VARIOUS

Rarities from New York’s Spring, Event and Posse labels. 23 tracks on Kent CD for the first time, including six previously unreleased.

New York label Spring, and its Event and Posse subsidiaries, were very active from 1967 up to the late 80s. They specialised in the city’s black music and tried most variations, including soul, gospel, disco, show tunes, funk, harmony and later electro and rap.

We have chosen the most soulful tracks that have not appeared on Kent CDs before, including six completed recordings that were previously unreleased. Two of these are ballads: a stunning version of Ray Godfrey’s song ‘I’m The Other Half Of You’ by Maxine Weldon and an unknown sweet soul number from one-time Tavares member Victor Tavares. Ray Godfrey himself features with ‘I Love You More Than Anything’, as covered by Joe Simon, and the unheard song ‘Hold On’, both previously unissued dance tracks. The Determinations’ opener ‘Save The Best For Me’ is another of Ray’s great songs, previously only on a rare LP. Other 70s dancers come from Ronnie Walker, Act I and the Joneses. More ballads are provided by Joe Simon, Leroy Randolph and, surprisingly, the Fatback Band, while uptempo 60s soul comes from Prince Harold, Little Eva Harris and Richard Barbary.

The offerings of the Internationals, US and Vernon Brown are harder to categorise – quirky and worthy but in their own individual styles. The great songwriter Phillip Mitchell went funky on his “Jody” song ‘If We Get Caught (I Don’t Know You)’, as did Phil Flowers with his heavy guitar-infused ‘Kill The Monster’. Philly girls the Equations sing the poppy and catchy ‘Boiling Like Water’, Jackie Verdell gives us gospel in a modern soul setting and C-Brand take us into the 80s with their two-stepper ‘Plenty Of Love’. Altogether a catholic selection for lovers of soul music through its most interesting eras. (Ace Records)