[engl] Barbara Brown never had an LP release during her lifetime. Here is an approximation of what one might have sounded like. Like so many soul acts, Barbara Brown’s career was defined by a slow and sometimes interrupted stream of singles. Often alongside the Browns – her sisters Roberta, Betty and Maurice – she had releases on a variety of labels which, together with the previously unissued tracks featured on her Kent CD, and further discoveries made since, amount to a body of work as illustrious as any of her Memphis-based peers. Barbara’s first 45s were released on the Wil-Mo and Stax labels in 1963/4, while her final recordings appeared on Gene Lucchesi’s Sounds Of Memphis imprint in 1971/2. The tracks contained here were all recorded between 1966 and 1968 for Lucchesi’s XL label, although most were leased out to other companies and the rest were not issued at the time. Never a studio man, Lucchesi left the recording side of things to his partners Stan Kesler, who was responsible for putting together the band, and producer Charles Chalmers, famed for his saxophone work on some of Aretha Franklin’s hits. ‘Plenty Of Room’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Have To Wait’ were issued on Cadet, ‘Can’t Find No Happiness’ and ‘A Great Big Thing’ on Atco, ‘Things Have Gone To Pieces’ and ‘There’s A Look On Your Face’ on Tower, and ‘You Don’t Love Me’ and ‘If I Can’t Run To You I’ll Crawl’ were belatedly released as the inaugural single on Sounds Of Memphis in 1971. The remaining tracks – ‘Play Thing’, ‘I’m Gonna Start A War’, ‘Man Around The House’, ‘Got To Be Somebody’ and ‘It Hurts Me So Much (To Be Able To Look And To Know I Can’t Touch)’ – all premiered on the CD “Can’t Find Happiness”, issued here on Kent in 2007. Following her final Sounds Of Memphis releases, Barbara retired from music to bring up her family. This LP, in rounding up her 1960s recordings for Gene Lucchesi, confirms the fact that she was one of the greatest singers to have recorded in Memphis during that decade. DEAN RUDLAND

[engl] A vinyl album featuring 14 of her finest sides for Money Records of Los Angeles. Bettye Swann scored an R&B hit with ‘Don’t Wait Too Long’, her catchy debut single for Money in 1965. She seemed to have a bright future but her follow-up, the Motownesque ‘The Man That Said No’, did not chart, nor did the tougher-sounding ‘The Heartache Is Gone’. However, Money’s perseverance paid off when the self-written ‘Make Me Yours’ pressed all the right buttons and spent two weeks at the top of the R&B charts in 1967. The song was later covered by Z.Z. Hill and Spencer Wiggins, becoming an established soul classic. Bettye wrote many of her own songs at Money. Among the few exceptions was an exquisite rendition of Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ from her “Make Me Yours” LP. An earlier album had been scheduled after her first hit but was shelved when the follow-ups failed. That album would have contained ‘The Dance Is Over’ and a faster version of her later single ‘I Think I’m Falling In Love’, both included here. The momentum from her big hit carried over to ‘Fall In Love With Me’ but the next 45, a cover of the Temptations’ ‘Don’t Look Back’, fared less well. A far better choice for the A-side might have been the melodic flip, ‘You Gave Me Love’, which Bettye co-wrote with Arthur Wright, whose sensitive arrangements contributed so much to the great sound of her Money recordings. Her swansong for the label was the unusual ‘Don’t Take My Mind’ which was not sufficiently far-out to catch on at a time when psychedelic soul was becoming popular. Bettye’s manager and new husband, George Barton, then took her to Capitol Records where she was assigned a white producer who switched the emphasis from her self-penned material to country and standards. This LP is testament to her superb skills as songwriter and vocalist at her first and most successful label stay.

