Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name records the last months of this famed American writer's 10-year self-exile in Europe, his return to America and to Harlem, and his first trip south at the time of the school integration battles. It contains Baldwin's controversial and intimate profiles of Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Ingmar Bergman. And it explores such varied themes as the relations between blacks and whites, the role of blacks in America and in Europe, and the question of sexual identity.

NOW Decades of Soul transports you through the years of one of the most beloved musical genres. These five discs showcase the rich history of soul music, featuring the best each decade has to offer as soulful sounds continue to change over time. Starting with the 60s, featuring era-defining classics including Aretha Franklin’s Respect, Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman as well as the legendary James Brown hit - It's A Man's Man's Man's World, and the stunning lineup of Motown’s A-list superstars.Moving into the 70s we saw a wave of these Motown legends creating further iconic hits including Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Commodores’ Easy, along with distinctive hits of the decade such as Bill Withers’ Lovely Day and The Crusaders’ Street Life.

The Soul of Designer Records Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Chances are, you've never heard of Designer Records. One of many independent labels run on a little less than a shoestring in the '60s and '70s, Designer Records was one of the many imprints run by Style Wooten, a Memphis recordman who recruited new talent in classified ads in the back of local newspapers (this also happened to be how he found his wife). Wooten's rates ran low but he wasn't cheap. As long as the musicians had the cash, he took his time in the studio, coaxing the best possible performances out of his nonprofessional artists, which wasn't a particularly easy thing to do due to his own amateur status. He could play a little, but he left a lot of the actual recording up to Roland Janes, a former studio guitarist for Sun who had played with Billy Lee Riley and Jerry Lee Lewis before he departed to set up Sonic Studios in Memphis in 1962. Two years later, Style became a regular customer of Sonic, cutting a wide variety of artists – country, rockabilly, soul, rock & roll – and issuing them on a bewildering number of imprints, many of them named after cars.

100 smooth sounds to ease you into Sunday that includes chilled classics from Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Prefab Sprout, Bill Withers and many more.