Got a few spare hours?  You'll definitely want to put some time aside for a new box set that just might get you up and dancing...

The four packed CDs comprising RockBeat Records' Groove and Grind: Rare Soul '63-'73 (ROC-CD-3255)- that's 112 songs, most of which have never previously appeared on CD - add up to one of the most exhaustive rare soul archives in the CD era, and one which you'll want to spend hours and hours exploring.  As accompanied by a 112-page book with Bill Dahl's copious, detailed notes on each and every track, this collection draws on largely unknown soul 45s from a plethora of regional labels and even some majors.  Divided into discs of Urban Soul, Group Soul, Southern Soul and Funky Soul, it draws on music from the usual soul meccas - Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans - and all points in between.  Though these lost tracks vary in tempo, style and mood, all fall squarely within the deeply-felt framework we know as soul music.

Familiar names recur both on the artist and personnel sides of many of these tracks.  The biggest names on the first disc, dedicated to Urban Soul, may well be Ike and Tina Turner, heard with the 1963 single "You Can't Miss Nothing That You Never Had."  But other names, too, will perk up soul and pop fans.  The Jelly Beans of "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" fame are represented by a post-Red Bird side for the Bell-affiliated Eskee label, 1965's "I'm Hip to You."  Strings and horns arranged by Frank Owens and Sydney Shaw gild this lost girl-group gem; happily, box set compiler James Austin was hip to it!

Danny Woods, later of The Chairmen of the Board, is heard on "You Had Me Fooled," a Motor City stomper from 1965 on the Correct-Tone label, arranged by former Satintone Sonny Sanders.  If the track sounds more primitive than the high-octane sounds coming out of Berry Gordy's Hitsville USA during the same pivotal year, it showcases Woods' forceful tenor and abundant energy.  Betty LaVette, before she gained the "e" at the end of her first name, had fully formed her distinctively gritty, expressive vocal sound as evidenced by 1968's "Almost."  Also out of Detroit, Pat Lewis' "No One to Love" percolates with the pure drive of the city's best music.

Tommy Hunt (originator of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself") was uptown soul royalty in 1960s New York before becoming the toast of the Northern Soul scene in the 1970s.  His "Searchin' for Love" from 1967 on the Dynamo label, a dynamic George Tobin production, came just months after the stunning and much better-known "The Biggest Man."  Gail Anderson's early-sixties "They're Laughing at Me" and Big Dee Irwin's sinuous "Follow My Heart" (1965) both epitomize the sophisticated and dramatic style.   Luther Dixon was no stranger to uptown soul.  He took another approach, however on Little Charles and the Sidewinders' infectious "Got My Own Thing Going."  Along with Dixon, the track on Dixon's Drum label had an A-list pedigree with co-writers Bobby Darin and Rudy Clark and arranger Ray Bryant.  Yet it failed to make any noise.  The musical melodrama of Donald Height's "My Baby's Gone" likely appealed to Bert Berns, owner of the Shout label on which it appeared.

Future "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" singer Tyrone Davis shows up here as "Tyrone (The Wonder Boy") on 1966's Chicago-bred "Please Consider Me."  Do consider that The Wonder Boy was almost 30 when he cut this throat-shredding workout!  The Windy City also delivers other gems here like Big Ella's swaggering "The Queen" and Billy McGregor's effortlessly grooving "Mr. Shy."

"Love on a Two-Way Street" is the rare totally familiar song title here, as it shows up in its original version by Lezli Valentine via New Jersey's All Platinum label.  With their hit recording, The Moments remained largely faithful to Valentine's arrangement; she sings it with controlled passion and touching emotion.  Not too far from Jersey, Philly soul guru Kenny Gamble led The Romeos (Gamble, Roland Chambers, his brother Karl Chambers of Toomorrow, and Win Wilford) on the 1967 Atco side "Hard to Find the Right Girl."  As arranged by Roland, it's an embryonic slice of the Sound of Philadelphia, for sure, but the smooth and slinky melody is compellingly sung by Kenny with a dreamy vocal sound and solid brass arrangement.  Peppered throughout the set are novelties like Disc One's "Big Train."  From The Soul Shakers, it's a taunting jab at Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali, from 1966.

For Groove and Grind's survey of Group Soul, Influences are many, but hints of The Motown Sound crop up with frequency on this disc.  The set travels to locales as wide-ranging as Flint, Michigan; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Washington, DC, in addition to more expected hot spots.  From Los Angeles group The Tempos, there's the 1966 single "(Countdown) Hear I Come" which is all pulse-pounding rhythm and drive thanks to a non-stop Gene Page arrangement.  The future collaborator of everybody from Barry White to Johnny Mathis provided a chart "just like a guided missile" per the song's lyric!

