Shuggie+otis

Ministry of Sound continue to educate the masses with a brand new collection of one our most loved music genres. With the sun shining what better album to get your groove on and heat things up for the imminent summer than Funk Soul Classics. A major influence on disco, funk music is a sound familiar to all having also been heavily sampled in dance related genres ever since including hip hop, house and drum & bass not to mention featuring in countless iconic film soundtracks (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Shaft to name but a few). The essential tunes from your favourite funk soul brothers & sisters all feature including the Academy Award winning 'Theme From Shaft' by Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Sly & The Family Stone, Bill Withers, Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers, The Fatback Band, Al Green, Aretha Franklin & Sister Sledge. 3CDs of grooves and cuts that defined an era, from Stateside to Southport, these are the records that provided the soundtrack to a generation.

The Best Soul Album contains the definitive Artists & Songs of Soul. The Best hits from Sly & The Family Stone, Billy Ocean, McFadden & Whitehead, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Labelle, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, The O’Jays and many more.

Catching one’s attention solely with its name, this male duet of the French Scene embodies a powerful concept. Not only did they choose this name for the universal themes by which they are inspired, such as love and erotism, but for with the emanating sensuality and strength therein. Such qualities are present in both the band’s musical compositions and live performances.

There's underground, and then there's the small-scale independent releases compiled on Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984. If rhythm box and/or synthesizer-armed cult artists such as Timmy Thomas, Shuggie Otis, and Mandré were just under the surface, much of this was dislodged from beneath the earth's crust. Disco freaks will recognize the name of Boris Midney, who wrote and released Makers' breathy and squelchy "Don't Challenge Me." Radio DJ Lynn Tolliver, member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame, was behind Sexual Harassment's early-'80s electro-sleaze; he's present with the New Year's "My Bleeding Wound," a howling, lewd, reverb-soaked blues number. Deborah Washington, who performed with Cincinnati bluesman husband Albert Washington, appears with "Shortest Lady" – synth funk so distant and lo-fi that it probably wasn't intentional to have her sound like she'd need to grow four feet taller to be near the microphone.

Craig Charles is one of the UK’s best-loved Funk & Soul DJs. Broadcasting for over 10 years Craig Charles is spearheading the Funk & Soul revolution with his shows on BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2. Funk & Soul Classics is his roots and heritage.

The first time I saw Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, nearly 20 years ago at the legendary Frank’s Cocktail Lounge in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I turned to my companion and said, “I get it — they’re a classic R&B cover band that plays originals.

7 track tour EP with 4 tracks leftover from the "In Plain Sight" sessions, one of which was re-recorded "in a style closer to the demo, which was going for a Bill Withers/ Marvin Gaye “Here My Dear” aesthetic" per Neal Francis.