Source Team

Rare Pleasure - Let Me Down Easy - South Street - Red Vinyl The instantly recognisable, Northern / Modern Soul crossover, Rare Pleasure – Let Me Down Easy, featuring the entrancing Sandy Barber on lead vocals, gets a much-welcomed official reissue on 7 Inch. A classic in it’s own right, alongside being expertly sampled by David Morales for the house anthem ‘Needin’ U’, original’s trade hands for £100+ so an official reissue is long overdue. Limited Red Vinyl version in a tasty South Street Disco Sleeve. View full store item

Florence Miller - The Groove I'm In / I'm Just A Lonely Girl - P&P Reissue A fresh reissue of 'The Groove I'm In', a solid modern northern dancefloor gem! Two hidden gems from the P&P vaults courtesy of a scarcely known talent from Georgia, Florence Miller get an official reissue 'I'm Just A Lonely Girl' and 'The Groove I'm In'. With only two releases to her name, both of which came on Peter Brown’s P&P Records, ‘The Groove I'm In’ released around 1975 got the attention of the Northern and Modern Soul scenes in the mid ‘90s becoming a real star of the show. Since then, it’s maintained consistent demand on the second-hand market with originals selling for over £200. As with most of Peter Brown's artists, they briefly emerged on the sparsely distributed P&P label, for a brief stab at stardom only to disappear when Peter's attentions moved on to the next releases. Consequently, very little is known about the multi-talented and sadly ignored Florence Miller following her two releases on the Harlem label. Clearly though, the music speaks for itself with the quality of the P&P catalogue and this Florence Miller slice of magic shining through to this day. View full store item

Carolyn Crawford - Get Up And Move / Sugar Boy - Kent City 094 This Kent single has been eagerly awaited for some time. Plays at the 100 Club and other venues of ill-repute, has made it a must-play, dancefloor-filling track. Carolyn Crawford had a brief sojourn at Mickey Stevenson’s Mpingo label, in the early 70s, as a temporary member of Hodges, James & Smith when they were billed as The Firm Of Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford. Stevenson International’s tapes revealed that Mickey had also cut some solo tracks with Carolyn. ‘Ready Or Not Here Comes Love’ has already wowed the Northern Soul world; this fabulous self-written song will cross over to all scenes. Its slow, steady, groove start builds up to an infectious rhythm that few can resist. Congas abound and a subtle brass section layers the music to perfection. The jazz element will see this 45 accepted on all rare black music scenes. The flip ‘Sugar Boy’ is more typical of Carolyn and Mickey’s time at Motown with a bouncy beat and appropriately cute lyrics. Both sides debut here. View full store item

Jesse Davis / Gus Jenkins - Night Bloomin' Jasmin / Tricky Too - Kent City 093 Best known for ‘Gonna Hang On In There’, its storming Northern Soul flip side, the more subtle ‘Night Bloomin’ Jasmin’’ also has admirers on the rare soul scene. Modernists, in particular, will go for the suave jazz-elegance of this recording which is even scarcer than its original A side - due to being one of two different flips. The unrelated, bar the L A source of origin, ‘Tricky Too’ by pianist Gus Jenkins is a laidback instrumental groove, written as a sequel to his 1956 smash hit ‘Tricky’. Completed with a hip brass section, it failed to get a release until Ace bought the catalogue, unearthed the tape and slotted it into the 2012 “Mod Jazz Forever” CD. View full store item

Sylvia & The Blue Jays / The Soul Children -Put Me In The Mood / Standing In The Safety Zone - Kent City 092 The unknown Sylvia & The Blue Jays cut two tracks for Stax, a southern ballad and this atmospheric, laid-back funky dancer. We first put a version out by Memphis keyboard player Art Jerry Miller who rather swamped the song in organ on our “Let’s Crossover Again” CDKEND 174 in 1999. Underneath that lead instrument was a great vocal performance that we later found out was Sylvia & The Blue Jays. Their possibly original version, before the overdub, was issued on CDKEND 435 in 2015 and has many admirers. They can now play it from 7” of vinyl and fill up those dancefloors. We coupled Sylvia with a more mainstream southern Stax groove from The Soul Children - ‘Standing In The Safety Zone’. Like ‘Put Me In The Mood’, the songwriters are frustratingly unregistered and none of the many soul and gospel versions with this title match our well-produced mid-tempo track. It was first issued on CDKEND 499 in 2021 but went under the radar to some extent. It will gleam on vinyl now View full store item

Kevin Fingier Collective - I Really Care / The Great Akerman - Acid Jazz ‘I Really Care’ is a hybrid of R&B and Northern Soul with funky guitar, driving piano and killer horns. The B-side, ‘The Great Akerman’, is exclusive to the 7” - a flute and organ flavoured Bossa/Mod Jazz instrumental, with the Fingier signature touch. View full store item

