Funk / Soul

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Brownswood are delighted to present Zara McFarlane’s, Songs of an Unknown Tongue a masterful work that underlines her continuous growth as an artist. Zara’s fourth studio album pushes the boundaries of jazz adjacent music via an exploration into the folk and spiritual traditions of her ancestral motherland, Jamaica. The album is a rumination on the piecing together of black heritage, where painful and proud histories are uncovered and connected to the present. Partnering with cult South London based producers Kwake Bass and Wu-lu, Zara has created a futuristic sound palate, electronically recreating the pulsing, hypnotic rhythms Kumina and Nyabinghi – and the music played at African rooted rituals like the emancipation celebration Bruckins Party, and the lively death rites of Dinki Minki and Gerreh. These richly patterned electronic rhythms are balanced throughout by McFarlane’s distinctive, clear vocal tones, and vivid song writing. Zara’s critically acclaimed third studio album ‘Arise’ met with universal critical praise, and was supported by an impressive live tour performing at festivals such as Love Supreme, Field Day and SXSW. Zara is the winner of multiple awards including a Mobo, 2 Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year Award (2018 & 2015), an Urban Music Award, and Session of the Year at Worldwide Awards. Drawing respect from a wide range of artists, Zara has collaborated with Gregory Porter, Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd and Louie Vega. These new sonic explorations signal an exciting direction of travel for this innovative founding member of the UK’s vibrant homegrown jazz scene.

The funky, atmospheric, evocative and sometimes downright weird output of companies such as DeWolfe, Cavendish, Burton and the ubiquitous KPM have always been a guiding inspiration for ATA Records. These occasional one-off tracks have accumulated over the past few years and have been released on the first volume of 'The Library Archive' series. Ranging from heavy big band brass (Whack, Slap & Blow, Kaye Okay) to evocative thriller soundtrack (Midnight Heist, Wiretap, The Needlenose) via introspective ethereal soundscapes (Nuclear Wind, Siren's Sea) these eleven tracks faithfully recreate the feel of the library music catalogues of the '60s and '70s.

The perfect summer soundtrack is provided by Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs (Saint Etienne) who have been compiling excellent Ace samplers for years. Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room' sounds like Warren Beatty and Julie Christie meet for a secret rendezvous during the shooting of 'Shampoo'. Top-Down Soul, FM Yacht Rock, Blue Eyed Soul and Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters will provide a relaxed atmosphere at the upcoming barbecue parties. With Marvin Gaye, Daryl Hall & Johan Oates, Bobbie Gentry, Boz Scaggs, Ned Doheny, Seals & Crofts and others. Of course with extensive booklet including many archive photos and detailed liner notes!

Reissue of the 5th installment of the hugely popular 'Now That's What I Call Music' series. Now 5 was originally released in August 1985 and it kicks off with Duran Duran‘s Bond theme, ‘A View To A Kill’, although it doesn’t feature the song that kept Duran off number one in the UK singles charts which was Paul Hardcastle‘s ’19’. What it does include is the Rory Bremner-led spoof version of that song, ‘N-n-nineteen Not Out’, which was credited to ‘The Commentators’. It later turned out that Hardcastle actually helped them put this together but was under strict orders to keep it a secret. Other big hits of the day including Paul Young‘s US number one ‘Every Time You Go Away’, Scritti Politti‘s ‘The Word Girl’, Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy‘s ‘other’ hit (‘The Icing On The Cake’), Marillion‘s ‘Kayleigh’, Simple Minds‘ ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’, ‘Out In The Fields’ by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott and Howard Jones‘ ‘Life In One Day’.

