Blue Eyed Boogaloo

Various Artists - The Real Music Box: 25 Years of Rounder Records (1995) {9CD Set, Rounder Records ‎CDAN25}
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© 1995 Rounder Records | ‎CD AN 25
Blues / Country / Jazz / Folk / Soul / Funk / Bluegrass

Within the discount, ugly-duckling packaging of The Real Music Box: 25 Years of Rounder Records lie nine CD swans worth several hundred times their weight in superficial music-industry gold records. Since 1970, Massachusetts-based Rounder has been a stalwart sanctuary of various musics at the root of what has recently been labeled "Americana." The retrospective is segmented into four thematic two-disc sets, each offering a staggering 30 to 50 tracks where legendary names rub shoulders with bright young Rounder talent.

Robin McKelle's previous recordings featured a big band, with her vocal stylings leaning on the pop side of jazz. While effective to a degree, she sounds similar in this setting, where this band is stripped down, a small horn section remains and electric keyboards still give the music a retro feel. Her tune choices are all over the map, copping soul and pop tunes with a funky underpinning, rarely swinging although occasionally shuffling, and featuring McKelle's coarse, gritty, at times supple, sophisticated voice. Her accompanying musicians are cream-of-the-crop up-and-comers, including keyboardist Xavier Davis, bassist Tim Lefevbre, saxophonists Mark Gross and Alex Harding, as well as two appearances by veteran Houston Person…

Free in America is Ben Sidran's fifth album overall and his debut for Arista Records, and showcases him moving to an even more eclectic margin where the lines between jazz – contemporary and classic – blue-eyed soul, and sophisticated pop begin to blur into one another…

Various Artists - The Complete Goldwax Singles, Vol. 2 1966-1967 (2009) {2CD Set Ace Records CDCH2 1236}
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© 1966-67, 2009 Goldwax / Ace Records | CDCH2 1236
R&B / Soul / Deep Soul

The second of Ace's three volumes documenting the Goldwax's label complete run of singles enters what most connoisseurs would consider to be its prime period, with all of the tracks having first been issued in 1966 and 1967. In particular, this era found Goldwax's most prominent artist, James Carr, releasing some of his most heralded songs, including "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" and "The Dark End of the Street." It's no surprise that Carr is the most heavily represented member of Goldwax's roster on this two-CD compilation, as he's responsible for ten of its 54 tracks.