Soul-Funk

Following up on the massive worldwide success of their debut album 55, Bacao Rhythm & Steel band is back with another heavy duty offering. Picking up where they left off and incorporating a ton of new recording techniques they take a huge step forward with The Serpent’s Mouth. Named after the eight-mile strait between the island of Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela, The Serpent’s Mouth is a journey through both originals and covers, combining classic elements that wide-eared music fans already know, and mashing them up in new and unique ways.Take “1 Thing” – on it, the group attacks the galloping, chopped Amerie smash hit, with singing pans that follow the R & B vocal. The sound is crisp and up-front, arguably more muscular than the 2005 original. On “Great To Be Here,” they take on the Jackson 5 B-Boy favorite (which stretches back to the Zulu Nation / Bronx block party days) – uncoincidentally, the original version featured a guitar lick that emulated a steel pan run. Here, it gets an even more pulsating groove, adding open-drums breaks throughout, to get DJs salivating. The group veers through more inventively-constructed covers as the album’s sequence continues, including Gang Starr’s “All For The Cash”, Mary J. Blige’s “I Love You”, and the recently unleashed first single, “XXplosive” and “Burn,” paying tribute to both Dr. Dre and Mobb Deep for a bi-coastal funk party. And, as band leader Bjorn Wagner states, “My favorite cover on the album is probably ‘Crockett Theme,’ which is the theme to ‘Miami Vice.’ I always loved the melody, and the cosmic vibe of the song, and I was honestly surprised that it worked without synthesizers.”This time around the group’s originals are even stronger, as evidenced by cuts like the flute-fueled break-fest of “Hoola Hoop”, the slow and spacey “Touchdown”, and the album’s title track, the future-epic-adventure-movie-soundtrack cut “The Serpent’s Mouth.” Wagner explains, “I wrote the song with Bernhard Hummer as an instrumental fantasy story – think of pirates, smugglers and a dangerously beautiful sea passage towards the island. It became an allegory for our mind travels into the world of the steel pan.”The Serpent’s Mouth is sure to please past fans and newly-minted ones alike. It seems like a new era for Steel Drum music is upon us, and Bacao is firmly leading the way into the hearts of music fans around the world.

Original copies of this beautiful Chain Reaction 7 inch have been changing hands for £500, so this is a true digger's delight.Exceptional soul from the late 70's which hundreds before have attempted to license to no avail. Lack of trust was a key issue in these pursuits, after 'Say Yeah' was used in a B grade Hollywood movie without permission, alongside record collectors cleaning producer Harold Sargent out of his original 45s before upping them on Ebay for $1000 apiece.Cue the good people at Rain & Shine, a non-profit organisation based out of New Zealand, who have worked with Chain Reaction directly to license this incredible record properly - returning all net profits to the artists involved.It really doesn't get much better than this - spiritual stuff! Comes complete with picture sleeve , pressed on black vinyl with a large dinked centre hole.

Superb, heartwarming and spirit lifting gospel disco modern soul 45 first released in 1978 on Philadelphia United Records.Calvin Carr & Company are enriched with sensitivity and alive with the spirit. The kind of gospel that sweeps all over you and runs through your veins. There is always a sense of inadequacy when attempting to describe just how good something is. Words like exciting, inspiring and original come to mind but as always you will have to decide for yourself.Born and raised in Philadelphia, gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, band leader and producer Calvin Carr (now a Minister of the Gospel) possessed excellent ears for music at a very young age. The sounds of music that shaped his life were the sounds of his early church singing experience. He began playing the piano at the age of 9, continued his work in music throughout high school, composing, singing in different churches, learned how to executive produce and ended up working for the TCS Music Company under the direction of its founder Mr. Tony Carter, displaying the talents of Philadelphia’s local artists such as Gabriel Hardeman Delegation, The Young Delegation, Little Sammy & The Flying Cloud Jrs., Gwen Carter, The Collins Sisters, Brockington Singers…In 1978 Calvin released the now scarce and relatively unknown “Without Christ” 45 on the TCS “Philadelphia United Records“ subsidiary.By the end of 1980, Calvin Carr met Andrew Ford and his younger brother and musical genius, Steven Ford and with their partners, horn arranger Leon Frison, drummer Garfield Williams and bassist “Ting” Paul Burke, they formed the “Sweet Rain Records” Company that has produced some of America’s most notable gospel artists such as: Pastor Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir, Barbara Ward Farmer and the Wagner Alumni Choir, Rev Hubert Powell And The Gospel Truth, The Brockington Ensemble, Southeast Inspirational Choir, The Institutional Radio Choir of Brooklyn, N.Y, Southeast Inspirational Choir of Houston, TX introducing Yolanda Adams and countless others.

Between the sessions at Wishborne Sound Studios, the session musicians Terry Woodford, Clayton Ivey, Muscle Shoals horns among others, got down to record some of the finest funky soul and AOR. They took the name Mirage, aiming for stardom. Unfortunately no album was ever released and many tracks went on the shelves in the studio. Over 40 years later, Preservation Records are releasing two of their finest tracks on an exculsive 7".

This is a personal favourite here at Preservation HQ. First release on 7" vinyl single with the monster modern soul track 'No More'. B side is the AOR winner, 'Coming from The Heart'.Freeway was a US modern soul group from the Oregon area, active from 1979 to 1984.

Estonian archival label Frotee’s 6th release “Suvi ei jää” by Heidy Tamme is available again as 7” single with new B-side for the Balearic heads.While “Suvi ei jää” is a cover version of Roberta Flack’s song “What a Woman Really Means”, it was given new Estonian lyrics which eloquently describe the summer season and its brevity (title translates as ‘Summer Doesn’t Stay’). It’s sung by popular Estonian singer Heidy Tamme, recorded in 1982, and arranged by Tiit Paulus, one of the best Estonian jazz guitarists. After original release of 7” in 2015, Frotee has discovered another version of the title track. Tiit Paulus had played guitar over instrumental version of “Suvi ei jää” and this version is now essential for our balearic summers.

Debut album by dutch act Altin Gün, offering an exciting mix of Turkish folk, psychedelia, funk and rock.Altin Gün was found ed by Dutch bass player Jasper Verhulst (a.o. Jacco Gardner's band), who is fascinated by Turkish '70s artists such as Selda, Baris Manço and Erkin Koray. Together with Ben Rider (guitar), Nic Mauskovic (drums), Jungle By Night's energetic percussionist Gino Groeneveld and Turkish musicians Merve Dasdemir and Erdinc Yildiz Ecevit, he revives the spirit of the Turkish '70s scene and also includes influences from western rock.