THE BO-KEYS
The Royal Sessions (BGP; CD)
     Scott Bomar (renowned Memphis garage player: ’68 Comeback, Impala, Tearjerkers and so on) has teamed up with seasoned Memphis soul menSkip Pitts (best known for his wah-wah guitar work with Isaac Hayes and Rufus Thomas); drummer Willie Hall (a veteran of The Bar-Kays and Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul album) and organist Ronnie Williams (who has recorded with The Bar-Kays and David Porter). The Royal Sessions was laid down at Willie Mitchell’s historical Royal studios, and is a bona fide stew of, well, what you’d expect these kinda players to do when they get it together. It’s a jazzy, funky, groovy, mainly instrumental affair with cool takes of Mel Torme’s ‘Coming Home Baby’, Jimmy Smith’s ‘Back At The Chicken Shack’ and the Godfather’s ‘Doin’ It To Death’, plus a host of band originals that do exactly what you’d hope. This is just as good as the old stuff, and along with Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings and co. defies the word revival. The Bo-Keys just go to show that finger lickin’ soul music is as much a part of America’s heritage as Classical music is Russia’s, and it’s going to be around and enjoyed for a long, long, long time to come.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

SOLOMON BURKE
Soul Man (Fruit Tree; CD)
     Solomon Burke is without doubt one of the biggest (in every sense of the word) names in soul music ever. On this eight song disc of (largely) Jerry Williams penned numbers, which sounds circa 1975, he stays stylistically in the southern fried funk to southern soul balladry (on ‘Sidewalks, Fences And Walls’ especially) ambit. There’s strings, brass and funky synth riffing, and even proto disco (on ‘Let Your Love Flow’). Above it all though, there’s Burke’s great voice. In general, this is a half hour you could spend a lot less enjoyably..
www.abraxasrecords.com
Paul Martin

JAMES CARR
My Soul Is Satisfied… The Best Of The Rest (Kent; CD)
     Ace have done resoundingly well with their previous Carr releases, so it will come as no surprise to discover that they have now issued     (the title says it all) a Rest of. My Soul Is Satisfied covers 24 years worth of recordings, taking in some alternative Goldwax material, his only 45 for Atlantic, some fine ‘70s recordings on Vivid Sound, recent stuff on SoulTrax and a few mid-‘90s gospel bits. For a Carr obsessive this will be a welcome inclusion to their collection. For me however, the later material grates: notably the caustic modern production and in part the loss of Carr’s once resonating voice, which now sounds closer to an aged blues shouter. Still, such gems as the coolest version ever of ‘Row, Row Your Boat’ (yes, as in “gently down the stream”), a stomach churning take of ‘What The World Needs Now’ and the ultra-rare (hence bad sound) ‘Hit And Run’ more than make up for my personal gripes. As I said,, this is a Rest Of…and the uneven chronology and styles are to be expected. Nevertheless, fans will love it. I’m sure that only ageists, retroists and anti-modernists like myself will find much to fault.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

JOHNNY CASH
Cash Sings Cash (Varese Sarabande; CD)
     There’s very little one can say about the self-penned songs Johnny Cash cut for the Sun label which doesn’t involve stating the bleedin’ obvious: without the music on this compilation it’s likely that there’d be no psych, no garage and certainly no Shindig!     Cash embodied the outsider ethic that’s informed so much subsequent rock and country music, from his origins as the Man In Black (one of those times where the good guy definitely didn’t wear white) to his willingness to cover songs on his final quartet of albums for American that other established artists would never have considered, let alone so definitively made their own.     If this album only included ‘I Walk The Line’ and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ it would be a sine qua non for anyone’s collection.     But there’s also ‘Give My Love To Rose’, ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’, ‘Katy Too’, ‘Mean Eyed Cat’, ‘Home Of The Blues…need I go on?     The 21 songs here were all recorded – incredibly – in only the 4 years between 1955 and 1958.     Colossal and indispensable.
www.varesesarabande.com
Jane Farrell

