motownsingles2.asp), and via the iTunes Music Store.

I've found that as a rule of thumb, up until the early 70's, the mono mixes tend to be better than the stereo mixes, because before AOR radio took over, stereo remained a gimmick in the minds of many, hence a lot more time and effort was put into the mono mixes. The mono single mix of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (available on the Motown Hitsville USA box) is a great example of this.

[mac m]

i'll reiterate the Stax box recommendation, you can not go wrong.

also those recent reissues on some division of astralwerks --

Willie Hightower
Candi Staton
Bettye Swann

are all fabulous.

also look for

PP Arnold
Bobby Patterson

there's so much stuff it's almost hard to recommend things because it goes on forever...have fun.

[winterversion]

Wow! Thanks guys for the info. I do have that Wheedle's Groove comp and it is pretty good. Are those eccentric soul comps on the Numero Group label?

[miss understood]

Anything by Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. The Otis Redding Dictionary and Live at the Harlem Square club especially. Also, try to see Otis's performance at Monterey Pop (on the DVD). Essential. :)

[9000]

also check out the norton records soul stomper series. shit is fierce.

[Elijah]

Originally posted by winterversion
Are those eccentric soul comps on the Numero Group label?Yep.

[Thor]

The golden three: Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Al Green.

There's enough awesome shit in their discographies to keep you smiling for a long time.

[SlangKing]

Gotta second the Al Green, Otis, Sam Cooke, Motown, Stax and Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures.

Some other soul discs I'd recommend-

Aretha Franklin- Her early albums are indispensible

Irma Thomas- "Time Is on My Side" on Kent records is great

James Carr- Any of the three Kent Reissues: "Complete Goldwax Singles", "A Man Needs a Woman" and "You Got My Mind Messed Up"

Howard Tate- "Get it While You Can" reissued on Hip-o-Select last year.

And these Kent comps: "The Birth of Soul" series, "The Goldwax Story" series, "Kent's Cellar of Soul", "King Northern Soul" and "Too Much Pain: King's Serious Soul"

On SoulJazz- "Saturday Night Fish Fry", "New Orleans Funk",
"The Miami Sound" and "Chicago Soul" are all worth checking out.

[Elijah]

Some under-appreciated female soul singers: Marva Whitney Mary Wells Fontella Bass Carla Thomas Kim Weston Brenda Holloway