Juno Recommends Soul April 2021

Review: Formed over two decades ago in a small town in Northern Finland, Chicken Grass is one of the most storied - if not particularly well-known - Finnish funk bands. Yet despite this history, they've never previously appeared on wax, making this must-check 45 a vinyl debut almost 25 years in the making. A-side 'Snakebites' is simply superb: a timeless slab of rhythm and blues style soul featuring authentically fuzzy production, punchy horns, mazy Hammond B3 solos and a killer lead vocal from YouTube sensation Princess Shaw. Flipside 'Trading Bullets', meanwhile, is a deeper chunk of blue-eyed business that adds spacey jazz-funk synths to the band's usual vintage soul sound.

Review: Los Yesterdays made a big debut on Penrose with their first single and it is still getting heavy plays by soul DJs all over the place. Now they return with another perfect delivery of mid-tempo excellence that will appeal to fans of Eddie Holman and Billy Stewart. 'Nobody's Clown' pirouettes on splashy cymbals with natty chord riffs and twirling drums that dance their way into your heart. On the flip is the more forlorn and beautifully pained 'Give Me One More Chance.' It's about a love lost, like all the best tunes, and frankly, given the performance, it is a chance Mr Victor Benavides well deserves.

Review: This single is taken from the only studio album from US soul/rare groove duo Heaven Sent & Ecstasy, originally released back in 1980. P-Vine reissued it as CD in 2006, but this is the first time it has been released on 7' format. Features the well known track 'I'm A Lady' newly edited as single version, in addition to 'The Greatest Love Story' on the flip which is taken from their only album of the same name. A highly treasured album with strong appeal to collectors.

Review: Black Cash & Theo AKA Thelonious Beats are Galaxy Sound Co's most experienced editors and they prove that again here with another sure to sell out pair of supreme funk, soul and jazz fusion tunes. You might have never heard the original a-side here but you sure will recognise its chords from a million and one other tunes that have sampled it. It's a lost classic that melts the heart with its gentleness, killer soulful vocals and subtle jazz-funk greatness. The flip comes is another one that has been heavily sampled and is a drawn out and sensuous funk jam with some mad synth work and seductive drumming. This is one gorgeous 7", make no mistake.

Review: The extraordinary talents of The El Michaels Affair seem to know no bounds. Last time out they served up an album inspired by an imaginary film, and this time on Yeti Season they impress with a whole new bunch of inspirations. Right from the off the album takes us to Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, all with the sort of big grooves and lovely horns that often define the band's output. Full of drama, emotion, and worldly influences, this is another stunner from the unstoppable El Michaels Affair.

Review: This is a superb piece of soul music that crossed over at the time of release back in 1971 and surely has the potential to do the same again off the back of this timely reissue. Ronny Douglas and Bobby (Robert Joseph) Lonero first got together in that year and only put out three singles, but they did manage to put out a live album of mostly covers in 1973 called Live At Charlie Brown's. Douglas also put put some solo work in the 60sand 70s but none as good as this. 'Mary's Party' is a deep cut soul number with big horns and sweet vocals, then 'Baby, Take My Hand' rolls more deep, intimate and last night.

Review: In the 1970s, Ed 'Apple' Nelson made a name for himself off the back of a string of classy releases on his own Sagittarius label outta Los Angeles as Apple and The 3 Oranges. Now they get the full reissue treatment by the always conscientious Izipho Soul label. It's all raw vocals and yearning wind instruments on the soul and funk fusion 'I'll Give You A Ring (When I Come, If I Come)', then flip over for a more slow and steamy jam in the form of 'True Love Will Never Die.'

Review: Super Disco Edits are back with another re-issue in the form of this fabulous modern-jazzy-soul 45 by The Weavers Of Dreams. The band's Al Hough was born in New Orleans and had a staid Catholic school education but lived uptown, so go plenty of urban experience which helped to colour his musical influences. Here he pairs gorgeous gospel vocals with steamy call and response from the backing singers and nice squelchy synth bass. ON the flip things get more sentimental with a female lead given plenty of room to shine next to lush flutes, keys and drums.

Review: The extraordinary talents of The El Michaels Affair seem to know no bounds. Last time out they served up an album inspired by an imaginary film, and this time on Yeti Season they impress with a whole new bunch of inspirations. Right from the off the album takes us to Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, all with the sort of big grooves and lovely horns that often define the band's out put. Full of drama, emotion, and worldly influences, this is another stunner from the unstoppable El Michaels Affair.

Review: Richard Marks is something of an Atlanta soul music hero who had a fine run of brillaint singles on small labels local to him. A pair of his most hardcore fans - Eothen Alapatt from Now-Again and Georgia's soul expert Brian Poust - have worked hard to put together a string of releases of his best work with the blessing of the Marks family. This 7" focusses on two alternate versions of his solitary 7" release for Shout on one side - the pained, soulful 'Love Is Gone' and more upbeat 'Don't Take It On Me', and a sentimental, soppy 80s ballad on the flip that was his last ever release.

Review: British musician Nick Corbin, known for his work with New Street Adventure, met vocalist Abi Farrell at a jam in February 2021, and over the lockdown they co-wrote 'I Will See You Through' which is released here on Big A C Records - the label Corbin runs with his wife Sophie Heath. Also featured is the uplifting big band energy of 'Empowered'. Influenced by Motown and '60s soul, Farrell's powerful vocals are accompanied by Mitch Ayling (The Milk/Death Of Guitar Pop) and his brilliant production.

Review: Since it was released on Springfield, Missouri label American Artists in 1975, Kansas City Express' sole seven-inch single has become something of a collector's item amongst dusty-fingered funk diggers. We should all thank Ocean Of Tears, then, for offering up this fully licensed reissue - the first time the "45" has been made available to a wider audience. "This Is The Place" is a wonderfully sweet and melancholic affair - a seductive, poetic soul song featuring both male and female lead vocalists and a languid, superbly produced backing track full of lilting trumpet lines, glacial vibraphone solos and jazzy guitars. That instrumental backing track takes pride of place on Side B, where you can hear the vocal-free mix for the very first time. Spoiler: it's superb.

Review: Four years ago, Super Disco Edits unearthed a stash of previously unreleased solo recordings by sometime Revelation member (and session vocalist on countless classic disco and boogie hits) Phillip Ballou. Having released just two of those songs - the brilliant 'Ain't Nothing Like The Love' and 'Nothing For Real'- back in 2017, they've finally decided to offer-up two more. A-side 'We'll Be Together' is particularly impressive, with Ballou adding his silky, effortlessly soulful vocals to a sparkling backing track that adds spacey synthesizer sounds and cosy female backing vocals to a Philly Soul inspired groove. Over on the flip, 'I Need You' is a sugary but heartfelt ballad in which Ballou is accompanied by little more than an electric piano and a few sustained synthesizer chords. It's a spine-tingling combination.