Twenty-eight rare '60s New York soul cuts, mostly from the vaults of the Scepter and Musicor labels. There are a few recognizable minor soul stars here (
Maxine Brown
,
Chuck Jackson
Big Maybelle
Walter Jackson
Judy Clay
Johnny Maestro
), as well as selections by performers on the downhill commercial slide (
the Platters
and
Jive Five
). The Scepter and Musicor discs were characterized by grand, melodramatic songs and production, and while these are not lost classics, they do boast some good tunes and arrangements. This is recommended above most of Kent's other soul rarities collections for that reason: there's a good deal of variety and range of emotion, not just the standard uptempo happy music so beloved on Northern soul dance floors. And if you're looking for curiosities, there are plenty: an obscure
Bacharach
-
David
tune from 1962 (
Jimmy Radcliffe's
"(There Goes) The Forgotten Man"
), blue-eyed soul from future country star
Ed Bruce
, social realism from football star
Roosevelt Grier
on "In My Tenement," the
Dionne Warwick
-produced side by
the Gentlemen Four
, and
Big Maybelle's
version of the superb ballad "Oh Lord, What Are You Doing to Me," better known as sung by
. ~ Richie Unterberger