I started listening to Soul Music as a kid in the 1960s. Motown was my favorite record company. I loved Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, and Dusty Springfield. I listened to the Supremes, the Ronettes, and The Temptations. I wanted to be one of the Four Tops!
This 4 CD set delivers plenty of hits from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The songs in the 1990s seem more repetitive and more focused on loud voices than lyrics. Are you a fan of Soul Music? Any favorites here? GRADES: 1960s-A, 1970s-B+, 1980s-B, 1990s-B-
TRACK LIST:
| THE 60s | |||
| 1-01 | Dionne Warwick– | Walk On By | 2:55 |
| 1-02 | Aretha Franklin– | Respect | 2:25 |
| 1-03 | Ike & Tina Turner– | River Deep, Mountain High | 3:38 |
| 1-04 | The Ronettes– | Be My Baby | 2:40 |
| 1-05 | The Crystals– | Then He Kissed Me | 2:40 |
| 1-06 | Stevie Wonder– | For Once In My Life | 2:50 |
| 1-07 | Marvin Gaye– | I Heard It Through The Grapevine | 3:14 |
| 1-08 | The Temptations– | My Girl | 2:44 |
| 1-09 | Ben E. King– | Stand By Me | 2:55 |
| 1-10 | Percy Sledge– | When A Man Loves A Woman | 2:51 |
| 1-11 | Otis Redding– | (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay | 2:43 |
| 1-12 | Mary Wells– | My Guy | 2:54 |
| 1-13 | The Supremes– | Stop! In The Name Of Love | 2:53 |
| 1-14 | Martha Reeves & The Vandellas– | Dancing In The Street | 2:39 |
| 1-15 | Jackson 5*– | I Want You Back | 2:59 |
| 1-16 | Four Tops– | Reach Out I’ll Be There | 2:59 |
| 1-17 | The Drifters– | Save The Last Dance For Me | 2:34 |
| 1-18 | Jackie Wilson– | (I Get The) Sweetest Feeling | 2:55 |
| 1-19 | Sam & Dave– | Soul Man | 2:39 |
| 1.20 | Dusty Springfield– | Son Of A Preacher Man | 2:25 |
| 1-21 | Erma Franklin– | Piece Of My Heart | 2:36 |
| 1-22 | Smokey Robinson & The Miracles*– | The Tracks Of My Tears | 2:56 |
| 1-23 | Jimmy Ruffin– | What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted | 3:00 |
| 1-24 | James Brown– | It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World | 2:49 |
| 1-25 | Nina Simone– | Feeling Good | 2:53 |
| THE 70s | |||
| 2-01 | Diana Ross– | Ain’t No Mountain High Enough | 3:31 |
| 2-02 | Freda Payne– | Band Of Gold | 2:56 |
| 2-03 | Bill Withers– | Lovely Day | 4:10 |
| 2-04 | The Isley Brothers– | Summer Breeze, Pt. 1 | 3:09 |
| 2-05 | Commodores– | Easy | 4:20 |
| 2-06 | The Three Degrees– | When Will I See You Again | 2:59 |
| 2-07 | Gladys Knight & The Pips*– | Midnight Train To Georgia | 4:38 |
| 2-08 | Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes* Feat. Teddy Pendergrass– | If You Don’t Know Me By Now | 3:25 |
| 2-09 | Billy Paul– | Me And Mrs. Jones | 3:37 |
| 2-10 | Minnie Riperton– | Lovin’ You | 3:19 |
| 2-11 | Deniece Williams– | Free | 2:51 |
| 2-12 | The Stylistics– | Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) | 3:13 |
| 2-13 | Barry White– | You’re The First, The Last, My Everything | 4:35 |
| 2-14 | The Crusaders– | Street Life | 3:57 |
| 2-15 | Earth, Wind & Fire– | Fantasy | 3:49 |
| 2-16 | Elton John– | Are You Ready For Love (’79 Version Radio Edit) | 3:32 |
| 2-17 | The Floaters– | Float On | 4:10 |
| 2-18 | Peaches & Herb– | Reunited | 3:55 |
| 2-19 | Billy Preston & Syreeta– | With You I’m Born Again | 3:41 |
| 2-20 | Rose Royce– | Wishing On A Star | 4:52 |
| 2-21 | Michael Jackson– | One Day In Your Life | 4:16 |
| THE 80s | |||
| 3-01 | Rufus And Chaka Khan– | Ain’t Nobody | 4:44 |
