New 20th anniversary edition of Soul Jazz Records’ long out-of-print ‘Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul from Miami, Florida, 1967-74’. The album has been unavailable for more than 15 years and is newly remastered.

Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Miami Sound’ features rare and classic funk and deep soul from Miami, Florida between 1967 and 1974. The album brings together million-selling artists such as Gwen McCrae, George McCrae and Timmy Thomas alongside artists little known outside of the sunshine state such as James Knight and The Butlers, Frank Williams And The Rocketeers and All The People.

Miami funk, soul and disco was dominated by TK Records, founded by Henry Stone in the early 1970s. Through myriad associated record labels such as Alston, Blue Candle, Dash, Glades, Cat and more, TK Records made international artists out of Gwen McRae and her brother George McRae, Betty Wright and KC and The Sunshine Band, all in the mid-1970s crossover period between soul and disco.

The music on this compilation shows the roots of this Miami sound. All the artists and musicians on this album worked together throughout the heyday of TK Records, when it produced hit after hit on an almost daily basis. The house band (the equivalent to Motown’s Funk Brothers) included songwriters such as Clarence Reid (AKA Blowfly, the adult comedian), Casey Finch (KC from KC and The Sunshine Band) along with musicians Little Beaver, Frank Williams and Robert Moore. As well as being the in-house band, most of these artists also ran successful solo careers, making Miami one of the most musically creative hot spots in the USA.

The artists on this compilation include Helene Smith, Miami’s first lady of Soul, Frank Williams and The Rocketeers (featuring a very young Little Beaver on vocals), George McRae’s rare groove classic ‘I Get Lifted’ (written by Casey Finch), Timmy Thomas’ truly experimental track ‘Funky Me’, Gwen McRae’s classic ‘90% Of Me Is You’, as well as a host of practically unknown Miami artists who never managed to make it outside the city borders.

TRACK LISTING

All The People - Cramp Your Style
Helene Smith - You Got To Be A Man
George McCrae - I Get Lifted
James Knight And The Butlers - Funky Cat
Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
Little Beaver - Funkadelic Sound
James Knight And The Butlers - Save Me
Joey Gilmore - Do It To Me One More Time
Helene Smith - A Woman Will Do Wrong
James Knight And The Butlers - Fantasy World
Timmy Thomas - Funky Me
The New Clarence Reid - Cadillac Annie
Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - The Spanish Flyer
Della Humphrey - Don’t Make The Good Girls Go Bad
Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - You Got To Be A Man
Joey Gilmore - Somebody Done Took My Baby And Gone
Little Beaver - I Love The Way You Love

As usual Shdwply have unearthed and released another winner! This is just great great pop, an album mooted for later in the year..

'What a great year in music it has been, all these lo-fi seedlings popping up all around us and making our lives better. With that said, I bring you Florida, not to be confused with those other Florida bands. This Florida incorporates a ghoulish brand of lo-fi pop akin to John Maus and Ariel Pink but not to a point where it becomes bland or insipid, more so Florida took some of the same influences of David Bowie that John Maus and Ariel Pink did, in that way they are alike. Of course just when I think I've pinpointed the bands sound I hear a song full of psychotropic drone, appeasing the John Cale fan in me. This band has a great 7-inch
out on Shdwply Records and I most certainly encourage you to purchase it.' - Weekly Tapedeck.

Long awaited second edition in the "Psychedelic States" series compiling obscure singles of virtually unknown garage and psyche bands from the USA. This is the second edition covering the state of Florida, the first was immensely popular and the second version is filled with just as many gems. Compiled by real enthusiasts it includes The Tropics, The Lost Generation, The Epics, The Rockin' Roadrunners, Little Willie & The Adolescents, The Souldiers, The Purple Underground, The Ravens, Plant Life, Me And The Other Guys, Cosmic Camel, The Chain Reaction and The Deep Six. Giles Shaw you need this.