Manhattan Soul 3

UK collection. Scepter/Wand and Musicor/Dynamo records were quintessential New York soul labels. Their common link was Luther Dixon, who set Scepter on the right road with the Shirelles and followed up with success for Tommy Hunt, Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown. He split for Musicor in 1966 where he got the Platters, Tommy Hunt and Inez & Charlie Foxx back into the charts. Scepter/Wand had the bigger black music catalog and dominates this compilation. It is the third in the Manhattan Soul series: across-the-board soul covering the '60s and the first half of the '70s. Kent's privileged position of accessing the tapes has meant we can show how the labels' recordings were even bigger than their sizeable output. This CD features a previously unheard early Chips Moman song from Helen Henry, the Shirelles' take on Luther Dixon's superb 'Two Stupid Feet', Van McCoy's own interpretation of that group's 'What's The Matter Baby' and a previously unheard R&B group sound from the Tabs. Earlier vault discoveries from Junior Lewis and Big Maybelle are given their first CD outing. R&B is provided by Billy Adams on a hip and raunchy nursery rhyme-themed number and the Soldier Boys, an early 60s doo wop super-group consisting of Wally Roker from the Heartbeats, Don Covay and John Berry from the Rainbows and Robert Spencer of the Cadillacs. Ex doo woppers Brenton Wood and Harold Hopkins demonstrate how pop-soul should be sung.