Southern Soul

Dominant during the '60s, Southern Soul cast its intoxicating spell on the world by mixing roughly equal parts of gospel, country, and R&B, and spiking the whole concoction with gritty, funked-up vocal magic. We open our sizzlin' overview of the genre with its preeminent exponents, including the magnificent Wilson Pickett, who cut 1965's "In the Midnight Hour" at the legendary Stax Records studios in Memphis, James Carr — who should've been a household name, but somehow missed out on pop fame, given the abiding excellence of cuts like "The Dark End of the Street" — and Sam & Dave, who released the timeless "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" in '67. Eddie Floyd sure sounds pretty, and O.V. Wright keeps it tight, in Next Steps.

Now, as we look behind the familiar hits, we start to see just what those Southern Soul aficionados were so obsessed about — every track here is pure dynamite, performed by many artists who never quite received the full accolades they deserved. Best known for his 1966 version of "Knock on Wood" (also recorded by Otis Redding) Eddie Floyd became a Stax cornerstone, thanks to stunners like "Raise Your Hand" (subsequently covered by Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen). O.V. Wright, who died in 1980 and has since become a hip-hop sampler's staple, released his incredible, pew-powered debut single "That's How Strong My Love Is" in 1964 on Goldwax. Best-kept Southern Soul secrets Arthur Alexander and C.L. Blast will blow you away, in Deep Cuts.

Some of these Southern Soul names you're sure to recognise, including Isaac Hayes — who was an in-house songwriter and producer at Stax before breaking out with the Blaxploitation movie funk of Shaft in the early '70s — but many others are likely to be fresh discoveries. We strongly recommend you get acquainted with country soul specialist Arthur Alexander, a largely forgotten artist much admired by the Stones and the Beatles, who put out "Baby For You" in 1966. And you must definitely spend a little time with C.L. Blast (aka Clarence Lewis, Jr.) whose brief flirtation with Stax/Hip gave us "I'm Glad to Do It."

For many soul purists, the Southern variety — captured on many a seminal Stax/Atlantic side during the '60s — remains the sweetest and the finest. Shot through with gospel-rooted passion, often packing horns tight enough to stab you sideways into next week, and always overflowing with emotional intensity, great Southern soul hits the mark every time. And while we're sure that many of the genre's best-known artists already occupy pride of place on your iPod, there's a true plethora of Southern soul singers who somehow got lost in the margins of music history — once you've found them, you'll never want to let them go. So, alongside Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, and Etta James we present the likes of Eddie Floyd, James Carr, and Lee Dorsey . . . so plug in, load up and inject a whole lot o' Memphis into your soul.