BBC RADIO 2 SUMMER SOUL SEASON
Radio 2 have been running a season of Soul music shows which can be heard on their iplayer, the remaining show is next Monday 15th August 10pm
the Themes of the shows have been :-
ARETHA FRANKLIN
MOTOWN
BLAXPLOITATION presented by Pam Grier
SOUTHERN SOUL OF MUSCLE SHOALS
DONNY HATHAWAY presented by Roberta Flack

Link to BBC Radio 2 Summer of Soul page

Aretha Franklin
Quite simply the Queen of Soul. many of her classic albums recorded for Atlantic in the late 60’s are available in the Original Album series (5CD) which includes I Never Loved A man, Lady Soul, Aretha Now, Spirit In The Dark and Live At Fillmore West.  Probably her best individual album is 1972 ‘Young Gifted And Black’ although her 1974 album Let me In Your Life’ is also very consistently good. For a good overview of her Atlantic recordings  Definitive Soul Collection 2cd set is excellent. The depth of great material that Aretha covered in that period is also shown in the 2cd Rare and Unreleased Recordings

MOTOWN
The incredible volume of quality recordings that Berry Gordy is too vast to cover in any detail. The classic 60’s Detroit period are covered by many compilations. the Original Motown Chartbusters series have been packaged in 2 great value for money sets with vol 1-3  and 4-6 available for £9.99 each.
The four volumes of Cellarful of Motown double CD’s series highlight some of the great previously unissued tracks that were left in the can at the time.
Most of the big artists Four Tops , Temptations, Gladys Knight etc have good Definitive Collections.
When Motown moved to Los Angeles their sound changed to be more sophisticated and album oriented  Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’
is of course an absolute classic and the recently issued 40th Anniversary edition provides the original unissued  Detroit mix of the album on Vinyl and
many previously unissued tracks. Motown was responsible for many great albums in the 70’s Willie Hutch’s Ode To My lady, Fully Exposed and Mark of the Beast  are amongst the best.

DONNY HATHAWAY
Donny Hathaway was a true soul genius, his song writing and productions and has so soulful voice epitomises classic 70’s soul at its best.
His Extensions Of Man album is quite simply one of the greatest soul albums of all time, and all 5 albums that he recorded for Atlantic are available in the original Album series (5cd) sets.

BLAXPLOITATION &
SOUTHERN SOUL OF MUSCLE SHOALS
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