For Connoisseurs Only Vol 2-3 (2013)

Tracklist
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Vol 2
01. I'm Tired aka Love Line - Billy Watkins
02. That Someone Don't Know It - Jimmy Robins
03. Let Me Whisper In Your Ear - Joe Haywood
04. Wizard Of Art - Johnny Copeland
05. My Bag - Leon Peterson
06. I Need You - Arthur K Adams
07. What Kind Of Man Are You? - Jackie Day
08. Enough For Everybody - Betty Bibbs
09. Don't Cha' Ever Forget It - Johnny Williams
10. Wanting You - Jimmy Bee
11. Say It Baby - Terry & the Tyrants
12. Dance, Children, Dance - Mary Love
13. Captured By Your Love - Felice Taylor
14. No More Tears - The Sweethearts
15. Change In Me - Brilliant Korners
16. I Know You Know That I Know - The Styles
17. I Can't Get Enough - Willie Hutch
18. Sinner Not a Saint - Trini Lopez
19. Peace, Love & Understanding - Sherwood Fleming
20. Gray Skies - Wayne Boykin
21. I Need Your Lovin' So Bad - A Cappella Male Group

Vol 3
01. Beverly - Billy Watkins
02. That Righteous Feeling - Marvin Phillips & the Spinners
03. Love Me To Death - Terry & the Tyrants
04. You Must Believe In Yourself - Johnny Copeland
05. Working For The Woman - Freeman King
06. Can't Count The Days - Jeb Stuart
07. If I'd Lose You - Jackie Day
08. My Name Is Misery - Al King
09. Back In The Saddle - Tommy Youngblood
10. I Want To Know - Willie Headen
11. I'm Guilty - Vernon Garrett
12. Don't Feel Sorry For Me - The Ikettes
13. Good Luck aka New Love - Felice Taylor
14. I've Gotta Get You Back - Mary Love
15. Poor Sad Child Pt 1 - The Windjammers
16. I Could Never Love Another - The Four Tees
17. Baby, Baby, Baby - Leon Peterson
18. Cut Me Loose - Gene Taylor
19. Feel Like I Want To Holler - Frank Armstrong & the Stingers
20. It's OK - Esther Williams
21. The Ta Ta Song - Little Henry & the Shamrocks
22. This Life Of Mine - Jimmy Mccracklin
23. Whenever I Can't Sleep - Willie Gauff & the Love Brothers


Like volume one of this series, this 25-song compilation assembles soul rarities from the Modern and Kent sister labels, these selections dating from the mid-'60s through the early '70s. The Kent/Modern operation wasn't a major force in soul music -- not nearly as much as it had been in rhythm and blues in the late '40s and 1950s -- and this isn't the top of the label's soul barrel by any means. The tracks here (seven of them previously unreleased) are mid-level-at-best soul, lacking in big names even by cult favorite standards, though Johnny Copeland, Arthur K. Adams, and Mary Love all have their followings among blues and soul collectors. The disc does reflect most of the major trends in soul during the period, with the exception of the gritty Southern varieties of the genre. Yet there's nothing in the way of first-rate songs, though there's plenty in the way of energetic emulation of sounds that were setting the charts alight for other labels. It would be a lot harder to pick on, admittedly, if you were hearing these singly instead of all at once, where the lack of anything outstandingly original becomes wearisome. Still, a couple of tracks ask for it -- Felice Taylor sounds like Diana Ross with a bad cold on "Captured Your Love," and the Sweethearts' "No More Tears" is close enough to the Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love" that it comes dangerously close to crossing the border from emulation to plagiarism. If nothing else, much of the rest of the CD is likewise a reminder of how pervasive Motown's influence was in this era, though some of the sourly off-key horn charts would have never passed through that label's quality control meetings. As for the more interesting detours taken from that tributary, the Styles' "I Know You Know That I Know" is very much in the Philly soul mold of a group like the Delfonics, and is one of the better songs here, though Trini Lopez's early pop-rock-soul oddity "Sinner Not a Saint" (written by future Who/Kinks producer Shel Talmy) is a bad fit in these surroundings. No offense taken at the service this compilation provides for fanatic soul collectors who are looking to find anything they can, but it's definitely not one of the better such compilations of little-exposed music in the style.

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