Aint Nothing But A House Party 60s and Early 70s Club Soul Classics

In 1980 Dexy’s Midnight Runners talked of a “new soul vision”. They were referring to their own music but they and other groups including The Jam through covers of soul songs such as ‘Seven Days Too Long’ (Dexy’s), ‘One Way Love’ (Dexy’s), ‘Big Bird’ (The Jam) and ‘Move On Up’ (The Jam) inspired a new generation of teenagers to seek out the originals then go deeper. ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ provides a soundtrack to those exciting times, a celebration of 60s and early 70s soul that filled dance floors again in the 80s.

Discs 1 and 2 focus on US soul music and include tracks by soul legends Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, The Temptations, Four Tops, Martha And The Vandellas, Chairmen Of The Board and more, while disc 3 spotlights soul made in Britain including visiting US stars Garnet Mimms and Little Richard and London based groups such as mod favourites Jimmy James And The Vagabonds and Geno Washington And The Ram Jam Band.

There are soulful gems from Darrell Banks, Bobby Bland and Darrow Fletcher, calls to dance from James And Bobby Purify, Jackie Lee and The Miracles, James Bond inspired belters from Edwin Starr (he’s not 007 he’s ‘Double ‘O’ Soul’) and Rex Garvin And The Mighty Cravers and an anthem of positivity by Curtis Mayfield.

Musical gold is mined from Detroit’s Motown stable of labels, Stax Records of Memphis, Chicago’s Chess Records, Mirwood of Los Angeles and the New York based R&B giant Atlantic Records. Other nuggets appeared on little known local labels such as our title track by the Philadelphia based The Show Stoppers whose ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ was one of several songs on the compilation that was bigger in the UK than the US.

Though not a straight northern soul compilation there are loads of northern soul favourites here including foot stompers and floor shakers plus 60s mod club spins including dynamic duo Sam And Dave’s ‘You Don’t Know Like I Know’, The Capitols’ ‘Cool Jerk’ and The Ramsey Lewis Trio’s cool instrumental version of Dobie Gray’s mod anthem ‘The In Crowd’.

DISC ONE 1 The Show Stoppers – Ain’t Nothing But A House Party 2 Shirley Ellis – Soul Time 3 Bobby Sheen – Dr. Love 4 Marvin Gaye – Can I Get A Witness 5 The Soul Sisters – I Can’t Stand It 6 Edwin Starr – Agent Double O Soul 7 The Impressions – You’ve Been Cheatin’ 8 The Temptations – Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue) 9 The Marvelettes – I’ll Keep Holding On 10 Little Anthony & The Imperials – Gonna Fix You Good (Everytime You’re Bad) 11 The Contours – Just A Little Misunderstanding 12 Darrell Banks – Open The Door To Your Heart 13 Soul Brothers Six – Some Kind Of Wonderful 14 Sam & Dave – You Don’t Know Like I Know 15 Jr. Walker & The All Stars – Tune Up 16 Martha & The Vandellas – In My Lonely Room 17 Solomon Burke – Keep Looking 18 Aretha Franklin – Save Me 19 Ike & Tina Turner – Finger Poppin’ 20 James & Bobby Purify – Shake A Tail Feather 21 Jackie Lee – The Duck 22 Darrow Fletcher – The Pain Gets A Little Deeper 23 The Astors – Candy 24 Tony Clarke – Landslide 25 Booker T. & The MG’s – Hip Hug- Her 26 The Miracles – Mickey’s Monkey 27 Rufus Thomas – The Memphis Train 28 Johnny Otis – Country Girl 29 Wilson Pickett – Baby Don’t You Weep 30 Mack Rice – Baby I’m Coming Home 31 Betty Lavette – Witch Craft In The Air DISC TWO 1 Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up 2 Marlena Shaw – Let’s Wade In The Water 3 Ramsey Lewis Trio – The “In” Crowd 4 Dobie Gray – See You At The “Go-Go” 5 Little Carl Carlton – Competition Ain’t Nothin’ 6 Four Tops – Something About You 7 Chuck Wood – Seven Days Too Long 8 The Olympics – The Same Old Thing 9 The World Column – So Is The Sun 10 Eddie Floyd – Big Bird 11 R. Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House 12 The Velvelettes – Needle In A Haystack 13 Kim Weston – Helpless 14 Bobby Bland – Shoes 15 The Drifters – One Way Love 16 The Capitols – Cool Jerk 17 Homer Banks – A Lot Of Love 18 The Falcons – Has It Happened To You Yet 19 Doris Willingham – You Can’t Do That 20 Robert Knight – Love On A Mountain Top 21 Willie Tee – Walkin’ Up A One Way Street 22 Otis Redding – Hard To Handle 23 Re