NEW RELEASES - THE EMOTIONS, THE STAPLE SINGERS, THE RONETTES

THE EMOTIONS - FLOWERS

A soaring classic from The Emotions – thanks to some supreme help from the Earth Wind & Fire side of the soul spectrum! This set has the trio really sounding great – with Kalimba Productions by Maurice White and Charles Stepney – and a good deal of EWF help on the instrumentation as well! The girls break out of the rootsier style used on their earlier Stax recordings, and manage to fit perfectly with the jazzy tinges of the new grooves – and, along with Ramsey Lewis and EWF, the Emotions were part of a hugely successful trinity during the late 70s – one that took the indie soul roots of the Chicago scene and turned it into landmark big business for Columbia Records. The album's got a new approach to female group soul that would go onto shape R&B for years to come – and titles include "Flowers", "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love", "We Go Through Changes", "Special Part", and "You've Got The Right To Know". CD features a bonus single version of "Flowers". ~ Dusty Groove

THE STAPLE SINGERS

The Staple Singers in a direction none would have guessed a decade before – a half-pop, half-arty approach to the dancefloor – served up in a surprisingly nice batch of jaunty tunes! The approach here mixes electric rhythms with the deeper soul vocals of the group – often putting Mavis in the lead, supported by the production and arrangements of Mike Piccirillo and Gary Goetzman, who'd first launched the group in this direction with their efforts on a few tracks on the previous record. As on that one, one of the best numbers here is a Talking Heads cover – "Life During Wartime" – and David Byrne also guests on guitar on another track. The sound's a bit slick, but it works really well for them! Other tracks include "Are You Ready", "We Stand", "Reason To Love", "Start Walking", and "Love Works In Strange Ways". This CD version has 3 bonus mixes, too: "Are You Ready (US Single)", "Are You Ready (US Extended Dance Mix)" and "Are You Ready (US Dub Mix)".  ~ Dusty Groove

THE RONETTES - PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES FEATURING VERONICA

The surprisingly hard-to-find Philles album by The Ronettes – and an appropriately-titled one – as this pop soul masterpiece is fabulous, to say the least! To say a bit more, this incredible record, with Ronnie Spector shining brightly out front (she's the Veronica they're featuring, if you didn't know that already) is as fine of a showcase for the Wall Of Sound as any album in the canon. Best remembered for their timeless hit singles, there's no overstating how great this album is as a whole. It indeed features several of those huge hit singles – and it includes "Walking In The Rain", "Do I Love You?", "(The Best Part Of) Breaking Up", "I Wonder", "What'd I Say", "How Does It Feel", "Be My Baby", "You Baby" "When I Saw You" and "Chapel Of Love". ~ Dusty Groove