Search results: Get Ready!

Review: While lots has been written about the influence of Black American soul and R&B artists on Britain's most successful (white) bands of the 1960s, little focus has previously fallen on the music of black Britons - and others from elsewhere in the Commonwealth who called the UK home - during the same period. Gotta Get A Good Thing, which tells the story of black music in Britain in the "swinging sixties", is therefore long overdue. Musically, it skips through soul, rhythm & blues, ska, rocksteady and more besides, offering up tracks from both well-known names and overlooked artists. Throw in extensive liner notes - including an introductory essay from Fitzroy Facey of the Soul Survivors - and you have a genuinely essential compilation.

Review: It's now a quarter of a century since Terry Callier released his Timepeace album, which was his first after a 15 year break. The record won the United Nations's Time For Peace award for outstanding artistic achievement and for "contributing to world peace." It features standout tunes like 'People Get Ready' and 'Brotherly Love' composed by Curtis Mayfield, as well as a guest spot from Pharoah Sanders on tenor-saxophone on the title song 'Timepeace' and seven other wondrous tunes that showcase soul, jazz, folk influences. This reissue includes an insert with lyrics and liner-notes by Tom Terrell.

Review: Motown might well be up there as one of the greatest labels of all time - although maybe Blue Note would have something to say about that - and so a collection of its most classic cuts is always going to be worth hearing. The famous and original music factory was a real production line in the 60s, turning out hit after hit that reigned soul and pop for a new generation. All the most iconic gems are here by the lies of Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & The Miracle, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and Billy Preston & Syreeta amongst many more.

Review: Williamsburg-based Truth & Soul Records is fast becoming one of the most reliable sources of modern soul and revivalist deep funk. Should you be unfamiliar with their output - and you should be, given that they set up shop in 2003 - this double LP trawl through the label's bulging back catalogue should be an essential purchase. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the Cuban and Caribbean influenced instrumental brilliance of Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's "Pimp", and the stripped-back deep soul of Beau Williams' "I'll Be Home Soon", to the raw, Hammond-heavy 60s jazz-funk of The Fabulous 3's "Night Bird" and fuzzy analogue afro-funk of Zafari's "King Masuru".