Eat To The Beat, The Dirtiest Of Them Dirty Blues

RnB again. I haven't checked in detail but the overlap with the RnB boxes is large, could well be every song on this CD can be found among the 400 on the Membran boxes. There's a good reason though to mention this release.
The 'dirty' in the subtitle refers to 'sexually explicit', or rather sexually concealed, language in the lyrics. Sometimes openly but mostly hidden hints to sex, RnB has a reputation for being dirty but the times then would've prevented release. This thematic compilation explores the attempts by RnB artists to sing about what interested them most (and what sold well) but couldn't be addressed directly. To assist you in appreciating the subtle and not so subtle suggestions in the lyrics, this CD comes with a 90(!) page book(let) with each songtext printed. It also holds a bit of bio and a picture of most artists.
For CD collectors this is a great addition to their collection. The sleeve is made to look like a worn LP from a flea market and all the artwork done to support the old and under-the-counter feel of the music, the whole package is simply beautiful.
I recommend you find this CD somewhere to see for yourself. Is there a reason to download the music if you've exhausted your bandwidth on the Membran boxes already? Well, I didn't check the tracklist in detail but I did notice at least one difference: on the 'Early Doo-Wop' set you'll find The Blenders' "Don't Play Around With Love". Eat To The Beat contains their true feelings: "Don't Fuck Around With Love"!
The music is from 1945 onward, 28 tracks, the label (from Germany again) is Bear Family and they too have an inspiring website for those who like to spend money on re-issues of old and rare music.
Bear Family, 2006

Eat To The Beat (108 MB)
Part 1
Part 2

Confessing, Deep Soul From New Orleans

The words 'Deep Soul' never fail to attract my attention and the combination with 'New Orleans' only makes me more curious. This compilation lives up to the expectations, you get Deep Soul from New Orleans.
Here featured aren't the biggest names but you'll find Toussaint and Hayes/Porter among the writers. The performers are less known but deliver, other lovers of 'Deep Soul' and 'New Orleans' won't be disappointed with this CD. Musical period from 1966 to 1978 in 20 tracks.
It comes with a small booklet with short bio's on the artists, no pictures and very little info on the songs. Tracklist and intro in this link.
It's made by a small UK label called Grapevine which specializes in soul music, you may want to explore the website for their good catalogue of CDs and vinyl, I've seen some interesting releases already.
Grapevine, 2005

Confessing, Deep Soul From New Orleans

Movers!

"A collection of greasy soul, sleaze funk, psychedelic cumbia, fuzzy jazz and more..." but I think we can refer to this as the 2006 Vampisoul sampler: "23 Hip-shakin' tunes from the Vaults of Vampisoul Records". Nothing more and nothing less than a catalogue to get you to buy more of their CDs and as such a great assistance because this CD (or 2 LP) has a wealth of unknown obscure but delicious tunes.
From what I've tried, you're safe to dig deeper if there's a song you like because the albums behind the tunes on 'Movers!' are worth their money; it's not like you get a single hit on this compilation and rubbish on the original album. Will prove that soon!
The music is firmly rooted in 60's and 70's and Spanish label Vampisoul knows how to explore South America. Other than those broad terms I don't know, this sampler has titles, artists, original album but no further information; that you can find on the albums behind this sampler.
Vampisoul, 2006

Movers!
Part 1
Part 2

Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel & Adventures In Paradise

Minnie Riperton is best known for 'Loving You' and perhaps a few tracks she sung with a band called Rotary Connection. There's more to discover, in her own career and she did a lot of backing on other people's music too. This CD holds her 2nd and 3rd album (1974 & 1975), with the 'Loving You' and 'Inside My love' hits. She died in 1979 at the age of 31 of cancer; another reason why she hasn't the fame she deserves.
My personal relation with Minnie Riperton is with 'Loving You'. It gave me the first feelings I can't describe in any other way as 'erotic', albeit on an age where such things should've been completely alien to me, say, 5 or 6. I still feel butterflies in my belly when listening to the song.
There's a bit of info in the booklet about her, to be complemented by the booklet in another re-issue of her albums (which I don't have). There's more in Wikipedia, the entry also introduced me to the term 'whistle register', the name apparently of the highest register of the human voice.
These are 19 tracks of nice 70's soul, the Perfect Angel album produced by Stevie Wonder. The booklet contains a little bit of info on the tracks, a small bio and not really pictures. The music is proof she was more than a one hit wonder.
EMI / $tateside, 2004

Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel & Adventures In Paradise (106 MB)
Part 1
Part 2
(the files are seperately unzippable but I forgot to make the 'cut' neatly per album, sorry)

Rhythm 'n' Blues - Early Doo-Wop

Final RnB box (pfew, finally!). It's my favorite of the four on this blog because although I can't sing at all, I too have a bass and falsetto voice that need to get out sometimes.
This is music with the emphasis on vocal harmony, a broad category, yet Doo-Wop isn't hard to distinguish from something like Barbershop. The recordings are almost exclusively from the 1950's, before that the doo-wop sound was more a vocal backing rather than a style in the spotlights itself.
There's more in the Membran catalogue, these sets are under "New Style 4 CD Book Format", like 'RnB Nasty' and 'music for striptease' sounds intriguing too. They're available on-line and your local shop probably can order them without problems.
This set too is 4 CDs + a book containing an introduction, biographies (German and English) and a lot of pictures of the artists.
Membran, 2005

Rhythm 'n' Blues - Early Doo-Wop
CD 1
CD 2
CD 3
CD 4

Biyouna - Blonde Dans La Casbah

Biyouna is an Algerian danser, actor and singer. The singing part is the least remarkable to Algerians, she has released one worldwide album before (in 1999) but for her other performing she's a superstar in her homecountry.
The texts are sung in Arabic and French, the booklet provides translations in French. Not strange given the history of Algeria and France but it's for the lyrics only. The music is a mixture of many more influences. It's not just Arabic or African but certainly not 'western' either, and between the songs the diversity is also very big. There's a cohesive production and musical arrangement but it's Biyouna's voice that really ties everything together. You've probably heard a mature female singer before and you can come up with some comparisons but her uniqueness is also apparent.
This CD is less than half a year old but I really don't know how well known she is outside North Africa and France. Biyouna was completely new to me (some info) and I'm happy with the musical enrichment she provided. I hope you too.
naïve, 2006

Biyouna - Blonde Dans La Casbah

Rhythm 'n' Blues - Fine Brown Sugar

'Fine Brown Sugar' is dedicated to the women of the blues, seeing how they're not immediately associated with the blues and having to compete with men in a male dominated society and blah, blah, blah. The rarity of female blues singers justifies this set although that argument loses its strength a little when you get 4 CDs * 25 tracks full. Not that rare then. What I'm trying to say is: if you want to make a 4CD box with female RnB artists only, I don't need to have a reason, I'll accept that box happily without any questions or nagging.
They're just as good as their male counterparts, just as swinging and just as dirty. Men can play the blues and men can cause the blues too but in the end we'll need each other for some good rockin'.
This set provides some good rockin', from the blues woman's perspective, that's what makes this album special. The music and package are equal to the other boxes, so you know what you can expect. Enjoy!
Membran, 2005

Rhythm 'n' Blues - Fine Brown Sugar
CD 1
CD 2
CD 3
CD 4