A.r Bernard

NOW Music are proud to present the ultimate journey through the 80s’ biggest floor-fillers… NOW That’s What I Call 80s: Dancefloor.

It's a wonder that the title "Modernists" hasn't already been used for a collection of mod-related music, but Ace's 2015 set, Modernists: A Decade of Rhythm & Soul Dedication, lives up to this worthy name. The compilers, who are the team behind Mod Jazz, favor high-energy, snazzy soul and R&B that Mods would've favored back in the mid-'60s. In essence, this means the 24 tracks are often not that dissimilar to Northern Soul – much of it echoes Motown and Chicago soul, all stylish and upbeat – but there's a distinct emphasis on hard-charging rhythms and a bit of grit. That doesn't mean there isn't space for John Fred & His Playboy Band riding a Big Easy shuffle on "Shirley," or a dose of tight Memphis groove (Oliver Morgan's "Hold Your Dog," which makes its debt to Rufus Thomas quite plain), but this is generally high-energy good-time music, a party record crafted out of rare elements that never feel obscure.~Modernists: A Decade of Rhythm and Soul Dedication Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

This continues the strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat’s highly popular “America’s Greatest Hits” series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1959. This great value 115-track 4-CD anthology includes, with the exception of certain records which are unavailable for inclusion due to copyright restrictions, just about every record which peaked in the Top 14 positions of Billboard’s “Hot R&B Sides” chart during the year. The pop and R&B market was continuing to evolve as rock ‘n’ roll matured, and new strands arrived, with pop-flavoured R&B vocal groups making a significant impact, along with fine R&B vocalists who readily crossed into the pop charts, while the boundaries between pop and R&B continued to become less clear, as some pure pop records got traction on R&B radio stations.

"A Bit of Liverpool" is the 3rd studio album by The Supremes, released in the fall of 1964 on the Motown label. It was produced by Berry Gordy with Hal Davis and Marc Gordon doing the mixing. The Supremes performed The Beatles' "Eight Days a Week" on several television shows including Shindig and Hullabaloo, though the song did not make the album. The album just missed the Top 20 in the U.S., peaking at #21. While not quite as prolific as their pop counterparts at that time, The Beatles, The Supremes enjoyed three albums charting simultaneously in 1964–1965. For its release in the UK, the album was titled "With Love (From Us to You)".

In 1980 Dexy’s Midnight Runners talked of a “new soul vision”. They were referring to their own music but they and other groups including The Jam through covers of soul songs such as ‘Seven Days Too Long’ (Dexy’s), ‘One Way Love’ (Dexy’s), ‘Big Bird’ (The Jam) and ‘Move On Up’ (The Jam) inspired a new generation of teenagers to seek out the originals then go deeper. ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ provides a soundtrack to those exciting times, a celebration of 60s and early 70s soul that filled dance floors again in the 80s.

Amazing and unique private soul/jazz-funk fusion LP, “New York To L.A.: Coasting” is the first release (1980) on Andrew Scott Potter and David Eric Tillman’s PO/ET label. Sublime from the beginning to the end, it has become, just like their second and final release “…Space…Rapture…”, a sought-after collector’s item.