Various Artists - Spring Originals / Various - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

New York tag Spring, and it's 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 so far not appeared on Kent CDs and have found six completed recordings that were previously unreleased. Two of these are ballads, one of which is Maxine Weldon's stunning version of Ray Godfrey's song 'I'm The Other Half Of You' and there is a new unknown, sweet soul song from one-time Tavares member Victor Tavares. Ray Godfrey features heavily with two unissued dance tracks - the Joe Simon-covered 'I Love You More Than Anything' and the previously unheard song 'Hold On'. The Determinations' opener 'Save The Best For Me' is another of his 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. 60s uptempo 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 InchJodyInch 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'. This is a catholic selection for lovers of soul through it's most interesting eras.

Spring Records and it's Event and Posse offshoots were big NYC Soul labels from the late '60s to early '80s. This compilation contains 24 high-quality Soul tracks from artists including Philip Mitchell, Millie Jackson, Winfield Parker and Garland Green. The lesser-known artists like Act One, the Determinations, Ray Godfrey and Ronnie Walker provide some great individual soul sounds. There are '60s style dancers from Prince Harold, Vernon Brown, Richard Barbary and Leroy Randolph. The Joneses, Daltrey Martin and the Mayberry Movement provide exquisite '70s ballads and there are a handful of up-tempo pre-Disco tracks from that era, too. Very few of these songs have ever been out on CD before (a few came out on the long-deleted Safe Soul series) and some have not been released since their first pressing. 24 tracks. Kent. 2007.

This CD of prime 50's New York R&B from one of the city's finest independents comes complete with a first hand account from tag owner Sol Rabinowitz. A fantastic insight into the music business of the period, as well as the Baton tag story. Ace. 1997.