Original Album Series contains the first five albums from the mighty Dayton funk band Slave: Slave (1977), The Hardness of the World (1977), The Concept (1978), Just a Touch of Love (1979), and Stone Jam (1980). Each disc is in a thin cardboard pouch with reproductions of the original front and back sleeve designs. Since the series limits itself to five discs, the band's phenomenal sixth album – Show Time (1981) – couldn't fit, but this is a convenient way to snap up the majority of the output from one of the planet's best funk bands. Not even the two-disc The Definitive Groove Collection covers all the great singles and album cuts featured within this small box.
Dust to Digital always does an impressive job of providing compelling thematic material in artfully designed packaging. This has been true since their debut offering, Goodbye, Babylon, that showcased Southern sacred song and oratory. Baby, How Can It Be? Songs of Love Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s (the label's 16th release), follows suit. Assembled from the 78 collection of John Heneghan, this three-disc, 66-track set looks at its title subjects from all sides. It travels disc by disc from the first flush and ardor of romance, through the heat and passion of eros, to the tales of terror, depression, and violence that occur when the flower of belladonna replaces the rose's bloom.
Released in 1975, Disco Baby is among the albums that helped to usher in the disco era. This LP boasts McCoy's number one hit "The Hustle," which became one of disco's anthems and is the song that he is best remembered for. For McCoy, an album like Disco Baby was a major departure from the type of things he had done in the '60s and early '70s:.
Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby" - a classic one-shot, number-one hit from1962 - is one of the many records proving that, during a period inwhich rock has sometimes been characterized as near death, the form was continuing to evolve in unexpected and delightful ways. An irresistible mid-tempo shuffle from the first few bars of homespun harmonica (played by Delbert McClinton ), it was a seemingly effortless blend of rock, blues, country, and Cajun beats, featuring Channel's lazy, drawling vocals and an instantly catchy tune. It was perhaps too much of a natural; Channel could never recapture the organic spontaneity of the track, failing to re-enter the Top 40 despite many attempts…