JOHN HOLT
Help Me Make it Through the Night: The Best of John Holt (Trojan, CD)
     John Holt is one of those reggae names you can rely on to be ever present in the CD racks. One of the genres staples, and on this collection you see why. He sings predominantly his own famous compositions such as ‘The Tide Is High’ (which he co-wrote), ‘Wear You To The Ball’, ‘Ali Baba’, ‘On The Beach’ (a big hit for Owen Gray in Jamaica) and 'Reggae From The Ghetto' with a sprinkling of covers such as Chris Kristofferson’s ‘Help Me Make it Through the Night’. Holt’s back catalogue (rather like Ken Booth’s) has perhaps suffered from a lack of coherent or properly contextualised budget reissues riding on the back of a few mainstream breakthrough hits. This however doesn’t diminish the beauty of the songs or their execution. If you want to explore Holt, here will do as good as anywhere else as a starting point, but for the more interested check out his classic ‘1000 Volts of Holt’ album.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com
Paul Martin

THE MANHATTANS
There’s No Me Without You / That’s How Much I Love You (Kent; CD)
     There is only really one form of “classic” soul I have never really been able to get anything from. This is what Dave Godin aptly labelled the ‘penthouse soul’ style. The Manhattans were very much of this genre (think Barry White / Love Unlimited Orchestra, Isaac Hayes etc). And here Kent have coupled two of The manhattans albums of this style from 1973 and 1974 respectively. To aficionados, this sort of thing is regarded as the height of soul sophistication, all lush satin-sheeted sounding arrangements. I’m a big fan of soul harmony groups, but in the 70s, the uptown treatments of it rendered it too slick for my liking. Anyway, if you’re already a fan then this would of course be a must to own. Tony Rounce as usual does a good and detailed job on the liners and Kent are a label you can rely on for sound quality. Me, I prefer to boogaloo!
www.acerecords.co.uk
Paul Martin

MOON MULLICAN
Seven Nights To Rock: More King Classics 1950-1956 (Ace Records; CD)
     Is this the oldest set of tracks ever reviewed for Shindig?
     A huge influence on Jerry Lee Lewis, Aubrey "Moon" Mullican was an East Texas piano player who flirted with the rock 'n' roll style in the mid 1950s, but was largely known as a western swing and country boogie artist who recorded for the Cincinnati-based King label between 1946 and 1956. Ace Records have already issued a Moon Mullican retrospective - Moonshine Jamboree - in 1993, and here we are eleven years later with a volume two compiled from Mullican's later King recordings. There is little point in discussing individual tracks, but suffice to say that Mullican was covering black R&B songs - and indeed recording with rhythm and blues musicians - years before Elvis came along with "That's All Right (Mama)". Perhaps more importantly, several of Moon's original songs were covered by black singers, which proves just how hip he was. What was the first rock 'n' roll record? Well, Mullican must at least be in the running!
     Expect volume three around 2015...
www.acerecords.co.uk
Dave Penny

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rockin' From Coast To Coast Volume 3 (Ace Records; CD)
     We seem to be dealing exclusively with sequels this month; this is the third volume of a successful series that was inaugurated to make available some rare rock 'n' roll, rockabilly and stompin' R&B to run alongside the Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll series. Like the latter series, the original brief was specifically to issue sought-after tracks that had not been legally released or were not currently available. The colourful 20 page booklet and Rob Finnis' valuable essays, entertainingly dispatch what is known about the obscurities included, and although a few of the tracks by the likes of Pat Kelly (Hey Doll Baby) and Mickey & Sylvia (No Good Lover) have been reissued several times in recent years and should have been replaced by more deserving causes, the wheat far outweighs the chaff here. The blistering black rock 'n' roll by the likes of Kid Thomas, Wild Child Gipson and Flash Terry rubs shoulders with Texas rockabilly by Elroy Dietzel, Dwight "Whitey" Pullen, George Fleming and a mysterious unissued track and Hollywood Hillbilly Del Reeves, alongside some pop rockers and Australian rock 'n' roll by Johnny O'Keefe and even a track by Bertice Reading with Geoff Love & his Orchestra, recorded at Abbey Road in 1958. I kid you not!
     On paper, the disparate spread of 1950s styles might seem likely to jar the senses, but they have been compiled well and, while perhaps not seamless, the running order is compatible and highly entertaining. Unlike the "Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll" series, I'm happy to say that this is one Ace series that has thankfully NOT outstayed its welcome.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Dave Penny