The Exsaveyons might take the prize here for the most unwieldy artist name here, but the group is nonetheless responsible for a fine slice of uptempo group soul, "I Don't Love You No More" as released on the Newark, New Jersey-based Smoke label.  The Specials' "You Stood Me Up" is in the same tightly harmonized group soul vein as their fellow Chicagoans, The Impressions.  The Ascots hailed from Washington, DC, but were equally in thrall to Curtis Mayfield's crew; hear "Miss Heartbreaker" as evidence!  Over in Detroit, Ed Wingate's Motown-rivalling stable yielded The Dynamics' bright "Bingo" (1966).  Leon Ware, later of Motown fame, produced Holidays' high-octane "Loves Creeping Up on Me" on Detroit's Revilot label, and also co-wrote the tune with Mike Terry, the Golden World/Motown supreme sax man. Terry and fellow Motown alum Richard "Popcorn" Wylie arranged and produced, respectively, The People's Choice's storming "Savin' My Lovin' for You," from 1967.

Like Leon Ware, Van McCoy would make a name for himself in the highest echelon of R&B.  McCoy wrote, arranged and co-produced The Sweet Things' "I'm in a World of Trouble," released on Soultown as well as Columbia's Date imprint.  The confident, swaggering track, complete with baritone sax solo, found McCoy clearly in a Supremes bag - which is never a bad place to be! Before The Four Pennies moved to Motown and became The Hearts of Stone, they recorded the rocking doo-wop-meets-soul of "You're a Gas with Your Trash."

Illinois native Phil Perry emerged from the ranks of The Montclairs; his sky-high falsetto is all over their "Never Ending Love" from the Stax-distributed Arch label circa 1969.  There's more stratospheric falsetto on The New Young Hearts' assertion that "The Young Hearts Get Lonely Too" and "But Then You Left Me" from The Shades of Sensation, about whom little is apparently known.

The Versatiles would soon live up to their name when they joined Johnny Rivers' Soul City roster as The 5th Dimension.  "You're Good Enough for Me," from 1966 on the Bronco label, doesn't have the champagne soul sophistication or the euphoric pop sensibility that permeated tracks like "Up, Up and Away" and "Wedding Bell Blues."  Instead, as produced and co-written by the group's manager (and Mr. Florence LaRue) Marc Gordon, "Good Enough" is a capable Motown-esque uptempo production (Gordon had run Motown's L.A. office with Hal Davis) showcasing the powerful voice of Billy Davis, Jr. and the recognizably distinctive group harmonies.

A pulsating arrangement of Luther Dixon and Chuck Jackson's hit "I Don't Want to Cry" circa 1965 is led by Perlean Gray with The Passengers of New Haven, Connecticut.  Just a couple of states over in Pennsylvania, Philly's Melvin and Mervin Steals (future co-writers of The Spinners' "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" and many more) teamed with Sigma Sound's owner and engineer, Joe Tarsia, on The Four Perfections' fast and furious 1967 track "I'm Not Strong Enough."

Things heat up on Disc Three, dedicated to Southern Soul, with the set's most torrid tracks.  The hallmarks of the genre are all here, beginning with the disc's very first track (Willy McDougal's "Don't Turn Away").  Think aggressive stabs of brass, gutsy vocals, gritty rhythms, raw and emotionally explosive vocals, and you have the idea!  Candi Staton belongs in any survey of southern soul, and she's here with "Now You've Got the Upper Hand."  Recorded in 1967, it remained unreleased until 1970, by which time Staton had established herself as a southern soul chanteuse of the first order.  "Upper Hand" is a polished, expansive production, but that doesn't detract from the star's vocal instrument.  Another future star, Betty Wright, hardly sounds like a teenager on the furiously funky "Mr. Lucky," recorded when she was fourteen.  Gunshots and quotes of "Taps" feature in the bold production.

The James Brown-esque "Don't Make Me Cry" leads into Little Genie Brooks' "The James Brown Bougeloo" incorporating his familiar, driving rhythms into a new wannabe dance craze.  Brown also is clearly the inspiration for Jerry and Eddie and the Tornados' "Hurry Up, Little Girl."  Singer-songwriter supreme Sam Dees appears on Groove and Grind with the ballad "It's All Wrong (It's All Right)," issued on the New York-based Lo-Lo label.  The song would have already been known to soul connoisseurs, having been previously recorded by Percy Sledge, but Dees' confident pipes and interpretive skills made it his own.

