GEORGE BENSON – SONGS AND STORIES CD £15.95
George Benson releases his best set since Absolute Benson. Co-produced by Marcus Miller, this album exudes class – both vocally and with his virtuoso guitar solos. The production and sound are exquisite. Mainly covers, George's is in fine voice on tracks like 'Show Me The Way' and the Rod Temperton penned 'Family Reunion'. The lovely duet with Lalah Hathaway 'A Telephone Call Away' is another highlight, whilst Donny's 'Someday We'll All Be Free' is treated reverently by George. George gets his groove on for 'Living In High Definition', whilst he is joined by fellow guitar maestro Norman Brown on 'Nuthin But A Party' on which they trade guitar fills. This album will appeal to lovers of smooth Soul and Smooth Jazz, catch a genius at work.

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SMOKEY ROBINSON – TIME FLIES WHEN YOUR HAVING FUN CD £15.95 LP £19.95
Smokey makes an incredible 'Love' album and is in fine voice over a great uncluttered musical background, the clarity of the recording is breathtaking. The ballads 'Time Files', 'Don't Know Why' ,'That Place' , 'What'cha Gonna Do' and the duets 'You're The One For Me' (ft Joss Stone) and 'You've Got My life' (ft India Arie) are quite brilliant. The slightly faster 'Girlfriend' and 'One Time' and the grittier and bluesier 'Please Don't Take Your Love' (ft Carlos Santana) are also very good. The CD only hidden bonus track is a great cover of 'I Want You' This is quite possibly the best album Smokey has recorded in his five decades as a singer.

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LEDISI – TURN ME LOOSE CD £14.95 CD/DVD £16.95
One of the greatest female singers of her generation, Ledisi returns with a very raw soul album that is in a different style to her previous work, and takes a few plays to fully appreciate. 'Everything Changes' is an uptempo beater, 'Turn Me Loose' prod by Rex Rideout is an ice mid tempo beater with good keyboard riffs. 'Higher Than This' prod by Jam and Lewis is an R&B slow jam, 'Alone' and 'Goin Thru Changes' are good beat ballads. The Raphael Saadiq prod 'Love Never Changes' and 'Please Stay' have a 60's feel to them. DVD includes videos and live performances. The highlight throughout his her incredible voice.

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DELUXE ED WITH DVD
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JOY JONES – GODCHILD CD £14.95
Vibrant and varied debut album, neo/future soul with a deep good groove recorded in Atlanta, LA and London, and mixed by Daz-I-kue of Bugz In the attic. Joy has one of those distinctive voices in an Erykah Badu style, musically it varies from neo soul to broken beat and jazzy groove. 'Glass Boxes' is a real delight with a great understated musical backdrop. 'Supernova' is a quite brilliant mid tempo layered groover., 'Beautiful' is an atmospheric slow stepper prod by Kaidi Tatham, 'This Too' an uptempo handclapping off beat groover with wicked b-line ,'The Joy' a percussive uptempo groover and 'Over' a hypnotic slower track. Interesting album with an edge , if you like Erykah, Sy Smith etc then this is for you.

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MAYER HAWTHORNE – STRANGE ARRANGEMENT CD £11.95 LP –forthcoming
This album is a real throwback to 60's soul. The Motown Infl dancers 'Your Easy Lovin Ain't Pleasing Nothin' and 'One track Mine' , the mid tempo 'Just Ain't Gonna Work it Out' with its heavy backbeat and the slightly more subtle 'Maybe So Maybe No' and 'Make Her Mind' will work on the dancefloor.
The beat ballad's 'I Wish It Would Rain' and 'Shiny and New' are also good. This album is being tipped as one of the biggest of the year and will appeal to those who like 60's and raw soul.

