JOHN ELLISON - UP FROM FUNK
A deep deep retrospective on soul singer John Ellison – best known for his work in the group Soul Brother Six – but a heck of a great talent on his own! The set's an unusual one – in that it features a fair bit of old recordings from the vaults of Jamie Records, mixed with new recordings and remixes of older classics – including some of John's best with his famous group! Modern instrumental styles dominate most of the record, but Ellison's vocals are definitely old school – and have this crackling quality that shows his continued commitment to soul. The one thing missing from the package is a full set of dates, which might help us understand the recording history a bit more – but in their place are some surprisingly great notes from Ellison, which certainly makes up for that loss. Titles include "Leave Me Alone", "Sex Is Sex", "Magic Touch", "Wild & Free", "She's Hot She's Some Kind Of Wonderful", "A Kiss In The Wind", "Let Your Hair Hang Down", and "Spend The Rest Of My Life Making Love To You" – plus remakes of "I Need You Yes I Do", "I Don't Want To Cry", and "You Better Check Yourself" – and remixes of "See You Later Baby", "Play With Fire", and "Keep On Making Love To Me". ~ Dusty Groove
REVA DEVITO / ROANE NAMUH - CLOUDSHINE
Beautiful grooves from the team of Reva DeVito and Roane Namuh – singer and beatmaker, respectively – working here with a lean sound that's mighty nice, and which really brings up a chunky vibe around the edges! The tunes bristle with a low-down groove that really grabs us from the get-go – no commercial posturing, and instead a street-influenced style that's topped with these vocals from Reva that rock back and forth over the rhythms – working together as a great partnership throughout. Titles include "Frozen", "Candy", "Cloudshine", "Go There", "Lavender", "Should Have Known", "Should Have Known (Tall Black Guy rmx)", and "Cloudshine (Tony Ozier rmx)". ~ Dusty Groove
CHARLES WRIGHT & THE WATTS 103RD STREET RHYTHM BAND - PUCKEY PUCKY JAMES & OUTAKES 1970-1971
Rare funk doesn't get any better than this – massive music, all of it unreleased – recorded by Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band at the tail end of their classic years for Warner Brothers! This is the kind of stuff you read about in history books, but hardly ever get to hear on record – the full, unedited studio work of a hard-jamming funk group in all its glory – no edits, no overdubs, just live funky energy! Some of the key cuts here run for over 20 minutes in length – showing the Rhythm Band to be every bit as creative in long form format as the JBs were at the time – and the shorter tracks have a nicely gritty edge that takes us back to the best early 45 years of the group. The vocals are secondary here to the instrumentation, but that's ok with us, given the grooves! Titles include "Puckey Puckey", "Jam #3", "Watts Towers", "Brothers & Sisters", "Hard To Handle", "Sagittarius", "I Love You Girl", "Wine (early version)", "Gemini", "Jam #2", "Express Yourself (alt version)", "Till You Get Enough/Do Your Thing (alt)", and "Jam #1". (Individually numbered limited edition of 5000 Copies.) ~ Dusty Groove
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