This Real Gone Music reissue in association with SoulMusic Records marks the worldwide CD debut for both albums, featuring liner notes by noted American journalist Rashod Ollison.
3CDs, 75 songs, and a set list that definitely lives up to the title – a collection that not only brings forth the best of Northern Soul from the glory days of the 60s, but also features lots of tracks from that time that have only been discovered in recent years too! Northern Soul isn't just a static concept on UK dancefloors – and instead has been driven by decades of record collectors and DJs with an ever-shifting ear for a groove – one that's lead to a nicely expansive version of the music that's really continued to thrill us with collections like this.
Down in Louisiana, they do things differently. The Southern states musical giants have always had their own distinct recipe for American roots: spiced with jazz, steeped in swamp-blues and cooked up a little differently by every artist who performs it. As a second-generation child of the Bayou State, Kenny Neal has taken his own inimitable guitar, gale-force harp and roadworn voice all over the globe. But in 2022, the Grammy-nominated blues masters latest album, Straight From The Heart, finds him drawn by the siren call of his hometown and musical ground zero, Baton Rouge. Neal both led and produced a crack team of local musicians at his own Brookstown Recording Studios. All the tributaries of the blues converge here, flowing into one rich tradition. Lining up in the studio alongside his Baton Rouge compadrés, the respect that Neal commands on the scene also drew some special guests, including hot-tip blues sensation Christone Kingfish Ingram, pop royalty Tito Jackson, and two songs with Rockin Dopsie Junior & The Zydeco Twisters. You'll even hear Neals supremely talented daughter Syreeta drive the vocal outro of Two Timing.
Solid Gold Soul: Deep Soul album features 22 intense soul cuts, including Aaron Neville's "Tell It Like It Is," B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone," and Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is."
As a lifelong soul boy - poet, actor, presenter Craig Charles has been adding to his trunk of funk music since his youth, and now after almost 20 years hosting his world renowned BBC6 Music and Radio 2 shows, DJing at clubs and festivals around the globe his reputation as an ambassador for all things soulful & funky is indisputable.