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Superfunk Volume 4 (BGP; CD)
     This series is to funk what Pebbles is to garage and Rubble is to pop-psych and coming from SD that’s a BIG compliment. Dean Rudland’s selection of choice rare and fave funk 45 sides show no sign of drying up either on this fourth volume of syncopated instros and uptempo vocal numbers. A wheel chair bound granny would even attempt the boogaloo after a brief blast of any of these movers. Billy “Sugar” Garner kicks things into action with his strutting James Brown-a-like ‘I Got Some’ and the album then swerves from tough ‘60s “sister funk” like Pat Hunt’s superb put down ‘Super Cool (You’re Just Super Fool)’ and Betty Barney’s powerful ‘Momma Momma’ to the usual array of hyper funked up jazz-soul (Chet Ivey & His Fabulous Avengers’ ‘Don’t Ever Change’) and straight ahead no thrill instrumental bass laden Stax-a-likes and tough greasy boogaloo soul greasers. One of the most interesting cuts is the unreleased ‘Standing On The Corner’ by Phoenix based garage soul maniacs Michael Liggins & The Soulsations. There’s nothing unusual about the groove worthy funky soul tune, but its totally out of key saxophone breaks make it, well, UNUSUAL, coming off like a head on collision between The Young Rascals, Krautrock and X-Ray Specs!!!!!
     Another classic set of winners and surprises. If you like funk you can’t miss out on this.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Voo Vee Ah Bee: King Vocal Groups Volume 2 (Ace Records; CD)
     Last year's first volume of this, hopefully, extensive series was warmly received by vocal harmony group fans everywhere - even if only luke-warmly received by me in the December review section! This sequel is up to the standards set by the previous set: an attractively illustrated 12 page booklet with notes from the reliable doo-wop authority Gordon Skadberg of Early Bird Records gives the gen on 24 tracks from over a dozen different vocal groups, and even the ones that may look familiar to the doowop buff - The Platters and The Royals - include unissued alternative takes of their songs to make the release indispensible to the fan who has everything.
     In my view, this is where the compilations fall down. The choices seem to have been made with long-term collectors in sight at the expense of including tried-and-tested tracks that will be more likely to hook younger fans; lets face it, whatever style of retro music you champion, it is dead in the water unless you interest at least a small fraction of the next generation, and vocal harmony fans are more guilty than most of equating rarity with excellence - wrongly in many cases.
     The strengths of this compilation are the tracks by The Platters and The Royals - issued or not - and by the other groups that enjoyed a reasonable career with King/Federal/DeLuxe and other labels, namely The Five Keys and The Checkers, while the tracks by such as those by The Fascinators and The Targets are from their only known releases. There's a reason for the paucity of their recording careers, which the compilers would do well to consider.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Dave Penny

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Welcome To The Club (Ace Records; CD)
     Although not labelled as a "volume two", this present release is a companion volume to "Chicago Blues From Federal Records" (CDCHD 717) released five years ago. That release was mainly a vehicle for the largely unissued 1957 tracks by Kid Thomas, bolstered by others from Smokey Smothers, Willie Mabon, Bobby King and Eddie Clearwater. Clearwater returns on this release, which is similarly dominated by the previously unissued tracks from a 1960 session by drummer Willie Wright& The Sparklers, hogging nine of the 24 selections.
     The thread that links many of these tracks is the production of Federal A&R man Sonny Thompson (1916-1989), a Chicago-based pianist and R&B bandleader who had recorded for King Records since the beginning of the decade, and by 1959 had been employed to head-up the Cincinnati label's R&B subsidiary, Federal Records. Although the tag-line here reads "tough blues and R&B shuffles", the music included would really suit those with a predeliction for the sounds of early soul music. Lee "Shot" Williams, Syl Johnson and Jesse Anderson, in particular, fit that bill, while Eddy Clearwater turns in a couple of second rate Chuck Berry impersonations, and the best track goes to singer-guitarist Danny Overbea, a hitmaker from the pre-rock 'n' roll era who still had "it" in 1961.
     The presentation is well up to the usual Ace standards, with the 12 page booklet packed with rare photos and label-shots, all set amongst the erudite notes of Chicago native and music historian Bill Dahl.
     Oh, and the Sparklers' recordings? Well, they haven't remained unissued for the last 44 years for nothing!
www.acerecords.co.uk
Dave Penny