[engl] A vinyl album containing the dozen solo tracks Mary recorded for Modern in the 60s and two gospel-soul essentials from the 80s. Mary Love’s vocals topped and tailed the first two groundbreaking UK Kent LPs in 1982 and she has had a place in the hearts of Kent collectors ever since. Her recordings for Los Angeles’ Modern label covered the golden age of soul music, 1965-1967, and ranged from Motown-inspired dance tracks to beautiful ballads, raunchy blues-based numbers and even a gospel-tinged rave-up on ‘Dance Children Dance’. We have collected them all on to a vinyl LP for the first time and added two highlights from her self-produced soulful gospel tracks, recorded in the 80s. That era was indeed her second coming, musically as well as spiritually, with ‘Come Out Of The Sandbox’ taking on anthemic status among European soul fans. ‘You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet’, ‘Lay This Burden Down’ and ‘Let Me Know’ had already achieved that standing among Northern Soul fans, who have danced along for many years. The more tender side of her work can be heard in Ashford & Simpson’s ‘Baby I’ll Come’, while her only Modern hit, the sensual ‘Move A Little Closer’, is another show-stopper. Mary loved the family atmosphere that Modern Records created at their South Normandie Ave complex. Los Angeles soul was booming and producers, writers and arrangers of the calibre of Maxwell Davis, Arthur Wright, Frank Wilson, Marc Gordon, the Pipkin brothers and Richard Parker were employed by the company to bring out the best of this vivacious young singer. Sales were healthy but not spectacular and, like many artists, Mary only found out later in life that her work was revered across the ocean in Europe. That said, we then got to meet her and see her perform several times. Ace/Kent and the Love family continue to have a great relationship.

[engl] A stylish vinyl collection of Maxine’s finest Wand recordings, including a trio of 60s soul stompers discovered in the tape vaults in the 80s. Maxine Brown has been popular in the black music world since 1960. ‘All In My Mind’, her hit debut, is cited as one of the first soul records but it was not until she moved to the Wand label in 1963 that her career really took off. Maxine’s golden period included her signature hit ‘Oh No, Not My Baby’ and beautiful ballads such as ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’ and ‘Gotta Find A Way’. These are loved in the UK but it was her less familiar, uptempo Wand releases that turned her from an admired artist to a soul goddess on the Northern Soul scene. The hard-to-find ‘One In A Million’ and ‘Let Me Give You My Lovin’’ were played at rare soul dances for many years, attaining classic status on the scene, despite not selling enough to chart in the USA at the time of release. Interestingly, when her run of solo R&B hits dried up Maxine continued to reach the pop charts with ‘One Step At A Time’ and ‘If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody’, illustrating that she had picked up a sizeable white audience. By the 1980s the depth of her catalogue was being appreciated and ‘Yesterday’s Kisses’, ‘Since I Found You’, ‘Little Girl Lost’ and the Van McCoy-penned beauty ‘I Wonder What My Baby’s Doing Tonight’ all gained DJ plays. Her music appealed to the mod revivalists as much as the Northern dancers. Then, at just the right moment, Kent Records raided the Scepter-Wand vaults for previously unissued tracks, including the glorious dancers ‘It’s Torture’, ‘I Want A Guarantee’ and the Otis Redding-produced stomper ‘Baby Cakes’, all of which were first issued in 1985 by Kent on vinyl. The recent upsurge of interest in Kent LPs gives us the opportunity to make them available to vinyl lovers once more. Maxine is still performing and her reputation as an all-time great continues to grow. ADY CROASDELL

