Bocanada

@Steveh73 those are excellent examples and now I get the 2-step sound. I guess that I've always referred to that as mellow modern soul.

@Modernsoulsucks so more like this:

@Soul Shrews yes. Revelations is my favourite.

@Modernsoulsucks I really liked those 2 tracks by Eloise Whitaker. Nice!

@The Tempest tight bass line there! Boogie! Nice one! Wow, I just checked the price of this one on Discogs Why is it Japan only? Do you know?

@Steveh73 The Natural Four's homonymous LP is a personal favourite. I love this one by Jean Carn, as well as her album on Black Jazz with Doug Carn.

Yeah, when JK was mentioned, I was going to say that to me, their sound is a mix between Stevie Wonder and Johnny Hammond's Gears. The Mizell Brothers' sound is quite present in the Acid Jazz scene for me. Really good list up there, @Steveh73. Speaking of Gemigo, Rasputin Stash's "Devil made me do it" it's really good too. Is this sound what some call 2-step?

A personal favourite from The 3 Pieces album For me, this album is definitely in the top 10 of rare groove albums.

@Geeselad – I have a WLP of that album, I really like it. I prefer this one instead, which has a sound very similar to that of The 3 Pieces and Ace Spectrum! And I really like the cover art too

@Fish Fingers – that's a really good tune! That's a good recommendation, @Steveh73 – I liked it. Although it doesn't have the "surprise element" Here Comes the Sun has towards the end. Overdose of Joy is excellent, but I agree that it's an easy choice. Phenomenal tune though! I still need to get me a copy of the Chi-Lite's "I Like Your Lovin'" album. So many good tracks there. Man, this is never-ending!

I'll definitely check out more Willie H – unfortunately his discography in Spotify is incomplete. How about something like this? The change and arrangement at 3:16 is fantastic. That bass line! As all of you can tell, I need my groove

@Fish Fingers classic!

I heard several tunes from Bobby Womack, Across 110th Street of course – fantastic! For Dells I have the one that includes No Way Back. @Sutty – thanks for the Willie recommendations. I'll have a listen.

Here's another excellent groover by Chicago:

You're not the only one! Rumour has it that, when I was a child, I use to walk around the streets with a portable cassette player and a box full of cassettes playing Chicago

@Dylan I didn't even know it was a sample when it came out. Found out several years later, and didn't even know that mishearing and/or misinterpreting something to give it a new meaning had an actual word: mondegreen. Fascinating I think I've got The Bucketheads 12".

@Fish Fingers I'm not familiar with Willie Hutch's entire discography, but I do have The Mack OST, which I love. Any specific albums I should check out? Kenny Dope and Louie Vega are great.

@Fish Fingers – there are some really good tunes there! I don't think I know them. Thanks for the list. "Make it last forever" by Donna McGhee is another one of those really really good albums. Also, both Milton Wright LPs too. All of them still in my wantlist. @Geeselad – I'm sure those were the days; when you could find a Jackson Sisters LP in a record shop! The only time I saw one of those was in Japan and the price was quite hefty! I guess I never bought 45s or 12s because, internally, I need to have my picture sleeve! I don't know if you've seen the J. Rocc episode of Crate Diggers, where he tells the story of Madlib not buying 45s Check it out. It starts at 8:12.

What qualifies as a "rare groove" track keeps changing, so share them anyway. Perhaps I should change the topic of this thread and make it a bit more inclusive, ha. As per non-album tracks, I know very little about songs that were only released on 45s or 12s. In fact, I was thinking of creating another thread to discover good tunes that have only made it to 45s/12s, always favouring 70s+ songs (not so much the earlier 60s stuff).

Sweet Magic by Lee McDonald is another excellent album. "I'll do Anything for You" and "We've only just begun" are brilliant. Still in my wantlist. I've actually added a post in the Record Wants section, but haven't had any luck so far Oh, and this one just came to my head too:

I'll definitely check out the others. Dexter Wansel's The Sweetest Pain and the "Life on Mars" LP are also fantastic and on the same kind of style.

Oh Fish Fingers, you absolutely nailed it with Randy Brown! Slow soul groover, very nice. Now I need to find myself a copy! Thanks. I love this kind of lavish production. Love City is really good. "I Can't Forget About You" is an absolute classic.

Btw, I just remembered that Pleasure was the backing band on Ronnie Laws' "Fever" – also produced by Wayne Henderson. Listen to "Let's Keep it Together" from that album. It's pleasure with the sax taken to 11

The first 3 LPs by Pleasure, "Dust Yourself Off", "Accept no Substitutes", and "Joyous" – are fantastic. Wayne Henderson's production is great. I don't know if you can call it a genre, but if you happen to know more albums with a similar vibe, let me know

I normally gravitate towards mid to late 70s soul/funk. Anything with a nice groove does the trick. For example, I know very little about soul tunes that have only appeared on 45s or 12" singles. Arnold Blair is an excellent example here.