Coloured vinyl.

‘Rhino Reserve, cut from analog tape.’

‘Hey, fellahs…The sisters are not going for that no more…’
Stone cold feminist funk classic from the Female Preacher. The JBs sound like they know there’s no turning back.

One of the foundation stones of northern soul, courtesy of Sherlie Matthews and sisters Brenda and Patrice Holloway.

LW’s the genius behind Marvin’s I Want You and the genie animating nuff Theo and KDJ. Here’s his two-step touchstone from 1982, featuring the bim bimmer Why I Came To California, and Somewhere, a duet with the great Flora Purim. (Airto’s on call, too.)

The superb Memphis vocal trio, powered by the sublime falsetto of Jasper ‘Jabbo’ Phillips.
Giddily soulful, ravishing slow jams and sweeter-than-sweet harmony overtures. Paradigmatic murder like If I Could Say What’s on My Mind, Love… Can Be So Wonderful, and I Love You, You Love Me. An all-conquering version of Dedicated To The One I Love, to cap it off.
We love The Temprees.

‘Girl group greatness, courtesy of the Chicago-based Hutchinson Sisters (with Theresa Davis on this record) and co-producers Isaac Hayes, David Porter and Ronnie Williams. Recording at Muscle Shoals and Stax seems to have added a little grit to The Emotions’ sound, too; this 1971 classic on the Volt label offers the perfect blend of sweet and sassy. Show Me How was the hit, but it’s Blind Alley that made Untouched one of the most collectible albums of its kind: that track’s one of the most sampled in all of pop and hip hop, most notably by Big Daddy Kane (Ain’t No Half-Steppin’) and Mariah Carey (Dreamlover).’

‘After keyboardist/composer Bayeté aka Todd Cochran established his musical presence on the San Francisco scene playing in Bobby Hutcherson’s band, and before becoming a key member of the innovative band Automatic Man, which he co-founded with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, he recorded a couple of solo albums for the Prestige label that feature some of the most far-out, futuristic music the legendary jazz imprint ever released… Early ‘70s electric Miles is a clear point on the compass, but so are Parliament-Funkadelic and Lonnie Liston Smith, if he were playing a fuzzed-out clavinet instead of a Fender Rhodes.’

“While I’ve held space for the blues aesthetic and jazz in everything I’ve done, I was leaving one world and entering another, unmooring the ship and heading into a sea of unknowns, so to speak.”