Various Artists [Afrodisiac 'Forty Original Soulful Classics] 

This is a wonderful double disc album of real Soul classics, a well chosen bunch of songs, that border also on Disco, Motown, and Pop, some of these tracks i have nowhere else in my collection, so this makes these disc all the more welcome, virtually all of the music comes from the Seventies, what a great decade that was, and i personally remember many of these tracks in the charts when i was younger, but sadly i wasn't into this type of music at the time, mainly leaning towards Glam Rock and Punk, with some New Wave chucked in also, now this stuff really gets to me as i'm older, even tracks that i don't think are great, and i could easily live without, i'm now developing a real fondness for, nothing sounds out of place, everything fits together, it's not just about the individual songs, but how all together they make a lovely bigger picture, i've wrote about these disc in my Blog twice before [17th January 2012 & 30th November 2010].

Well a whole bunch of songs blew me away, tracks 5-6, 10, 16-17, 19, 28, 30, 32-33, 37 & 40, too many tracks to talk about individually, so it would be nice to pick just two, and talk about them both more extensively, but giving the discs another little sample, wow that's a hard task, there's so many moments within tracks that really got me going, however here they both are, with a more extended synopsis,

16 Lou Rawls [You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine] - What a voice!, as smooth as butter, and so soulful, he's able to turn small phrases into large pleadings, the way he can change the meaning of words just by the way he sings them, almost perfection, in the intro it's that click click click from the percussion that deliciously gets on your nerves in a nice way [0:01-0:18], and when Rawls comes in, the voice blows you away, and the piano echoes the voice, a great and satisfying technique, Rawls can really sing with power in the chorus, and it's good to hear the click, click, click again, that merges the chorus and the second verse [1:02+], and when the chorus comes back again, this time it adds female backing singers [1:54+], the piano now uses a lovely down the keyboard glissando to bridge the chorus and the third verse [2:15], ha ha very nice, such a nice beat throughout, the epitome of a Soul song.

30 William De Vaughn [Be Thankful For What You've Got] - I had to put this in, this was one of those tracks i spoke about at the beginning that i can easily live without, yet now i find a real fondness for this, it has a gorgeous bongo solo at the beginning, and then the Hammond swirls just come in, now that's real soul [0:00-0:25], and the guitars and voice come in [0:17+ & 0:25], the twangy guitar makes a real vibe to it, and then later a very inauspicious Vibist [Vince Montana] comes in [1:08+], what a tremendous instrument it is, it makes such a difference to the song, the lyrics are fairly repetitive, the original version lasted just over seven minutes, and on this disc it cuts two minutes off the instrumental in the second half of the song, the vocals end and there's some of the instrumental on this version [3:43+], i love the way the Vibist gets a lovely solo in [4:35-5:23], which takes the track into the fade, it's a real joy to fall in love with this song.

Various Artists [The Best Of All Woman] 

These compilation albums are really useful, collecting together many tracks i otherwise wouldn't really bother with, it's a good concept, and there seems to somewhat of a theme, or rather a nice bringing together of like minded songs, no track seems awkward or out of place, and even though there are lots of famous tracks, there are also tracks that aren't exactly popular, it's a great double disc which veers from my usual, a nice bit of escapism if you like, i played this over the park, sitting on a bench and watching the world go by, also i played these discs early last year [22nd January 2011].

Well this compilation came out in 1995, the front cover of course has a picture of a woman on it, a sepia toned black & white shot, i guess a poolside shot considering the wet hair, a nice pose with elbows on knees [well almost], the background is very much washed out, concentrating on the arms and face, the lettering is great, and i just love that pink 'All Woman', and then a smattering of a list of Artists below, nicely well laid out.

