Hot on the heels of its recent Super Rare Doo Wop Box, RockBeat Records is turning its attention to another corner of the rhythm and blues world and further advancing into the 1960s with a new four-CD box set. Groove and Grind: Rare Soul 1963-1973, due in stores on Friday, August 18, is packed with 112 songs - the vast majority of which have never been reissued on CD!
Groove and Grind, compiled by RockBeat's James Austin and annotated in its hardcover 127-page book by Bill Dahl, has divided its rare sides into four sets - one per disc. CD 1 is dedicated to Urban Soul, spotlighting some of the most hard-to-find sides out of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit. CD 2 spotlights the vocal groups that hoped to follow in the footsteps, and languished in the shadows, of groups such as The Temptations. The third disc covers the deep, emotional grooves of southern soul, and the fourth turns up the heat with a look at the funky, danceable side of soul.
By intention, no hits appear on Groove and Grind, but that doesn't mean that the set doesn't feature familiar artists alongside the most elusive. You'll hear cuts from Big Dee Irwin, Ike and Tina Turner, Kenny Gamble, Bettye (then Betty) LaVette, King Floyd, Tommy Hunt, Candi Staton, Sam Dees, Betty Wright, Carla Thomas, Sir Mack Rice, Jessie Hill and other favorites of R&B connoisseurs. Even The 5th Dimension makes an appearance under the group's original moniker of The Versatiles, with 1966's Bronco single "You're Good Enough for Me."
More marquee names can be found behind-the-scenes. Bobby Darin and Rudy Clark (the latter of "Good Lovin'" fame) wrote Little Charles and the Sidewinders' "Got My Own Thing Going," produced by Luther Dixon (The Shirelles). Gene Page arranged The Tempos' "Countdown (Here I Come)" while Leon Ware produced and co-wrote The Holidays' "Love's Creeping Up on Me." Van McCoy wrote, arranged and produced The Sweet Things' "I'm in a World of Trouble," and Nashville's great arranger Bergen White worked his magic on Buddy Grubbs' "I'm Telling You," penned by Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield.
Some master tapes were not available for this project, and RockBeat kindly informs listeners that certain tracks mastered from vinyl may contain surface noise. But that should hardly be a deterrent considering the wealth of rare soul tracks here. Groove and Grind: Rare Soul 1963-1973 will arrive from RockBeat Records on August 18 and can be ordered at the links below!
Various Artists, Groove and Grind: Rare Soul 1963-1973 (RockBeat, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
CD 1: Urban Soul
- My Baby Likes To Boogaloo- Don Gardner
- I'm Hip To You- The Jelly Beans
- You Had Me Fooled- Danny Woods
- They're Laughing At Me- Gail Anderson
- Please Consider Me- Tyrone (The Wonder Boy)
- Are You Gonna Leave Me- Jessie James
- Almost- Betty Lavette
- My Baby's Gone- Donald Height
- Got My Own Thing Going- Little Charles & The Sidewinders
- Everybody's Talking - Joan Baker
- Follow My Heart- Big Dee Irwin
- Suffer - Cookie Jackson
- You Brought My Heart Right Down To My Knees- - Alvin Robinson
- The Queen- Big Ella
- Walkin' And Thinkin'- King Floyd
- Mr Shy- Billy McGregor
- Do You Know What Life Is All About- Hoagy Lands
- Searchin' For Love- Tommy Hunt
- No One To Love- Pat Lewis
- I'm Mad About You- Lou Courtney
- Love On A Two Way Street- Lezli Valentine
- You Can't Miss Nothing That You Never Had- Ike & Tina Turner
- Don't Hurt Me No More- Tony Mathews
- He's Coming Back To Me- Theola Kilgore
- Hard To Find The Right Girl- Kenny Gamble And The Romeos
- Big Train- The Soul Shakers
- Love That Guy- Jackie Owens
CD 2: Group Soul
- (Countdown) Here I Come- The Tempos
- It's You And Me- The C-Quents
- I Don't Love You No More- The Exsaveyons
- A Memory Best Forgotten- The Sounds Four
