'70s Soul

After the success of labels like Atlantic, Stax and Motown during the '60s, soul settled into a golden period during the '70s, and it's from that bountiful decade that we've mined this collection of Essentials, ideal for connoisseurs and soul-newbies alike. The great Donny Hathaway gets us underway with "Someday We'll All Be Free" from his final studio album, Extension of a Man, proving that a lush romantic croon can work in the service of life-changing political songcraft. Curtis Mayfield nails his groove with the oft-sampled "Superfly", and Gil Scott-Heron lays his seminal rap over a spiralling jazz flute on "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". James Brown brings it right down, and George Clinton funks it up, in Next Steps.

Soul really began to spread its wings in the '70s, and we start to explore the genre's variety here, starting with a cautionary tune from the Godfather of Soul, whose fully loaded "get on up" funk stands in stark contrast to the low-key jazz riffing of "King Heroin" — the tone is a departure, but Brown's performance is, as ever, unforgettable. George Clinton delivered his funk landmark Mothership Connection in 1976, assembling a stellar line-up of players including Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell, and for your interstellar pleasure we've added "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" — Mary Poppins, it ain't, but it'll surely clear the soot from your chim-chimney. The blue-eyed Philly-styled soul delights of Hall & Oates await in Deep Cuts.

We continue our '70s soul exploration with the Chi-Lites, the source of a brass sample famously lifted by Beyoncé for "Crazy in Love", here breezing blissfully through "Stoned Out of My Mind", a great showcase for prime mover Eugene Record's dreamy falsetto and a highlight on the band's self-titled album from 1973. Hall & Oates, in the days before they fully embraced pop, knew their way round a lush string arrangement as well as anyone, and here we've included the sweet soul hook of "Camellia" from their self-titled RCA debut from 1975, while Hot Wax stable stars Honey Cone stick it to all those low-down dirty stop-out men with 1971's outstanding "Want Ads".

Born of gospel and rhythm & blues, soul established itself on the musical landscape of the '60s, but it was during the following decade — a time of social and political upheaval, and musical experimentation — that the bedrock style began to fracture and spin-off in all kinds of directions, most of which we've captured in this magnificent selection of '70s Soul Essentials. So take your time, find your groove and sample every flavour in this melting pot of funk, Philly, blue-eyed soul and the great soul clusters that formed around Detroit and Chicago. Feel the social heat of Billy Paul's "Am I Black Enough For You?", ease back on the satin strains of Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm", sense the arrival of greatness with Prince's "I Feel for You", and soak up the soul poetry of the Last Poets' "Related to What".