Kevin Fingier Collective - My Heart Is Burning - Acid Jazz The latest single from The Kevin Fingier Collective, ‘My Heart Is Burning’ is an astounding dance floor bomb, and the culmination of Kevin’s three year journey on Acid Jazz. Featuring the three singers – Diane Ward, Jo Ann Hamilton and Josi Dias – who have helped make the Fingier 45s so in-demand. Its an uplifting R&B track which combines an infectious rare-soul beat with a classic girl-group vibe. It will be a must have for any DJ session or house party during these sultry summer months. Kevin was searching for the perfect B-Side for his upcoming single when Acid Jazz director Dean Rudland suggested a dub mix from the upcoming LP. He took his melodica version of the track to Argentina’s Dub master Nacho Flotta at Libertad Sound System, where they mixed the track together. View full store item

Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth - Lady Day & John Coltrane / Home Is Where The Hatred is - Acid Jazz A year on from the release of his critically acclaimed album ‘Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth’, Billy returns with a brand new take on a classic of conscious soul The first to be released is his take on Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘Lady Day & John Coltrane’, which held audiences in rapt attention when performed live over the last year. We are excited to present 7” single, backed with a special edit of ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’ (previously unreleased on vinyl). It comes adorned in a fantastic picture sleeve View full store item

Bobby Garrett / The Bob & Earl Band - My Little Girl / My Little Girl - Kent Repro 16 What is Northern Soul? Well, you could start with the pounding, but vocally-restrained, soul of Bobby Garrett’s ‘My Little Girl’ as a prime example. When the UK’s Jay Boy issued the instrumental version from the two-track master tape in 1972, Northern Soul kids who craved instrumentals were in ecstasy. At last, the two are coupled and issued on the famed Mirwood imprint – just as they should be. View full store item

The Sheppards - Stubborn Heart / How Do You Like It - Kent Repro 13 “You can’t beat the classics” and in the Northern Soul world, no label is more renowned than Mirwood. The Sheppards ‘Stubborn Heart’ has been played since the early days of the scene but is still a guaranteed floor-filler. Its flip ‘How Do You Like It’ has also picked up many spins in more recent years. As is our habit, to distinguish from the originals, we have changed the label colour - this time we’ve gone for a fetching purple and gold. View full store item

Spotlight On Fraternity Records - Various Artists - Ace EP In the 1950s and 60s, the Cincinnati recording scene was dominated by Syd Nathan’s King label, whose R&B catalogue made it a major player among post-war independents. In its shadow was Fraternity, a smaller concern launched by Harry Carlson in 1954. The well-respected Carlson set about building an artist roster which reflected his conservative musical taste, scoring smash hits by Cathy Carr and Jimmy Dorsey a couple of years later which established the label as an indie to be reckoned with. Here, though, we spotlight decidedly non-MOR Fraternity recordings by influential guitar hero Lonnie Mack, soulful girl group the Charmaines, bluesy singer-guitarist Albert Washington, and female duo the 2 Of Clubs. Side 1 01 Sa-Ba-Hoola - Lonnie Mack 02 Jealous Woman - Albert Washington & The Kings Side 2 01 Rockin' Pneumonia - The Charmaines 02 Walk Tall Like A Man - 2 Of Clubs View full store item

Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces Of A Man / I Think I'll Call It Morning - BGP 068 As part of our continued celebration of Gil Scott-Heron's essential recording "Pieces Of A Man", BGP/ Flying Dutchman are releasing two of its most poignant and poetic tracks as a 7-inch single. Neither the album's title track or 'I Think I'll Call It Morning' have been released in this format before. 'Pieces Of A Man' is shows Gil at his most incisive as he views the scene of a father disintegrating from a son's perspective. The song is about capitalism's lack of care for the people that fuel it but, in typical Gil style, is handled with humanity, rather than the ranting polemic that others may have applied. He is helped by the musical setting, crafted by Brian Jackson into which his words were placed. That humanity is applied to the personal viewpoint on 'I Think I'll Call It Morning', which is a rallying cry for self awareness, and understanding that the world has so much more to give. Again, the combination of Gil's lyrics and Brian's musical setting combine to create a masterpiece. View full store item

Carman Bryant - Midnight Star - Super Disco Edits Carman's recording "Midnight Star” is an unreleased recording that was produced many years ago by Cecil DuValle of the Teddy Pendergrass band. The original studio masters were lost when Cecil moved to England because Teddy Pendergrass stopped performing. "Take a Chance" is a duet by Doug Payne and Carman from the same recording sessions at Alpha International Studios that was located in South Philadelphia. This was during the time that Doug Payne was on the "We are Family" tour with Philly recording group "Sister Sledge''. View full store item