Royal Grooves

Tucked away on the Ace subsidiary and sister label to Kent is a Funk compilation by Dean Rudland that may have slipped under the radar of many. Titled Royal Grooves the compilation is made up of 23 tracks from the famed Cincinnati King label. Funk might not be to everyone's taste but the cd does contain some great vocal performances, Barbara Burton and The Messengers and Willy Wiley's early 70's outing "Just Be Glad" two personal favourites. Gloria Edwards should need no introduction with the excellent (Need Nobody To help me) Keep up With My Man" and Connie Austin and the superb "Ball Of Fire" two more artists that should be well known to the wider Soul Scene and to the Northern Soul Scene, the same also for the Coasters with a funked up latin take of "Cool Jerk". Overall the cd is an excellent introduction to this genre and more than worth the 10 or 11 quid it will take to purchase.

As you would expect from all ACE releases there are comprehensive sleeve notes from Dean Rudland, I would pay for the sleeve notes as they are always a really good and informative read. I do wish Ace/Kent and the related labels would put a book out containing the sleeve notes of all the releases, it would be essential reading and a great history of some of soul musics greats as well as the many lesser known soul artists that have played their part in R&B and Soul Music.

Here is what Dean says about the release;

In the late 60s King Records was in the midst of a funk revolution. This upheaval was spearheaded by James Brown who, on his return to the label in 1965, after a couple of years away, had changed the course of music with the groundbreaking single ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’. This may not have been pure funk but it was certainly a large step towards it. Over the course of the next two years he honed the style until he stormed to an R&B #1 position (and Top 10 Pop) with ‘Cold Sweat’, the opening salvo in a torrent of hits that marked him indelibly as Soul Brother #1. He became the only artist that really counted at the label. If King wasn’t releasing records by Brown himself, they were releasing the work of his entourage, or records that were trying to sound like him. King became the home of funk with a healthy dose of soul and the label never really recovered when he left to join Polydor.

“Royal Grooves” examines this latter period of King’s existence, from the glorious point in the late 60s when the money from their most successful artist allowed a vast array of records to be made and released, to the desperate search for the next big thing in the early part of the next decade."¨"¨The collection contains James Brown productions by Wendy Lynn, Kay Robinson and Leon Austin which have had collectors salivating for years, and even harder to find unrelated 45s by artists such as Elaine Armstrong, whose ‘Sad But True’ has only recently made it onto the radar. We also have a spectacular single by the Brownettes (previously and subsequently known as the Jewels) and a couple of 45s from the Indiana funk-masters the Presidents. If you’ve heard King Coleman’s ‘Boo Boo Song’ and thought it was a mindless novelty, you have the chance to check out ‘Pt 2’ and change your mind. "¨"¨From the post-James Brown period we have the Coasters with their latin-ised version of ‘Cool Jerk’ and the wonderful Texas soul of Gloria Edwards. Best of all is Barbara Burton & the Messengers who as the Messengers Unlimited and with Sonny Morrison as lead singer released the rare “Soulful Proclamation” album. For their one single on De Luxe Barbara was put upfront on ‘Love’s Sweet Water’, a smouldering funk masterpiece. "¨"¨King was a label of many facets and we try to cover most of them here. This is high quality soul and funk.

"¨"¨By Dean Rudland

CD Description:

* In the late 60s King Records were buoyed and inspired by their number one artist James Brown. The recordings that went down at their Cincinnati headquarters were a vibrant expression of funk & soul captured in BGP's 23-track compilation.

* Many of the tracks BGP have selected had direct James Brown involvement. Productions by him or his team include the super-rare single by the Brownettes, Clay Tyson's proto rap `Man On The Moon', the brilliant Wendy Lynn's `I Can Remember' - direct from master tape. In addition we've included classics by Kay Robinson, Hank Ballard, King Coleman and Leon Austin that have become increasingly difficult to find.

* Pure funk by Kastle, the Presidents and Bill Doggett show the funk influence went further than James Brown and his crowd. BGP are especially pleased to be able to include a couple of super-rare singles issued on DeLuxe: `Do What You Wanna Do' by Frank Howard & The Continentals and Barbara Burton & The Messengers' `Love's Sweet Water'. This is so rare that it may never have been issued officially and it's such a great piece of groovy soul.

Buy the CD:

Buy from Ace Free delivery in the UK

Listen to a sampler of tracks 4, 12 &14:

http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/royal-grooves-sample

01. Getting Down With Hoss - Kastle

02. Love's Sweet Water - Barbara Burton And The Messengers

03. Lord Will Make A Way (Pt1) - Kay Robinson

04. Sad But True - Elaine Armstrong

05. Baby Don't You Know - Brownettes

06. Somewhere Down The Line - Albert Washington

07. Shoe Shine (Inst) - The Presidents

08. Do What You Wanna Do (Pt 1) - Frank Howard & The Continentals

09. Man On The Moon - Clay Tyson

10. Steal Away - Leon Austin

11. I Can Remember - Wendy Lynn

12. You Keep Me Hanging On - Bonnie & Sheila

13. Ball Of Fire - Connie Austin

14. Just Be Glad - Willy Wiley

15. (Need Nobody Help Me) Keep Up With My Man - Gloria Edwards

16. Cool Jerk - The Coasters

17. Peter Rabbit - The Presidents

18. Looking For A Woman - Robert Moore

19. The Boo Boo Song (Pt 2) - King Coleman

20. Unwind Yourself - Hank Ballard

21. Shoe Shine - The Presidents

22. Wet & Satisfied (Tk 5) - Bill Doggett

23. Push And Shove - Willy Wiley

http://acerecords.co.uk