Archie Bell And The Drells

Best known for their upbeat dance numbers, Archie Bell And The Drells did cut more than a few nice soul ballads. Highlights include "Love Will Rain On You", "Right Here Is Where I Want To Be", "Just A Little Closer", "I Just Want To Fall In Love", "I Don't Want To Be A Playboy" and "You're Mine". Only track missing from these releases is "She's My Woman, She's My Girl" which I have yet to spot on a legit release.
5 out of 10

Funk From The Vaults of The Zodiac / Fungus Associated Labels

I was thinking sweet soul not funk when I was picking this one up. Highlights here are "That's How It Is" by Woman, "If" by Lovehorn and "Love Can Slip Away" by Chuck Bernard.
4 out of 10

Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America

Nice package of Vietnam war theme soul put together by the folks at Ace Records. By far better sound quality than the "A Soldier's Plea" release. Highlights include "Wait For Me" by The Brothers Of Soul, "Your Heart Belongs To Me" by The Velvelettes, "Please Wait For Me (My Darling" by The Masters Of Soul, "Please Uncle Sam (Send Back My Man)" by The Charmels and "Lonely Soldier" by Mike Williams.
5 out of 10

Serious Shades Of Soul

A killer track in "I'm In Love" by Larry Sanders is included in this release. "One More Chance" by The Four Tees is also nice. The rest of the material is upbeat. If you are looking for ballads then it is best to pick up the Larry Sanders track on another compilation.
2 out of 10

Sizzling Sirens Of Classic Soul

"I Want To Get Back" by Woman is the only reason I picked this release up. The rest I skipped through rather quickly. That song is a 10 for me but given it is the only standout I can't be so generous on the overall rating.
2 out of 10

Mandrill

"Love Song" is the sole highlight here. It seems to take a good while to get going but it is a nice slow jam.
2 out of 10

Bobby Taylor

Lots of tracks but besides "Malinda" and "Does Your Mama Know About Me" the only other track that caught my attention was "Two Sides To Love".
3 out of 10

Major Harris

A part from "Love Won't Let Me Wait" this CD brings us a nice slow jam in "Just A Thing That I Do".
3 out of 10

Mickey Murray

When I first heard the cover of "Pleading My Love" it right away had me thinking Sunny Ozuna as it has that Texas soul vibe. Great tune but nothing else really caught my attention.
3 out of 10.

The Monitors

Highlights here are "You Share The Blame", "All For Someone" plus their covers of "The Further You Look, The Less You See" and "Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)"
4 out of 10