2 Step Soul Classics

There is a lot of confusion with regards to the modern soul scene. An off-shoot of northern soul, it initially mixed new release independent soul, with post late-60s soul that didn't fit with the northern scene. They championed a lot of great records, but this was the mid-80s and it now seems odd to describe nearly 50 year old records as modern soul - but somehow the name has stuck. Extra Added Soul luxuriates in this contradiction, as it allows us to mix up the boogie like 'Love Explosion' by Donnell Pittman, with two-step Chicago classics by Elvin Bishop or El Anthony, or the danceable sweet soul of Dyson's Faces with Gil Scott-Heron alike 'Patience' by Rokk. Amongst the twenty tracks there is also room for a touch of Prince on 94 East's exceptional 'If You See Me' and the cosmic soul of Karriem's super rarity 'I Love You'.

This is the way a Joan Armatrading best-of collection should be assembled in the first place. The numerous single-disc compilations never came close to being representative of her achievement as a recording artist. Culling 43 tracks over eight years and 11 albums is even better in many ways than issuing an Armatrading box set. All of the expected material from the early years is included on disc one, such as "Cool Blue Stole My Heart," "Travel So Far," "Dry Land," "Down to Zero," "Love and Affection," "Help Yourself," "Woncha Come on Home," "Show Some Emotion," "Willow," "Barefoot and Pregnant," "Bottom to the Top," "You Rope You Tie Me," "Your Letter," and many more, including "The Flight of the Wild Geese" from the soundtrack to the film. It covers Armatrading's prolific period from 1975-1979, where a lot of old hippies, now upwardly mobile professionals seeking mellow escapes from their relentless and often ruthless pursuit of "the good life," got off the bus and remained stuck, listening only to her early records along with those of the Jacksons, Eagles, and James Taylor.

The line dividing black gospel and so-called secular music has always been a thin one, and musicians have rarely been afraid to step over it. In the 1920s, the blind singer “Arizona” Juanita Dranes wed ragtime and boogie—rhythms associated with saloons and barrelhouses—to Holiness movement hymns. Later, Mahalia Jackson, who refused to record secular records, nonetheless achieved massive popularity outside the sanctified confines of the gospel scene. A true pioneer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe scandalized the church by performing in nightclubs, practically inventing rock & roll in the process. By the early 1970s, blockbuster Stax singles by the Staple Singers proved artists could exist comfortably in both worlds, or suggested that perhaps these distinct spheres actually overlapped.