soul Archive
11 Mar 2018
Album Review: Idiot Grins — State of Health
Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield made some of the most enduring cinematic soul of the 1970s. Not coincidentally, both men created works that lent themselves exceedingly well to juxtaposition with […]
14 Feb 2018
Don Bryant: This is All I Know (Part Three)
Continued from Part Two… Around that time, the Bo-Keys’ regular singer Percy Wiggins started having health issues that precluded his involvement in some live dates. “Percy was out of performing […]
13 Feb 2018
Don Bryant: This is All I Know (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… By the middle of the 1960s, the Four Kings had broken up, but Bryant remained as a vocalist with Mitchell. Between 1965 and 1969, Bryant released […]
12 Feb 2018
Don Bryant: This is All I Know (Part One)
Don Bryant started releasing soul 45s under his own name in 1965. But it wasn’t until nearly four years later that he’d finally record and release an album. A collection […]
05 Feb 2018
2017’s Top Ten You Might Not Have Heard/Heard Of
My brow furrows a bit when I read “Best of” lists published in November or early December; are December releases set aside for consideration in the following year? Or are […]
11 Jan 2018
The Fritz: A Vibe of Their Own
Keyboardist and songwriter Jamar Woods was part of an all-star lineup celebrating New Year’s 2018 at New York City’s Gramercy Theatre. Billed as the James Brown Dance Party, onstage that […]
06 Jan 2018
Hundred Word Reviews for January 2018, Part 1
As we begin another calendar year, now seems like a good time to clear out some of my backlog. All of these albums are new (or at least newish) releases. […]
24 Dec 2017
Boxed Set Review: Isaac Hayes — The Spirit of Memphis
Isaac Hayes was the man. Certainly, he developed an outsized public persona, with his bare chest, furry boots, wide-brimmed hat, chains and gold-played Cadillac (though not all at the same […]
13 Dec 2017
The Suffers: Like a Hurricane
It’s not unheard of for a band to change its style as it grows and develops. But Houston-based band the Suffers makes soul music that’s far more compelling than – […]
10 Dec 2017
Book Reviews for the End of 2017
With so much of 2017 spent writing a book of my own, I’ve found less time than usual to read the works of other authors. Happily, three titles that I […]