Soul-Funk

BACK IN STOCKGhent record store Music Mania amazes vinyl lovers with stunning reissue of New Beat Classic "Elle et Moi" by Max Berlin. "Un coin de rue", (French for street corner) are the very first words of the song "Elle et Moi" by Max Berlin, a sexy song that became a New Beat underground classic in the 80s and a much sought-after gem among dj’s all over Belgium. Situated on an obscure street corner in Ghent, legendary vinyl walhalla Music Mania will be releasing a beautiful reissue of the legendary song.The hot and heavy track is filled with French Gainsbourg-style sentences like “aimez-moi” (love me) and “sa voix m’appelle” (her voice calls me) that are whispered in a way that will make every lady urgently get down to business. If you add to that a groovy but very slow disco beat, you can be sure to have a classic on your hands. If the singer then appears to be a cousin of disco legend Cerrone, you know that it’s time to get to the record store and buy yourself a copy. Aimez-moi? We sure do.

In association with DJ Amir’s 180 Proof Records, BBE is honoured to present another gem from the small yet significant Strata catalogue. A precursor to New York’s Strata East, Detroit’s Strata Records was founded in the late 1960s by former Blue Note artist Kenny Cox. Starting life as a music-led community organisation, coffee shop studio and venue, Strata released only a few titles as a record label, gaining the imprint a cult following among record collectors and jazz lovers across the globe. Possibly the best known of Strata’s releases, The Lyman Woodard Organization’s ‘Saturday Night Special’ is rightly heralded as a jazz fusion classic. Recorded in 1975, ‘Saturday Night Special’ features organ, electric piano and Mellotron by bandleader Lyman Woodard alongside guitar and bass by Ron English, with drums and percussion by Leonard King, Bud Spangler & Lorenzo "Mr. Rhythm" Brown respectively. Despite the fairly sparse instrumentation, ‘Saturday Night Special’ lays down an impressive wall of sound, powerfully atmospheric in its almost low-fi aesthetic. Hinting at more traditional jazz, rhythm & blues, afrocuban styles and more, the uniqueness of this album is surely in its feel: summoning up images of a vast industrial landscape, assembly lines and urban decay. In other words, this record sounds like Detroit. No great album artwork is complete without a good story to match, and ‘Saturday Night Special’ does not disappoint. Snapped by photographer and political activist Leni Sinclair (responsible for seminal pictures of Miles Davis, Fela Kuti and John Coltrane and many others), the cover image shows the contents of Lyman Woodard’s pockets placed on the hotel bed after a show: cigarette papers, cash and a pistol. Following Woodard’s death in 2009, this incredible album was reissued in highly limited numbers by Wax Poetics, now just as hard to come by as the original pressings. It’s our pleasure to make this important and influential chapter in the story of contemporary jazz available on vinyl once again.

Habibi Funk: An eclectic mix of music from the Arab world.Habibi Funk is dedicated to re-releasing a style of music that historically never existed as a musical genre. We use the term to describe a certain sound that we like from the countries of the Arab world. The songs we chose were created in places quite far from another and under very different circumstances. Some were written and recorded during war times, others in exile. Despite the differences we think there is a musical connection between them. Essentially, we are interested in the musical endeavors, in which artists from the Arab world mixed local and regional influences with musical interests that came from outside of the region. Even though the name suggests it’s all about funk music, our focus is more than just that. Often these influences might be inspired from Western popular music such as soul, pop and rock but it’s not limited to that either. Some of our favorite records are best described as Arabic zouk (a genre originating from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe) like Mallek Mohamed’s music, Algerian coladera (a popular musical style from the Cape Verdean islands) or Lebanese AOR, which means the process of musical influences displayed on this compilation was much more versatile than just taking Western music as a blueprint and translating it with a local accent. The compilation features 15 different artists. Some you might already know thru Habibi Funk’s releases like Fadoul, Ahmed Malek, Dalton or Al Massrieen, while others are meant as an introduction to artists like Kamal Keila, Sharhabeel Ahmed, Attarazat Addahabia & Mallek Mohamed who will all release full length albums on Habibi Funk in 2018.In todays world there are still many stereotypical conceptions to be found when it comes to the Arab world. Contrary to what a lot of Western narratives and media suggest, the Arab world we got to know through extensive traveling in several countries of North Africa and the Middle East, is a very versatile terrain. A place full of different stories, ideas and beliefs. And we hope that the music we release helps as a tiny, tiny piece of a larger puzzle to establish a diverse, more nuanced yet adequate idea of how musically vibrant this very diverse region once has been and also still is. At the same time we do not want anyone to misunderstand this compilation as a selection of songs to represent Arabic musical history of the 1970s and 1980s. This compilation is nothing more than a very personal curation of songs we like and in no way reflects on what has been popular in a general sense.All tracks on this compilation are directly licensed from the artist or, in the case of artists who are sadly no longer alive, from the artist’s family. There are three exceptions: Hamid Al Shaeri’s track was licensed from SLAM! and the tracks from Belbao and Attarazat Addahabia were both licensed from Boussiphone. As a European label dealing with non-western artists we try to be aware of the responsibilities that derive within the making, seen from a post-colonial point of view by demanding ourselves not to reproduce exploitative economic patterns. We split all of the profits from our releases equally with the artists without deducting any costs that are not directly related to the release .Our agreements are license deals with limited terms after which the rights fall back to the artist or the artist’s families. We think it is important in today's reissue market, where too many shady business transactions happen, to be transparent about our licensing policies.

