5 x New Kent 45s - 2 x Select 45s - 2 x Repro 45s 1 x MM 45

The just gone Easter Weekend saw 5 new releases from Kent/Ace records, 2 on the Select imprint, 2 on the Repro and one on their Measured Mile one.

Details, audio and Kents release notes follow below...

Sylvia & The Blue Jays / The Soul Children -Put Me In The Mood / Standing In The Safety Zone - Kent Select 092

The unknown Sylvia & The Blue Jays cut two tracks for Stax, a southern ballad and this atmospheric, laid-back funky dancer. We first put a version out by Memphis keyboard player Art Jerry Miller who rather swamped the song in organ on our “Let’s Crossover Again” CDKEND 174 in 1999. Underneath that lead instrument was a great vocal performance that we later found out was Sylvia & The Blue Jays. 

Jesse Davis / Gus Jenkins - Night Bloomin' Jasmin / Tricky Too - Kent Select 093

Best known for ‘Gonna Hang On In There’, its storming Northern Soul flip side, the more subtle ‘Night Bloomin’ Jasmin’’ also has admirers on the rare soul scene. Modernists, in particular, will go for the suave jazz-elegance of this recording which is even scarcer than its original A side - due to being one of two different flips.

Bobby Garrett / The Bob & Earl Band - My Little Girl / My Little Girl - REPRO 16

What is Northern Soul? Well, you could start with the pounding, but vocally-restrained, soul of Bobby Garrett’s ‘My Little Girl’ as a prime example. When the UK’s Jay Boy issued the instrumental version from the two-track master tape in 1972, Northern Soul kids who craved instrumentals were in ecstasy. At last, the two are coupled and issued on the famed Mirwood imprint – just as they should be

Tobi Lark - Challenge My Love / Sweep It Out In The Shed - REPRO 14

In the 70s ‘Happiness Is Here’ was the standard, Motown-influenced, Northern Soul play by legendary Detroit artist Tobi Lark. By the 80s and 90s soul fans tastes had matured and the slower and deeper ‘Challenge My Love’ took over to such an extent that it was the go-to Lark recording. The final twist was the discovery that its flip, the moody and bluesy ‘Sweep It Out In The Shed’ was a new floor-filler to spin to the R&B-loving dancers. 

Act I - It's The Same Old Story / Night Of The Wolf - MEASURED MILE 517

The latest 7" single on Bob Stanley's MEASURED MILE label is a floor-filling double-sider.
The percussion-and-woodwind driven ‘Night Of The Wolf’ has been played out at northern soul nights in the UK, at Brooklyn discotheques in the mid-70s, and originally it was an Italian progressive rock album track. Much loved by everyone. It was issued as a super-rare US 45 in 1975 under the name the Al Foster Band, and this is its first official reissue.
ACT 1's 70s modern soul midtempo classic ‘It’s The Same Old Story’ also got played out in the early discos of New York, Chicago and LA, but it was only ever an album track. This marks its first ever release on a DJ-friendly 7"

Availability

45s  available via Ace Records website - (tap), and various record stores including our very own Source Store - (tap)