| 3-02 | Womack & Womack– | Teardrops | 3:50 |
| 3-03 | Ashford & Simpson– | Solid | 3:45 |
| 3-04 | Anita Baker– | Sweet Love | 4:22 |
| 3-05 | Marvin Gaye– | Sexual Healing | 4:00 |
| 3-06 | Kool & the Gang– | Cherish | 3:54 |
| 3-07 | Soul II Soul & Caron Wheeler– | Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) | 3:49 |
| 3-08 | Alexander O’Neal– | Criticize | 4:09 |
| 3-09 | Luther Vandross– | Never Too Much | 3:53 |
| 3-10 | Lionel Richie– | All Night Long (All Night) | 4:19 |
| 3-11 | Donna Summer– | On The Radio | 4:05 |
| 3-12 | Shalamar– | A Night To Remember | 3:34 |
| 3-13 | Fat Larry’s Band– | Zoom | 4:17 |
| 3-14 | Billy Ocean– | Suddenly | 3:51 |
| 3-15 | Loose Ends– | Hangin’ On A String (Contemplating) | 3:36 |
| 3-16 | Jocelyn Brown– | Somebody Else’s Guy | 3:50 |
| 3-17 | Gwen Guthrie– | Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent | 3:34 |
| 3-18 | Jennifer Holliday– | And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going | 4:06 |
| 3-19 | Phyllis Nelson– | Move Closer | 4:35 |
| 3-20 | Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson– | Tonight I Celebrate My Love | 3:29 |
| THE 90s | |||
| 4-01 | Whitney Houston– | I Have Nothing | 4:50 |
| 4-02 | All-4-One– | I Swear | 3:43 |
| 4-03 | Boyz II Men– | I’ll Make Love To You | 3:59 |
| 4-04 | Charles & Eddie– | Would I Lie To You | 3:38 |
| 4-05 | Seal– | Crazy | 4:28 |
| 4-06 | Sade– | No Ordinary Love | 4:01 |
| 4-07 | Oleta Adams– | Get Here | 4:35 |
| 4-08 | Toni Braxton– | Un-break My Heart | 4:29 |
| 4-09 | The Source Feat. Candi Staton– | You Got The Love (New Voyager Mix) | 3:13 |
| 4-10 | Gabrielle– | Give Me A Little More Time | 4:55 |
| 4-11 | En Vogue– | Don’t Let Go (Love) | 4:04 |
| 4-12 | Brandy (2) & Monica– | The Boy Is Mine | 4:01 |
| 4-13 | SWV– | Right Here (Human Nature Radio Mix) | 3:47 |
| 4-14 | Shanice– | I Love Your Smile | 3:49 |
| 4-15 | Crystal Waters– | Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless) | 3:42 |
| 4-16 | M People– | Don’t Look Any Further | 3:51 |
| 4-17 | The Tony Rich Project– | Nobody Knows | 4:20 |
| 4-18 | Dina Carroll– | Don’t Be A Stranger | 4:44 |
| 4-19 | Vanessa Williams– | Save The Best For Last | 3:40 |
Oh my …
Just looking at the titles on the fist CD makes me want to switch on any of my players again.
Those fabulous 60s!
Of course Tina’s River Deep is my all time favourite but the others too – those were the days!
And I was lucky to receive AFN (the army radio in Germany) and to have friends whose records I could copy to my cassette recorder.
Wolf, we both share a fondness for those great Soul Music hits of the Sixties!
I love almost everything on the first two CDs—for once, the people who compiled the records chose the best/most famous/most representative song from each artist. The second two CDs aren’t quite as solid, but Sade, Seal, Rufus, and even Elton John (the not as well-known but quite good “Are You Ready for Love”) round out the collection. A great choice—I could listen to a good portion of these collections all day!
Deb, you’re right: there’s a lot of variety on these 4 CDs! And, like you, I prefer the first two CDs over the second two CDs.
Pretty good selection of tracks I remember from junior high and high school (’60s), college and after (’70s) and drive-time radio (’80s and ’90s).
Fred, when I was driving to work in the 1980s and 1990s I listened to Canadian music stations for variety. They rarely play much Soul Music.