Track List: CD ONE 01. Queen - Killer Queen 02. The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star 03. Blondie - Heart Of Glass 04. Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland 05. The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh What a Night!) 06. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia 07. Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine 08. Ike & Tina Turner - Proud Mary 09. Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up 10. Sister Sledge - We Are Family 11. The O'Jays - Love Train 12. The Specials feat. Rico - A Message to You Rudy 13. Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing 14. Billy Joel - Piano Man 15. John Denver - Annie's Song 16. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me) 17. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 18. Barry White - You're The First, The Last, My Everything 19. Freda Payne - Band of Gold 20. 10cc - I'm Not In Love CD TWO 01. John Lennon, The Plastic Ono Band & Yoko Ono - Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) 02. Bryan Ferry - Let's Stick Together 03. The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper’s Delight 04. LaBelle - Lady Marmalade 05. McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now 06. Tina Charles - I Love to Love 07. Billy Paul - Me and Mrs. Jones 08. Commodores - Three Times A Lady 09. The Three Degrees - Woman in Love 10. Sly & The Family Stone - Family Affair 11. Harry J Allstars - Liquidator 12. R. Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House 13. Chairmen of the Board - Give Me Just a Little More Time 14. KC & The Sunshine Band - That's The Way (I Like It) 15. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tears Of A Clown 16. Chic - Good Times 17. Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony - The Hustle 18. Heatwave - Boogie Nights 19. Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough 20. Minnie Riperton - Lovin' You CD THREE 01. ABBA - Fernando 02. Fleetwood Mac - Don’t Stop 03. Paul McCartney - Another Day 04. Chicago - If You Leave Me Now 05. Harry Nilsson - Without You 06. Barry Manilow - Mandy 07. Patti Smith Group - Because the Night 08. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights 09. Meat Loaf - You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) 10. Foreigner - Cold As Ice 11. Edwin Starr - War 12. The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight 13. The Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap 14. Rod Stewart – Handbags & Gladrags 15. Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun 16. Ralph McTell - Streets Of London 17. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind 18. Nazareth - Love Hurts 19. Gary Moore & Phil Lynott - Parisienne Walkways 20. Eric Carmen - All by Myself CD FOUR 01. The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl 02. Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him? 03. Roxy Music - Dance Away 04. M - Pop Muzik 05. The Tourists - I Only Want to Be with You 06. Mott The Hoople - Roll Away the Stone 07. Status Quo - Down Down 08. Sweet - Blockbuster 09. The Allman Brothers Band – Jessica 10. Thin Lizzy - Whiskey In The Jar 11. Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn (From Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of "The War of the Worlds") 12. Python Lee Jackson feat. Rod Stewart - In A Broken Dream 13. The Walker Brothers - No Regrets 14. Elkie Brooks - Pearl's A Singer 15. Santana - She's Not There 16. Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us 17. Madness - The Prince 18. Sham 69 – Hurry Up Harry 19. Graham Parker & The Rumour - Hold Back The Night 20. Chris Rea - Fool (If You Think It's Over) CD FIVE 01. Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting 02. Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby 03. Showaddywaddy - Under The Moon Of Love 04. The Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love 05. Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive 06. Kiki Dee - Amoureuse 07. David Soul - Don’t Give Up On Us 08. Matthews' Southern Comfort - Woodstock 09. The New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony) 10. Dawn feat. Tony Orlando - Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree 11. The Drifters - Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies 12. Third World - Now That We've Found Love 13. Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking 14. Sailor - A Glass of Champagne 15. Racey - Some Girls 16. Alvin Stardust - My Coo Ca Choo 17. Pilot - January 18. David Essex - Hold Me Close 19. The Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World 20. Racing Cars - They Shoot Horses Don't They?

3CD SET EXPLORING THE ARRIVAL OF SYNTH POP AND THE DAWN OF A NEW MUSICAL ERA. • 58 TRACKS MARKING THE TRANSITION OF ELECTRONIC POP FROM THE OUTER REACHES OF ECCENTRICITY AND NOVELTY TO THE VERY HEART OF A MUSICAL MAINSTREAM IT WOULD QUICKLY DOMINATE. • A TREASURE TROVE OF HOUSEHOLD NAMES – ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, ULTRAVOX, TOYAH, SPANDAU BALLET, KIM WILDE, PHILIP LYNOTT, THE BUGGLES – AND UNDERGROUND FIGUREHEADS – FAD GADGET, SUICIDE, M, JOHN FOXX, D.A.F., DALEK I LOVE YOU, VISAGE, THE RESIDENTS, YELLO – ALONGSIDE FORGOTTEN GEMS AND LESSER-KNOWN CURIOS. • BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE TEAM BEHIND THE CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL HITS ‘CLOSE TO THE NOISE FLOOR’ AND ‘ELECTRICAL LANGUAGE’! • SLEEVENOTES BY ‘ELECTRONIC SOUND’ MAGAZINE’S MAT SMITH

Rediscover the best selection of Funk Music! In partnership with Funk-U magazine, Give Me The Funk! is positioned as the new must-have collection for groove lovers. CD1: 1. Booker T. & the MG's - Green Onions 2. James Brown & the Famous Flames - Think 3. The Mar-Keys - Last Night 4. Marvin Gaye - Hitch Hike 5. Ray Charles - Unchain My Heart 6. Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) 7. Stevie Wonder - Ain't That Love 8. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man 9. Ike & Tina Turner - a Fool in Love 10. Little Willie John - Fever 11. Etta James - I Just Want to Make Love to You 12. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You 13. Blowfly - Nobody's Butt But Yours, Babe 14. The Detroit Emeralds - Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) 15. George McCrae - I Get Lifted 16. Brother to Brother - Chance with You -- CD2: 1. Gil Scott-Heron - Home Is Where the Hatred Is 2. Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa 3. The Fatback Band - Yum Yum (Gimme Some) 4. Gwen McCrae - All This Love That I'm Givin' 5. Little Beaver - Concrete Jungle 6. Cymande - Bra 7. Bobby Byrd - Back from the Dead 8. Funkadelic - Can You Get to That 9. T Connection - Funkannection 10. The Sylvers - I Aim to Please 11. Patrice Rushen - Hang It Up 12. Joe Simon - Theme from Cleopatra Jones 13. Jerry Butler - Speak the Truth to the People - Frankie's Theme 14. Ohio Players - Funky Worm 15. Curtis Mayfield - Toot An' Toot An' Toot 16. Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes - a Chance for Peace

