Where Southern Soul Began

A re-post by request:

All in all, I'd have to say that this is a really strong compilation of material that very much tracks with the posts done here over the last couple years. The 2 discs of material make for a really nice listening experience too, which is, after all, the most important thing. There is a nice mix of tunes you will know and many others that will be new.

 "The Golden Age of southern soul lasted from about 1964 to 1975, when disco ripped the heart out of it. And although it may seem as though the blend of country, gospel and R & B that emerged from the great studios in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in that decade was entirely fresh and new, like any other genre classic, southern soul picked up musical cues and absorbed influences from a whole variety of sources: horn lines from Louisiana’s swamp pop, lyrical themes from the blues, songs from country music, and of course so, so much from the black churches. Part of the 'History of Soul' series, these CDs reveal many of the black musical antecedents that gave southern soul its greatest inspirations. A good few of the artists here, represented in their early attempts at creating an individual style, went on to become some of the biggest stars of the '60s. Other musicians on these collections, perhaps less famously, provided ideas and techniques that became stylistic standards in the coming years. If you ever wondered what musical forms lay behind the southern soul explosion, the answer is in these tracks. If you thought that secularised gospel singing started with Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, think again as you listen to vocalists who pioneered this many years before they did. And if you were of the view that the players and producers at Royal Studios, or Fame or Cosimo’s in New Orleans invented something completely unheard of, you were wrong."