Now That’s What I Call 70’s Soul

(Sony Music/EMI)


If there was a decade that defined soul music, it was the seventies, which started with Marvin Gaye and What’s Going On and ended with The Commodores and Easy.

This comprehensive four-CD compilation concentrates mainly on the first half of the seventies when soul music was at its peak.

The Motown stable is represented by Diana Ross and Ain't No Mountain High Enough; Jackson 5 with I Want You Back and The Commodores, Three Times A Lady, amongst others including Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and The Four Tops.

The Motor City label from Detroit didn’t have it all their own way: The Stylistics came to prominence with You Make Me Feel Brand New and of course with the 1975 number one hit Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love).

Over in Britain there were homegrown acts that could compete easily with those from across the Atlantic, namely Heatwave who are represented with Always and Forever and Mind Blowing Decisions- two soulful ballads written by Cleethorpes-born Rod Temperton when he was the keyboard player in the group. Temperton later went on to write some of Michael Jackson’s biggest hits, including Thriller and Rock With You - not bad for someone from a North East Lincolnshire coastal resort.

This compilation really is a crème de la crème of soul standards, with every track from the genre you expect to be included being present, including some of those one-hit wonders such as The Tymes with Ms Grace, The Floaters with Float On, The Moments with Jack in the Box and the New Faces winning act Sweet Sensation with Sad Sweet Dreamer.

This is definitely a compilation that any soul music fan would want in their collection.