Next up on Joey Negro's Z Records is the vinyl sampler from Under The Influence Vol.6 Compiled By Winston.Featuring four sort after rare Soul, Funk & Boogie tracks from the vaults, Mary Gold - 'Dancing' being a mainstay in Motor City Drum Ensemble DJ sets.Limited stock available no repress!

Some records are timeless and never age - "Happiness Is Just Around The Bend" by The Main Ingredient is one of those records. Originally released in 1974, "Happiness" was a record before it's time - had it been released a year later it would undoubtedly have been one of the first 12" discs - so as a result, most discerning DJs at the time chose to play the album cut.The song is actually a cover of UK Prog-Jazz band Brian Auger's Oblivion Express's version from the year before but Main Ingredient took the song to a whole new level and, 44 years later, it has become one of the most revered dance tunes of all-time.Main Ingredient were unlucky with 12" releases, which is why we're delighted to give "Evening Of Love" it's first-ever 12" release! Once again this was a 1981 album track which years later it would become a Modern Soul anthem and rightfully be regarded as one of their best records.Fully remastered on limited edition 180 gram heavyweight vinyl.

Prime are delighted to announce the long-awaited OFFICIAL 12 inch re-release of probably the most revered Paradise Garage anthem of all time - M.F.S.B. feat The Three Degrees and the now legendary "Love Is The Message".Originally released in 1973, "Love Is The Message" has sustained dance-floors across the world ever since and here we present the full original 11.28 mix from Tom Moulton which is always a £25-30 record if you've ever been lucky enough to find a mint one and copies of the rarer U.S. 12" with the long mix are like gold!Worry no more as the quality on this 12" is from the best master and 100% sanctioned by Sony Music.On the flip we are proud to re-release "T.S.O.P. (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" aka the official Soul Train theme, using Tom Moulton's full original 5.42 mix. Another piece of significant dance-floor history.As double-siders go, it really doesn't get any better than this. There is already high-demand from lots of DJs needing to replace their battered copies so accept no substitute. This is the real deal.

Continuing our policy of re-issuing some classic double-siders and even some previously 'never released on 12"' titles, it's give us pleasure to unveil a pure double-sided 'must-have'!Topside is Melba's Philly anthem, the bubbling McFadden and Whitehead penned and produced "Standing Right Here" which put Melba on a more credible path after her early hits and is now an underground anthem. Mint original copies of the U.S. 12" are currently around the £20-30 mark.Stick with the real deal from the original masters! The flipside has NEVER BEEN RELEASED ON 12" BEFORE.Yes, Melba's stunning version of the Curtis Mayfield penned classic "Make Me Believe In You" (originally done by Patti Jo) finally gets it debut release on 12" vinyl - the full 7.03 album version.

It's always great to have access to quality masters from some of the world's greatest-ever artists and Gladys Knight hits that spot, especially via the original 12 inch version of Love Is Always On Your Mind is another one of those impossibly rare Buddah 12 inch from the mid-70s.This is really a 10 minute plus tour-de-force of relentless Disco with Gladys's impassioned vocals doing their usual superlative job. Mint 12 inch copies are reputedly worth £200 but the fact is that there's no mint original ones left anymore.Until now. Additionally we've cheated slightly by including one of Gladys Knight & The Pips in-demand Columbia recordings on the flip - the Ashford & Simpson penned classic Bourgie Bourgie on which Gladys laid down the definitive vocal to this club classic on the full 4.37 original 12 inch mix.Two definitive dancefloor gems on one 12 inch pressing mastered from the original tapes. What more could you want ?

PDD are proud to present an official Sony reissue of 'Could Heaven Ever Be Like This', widely acknowledged as quite simply one of the greatest disco releases of all time.On the flip are Idris Muhammad's two other bangers from that period, 'Turn This Mutha Out' and 'Tasty Cakes', thus making this release a trio of delights.Taken from the original master tapes, and released on 180g vinyl, this release is a must have for your collection.

We have always loved Pure Essence so delighted to be able to revisit the LP track and 45 as a 7" with Third Rock (Less rare but imho better track) on the A side from a brand new master done by myself. Untouchable Disco Funk of the highest order, LTD to 500 as are all the Now-Again vault release, no repress.