Soul Master - Expanded Edition

Debut album from the late, great Edwin Starr, expertly remastered and complete with extensive liner notes and several bonus tracks. Essential listening for all R&B, Soul and Funk fans.

Classic ‘60s Motown sounds with mid to up-tempo songs either swinging, shuffling or stomping their way to a rapid and satisfying conclusion (only one track is over three minutes). Featuring Starr’s rough-hewn vocal chops interpreting lyrics by Motown greats Smokey Robinson and Norman Whitfield among others, adding real weight to the recordings.

Edwin Starr is best remembered for his rasping Vietnam protest song ‘War’ from 1970. His early recordings for Detroit’s Ric-Tic Records immediately gained chart success before Berry Gordy bought out Starr’s contract in 1967 and took him and his music to Motown.

Soul Master was Starr’s debut album and was released on Motown’s Gordy imprint in 1968. With soul music in the ‘60s, and especially with Motown, the emphasis was on singles, so the album did not chart but does boast a number of R&B hits. These include the aforementioned ‘Agent Double-O-Soul’ and Starr’s other top ten Ric-Tic release, 1966’s ‘Stop Her On Sight (SOS)’ (R&B #9/Pop #48/UK #35), as well as ‘Headline News’ (Pop #84).