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MICHAEL OLATUJA – SPEAK CD £14.95
This amazing spiritually uplifting album was recorded in London 5 years ago but is only being released now, and it has that 'fresh' sound that records of that era had. It features some top UK singers and musicians inc Lynden David Hall, Eska, Terri Walker, Andrew Roachford, TY, Jason Rebello, Jean Toussaint, Femi Temowo etc. 'Hold On' ft LDH is a really nice D'Angelo style mid tempo, 'Little Sister' ft Terri Walker an organic stepper, 'Le Jardin' ft Onaje Jefferson is a Stevie infl inspiring ballad whilst the breezy jazzier 'Yi Yapada' ft Eska has rich keyboards and a deep groove. Alicia Olatuja ft on the mid tempo groover 'Unconditional' and the gospel 'Walk With Me'. Deep music that you can really feel.

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ERIC ROBERSON – MUSIC FAN FIRST CD £13.95
Eric has built up a large fan base with his distinctive style of R&B/soul and great vocal harmonies.
This album will enhance his reputation as one of the leading independent soul artists. 'The Newness', 'Borrow You' , 'How Could She Do it' and 'The Hunger' (ft W Ellington Felton) are typical Erro mid tempo grooves. 'A Tale of Two'is based on the hook of Minnie's 'Inside My Love', the more melodic 'Still' are also good. 'Dealing' a duet ballad with Lalah Hathaway' , the Stevie infl 'Wanna Believe It Again' ft Wayna, the uplifting 'Celebrate' ft Sy Smith and 'Howard Girls' ft Geno Young, AB and Brandon Harris are the standouts on this strong album.also recommended 'Left', 'Esoteric', 'Appertizer, 'Vault Vol 1.5', Collection £13.95 each 'Vault vol 1' £14.95

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NOEL McKOY – BRIGHTER DAY CD £12.95
Varied debut album from the underated UK singer that encompasses many styles of soul is backed by some of the UK's finest musicians but above all illustrates what a great voice he has. 'Jealousy' co-written by Bluey is a 70's Womack style pulsating mid tempo, and 'Love in The City' is a powerful message song with great social commentary lyrics. 'Brighter Day' and 'Fly Away With Me' are excellent Sam Cooke influenced 60's style southern soul ballads., 'Merry Go Round' and 'Tumblnig Down are also good ballads. 'Special Delivery' is a nice duet with Ebony Alleyne,whilst 'Determined Man' and 'Shadows of A Dream' are Northern soul stompers co-written by Ian Levine. Strong album

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CALVIN RICHARDSON – FACTS OF LIFE- SOUL OF BOBBY WOMACK CD £16.95
Womack sound alike Calvin makes a covers album featuring some of Womack's greatest songs, and does a very authentic job of it., but as with all covers albums its hard to compare these recordings against the originals. 'Across 110th Street', 'You're Welcome Stop On By', 'Harry Hippie', 'Woman's Gotta Have It', Daylight' , 'That's The Way I Feel About Cha' ,' I Can Understand It' and 'Love Has Finally Come At Last' (ft Ann Nesby) are great songs and Calvin sings them well, making classic 70's soul contemporary yet again.

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KLOUD 9 – EVERYTHING IS GOOD 2 NITE CD £12.95
Over the past 10 years Kendall and Kelvis Duffie have established themselves as a leading independent soul/R&B act, making 3 good albums, this CD brings together some of their best tracks along with some new tracks and remixes. 'Everything Is Good 2 Nite' ft Incognito is a good dancer and the Ski Okenful mix gives it that extra zip fro the dancefloor. 'If You Ever' and Gimme Gimme Gimme' are great melodic mid tempo steppers, 'Special One' a modern soul dancer, 'Dance Awhile' an up tempo groover, whilst 'She's Got That Kinda' and 'Can't Be Love' show the more R&B side to their music. Good Collection.

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SOUL DISCOVERY CD £14.95
Compilation from UK's Mick O'Donnell featuring 17 recent southern soul gems. Highlights are the ballads Fathers Children 'If I' , Carl Marshall 'Good Lovin Will Make You Cry', Controllers 'Still In my Heart', Clarence Bobbins/Omar Cunningham 'Don't Give Up On me (remix)', Kashious 'Waiting For Your Phone Call', Stephanie Pickett 'Run'n' and Marcell and The Truth 'Communicate'. and Doktu Rhute/Roy Hightower mid tempo dancer 'Trumping My Ace'. good comp