- You Stood Me Up- The Specials
- Bingo- The Dynamics
- Peace of Mind- The Vontastics
- Loves Creeping Up On Me- Holidays
- There Will Be Tears Pt. 1- The Mandells
- Never Ending Love- The Montclairs
- You're A Gas With Your Trash- The Four Pennies
- The Young Hearts Get Lonely Too- The New Young Hearts
- Forgive Me If I Cry- Down To Earth
- I'm In A World Of Trouble- The Sweet Things
- Cry No More- The C.O.D's
- Miss Heartbreaker- The Ascots
- But Then You Left Me- The Shades of Sensation
- Keep Your Love Strong- The Webs
- Just Like A Baby (Mama's Rocking In A Cradle)- The Flint Emeralds
- I Don't Want To Cry- Pearlean Gray and The Passengers
- Beggar Of Love- Little Ben & The Cheers
- You're Good Enough For Me- The Versatiles
- Say You'll Be Mine- The Vows
- She's the One I Love- The Delacardos
- Savin' My Lovin' For You- The People's Choice
- Got to Be Your Lover- The Profiles
- Victim Of Loneliness- The Pace Setters
- I'm Not Strong Enough- The Four Perfections
CD 3: Southern Soul
- Don't Turn Away- Willy McDougal
- Mr Clean- Winfield Parker
- Now You've Got The Upper Hand- Candi Staton
- Forgive Then Forget- Jay Wiggins
- Don't Make Me Cry- Matt "Ti" Mattison & The Minit Men
- The James Brown Boogaloo- Little Genie Brooks
- Mr Lucky- Betty Wright
- I Can't Stop Crying- Sam Hutchins
- It's All Wrong (It's All Right)- Sam Dees
- (On The) Re-e-b-o-u-n-d-- Lee Edwards & His Continentals
- I'm Telling You- Buddy Grubbs
- Hey Now- Eddie Floyd
- The Good Got To Suffer With The Bad- Pat Brown
- I Gotta Come Back- Little Frankie Lee
- A Broken Hearted Clown- Nat Hall With The Mellow 3
- The Grass Is Always Greener (On The Opposite Side Of The Fence)- Ella Washington
- Still My Life Through- Billy Young
- Every Ounce Of Strength- Carla Thomas
- I Don't Want To Hurt Nobody- Ruby Winters
- I'm A Good Man- Al "TNT" Braggs
- Gotta Have My Baby's Love - Sir Mack Rice
- I Confess- Elijah and The Ebonies
- Understanding- Jackie Avery
- Show Me- Margie Joseph
- Pretty As A Picture- Moses Dillard And The Dynamic Showmen
- Hurry Up Little Girl- Jerry & Eddie And The Tornados
- Everybody Makes A Mistake Sometimes- Roy Arlington
- Get Right- Bobby Parker
CD 4: Funky Soul
- Can You Handle It- Pep Brown
- Free And Easy- Jessie Hill
- Show Stopper- Richard Knight
- Soul Affection- The Interpretations
- The Soul Stroke (Can You Handle It)- King Earnest
- Riccasha- Rockie Charles & The Lavonics
- Soul Walkin'- Reggie Smith
- Wake up- Bobby Rush
- The Bushman- The Tenth Dymentions
- The Funky Bandwagon- The Essene Brotherhood Band
- L.A.- Noble Watts
- Do It- Billy Sha-Rae
- People Talking About Me- Sonny Green
- Original Funky Bell Bottoms- Ironing Board Sam
- I'm A Lonely Man- L.J. Waiters
- I've Got A Habit (Of Lovin' You)- Bobby Jones
- Do The Bobby Dunn- Bobby Dunn
- We Do It All Up Here (Loosen Up)- The Fantastic Epics
- Ratty Ratty - Maskman And The Agents
- ItMust Be Love- Roy Hytower
- Do The Dog Funk - Isaac Clark
- What You See Is What You Get- Little Joe Mixon
- Do the thing- Charles Lattimore
- The Sno-Cone- Lloyd Hendricks
- I'll Pay You Back- Magic Sam
- Hep Squeeze- Mad Dog & The Pups
- The Poo Poo Man- Chet "Poison" Ivey and His Fabulous Avengers
- The Trip- Dave Mitchell & The Screamers
- I Got A New Thing - Willie Smith
jeff seckler says
I love many types of music esp.soul music, One of my favorite soul songs that has never been on cd is Leon Hayward' s She's With Her Other Love , Imp.66123 10/'65.
Nathan says
Interested to find out who owns a couple of the labels/masters included here.. Do Rockbeat normally list licensing credits on their box sets? The single-disc version of "Surf Age Nuggets" doesn't list them!
Joe Marchese says
Indeed, Nathan; to the best of my knowledge, Rockbeat doesn't typically include licensing information on its box sets.