I’d buy the 60s collection in a heartbeat.
Jerry, if I find a copy of NOW DECADES OF SOUL, I’ll send it to you.
Duh. Yes. I don’t know the Jackie Wilson, but otherwise all of the ’60s, yes. As mentioned, “What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted ” is one of Jackie’s favorite songs, along with “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” and the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry, Baby”, to name a few. “Be My Baby” and “My Girl” top my list, among other favorites, “Reach Out I’ll Be There” being another.
One that wasn’t a favorite was a concert highlight. We saw Stevie Wonder and in the middle of “For Once In My Life” he brought Tony Bennett out to sing it with him !
Also:
Respect
The Tracks Of My Tears
Soul Man
Next, the ’70s.
Jeff, great music on Disc 1! Love the Soul Music of the Sixties!
I like most of the sixties and seventies music, but the eighties are spotty! I can certainly do without child molester Michael Jackson!
Bob, if you see the Michael Jackson musical MJ you’ll discover Michael Jackson was abused by his father.
Sadly, that can encourage replication among victims.
I’m much more mixed on the 70s group. I’ve always intensely disliked the Diana Ross version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which may have outsole the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell original, but can’t touch it otherwise.
I’ll take the Earth, Wind and Fire, the Freda Payne, Gladys Knight, Teddy Pendergrass.
Jeff, I love Freda Payne and wonder why her career never took off!
I seem to remember she got black-listed because her follow-up to “Band of Gold” was an anti-Vietnam song called “Bring the Boys Home”. Not sure how accurate that is, but it’s a shame someone with her voice never went any further.
Deb, I dimly remember hearing that story about “Bring the Boys Home.” Sad, if true.
When we used to listen to WCBS-FM, the oldies station, in the days they still played mostly ’60s and ’70s, they seemed to play “Band of Gold” pretty much every day.
Jeff, “Band of Gold” is good as gold in my book!
Also, there are just not that many songs about impotence/ED!
Jeff, how about “Hard Habit to Break”?
Freda Payne sold a million copies of “Bring the Boys Home” but she switched the record company. Interesting background on wikipedia.
Wolf, sometimes switching doesn’t work.
Well, again, these comps are all a balance of what’s cheap and what will Move Units Fast. So they lean on Motown and related smooth soul in the ’60s, edge of disco in the ’60s, edge of disco in the ’70s and early ’80s, pitching ever more to either Quiet Storm or the kids almost alone in the latter decades.
And, of course, there were those who thought Aretha Franklin and James Brown were just yelling, too. They either weren’t listening or couldn’t, but they said it.
Todd, I went to High School with many students who hated Soul Music.
Insane. I’ve hated a number of popular songs, but even some MOR is better than fine. Just don’t play any Robert Goulet, Conway Twitty, the Guess Who’s “American Woman” (all for those lyrics), Kanye West or Leo Sayer if we’re required to both listen to it..Janina Gavankar doing West’s “Love Lockdown” while playing her marimba is fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjzaJ3mw_uw
Just a bit OT:
In the late 60s I heard the German/American band Soul Caravan in a kind of local disco and told them that they were in the wrong place with those country boys who didn’t like their music.
So I organised a concert at one of the university halls which went really well. They had changed their name to Xhol Caravan to show that they were playing more than just soul music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhol_Caravan
Fond memories!!
Wolf, I had no idea you were a concert promoter!
Well, in the 1960s when I was a student and a member of the German Humanist Union I helped with organising many evenings, concerts not so often but political stuff.
A few examples:
We got a director of the German movie censorship organisation (Freiwillige Filmselbstkontrolle) zo give a talk about the necessity of censorship and age ratings after which he showed examples from different movies.
First extreme crime, brutal killings, torture etc
And then everybody was happy when the show switched to sex scenes which were too open for those times.
We showed a film made in communist East Germany which was never shown in West Germany. It described the connections between German big capitalists and the Nazi party.
We presented a doctor who helped older married couples who had several children already, wanted no more children bur still sex by operating the women.
Following a paragraph from the “Christian” German constitution he would have been sent to jail but then at the end of the 60s the left Social Democrats came to power and the constitution was changed – also homosexuality would no longer get you into jail …
I used to call the German ruling party in those days the Clerical Fascists” – they still used many laws made by the Nazis…
the list could go on …