Recommendations for Soul Music

[allstar780]

I'm on a bit of a soul music bender at the moment and have purchased a lot of good CDs lately... Seal, John Legend, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, The Ink Spots (okay so not entirely soul, but still that feel), Luther Vandross, James Brown, Otis Redding, and Curtis Mayfield... basically I'm looking for some maybe lesser known artists that people might recommend, as I can pretty much cover all the big name artists.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Here's a few more: The Spinners, The Dramatics, Isaac Hayes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Delphonics. Plenty more too and I'll add them as I think of them.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by allstar780

I'm on a bit of a soul music bender at the moment and have purchased a lot of good CDs lately... Seal, John Legend, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, The Ink Spots (okay so not entirely soul, but still that feel), Luther Vandross, James Brown, Otis Redding, and Curtis Mayfield... basically I'm looking for some maybe lesser known artists that people might recommend, as I can pretty much cover all the big name artists.

So many sub-flavors to the genre - soul jazz, disco (don't sneer, some was very, very good) - straight pop, etc.

Some suggestions:

Main Ingredient (smooth, mellow, astonishing orchestration)
Steve Wonder (the early years - compilations are good, and he did his breakout with Music Of My Mind and Innervisions)
Heatwave - try the Always And Forever compilation. Many of their tunes were written by Rod Temperton, who went on to do amazing things for Rufus and Michael Jackson (he wrote many of the Quincy Jones produced tracks for Off the Wall and Thriller)
Rufus - Chaka Khan's vehicle in the early years, extremely tight and funky stuff. The "Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan" album is classic.
The Crusaders - The best of funky jazz. Try "Scratch", one of the best live albums I've ever heard, extremely sweet and funky stuff.

I have a lot of this on vinyl, a lot more on CD, most of it is still out there.

Keep us up to date on what you're finding.

[Galley]

Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947-1974 [8CD] - 203 tracks!
Stevie Wonder - At The Close Of A Century [4CD] - some of the greatest music ever recorded.

[allstar780]

Thanks for the suggestions... I'm gonna have to download some stuff and see what i find worth buying.... right now I'm into Al Green pretty heavy lol

[NeonLights]

...

[wilky61]

Bill Withers...





Oh and for god sakes check out the first Blood Sweat & Tears album
It's might be more like Chicago than Al Green with all the jazz/blues influence, but I don't think you'll mind.

[Quad]

Donny Hathaway is a must have (if you don't already). I would recommend these two albums,

A Donny Hathaway Collection and These Songs for you Live






Anthony Hamilton, this was his first hit album, Ive enjoyed all his albums save for the last one.




Eric Roberson has written hits for other artists but isn't well known to most.
This is his best album IMO:




Raheem Devaughn is another artist worth checking out. This is his best album I believe.



If you like British Soul then check out this first solo album by Paul Weller, he isn't very well known here but he has a very loyal following in the UK. Should have gotten more props in the US.




Erykah Badu's latest album is amazing




So is Maxwell's...

[LordoftheRings]

1. Solomon Burke "Don't Give Up On Me".



2. Ted Hawkins "The Next Hundred Years".



3. R.L. Burnside "Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down".