Soulful Kinda Music Books

Confusingly, the second volume of the Rare Soul Bible was published in 2016, before the Rare Soul Bible Volume 1. It contains the most comprehensive listings of artists’ discographies, and label listings, for Soul artists that ever been put together in one book. Combine that with some of the author's in depth biographies, and some of his hilarious accounts of trips out of the UK to DJ in Europe and the States, it makes a fascinating read that no fan or collector of Rare soul should be without.

Originally published in 2002 in a limited run of 1000 copies, The Rare Soul Bible - An A - Z Of Northern Soul has been in demand ever since. Therefore, due to renewed demand because of the publication of Volume 2, I decided to 'Reissue' the original Volume 1. Whilst there are no new discographies in the Reissue, all the ones in the original release have been updated, in some cases, with almost double the entries, meaning there are over 100 more pages in The Reissue. The Rare Soul Bible is a route map for the serious Soul vinyl addict.

Detroit has always been the favourite city of the UK’s Soul music ciollectors. There were hundreds of little labels who produced music just as good as that of the major labels, but for one reason or another (Usually a lack of promotion and money) they failed to become hits. This book tries to redress that balance, by focusing on the smaller labels and the artists who made great records, but never got the hits. Stuffed full to the brim with Label Listings and Artist Discographies, this is a book for the serious Detroit afficianado.

New York, New York sang Frank Sinatra. He knew the city, but didn’t realise the effect those songwriters, arrangers, and singers would have on the world of Soul music. And as the 1960's dawned a certain style was developing in New York. This was the Big City Soul Sound. Suave, sophisticated and Soulful, it's a style that is still revered today by all aficionardo's of quality Soul music. The book pulls it all together in a feast of discographical information.

Chicago, the Windy City. It was always the home of the Blues, but by the early 1960’s a Soulful edge had crept in, and labels like Chess were although still recording Blues artists, encompassing this new style. Each city had its own sound back then. The writing, production, and arrangements, and of course the musicians, all contributed to that sound. Of course it was partly because the same people in each city tended to play on records for lots of labels, and the same guys in each city owned lots of little independent labels as well.

Philadelphia, The City Of Brotherly Love. A tale of two decades really as far as Soul Music goes, the 1960’s and the 1970’s.The 1960’s were dominated by two companies really, Parkway, and Cameo who released literally hundreds of singles. Not all were Soul, in fact they also defined the pop sound in the the States at the time, but a lot were. By the mid Sixties though two other names were coming to the fore. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. As label owners and writers and producers.By the early Seventies they made it big time. They created music that became known world wide as ‘The Philly Sound’. Suffice to say, it created an identity for Philadelphia in the Seventies that rivalled that Motown and Detroit in the Sixties. You can’t really talk about Philadelphia music without one of thoise three companies coming into the conversation.

The Southern States were a rich vein of Soul music, from the major labels, to the little ones with only a couple of releases. Although Memphis is in the title, the book covers almost anything that falls into the ‘Southern Soul’ genre. Many tiny labels, issuing one or two singles right through to the giants like Stax. Artists label hopped like crazy, so there are some really in depth discographies included as well

R & B, Blues, Gospel, Soul, Latino, Tex Mex, and even Country & Western. The rich history of Texas lables encompasses them all, often of the same label. There were also, arguably, some of the most, shall we say, unorthodox label owners in the whole of the States. Label discographies, artist discographies, and biographies of three of the most colourful label owners. Don Robey, Major Bill Smith, and Huey P Meaux