CD debut for “Hit After Hit” LP • 10 tracks new to CD • Includes some of Jamaica’s biggest hits from 1970 to 1975 Soon after forming in the late Sixties, the Chosen Few became widely regarded as one the most accomplished harmony groups on the Jamaican music scene, as demonstrated by a series of hits for local producers, Derrick Harriott and ‘Prince’ Tony. A subsequent collaboration with Florida-based ex-pat, Noel Williams aka King Sporty spawned the reggae-funk masterpiece, ‘In Miami’ featuring backing from leading soul outfit K.C. & the Sunshine Band. The enduring popularity of the quartet, comprising Franklyn Spence and the three Browns – Busty, Noel and Errol – was demonstrated by the release of three acclaimed long players between 1973 and 1975, all of which were issued in the UK by the country’s premier Jamaican music record company, Trojan Records. This trio of albums form the basis of this superb collection of classic soulful reggae sounds, which is further enhanced by 11 bonus tracks from the period.

Off the back of the inescapably addictive funk rattle 'n' romp 'Felony', an A-list playlist choice of BBC Radio 6 Music spun by Craig Charles, Lauren Laverne and Mary Anne Hobbs as well as BBC Radio 2 hosts Jo Whiley and Rylan, The Allergies are out to provide the soundtrack to your summer with 'Say The Word'. The Bristol duo of Rackabeat and DJ Moneyshot continue their patent blend of fat laced hip-hop and funk for the hip bone, ready and waiting to tear the ring pull off so the party can flood out. In succession to 'As We Do Our Thing', 'Push On' and 'Steal The Show' ("An action-packed funk workout that delivers dancefloor A-bombs time and time again" – Clash magazine), 'Say The Word' packs a killer punch of chunky breaks, finger licking throwdowns and soft-shoe steppers to ensure the boogie will never leave your body. The Allergies' latest dancefloor crusade lines up serial collaborator Andy Cooper of Ugly Duckling (now officially seeking official Allergies citizenship, and reaching a new astral plain on 'I Just Got That Feeling'); the honey-dipped, no-nonsense soul of Marietta Smith, of Smith and The Honey Badgers; Dynamite MC holding down the uber true skool cool of 'Hot Sensation'; and the funster Mardi Gras free for all involving The Cuban Brothers that will definitely 'Let Them Know'. A fixture on Jalapeno Records since 2015, The Allergies all-in party performance has gained Album of the Day status on 6 Music, become a bestseller on the iTunes and Juno hip-hop album charts, and received Tune of the Month gongs in Mixmag. The Allergies have also stopped by shows on Radio 2 with Dermot O'Leary and Radio 4 with Clive Anderson, and headlined the BBC 6 Music Festival in their native Bristol; all in addition to an ever energetic European itinerary, and teaming with Dr Syntax (whose dulcet tones are back to affirm 'I'm On It'), Izo FitzRoy and Uncle Frank of the group, the Fun Lovin' Criminals. In tandem with 'Felony' flying across springtime airwaves, Rackabeat and Moneyshot helmed a triumphant Trunk of Funk mix for Craig Charles' celebrated Funk and Soul show in April. It got pulses racing, as per usual, and whet the listeners' appetites for album number four. When it drops, trust us, 'Say The Word' will be on everyone's lips

Rivage was one of the records during my early days into Modern Soul I was desperate to get hold of, 'Strung Out On You're Love' is up there in my top ten and I managed to pick a copy of the 45 when in the USA in the Early 2000s for a decent price. I only found out there was a rarer LP with a longer version of the track around the same time, with the bonus of a pile of solid Funk, modern and sweet soul tracks. Fast-forward to 2019 and friend Angelo Angione hooked me up with the band who were excited to work with me on a reissue. Now those who know the LP will know it's rather odd cover, this was a marketing idea by someone at the Label, despite the band not wanting to use it that's the way it ended up. We decided to put things right and have reinstated the original cover shot of the band. This LP is simply one of the finest 70s LPs, it's mad that it has not been reissued before now…enjoy.

The elusive gemstone of 1970s Harlem soul and funk from the Ray Alexander Technique, officially reissued for the first time with bonus tracks and previously unreleased alternate mixes. Renowned for its enviable combination of musical muscle and malleability, guitarist / songwriter Raymond Alexander Jenkins’ tight four-piece unit was so revered on the uptown club circuit that it was offered the opportunity to serve as the Apollo Theater house band. Jenkins demurred, hopeful and confident in his group’s chances at making it on its own, and Let’s Talk is the sublime result of their hard work. Independently released and recorded with a distinctly lo-fi charm, it is a collection of unabashedly sincere songs that perfectly encapsulates the era’s heady milieu of Black pride and cultural awareness, and the plaintive emotion of struggling to realize dreams whilst navigating a city and neighborhood in decline. Personal tragedy coupled with Jenkins’ inability to gain traction as a musician, would haunt him for years. But Let’s Talk’s reputation would eventually spread via word-of-mouth praise amongst soul and funk connoisseurs and record collectors. Now elevated to exalted status, it may finally be more widely appreciated as a testament to Jenkins’ gifts.