Village Soul - Various Artists

Advantages: Soulful, genuine, funky, rare
Disadvantages: None

...Subtitled “funk classics from sassy soul sisters” this album’s sentiment may have it’s heart in the right place, but it fails to describe the full picture here. These women are sexually, emotionally and vocally aggressive, leaving their men in no doubt as to who wears the trousers in their respective relationships. Each track here oozes raw sexuality, whether the role of the singer is that of a bored housewife (“Crumbs Off the Table”) or as sexual predator (“Your Thing Ain’t No Good Without My Thing”). The titles alone are sheer class. Culled from the dusty vaults of Warner Bros’ legendary, bottomless soul archives this is an album of twelve virtually unknown tracks from between 1968 and 1974 performed by fourteen virtually unknown artists (honourable exception: Gladys... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Well compiled collection
Disadvantages: Not all best tracks included

...quite as well as others but whose contribution to Soul is an important one. Possibly Taylor’s adaptability for singing in various styles from Soul, Funk, R&B and later Disco precluded his ability to make any one style his own, nevertheless the tracks included here and his biggest hit "Who's Making Love?" show off his vocal ability and his easy singing style to perfection. It is a bit strange however that two other of his tracks "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) are missing. No Stax compilation would be complete without some tracks by a legend of Blues guitar Albert King. ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ the title track form the classic album of the same name in included on Disc 1 and it is a classic in every sense of the word being later covered by many other artist... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: All the best R'n'B anthems from '04 & '05
Disadvantages: A little dated now

...This is an excellent round up of all the R'n'B smashes of 2004 and 2005 with a few nostalgic classics thrown in for good measure. It covers the slow jams, the dancefloor joints and everything in between from artists as diverse as Wayne Wonder, Lucy Pearl, Kelis and Usher. CD2 also takes us back with classic gems from the likes of D'Angelo (whose 'Brown Sugar' pretty much defined and kick started the neo soul scene), Janet Jackson (with her undeniable classic 'That's The Way Love Goes') and Blackstreet (with club hit 'No Diggity' featuring Dr Dre) This album is the perfect party album and although it avoids raritites, its sound understanding of R'n'B past and present make it a must have for any music lover.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful