The Contemporary Soul Songbook, Vol. 1

Browse around a High Street record store these days and you could be forgiven for thinking that contemporary soul music ended after Anita Baker, Luther Vandross and Alexander O’Neal. In the unlikely event that the store still has a “soul” section, you’ll find it tucked up the corner, between the urban and hip-hop sections, and it’ll be crammed full of endless re-issues or “best of” compilations from artists of yesteryear. The major online web-stores aren’t much better. In response to your search for “soul music”, they’ll present you with the same selection of tired old compilations. Alternatively, you’ll be offered a list of CDs from what they regard as today’s soul acts, but which are actually black singers who perform pop songs (no names mentioned) or white singers who perform soulful-ish pop songs (again, no names mentioned). So, this begs the question; are there any artists still out there, regardless of the colour of their skin, who are still making quality soul music? Of course there are! As anyone closely involved in the modern soul scene will tell you, there are a huge number of artists that are independently producing high quality soul CDs every year. Unfortunately, while the major record labels and music press continue their obsession with the youth-oriented urban and r&b scenes, the work of these contemporary soul artists goes largely un-noticed. That’s a real shame. The people who are still buying the old compilations would almost certainly enjoy what’s on offer on the current soul scene - if only they knew it existed! And that’s the point of this compilation; to try and get more exposure to today’s modern soul artists. We’re not deluding ourselves here. We realise that one compilation CD is unlikely to make a massive difference. And we acknowledge that we’re not the only independent record label that releases quality soul compilations. However, we figure that one more voice among the crowd can’t do any harm. And, who knows, if we all shout loud enough, and for long enough, maybe one day someone who really can make that difference will actually hear us. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this CD, which is the first in a new series of compilations from Soul Unsigned, featuring the very best that the modern soul scene has to offer.