Raquel Rodriguez has been making feel good independent soul music from L.A for 13 years. Her new album 'Housewife' is her most sophisticated to date and contains 10 tracks that whilst very contemporary have a heavy 80s Soul influence complete with synth basses illustrating her main influences Prince, Michael Jackson and Chaka Khan. The album is primarily written and produced by Raquel and her partner Sam Brawner along with others. 'Let Me Remind You' is a nice mid tempo groover underpinned by long time associate Nigel Hall on P-Bass. Nigel co wrote and produced and plays Rhodes and bass on...
What an amazing start we have had to 2025 for new soul music, last week we had Luxury Soul 2025 and this week we have two excellent long awaited new soul albums from October London and Raquel Rodriquez, both have a strong nod to past greats, yet both are very contemporary. These are both likely to sell out fast. We are also in stock of all the superb Cleo Sol albums on LP and CD and all the Sault LPs which have been very hard to find and are also likely to disappear again quite quickly. We are back in...
October London’s ‘The Rebirth Of Marvin’ has been one of the most sought after contemporary Soul albums since it appeared as a download nearly two years ago, now it is finally available as a limited edition CD and LP. October displays a very credible and heavy influence from Marvin Gaye in his vocal delivery, style and songs on this very strong 11 track album. Most of the songs are mid tempo beat ballads like ‘Rollercoaster’, ‘Back To Your Place’ and ‘You Give Me Love’. There are more upper mid tempo semi funky tunes like ‘Make Me Wanna’ and the slightly slower but outstanding...
Check out these 40 Original Vinyl Soul and Funk 45s from the South West connection. There are quite a few rare and in demand titles here along with many classics and obscurities. These records are all in great condition, almost all are in near mint or excellent condition, as individually graded. All records are one off's, so please order early to avoid disappointment. You can combine with other records from the same collection here, or other recently arrived original 45s here to optimise postage costs. Records can be ordered online, over the phone on 020 8875 1018 or collected from our shop...
Check out this batch of 35 Original Jazz and Jazz Funk LPs from an amazing collection that recently arrived. There are some hard to find records here along with many classics. These records are in exceptionally good condition for their age; most are near mint or excellent with nice sleeves, all as individually graded. All records are one off's, so please order early to avoid disappointment. You can combine with other rare jazz records from the same collection here, an original jazz, funk and soul collection here or South West Connection here to optimise postage. Records can be ordered online,...
The first weekend of the year heralds the Luxury Soul weekender and the 3CD Luxury Soul 2025 box set which has arrived this morning. Expansion also has two new 45s from Jean Carne and Paradise Project, available as regular dinked or limited edition full centre DJ copies. Luther Vandross has a new compilation including the four newly discovered unreleased tracks. We are finally back in stock of Cleo Sol's superb 'Gold' and 'Heaven' LPs , her other two albums are due next week. We have also managed to source a few more copies of Larry Saunders' 'The Stranger' Black Friday...
Check out this batch of 35 Original vinyl Soul, Disco and R&B LPs from a new collection that has just arrived. There are many in demand albums and classics here. These records are in good, played condition, most are in excellent or better condition but a few have surface scuffs (VG+), covers have average wear for their age, all as individually graded. All titles are one off's, so please order early to avoid disappointment. Records can be ordered online, over the phone on 020 8875 1018 or collected from our shop in Putney open Mon-Sat 11-6. Happy Diggin, Laurence
There were some really good Soul and Funk reissues in 2024. The Modulations' 'It's Rough Out Here' is one of the best Philadelphia Soul albums not to appear on PIR, a great album throughout. Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson's 'Winter In America' is an all time classic, with their 'From South Africa to South Carolina' not far behind. Gloria Scott's 'What Am I Gonna Do' is a lovely Barry White produced rare groove album. Willie Tee's 'I'm Only A Man' is a very strong David Axelrod produced album from 1970. Luther's two 70's Cotillion albums were finally reissued this...
2024 won't go down as a vintage year for new soul music, however there were some really good albums. Sy Smith gave us the best album of the year with a very nice album which has shades of Deniece Williams and Minnie Riperton whilst being totally contemporary. Kelly Finnigan, Emilio Sisco and Thee Sinseers produced excellent and very authentic retro soul albums with great production and songs, whilst Cleo Sol gave us the best Neo-soul album with Allysha Joy not far behind and Will Downing produced his best album in years 'Soul Rising' (and also 'Luscious'). Myles Sanko and Jose...
There were some great new jazz albums in 2024, pride of place goes to an unreleased Roy Hargrove Crisol album recorded in 1998 but incredibly never released, killer Latin Jazz! Resolution 88 made a very strong fusion album 'Vortex' illustrating Tom O'Grady's keyboard wizardry and Herbie Hancock influence, Ashley Henry, Ezra collective and Nubya Garcia showed how good new London Jazz can be and Kamasi Washington made another strong album whilst Don Glori had a good album with a slight Brazilian influence.
