This massive track on Strictly Rhythm has a bass line that kills me everytime! Little Louie (from Chicago) formed Black Magic in 1995 and went on to produce this powerful house tune with the help of Louie Vega and Frankie Feliciano.

Larry Heard ( Mr Fingers), leader of the group Fingers Inc, is well known for the Chicago house music he produced in the mid-80s. Smooth warm production with the soulful vocals of Robert Owens - chilled out house music at its best.

This is a deep house classic which epitomizes what the late 80s Chicago house sound was all about.

Sophisticated garage with slickest vocals.

Simple, crisp and funky by master remixer Bob Sinclar

More uplifting house and when I mean uplifting just listen to the chorus. The Dutch DJ intro cracks me up but we can relate to his enthusiasm.

This one never fails!

Another example of Masters at Work making a classic out of a classic. Minnie Ripperton on vocals.

Nuyorican Soul is basically Masters At Work ( Gonzales & Vega) remixing an absolute jazz-funk classic 'Sweet Tears' by the legendry jazz genius Roy Ayers. It takes guts to mess with perfection. We think they pulled it off!

Can Masters At Work do no wrong? Not in our book. The genius duo DJs/producers of Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales and Little Louie Vega have given us consistenly the best house music since 1990. Working with the best vocalists, the most versatile musicians, they set the standards on producing the most impeccably tight arrangements and breathtaking remixes, without corrupting the essence of the original track.

This guys voice is out of this world. Make sure you play this on a good system to appreciate the full Erro effect. Love this to death!

Some more classic house!

Ok, so you all know Frankie's 'Tears', but how many of you have heard this most excellent Satoshi Tomiee version...pure class!!!

DJs Delight would like present a selection of our favorite classic house tunes for your listening pleasure. I wanted to start this with an out an out classic from the 'Godfather of House', Mr Frankie Knuckles from 1989, with 'Tears'. Those of you who can remember what this beautiful tune did to people when it was dropped in the clubs know what I'm talking about - brings tears to my eyes

Commercial pop disco at its best!

Who would think of putting 1920s sounding horns on top of wah -wah guitar before funking it up with those gorgeous disco vocals? The unique and unmistakable sound of El Coco ( a drug reference) made 'Let's Get It Together, a gorgeous heavily jazz influenced disco cult classic.

You can never fail with the classic Vince Montana Jr penned track 'Runaway', with monster vocals from disco diva Lotleatta Holloway.

A brilliant jazz funk disco jam from Miroslav Vitous, a Czech bass player who used to play with Weather Report. I think Herbie Hancock is playing synth here with mad erratic female vocals over top. Another one where the 12" goes for big bucks.

More 70s disco opulence and hedonism. Superficial, but makes you wanna fly down to Rio.

Obscure underground disco from NY in 1980. On original wax this tune changes hands for over $500. Who were Vinzerrelli? Nothing else ever got released by them as far as I know. I don't know who they are, but I love this track to bits!

This was/is a massive record (released by Motown in 1979), especially in the UK rare groove scene, and never fails to get to connect with crowd. The first time I heard this I thought it was Chaka Khan singing it. I never did understand what the title meant - would someone care to enlighten me?

Bourgie Bourgie epitomised what the late 70s disco culture was all about - mixed, nightclubs, champagne, everybody proudly superficial striving to look bourgeoisie. There are three different versions of this Ashford & Simpson penned classic (Ashford & Simpson, Gladys Knight & the Pips being the other two) and I was wracking my brain on trying to decide which one to showcase on here because they are all brilliant, but I went for the most disco sounding version.

One of my favs. Written and produced by the God, Patrick Adams ( he that can do no wrong). Beautiful.

I first heard this track 10 years ago in the lift of the John Lewis department store and have been trying to find the name and track ever since. Not knowing the name and trying to sing the tune to record shops guys was frustrating to say the least. To my sheer joy I found it randomly at my dealer's house (record dealer!) in Oxford . This track is all about the spaced out synth. A obscure but timeless disco classic that needs to be played loud on a class A system!

Jackie Moore does the business on this absolutely huge disco anthem.

A fully orchestrated epic disco symphony recorded in NYC in 1978 by Russian born Boris Midney under the studio name Beautiful Bend.

After all that funk I'm going to change lanes and play you a line up of soulful and underground disco. Thats quality tunes before Saturday Night Fever and a whole host of rock/pop acts jumped on the disco band wagon and killed it.
The selection starts with a remix of an Ashford & Simpson classic.

Because I'm feeling extra generous you don't have to wait for that second hard funk track. Straight from the original 7" here is another funk instrumental. This marks the last of the funk selection from us for the time being. What next.....house....disco....reggae....boogie....jazz?

Larry Young's fuel is a hard track to follow from so I'm not going to even try. Instead I'm gonna give you a few more hard and obscure funk tracks. This one is from a nine member Detroit band. When this track was originally recorded, the oldest member of the band was 17-years-old!

