Sam Dees: "The Show Must Go On"

$10 sealed OG copy on ebay?  Yes please, can I have two?  This is a masterful slab of deep, spacy soul, and the tone is set immediately with the opening “Child Of The Streets,” which sounds like a more despairing take on “What’s Going On”-era Marvin, with Sam Dees’ eerie vocals being run through a delay effect, collapsing into the entropy of the funky yet foreboding music.  This is heavy stuff; it’s Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield on a dead-end street, devoid of their usual uplifting, affirming optimism.  Dees works several different creative angles on the rest of the LP, from the searing, screaming “Claim Jumpin’” to the mellow Southern soul of the title track to the almost modern soul-sounding “Come Back Strong,” and he even continues the tale he began with “Child Of The Streets” on the B-Side opener “Troubled Child,” making this a concept album of sorts, and one that hangs together well.  Sam Dees spent most of the ‘70’s writing songs for other artists, so this record serves as a different representation of his gifts, showcasing the talent he brought to the table as a singer/songwriter/producer/performer in his own right.  I’d go so far as to put this LP in the “lost classic” category, it’s that good.

Rene & Angela: "Wall To Wall"

Man, Rene & Angela are rocking some wicked sweet Moog synths on the back cover of this album.  Smooth, modern boogie grooves dominate, with very few pauses in the action, sidestepping the then-common R&B format of funk-funk-ballad-funk track order.  Angela Winbush’s powerful vocals, along with the duo’s flawless harmonies, make this stand out from the pack of similar projects being released in the early ‘80’s, and the strong songwriting takes the whole thing to the next level.  The title track is a fantastic dancefloor call-to-arms, paving the way for a slew of other sweat-soaked boogie funk cuts, like “Good Friends” and “I Love You More.”  Then there’s the slow-but-slinky funk of “Secret Rendezvous” and “Wanna Be Close To You,” the latter of which borrows the bass-line from Lakeside’s “Something About That Woman” (or is it the other way around?), and uses it to great effect, getting at something much more seductive, more paranoid, more pleading, and in the end more desperate.  The album closes with a pair of dreamy soul ballads that send the music off in fine style, particularly on “Come My Way,” where the twin lead vocals dance around each other like two shy singles at a club.  Rene & Angela themselves, in terms of influence and fame, seem to be something of a forgotten group, which is too bad, ‘cause this LP is hot.

The Younghearts: "Do You Have The Time"

One of my favorite pickups of the last few months.  This record BUMPS.  The two-part title track is my new go-to funk-soul anthem, and everything else here gets the job done nicely, too.  The Younghearts, as a musical unit, had been performing and recording since the late ‘60’s, but this LP has its own sound; it could almost be called early modern soul, before disco and legions of synths forever made their mark, although the group does manage to retain certain elements of earlier soul dynamics, especially on tracks like “Stop What You’re Doing, Girl” and the bouncy, Motown-meets-PIR shuffle of “All The Love In The World.”  They also bring the funky soul goods when necessary, on the gospel-inflected “Don’t Crush My World” (awesome drums-and-vocals break at the beginning), the slow-strutting “Wildfire,” and the street-swagger, prog-funk grooving “Look What Your Love Has Done For Me.”  Vernon Bullock appears to be the behind-the-scenes orchestrator of the LP, as his name can be found in the credits as the chief and/or co-writer of every tune, in addition to his being listed as keyboard player, producer, and arranger.  While Bullock was not an official member of the group, clearly they benefited from his ubiquity on this album, as he lends their music strength and cohesiveness that move beyond whatever “sweet soul” tags might apply.

Raw Soul Express: "Raw Soul Express"

More like Rare Soul Express.  Couldn’t believe I found this in the original, and rarity aside, the music did NOT disappoint.  Beginning with a massive break on opener “R.S.E.,” this LP and group are something else—clavinet-crazed jazz-funk a la The Crusaders or Wood Brass & Steel, layered in thick swaths of pocket-driven, bass-heavy production from George “Chocolate” Perry.  That being said, jazz-funk is only one part of their equation; the lead vocals from Rickey Washington (who also plays flute and bari sax here) are skilled and nuanced enough to match the complex, multi-tiered grooves.  You can hear this synchronicity on the acoustic guitar-led “Emergency,” and on the horn-driven, sanctified “It’s In You.”  I think one of the things that surprised me the most about this LP is how immaculate it sounds; small-label efforts like this don’t usually tend to be graced with such smooth, well-produced potency.  It’s a pretty flawless effort, I gotta say, and if there’s any downside—and it’s not much of one—it’s in the fact that the band can’t seem to make up its mind on whether or not it wants to be EWF or The Blackbyrds.  I dig the dichotomy myself, and it makes for dense, intriguing listening if you’re into esoteric funk.

