Shades Of Brown

Only one good soul jam, "Lie # 2". The rest of the tracks are more uptempo.
4 out of 10.

Battle Of The Bands

A very good set put together by Sequel Records featuring some of the 70's best soul groups. Excellent sound quality and a good bit of liner notes.
You will find a few outstanding sweet soul ballads on each volume. A must for your collection.
9 out of 10.

Slow Jamz From Back In Da Day

A good compilation of standard soul ballads that should be in every soul music fan's collection. No complaints on sound quality here.
8 out of 10.

Leroy Hutson

A couple of nice solid 70's slow jams. The rest have a more funky sound. "So In Love With You" and "When You Smile" make this release well worth it.
5 out of 10.

The Natural Four

1970's soul from Oakland's Natural Four. These two reissues are from their work on the Curtom Records label. Highlights include "Heaven Right Here On Earth", "Can This Be Real", "Love That Really Counts" and "While You're Away". No liner notes but top notch sound quality.
6 out of 10.

The Apollas

Excellent sound quality with lots of liner notes but for me, the tracks were a bit on the weak side for what I look for. The best tracks are"All Sold Out" and "Nobody's Baby (Am I)".
3 out of 10.

These Men In Love

Nothern soul all the way through. "Beware Of Your Friends" by The Endeavors is decent but the rest were of no interest to me. Sound quality varies. You can skip this release.
1 out of 10.

Hot Buttered Oldies

A mix of 60's and 70's soul ballads. A few nice rare tracks such as "Baby Hang Up The Phone" by Carl Graves", "When You're Giving Love" by Voices Of East Harlem, "It's Gotta Be Love" by The Trumains, "Look At Me" by The Moments (Not the same track as "Look At Me (I'm In Love)") and "Friends Or Lovers" by Act 1. Sound quality varies.
8 out of 10.

The Golden Age Of American Rock 'N' Roll, Special Doo Wop Edition

Standard Doo Wops by The Velours, The Jesters, The Dubs, The Charts and many others. More hard to get tracks include "If You Want To" by The Carousels and "The Reason" by The 5 Chanels. Usual excellent sound quality and liner notes from Ace Records.
6 out of 10.

Doo-Wops From The Smash Archives

Not much on this compilation as far as slow ballads are concerned. To me the majority of the tracks have more of a pop than soul sound. The good tracks are: "Why Didn't I Listen To Mother" by The Bentleys, "Let Love Be True" by The Naturals and "That Other Guy" by Little Ellen & Group.
3 out of 10.

The Unifics

Besides the title track "Court Of Love" other nice soul tracks are "Beginning Of My End", "Tables Turned" and "Toshisumasu".
5 out of 10.

Glass House

If you like 70's slow jams this release is a must. Highlights include "Looke What We've Done To Love", "A House Is Not A Home" and their cover of "Hey There, Lonely Girl".
5 out of 10.

Tom Brock

Knowing what the late Barry White was capable of producing when I spotted this disc at a good price I quickly picked it up. A real nice solid jam, "Have A Nice Weekend Baby" was well worth it for me. If you like Barry White's material pick this one up.
5 out of 10.

The Joneses

When I first saw this release I was expecting it to contain a few strong 70's soul ballads. Unfortunately there are some late 70's and 80's tracks that I just did not care for. "Baby Don't Do It" and "Pretty, Pretty" are the only highlights.
4 out of 10.

Bob & Gene

 



Relatively unknown duo Bob and Gene recorded a few nice soul ballads among some more funky sides. Highlights include "I Can Be Cool", "Gotta Find A Way", "Which Love" and "You Gave Me Love".
7 out of 10.

Northern Soul of Sue

I usually do not pick up northern soul CD's but this one had a track that I had to have, the original "Count To Ten" by Derek Martin. Other decent tracks include "Any Other Way" by Jackie Shane and "She Blew A Good Thing" by the Poets.
4 out of 10.