The name of Washington, DC's "It's A Lantic Gold Sound" label likely didn't fool anybody looking for an Atlantic Records 45, but Lee Edward and the Continentals' swaggering "(On The) R-e-b-o-u-n-d" is entertaining enough to have earned a spot on the famous black-and-red label.  Nat Hall and the Mellow 3's attractively melancholy ballad "A Broken Hearted Clown" also hails from the DC region.  Nashville string arranger Bergen White is not necessarily known for his work in R&B, but here he is with a storming chart for Buddy Grubbs' "I'm Telling You" on the Bell label, introduced back in 1961 by Jerry Butler.

Stax legend Eddie Floyd is another of the big names here, represented with his rollicking "Hey Now."  The Stax label's resident queen, Carla Thomas, gets a track, too.  She's typically persuasive on the nicely percolating "Every Ounce of Strength" as she rides the groove so sublimely created by Booker T. and the MGs' Steve Cropper and the Memphis Horns.  The MGs co-wrote "I Gotta Have My Baby's Love" with its artist, (Sir) Mack Rice, driven by drummer Al Jackson Jr.'s nonstop beat.  The powerhouse vocalist Margie Joseph later recorded at Stax before moving onto Atlantic.  Comparisons to Aretha Franklin are earned as evidenced by 1968's "Show Me," from her stint with OKeh.  Billy Young and Moses Dillard among those on this disc who came into the sphere of Stax legend Otis Redding and found themselves recipients of his support.  His influence is loud and clear on their tracks here.

While there's funk liberally spread throughout Groove and Grind, the lion's share can be found on Disc Four, Funky Soul.  The confines of the funk sound make this disc slightly less compelling than the other three, as the style is far more similar from one track to the next than on the other discs.  Even with that caveat, there's plenty to savor here.  Pep Brown's "Can You Handle It" boasts a greasy Muscle Shoals groove, while Jessie Hill's "Free and Easy" is a N'awlins spin on funk with production from Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John.  Also featured from the Crescent City are Rockie Charles and The Lavonics' "Riccasha" and Isaac Clark's down-and-dirty, grunt-filled "Do the Dog Funk."

The Interpretations' "Soul Affection," loaded with rapid-fire rhythms, hailed from Philadelphia despite its atypical sound.  Bluesman Bobby Rush was thinking outside the box as he lathered on the funk with "Wake Up," and Rush also produced Magic Sam's "I'll Pay You Back" with its sound so redolent of The Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing," introduced the same year of 1969.  Both artists were drinking from the same well of inspiration.

Another Sam, Ironing Board Sam, might have the most unusual name on this entire set, which he apparently warranted by playing an electric keyboard mounted on an ironing board!  If his stage manner was unorthodox, though, his "Original Funky Bell Bottoms" happily throbs on its brass-fueled, single-chord groove.  Similarly fashioned but even more gutsy is "Do the Bobby Dunn," which the singer named after himself in an attempt to start a new dance craze!  He even name-checks the likes of James Brown and Lou Rawls during the song's three minutes or so in his quest for soul supremacy!

Funk Brother Jack Ashford co-wrote (with producer-songwriter Lorraine Chandler) and arranged Billy Sha-Rae's "Do It" with a tough, funky groove far-removed from the Motown Sound.  A couple of saxophonists here seemed destined to remain in the shadow of Motown's Jr. Walker, however.  Noble Watts happily honks on the 1968 Brunswick side "F.L.A.," and even throws in a quote of Petula Clark's hit "Downtown" for good measure.  Dave Mitchell and The Screamers' "The Trip" wails with abandon, recalling a wild improvisation on "Uptight (Everything's Alright)."

Maskman and the Agents offer the novelty "Ratty Ratty" about the titular rat facing off with a cat.  The track intriguingly has a Norman Whitfield-esque harmony sound behind Maskman (who apparently did don a mask while performing).  An even more out-there novelty title is "The Poo Poo Man," from Chet "Poison" Ivey and His Fabulous Avengers.  Amazingly, it wasn't Ivey's only attempt to spread the "Poo Poo" as a popular dance!  On the other end of the funk spectrum, Little Joe's Mixon's impassioned "What You See I What You Get" makes for one of the most memorable tracks here.

Bill Dahl's comprehensive and illuminating track annotations for Groove and Grind are integral to one's enjoyment of the music here.  (Oddly, as with most of RockBeat's releases, no licensing information is present in the book.)   Jerry Peterson has done a commendable job remastering each track, though surface noise and sonic imperfections are present.  It's a small price to pay, though, for having so many impossible-to-find rarities finally on compact disc.  Hugh Brown's simple design incorporates numerous photographs of the artists as well as images of many of the actual 45s.  This set of Rare Soul is collectors' manna - bring on Volume Two!

You can order Groove and Grind: Rare Soul '63-'73 at Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K.!  You can view the entire tracklisting here!