The tracks i liked most of all were 9-10, 18, 23, 26 & 30, and i would like to give a short synopsis of each of these tracks,
9 - Joan Armatrading - Love And Affection, A very acoustic track from Armatrading, strumming and plucking guitars, i love the way Armatrading almost ad-libs the vocals, she nicely staccato's the wording, then launches into legato, a nice and effective idea, the song builds up into something really soulful, and a superb saxophone solo [2:51-3:14]. 
10 - Sinead O'Connor - My Special Child, This is a song that i don't know that well, i remember buying a Various Artists package that had her song 'This Is To Mother You' on it, another great song, there's certainly a hidden talent there, the intro is great, a vague tune that is quite haunting, her vocals are nicely ghostly, and they get more serious as the song goes on, halfway through there's a solo for uilleann pipes [a sort of Irish bagpipes], where O'Connor talks over the solo, the best lyrics are at the beginning 'Think about my little girl, her yellow skin and her dark curls'. 
18 - Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy, An old song from 1963, with an orchestra to back her up, there's a constant trickle / cycle in the piano keys, sounding backward to the point at first i thought it was a harp, and a gentle brushes on the drums, this underpins the whole song, Washington constantly swings from half talking to half singing, and that's just fantastic, i love the way Washington drags out the first word of each verse like a long stutter [0:16], the second one is great [0:42] as the strings come in right afterward [0:47+], a lovely lazy serenading addition, and the piano in the background that just ups the volume, as well as goes up into treble territory [1:16+], that's another lovely addition, but can easily be missed, there's a nice serenading instrumental interlude by the strings [2:01-2:18], this track might be considered easy listening, but there's more than just a simple tune being played. 
23 - Kate Bush - The Man With The Child In His Eyes, A lovely atmospheric opening, just piano and voice [0:00-0:10], that piano is so affecting, the cello comes in [0:11+], and it really creates a mood, the music changes into high strings [0:32+], it's a nice slight change of direction, and the lyrics are great here, epitomizing the whole meaning of the song, 'And suddenly i find myself listening, To a man i've never known before', it's almost Classical in its conception, there's flute [1:10], horn [1:21], and oboe [1:23].
26 - Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue, A wonderfully soulful song, Moore has such a compelling voice, tinkling piano and soft strings as an intro [0:00-0:16], Moore has this ability to add oohh's and mmmm's, and lengthen out her words, and hesitate in the most stunning way, it's that gently twanging guitar that makes the song so affecting [0:19+], the background strings are lovely and swooning, going well with the music and the gist of the lyrics.
30 - Hazel O'Connor - Will You, The 'saxophone track', rather like Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, it uses a very upfront and central use of the saxophone [played by Wesley McGoogan], the lyrics are fairly banal, but the music slowly builds up and up, the second half of the song is really just a saxophone solo [2:45-4:44], over a constant beat and background strings, there's an 'overblown angry' feel to the solo, the solo develops a real intensity the longer it goes on, and right at the end McGoogan blows and only air comes out! [4:41+], quite possibly the best long saxophone solo in Rock music, but the Gerry Rafferty / Baker Street use of the sax is more memorable / famous.

Diane Birch [Bible Belt] 

This is the third time that this album appears in my Blog [15th January 2010 & 9 June 2011], a great little 'Gospel' album shall we say, certainly her religious upbringing influenced her style, it's a swampy organ / piano bluesy album, her voice is wonderful with great range and impromptu ideas off the cuff, but best of all she's a Singer / Songwriter, creating her own mini masterpieces, it's a great little album, i delved into her when she was fairly unknown.

Diane Birch is 29, an American, surprisingly she only has one real album to her credit, even though i hear there's a second coming out soon, she recorded this album in 2009, the front cover is truly superb and inspired [photo by Melodie McDaniel], a close up head shot in black and white, those eyes are mesmerizing, and the highlights are superb, her fringe over her eyes almost, and in the background on the right you can see her trademark black hat, the lettering could have been better if it was larger, but it's a nigh perfect album cover.

Here's Diane Birch singing Ariel on YouTube.

Paul Weller ['Modern Classics' The Greatest Hits]

Paul Weller's Greatest Hits are certainly a subjective choice, i guess this compilation isn't called 'The Best Of Paul Weller', or it would be even more subjective, who chose this compilation?, i guess it was Paul Weller himself, or rather if they're greatest hits, it's what got into the charts and was successful, but who chose what to throw into the charts?, and of course it's Paul Weller again, i haven't heard every single Weller album, but i was touched by certain songs that aren't included here, plus there's a tendency to send the commercial stuff into the charts, and yet it's a great snapshot of the oeuvre of Weller, i played this just over a year ago [16th March 2011].

Paul Weller is English, born in 1958, he's now 53, this disc was compiled in 1998 [wow! do we need a new Greatest Hits package], i like the visuals that come with this disc, even though the front cover photo is not that great, there's a certain hazy fuzziness to it, a dreamy walking through the wheat fields, the front booklet and back inlay work as one big letterbox picture when the CD case is opened out, and the booklet is full of good pictures, the lettering on the front is great, and the track listing on the back is inspired too.

I really liked listening to everything here, i appreciated a lot of his music that i thought was merely very good before, only tracks 2 & 10 i thought were the weak links, and they were good, it was track 15 'Broken Stones' that i thought was the gem of the bunch,

Here's Paul Weller singing 'Broken Stones' on YouTube.

Various Artists [Soul Searching]

Another Soul compilation, this one's different, instead of a certain era [say the Seventies], this encompasses a wider timeframe, this one's from 1967 to 1993, if you like 'the last 25 years of Soul music', it's a mixed bag, at one end you have more purer Soul, at the ether end it's more like R & B, but there's some good nuggets in there, i'm not so covinced of the Nineties stuff in here, but it's a well laid out compilation, the front cover is nicely done, a sunset / silhouette of the beach, looks relaxing and nostalgic, the back inlay track listing is clearly done, the tracks and Artists are in different colours, making reading clearer.

Of all of these tracks, i loved 27, 34 & 36 the most, here's a short synopsis of these three tracks,
27 Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free, i gave a review of this previously on another disc [5th May 2011].
34 New York City - I'm Doing Fine Now, with lyrics that are really meaningful and touching, it only has two verses, and lasts just 2:50, it would have benefited from more storyline in a third verse, plus musically it would have made an impact from a bridge to the last verse,  
36 Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue, the last track of this double disc set, and it's a nice way to finish, this is such a sad Soul ballad, of longing and regret, the opening treble tinklings from the piano are so perfect [0:00-0:17], and the gentle strumming rhythm from the guitar give it a constant vibe, and Dorothy Moore's soulful voice is tremendous, she sings with that sense of nostalgia and trying to forget, but you just can't.