The Soul of Disco 3

Following the huge success of The Sixties Album, The Seventies Album is the next album of the decade, the ultimate Seventies collection from pop, soul & disco via rock & glam to new wave & two tone. A mammoth musical celebration of the decade that brought you The Range Rover, Saturday Night Fever, the Compact Cassette, Kevin Keegan, Star Wars and The Wombles, amongst other amazing iconic moments and artefacts! The tracklist tops out at 66 huge Seventies hits & classics from The Bee Gees, The Drifters, Frankie Valli, Kate Bush, T-Rex, Chaka Khan, Chic, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Alice Cooper and many, many more!

Compiled by Dean Rudland (of the Acid Jazz and Ace labels), this release from the Harmless' Backbeats division features deep cuts from labels like Brunswick, Hot Wax/Invictus, Contempo, Hi, and Philadelphia International. As indicated by the title, Crate Diggin' Fever: The Cult of Rarity is aimed at soul fans who already own the classic hits and aren't into paying collector's prices for obscurities. Some of the inclusions – such as Jean Carn's "Don't Let It Go to Your Head," Laura Lee's "Crumbs Off the Table," and the Average White Band's cover of the Isley Brothers' "Work to Do" – aren't all that rare, but there are plenty of deep gems and very little filler.

"The Best of the Three Degrees", released in 2009, is an 18-track budget anthology that covers the group's 1973-1979 output, including releases for Philadelphia International, Epic, and Ariola, from plush Philly soul to Giorgio Moroder-produced electro-disco. It's surprisingly thoughtful and contains most of the singles and better deep cuts, including "T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)," "When Will I See You Again," "I Didn't Know, "Givin' Up, Givin' In," "Love Is the Message," and "The Runner." Although the presentation leaves a whole lot to be desired, this is a legitimate release from Sony's catalog department. It doesn't look like much, but it offers plenty for casual listeners.

Soca developed in Trinidad and Tobago, and while it's a music that has been documented, there are many areas in its history that are relatively murky. Bear Family's 2015 compilation Nappy: Music Man shines a spotlight on Richard "Nappy" Mayers, a singer, guitarist, producer, and arranger who began his career with a band called Embryo and had some solo singles in addition to working with other artists. Bear Family's disc – which is exceptionally well-annotated by Dave Elcock – contains 19 of these sides, all recorded between 1975 and 1981, drawing heavily from Embryo's discography and containing a fair share of singles from Nadie La Fond, in addition to singles by Ceasar, Sound Revolution, and Nappy himself.

The Spirit Of Philadelphia series is back with a fourth installment, a further 17 track feast of Philly gems from the music's heyday in the 1970s. In keeping with the tradition of the series, most cuts are either rare on CD or previously unreleased in this format. These are the recordings beyond the walls of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records but involve many key musicians, arrangers and artists.

"Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Vol. 1" is a compilation album of recordings by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, first released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1996. Although the compilation, which reached #22 on Billboard's R&B chart and #84 on Pop, was given the "Vol. 1" tag, it remains without a sequel to date. Tracks include 8 previously released solo Khan tracks and 2 from the Rufus & Chaka Khan era ("Ain't Nobody", "Tell Me Something Good"). 6 tracks were new at the time, recorded for Khan's 10th, unreleased, solo album "Dare You To Love Me" ("Love Me Still" and the last 5 tracks in the program). A further 7th new track ("It Ain't Easy Lovin' Me") is included on the Japanese edition of "Epiphany".

The Magic of Boney M was originally the title of a 1980 best of, although of the “20 Golden Hits” of 42 years ago, only 14 are repeated here, with the double A-side ‘I See A Boat On The River’ / ‘My Friend Jack’ being a notable omission (even if it wasn’t a hit in the UK).
1976 - the year of Boney M.'s first #1 hit "Daddy Cool" and the birth of an extraordinary music career that was to follow.
Boney M. can be considered the heroes of the disco era and there's no question why their best-of release was called "THE MAGIC OF BONEY M." was called
It has always been a memorial to this super group as it gathers the treasures of that era and definitely has its own magic!

Another faulty compilation wrapped in unflattering packaging, The Best of Ray Parker, Jr. & Raydio includes 14 tracks, leading off with the mega-hit "Ghostbusters" (ugh, of course) and closing with the undervalued "For Those Who Like to Groove," from his third album with Raydio. In between is a patchwork selection of cuts from all of Parker's albums through 1985's Sex and the Single Man, though only one track appears off that album and the one before it, 1983's Woman Out of Control. That means that the disc includes a fair amount of material from his Raydio days (at least two songs from each of the four albums), which is definitely a good thing, but there's just not enough to make it a thoroughly representative best-of.

The Best Of Walter Murphy: A Fifth Of Beethovens is a 1996 compilation by Walter Murphy. Known primarily for "A Fifth Of Beethoven", the album features songs he should've been known for but isn't, especially "California Strut". This is the 2001 CD-R pressing released by Hot.

Those who fail to understand funk often complain about its use of repetition, but funk enthusiasts will tell you that repetition (as James Brown showed us) is something to be savored. A first-class party band, Fatback knew quite well that the secret to effective funk is finding a killer groove and working it to death. That's exactly what happens much of the time on "The Fattest of Fatback", a 1997 CD that spans 1975-1983 and boasts many of the New York band's essential hits.