[engl] Having been brought up as much on albums as singles, it is a natural progression for Kent to make a 12-inch version of our “Masterpieces Of Modern Soul” CD series. The modern soul fan is used to wielding vinyl 12-inchers and our latest Kent LP is aimed squarely at them. Act 1’s fantastic ‘It’s The Same Old Story’, one of the most melodious songs of the era, is lifted from their Spring album. The same label also gives us Millie Jackson’s raunchy ‘If That Don’t Turn You On’ from her “For Men Only” LP, suitably edited for DJs’ convenience. The Mayberry Movement were on sister label Event and we have included their smooth and addictive ‘Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right’, a turn of the century tape discovery. On the pricey side, we feature Eddie Billups’ anthem ‘Shake Off That Dream’ – all together now, sing along. Scarce is more the word for Gail Anderson’s Doré release ‘Just A Little Ugly’, which is anything but, while stable-mates the Natural Resources have the recently discovered tape find ‘If There Were No You’, which would have graced the Blackpool Mecca if it had been known about a few decades earlier. We dip our toes into 1980s water with tracks from seminal Detroit producer Dave Hamilton, whose later recordings are proving to be as highly admired as his work from the golden era of 60s soul. Nightchill’s ‘I Don’t Play Games’ sounds like a hit, while the slightly earlier ‘I’ve Never Felt This Way Before’ by New Experience is more anguished. The Hesitations’ New York GWP recording ‘Go Away’ is as polished and professional as we have grown accustomed to from that high-achieving group. More top-class harmony comes from Street People with ‘Your Momma Had A Baby’, a previously unissued track from their first recording session, while Darondo provides another gem of California soul from his own unique perspective. After reissuing Herman Davis’ highly collectable ‘Gotta Be Loved’ on our “Masterpieces Vol 4” CD we discovered the brilliant Part 2, which was abandoned before the Venus V 45 was pressed. Now it rounds off an LP that will grace the overburdened shelves of modern soul-lovin’ Kent fans and fit neatly into those big boxes the DJs lug about.

[engl] Our “Northern Soul’s Classiest Rarities” CDs have showcased high quality 60s and early 70s records beloved of collectors and dancers. The series has proved much appreciated by the soul cognoscenti, making this new vinyl edition a necessity. Tracks such as Marva Holiday’s ‘It’s Written All Over My Face’ and Darrow Fletcher’s Detroit-produced ‘What Good Am I Without You’ were played at the famous Northern Soul venues of yesteryear but got lost in the waves of 70s discoveries. They have improved with age. Later discoveries are just plain elusive or horrifically expensive. Salt & Pepper, a multiracial group of US GIs stationed in Bangkok, pressed the 250-500 run of ‘A Man Of My Word’ in Thailand in 1970 – an extremely scarce record that took many years to find before becoming a rare soul standard. The Antellects’ ‘Love Slave’ was played by 100 Club DJ Shifty in the 90s and very few copies have found their way into the hands of collectors. Karmello Brooks’ jazz-infused ‘Tell Me, Baby’ now fetches a similar multi-thousand pound price tag (although when I sold two for £40 in the 90s it hadn’t quite taken off – dagnabbit!). Other prized items include Ty Karim’s ‘You Just Don’t Know’, Eddie Whitehead’s soulful floater ‘Just Your Fool’ and the poppy stomper ‘Losing Control’ from Mary Saxton, a white teenager with a voice like Tina Turner. The Imaginations’ more sedate ‘Strange Neighborhood’ beat ballad, like the Eddie Whitehead record, hails from Cincinnati. Pat Powdrill’s ‘Do It’ proceeds at a furious pace but the great melody makes it an indispensable listen, even if the dancers’ legs can’t keep up. The Houston Outlaws’ ‘Ain’t No Telling’ has a bittersweet melody which creates a perfect setting for the group’s fine vocals, while on Troy Dodds’ ‘Try My Love’ it’s the haunting atmosphere that dominates, with his brooding voice abetted by a superb female backing group. Like Dodds, Jeanette Jones was from the Bay Area and cut an LP’s worth of material for Golden State Recorders. From that acetate-only album, ‘Cut Loose’, was played at the 100 Club nighters in the late 90s and was issued on a now-deleted Kent Select 45 in 2007. More recently we acquired the Fidels’ version of the Puffs’ Doré sleeper ‘I Only Cry Once A Day Now’ – a historic recording from the revered group. ADY CROASDELL