Johnny Hammond: "Gambler's Life"

Though it’ll never be as well-known as “Gears”—Johnny “Hammond” Smith’s other Mizell Brothers-produced masterpiece—“Gambler’s Life” does its own thing, and has a slightly more underground, late-night-smoke-and-mirrors feel, which I love.  Fonce and Larry Mizell exhibit more experimental tendencies on this LP than usual, like on the cut “Rhodesian  Thoroughfare,” which moves from heavy jazz-fusion to the Mizells’ trademark light jazz funk to wild synth excursions from Hammond.  It feels as though the Mizell-Hammond-Mizell team wasn’t necessarily aiming for a huge hit in the way that they did with the subsequent “Gears,” and so they take more risks; there’s the studio-chatter-intro, stop-start funk stutter of the title cut, the smooth-jazz-into-odd-time-fusion of “This Year’s Dream,” the NOLA-meets-“Manchild”-era-Herbie of “Yesterday Was Cool,” the funk-to-hard-bop-and-back-again “Virgo Lady.”  Mizell funk throw-downs are plentiful as well, my favorites being “Star Borne” and “Back To The Projects.”  Of special mention on this album is the drumming of Harvey Mason, whose samba-funk-fusion style always elevates whatever given session he appears on; and then of course there’s Johnny Hammond himself, whose willingness to dive headfirst into the funk milieu despite his being of the soul-jazz old guard is not only refreshing but mind-blowing.  The Mizells and Hammond hit pay-dirt a year later, and “Gears” deservedly went down in history as a jazz-club-fusion landmark, but “Gambler’s Life” is worthy of re-examination and re-evaluation, for all the moving parts that made “Gears” so successful are here also, and shown in a starker, more uncompromising light.  Track this down.

Smoked Sugar: "Smoked Sugar"

I’m guessing these guys were seriously into cooking and baking, that’s the only reason they’d name themselves “Smoked Sugar,” right?  Right?  Anyhow, unhh!  Mid-‘70’s vocal soul with a gritty funk edge, produced and performed by a bunch of unknowns—Hadley Murrell, Oliver Williams, James Conwell—names I’ve never seen before, and I’m obsessive about reading liner notes and credits.  There’s a bit of a psychedelic hue to the group’s heavier material, which can be found on cuts like “I’ve Found Someone Of My Own,” “Bump Me” and “It’s Funny Til I Start Crying.”  Sweet falsettos and aching vocal leads factor in, too, on slow-grind tracks like “My Eyes Search A Lonely Room For You” and “Don’t Let The Feeling Hit Me Again.”  This LP is a great example of how, during this time period (1975), there were SO many groups attempting to break through to the mainstream with a funk-soul style, and that in the overwhelming flood of contributors, musicians and producers, talented acts like Smoked Sugar were bound to get lost in the shuffle.  Reason enough to dig deep in those crates, folks.

Bobby Patterson: "It's Just A Matter Of Time"

Sparkling Southern soul on the Paula label.  This is a record you simply never see, and I found the one copy I’ve come across in Boulder, CO, of all places.  Bobby Patterson has a spectacular voice, influenced equally by the belters over at Stax and the uptown soul crooners from Chicago and Detroit, and in addition to his magnificent singing, he produced the whole LP himself, so the sound he creates is all his own.  “Make Sure You Can Handle It,” “Right On Jody,” “How Do You Spell Love” and “The Whole Funky World Is A Ghetto” deliver on the promise of their titles, with detailed soul arrangements and cascading vocals riding a churning, heady funk undercurrent.  Patterson also engages in mellow meditations like “I Get My Groove From You” and “She Don’t Have To See You (To See Through You),” and even throws in a nice exercise for the steppers, “Everything Good To You (Don’t Have To Be Good For You).”  Small label efforts like this are great because they’re very personal, I feel like you get slightly more truth from the artist about who it is they are and what it is they’re about, with none of the pressures, ego-tripping and expectations a more popular artist might face.  Right on Bobby.