Here is that second pychedelic funk track I promised. I challenge anyone to find anything more funky. Born Khalid Yasin Abdul Aziz, Larry Young, a jazz keyboardist, worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, John Coltraine and Miles Davis before recording two solo albums in 1975 & 1976. Unfortunately his life was cut short at the age of 38. There are three things that get me about this totally unique track that was massive in the UK rare groove scene during the 80s. The voice, the bass, and Larry Young's totally genius stabbing synth weaving in and out of it. Perfect...except I don't know why she wants the lights turned off if she can't see a thing...this birds had too much angel dust!

 The last two tracks I sent ( Vibrettes & Ann Sexton) were more straightforward classic funk tracks. The next two I'm gonna give you will give you a taste of a more psychedelic variety of funk. Headhunters (headed by the jazz genius Herbie Hancock) - 'God Made Me Funky' starts of simple - a few bars of drums, then guitar and then an awesome stomping heavy bassline and right when you think you know whats happening....the saxophonist ( who must have been on something) takes you off in a different direction and you're lost!

DJs Delight

...and here is the 2nd slice of raw funk as promised. This powerful 1973 face smacker is straight from the 7" vaults, brought to you and your mp3 players courtesy of DJs Delight. Listen to it....I think she is upset about something.

 Following on from soul, I'm going to shoot out some 'pure' funk tracks and start with a couple funk 7"s from back in the day, commencing with the classic Humpty Dump by the Vibrettes.

courtesy of DJs Delight

 
Finishing up with female soul artists, I leave you with this Esther Phillip's 1972 'proper' serious soul-funk version of the Gil Scott-Heron's classic, 'Home is where the hatred is'. In my humble opinion its the definitive version of a song describing heroin addiction. Esther battled drug addiction all her life and finally died of alcohol liver disease in 1983. So you know when you hear her sing every word of this, she is not merely singing lyrics of a page, but rather narrating a painful testimony of her own life. Deep stuff, and this brings us nicely to the next few tracks I'm gonna send out of the pure funk variety.

DJ's Delight

 
Last 2 tracks on the female soul tip to go. Yes I know I sent more than 5, but thats cause there are too many legendry soul sisters out there and I can stay on this vibe for another 20 tracks. But we got jazz, funk, reggae and house to come.

This next one is more funk than soul but her voice is totally unique so I couldn't resist. When I first heard this when I was 17 yrs old on South London pirate radio, I almost crashed my car! She is an Indian lady who somehow found herself in Germany during the 70s where she recorded this track....I would love to know the story behind this one. Listen to the voice, it sounds like a Bollywood Kate Bush over top of some very earthy funk. Can't believe this stuff came out of Germany!

Totally awesome 2 bar base line in 4/4 rhythm....so turn up that base!

DJ's Delight

 
Valerie Simpson, one half of the totally prolific husband and wife song writing duo Ashford & Simpson (wrote big tunes for Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight and loads others) sings this awesome soul gem featured on her solo album recorded for Motown in 1972. The anoraks among you may recognise it being sampled by 50 cent's on his track 'Best Friend ( a totally useless fact ). Let her effortless voice wash over your ears.

courtesy of DJ's Delight

PS. In answer to the most FAQ: The website shall be up and running in a basic format in the middle of March.

Incredible feedback from the Penny Goodwin track - looks like there are a lot of real soul fans out there. Beyonce, eat your heart out! As promised I'm gonna keep the next few tracks on the down tempo strictly on the female soul tip before we speed things up cause we've got disco, house, reggae and hip hop and dare I say it, rock.

Next up is from one of my most favorite female vocalists, Marlena Shaw. This woman can do no wrong. Versatility is her middle name. She can sing anything: the most depressive blues, the sweetest soul, hard funk and jazz. 'Go away, little boy' makes me smile everytime I hear it.... "Check out the boy mother's love, mother's love..." "Let the door knob hit ya where dog should have bit ya little boy..."

Why can't a man open up a hair dressing shop if he wants to??!??

DJs Delight

 
Ok....the next 5 emails are going to feature real soul music of the female variety .....feast you ears on the wise words of Penny Goodwin....I have never seen an original of this.

 
Ok boys and girls,

another one thats going to blow your base. This one is hot of the press straight out of the UK on Solid State & Society Records and only 500 copies are being pressed. Stay tuned for some soul gems.

DJs Delight

Dear friends around the world,

if you receive this email you are personal friends of (or friends of friends of) either Shan (Love & Happiness Music), Sanj (Creative Source) or Tushan (Soul Rebels), who collectively will be joining forces to bring to you the best in house, disco, soul, and funk with selected cuts of jazz, hip-hop and reggae. You will be able to access it all via internet radio, which we are working on right now. For the time being it would be our great pleasure to send you selected tracks covering our eclectic blend of music favorites via email as a taster for your mp3 players. If you want to be removed from this mailing list please reply and let us know. If you have any friends who are passionate about this kind of music, send us their emails so we can add them to our mailing list. Please feel free to make any comments about the music.

Please download this attachment and play it with the bass turned up!

DJs Delight

the second funk 7 as promised.

courtesy of Djsdelight