Manhattan Soul: Scepter, Wand & Musicor

Kent records cut its teeth on the great New York labels Scepter, Wand and Musicor. The imprints were much more than the hits of the time, already widely available so we've gone back to the one-offs, the neglected and indeed the newly discovered sides that have turned up in recent times.

Dancers are catered for by classics including Marie Knight's That's No Way To Treat A Girl, (here in the intriguing long version that Kent first discovered), Betty Moorer's Latin-tinged Speed Up, Diane Lewis' Detroit opus Without Your Love and JB Troy's currently in-demand Live On.

There are some choice unissued sides from the unknown Helen Henry, singer/producer Ed Townsend with a beaty proto-soul number and a terrific slab of early funk from the magnificent Jackie Moore. An Ashford, Simpson and Armstead song, One Time Too Many, is a mouth-watering taster of a forthcoming CD of unissued Shirelles recordings.

The more modern sounds of the labels' influential 70s singles are represented by the southern-sounding Ann Bailey, a Curtis-inspired Patti Jo and the oddly-named, but surprisingly soulful, Buckeye Politicians.

Big city ballads are rightly represented and the notable ones include Winfield Parker's scarce Will There Ever Be Another Love For Me, George Tindley's beautiful So Help Me Woman and a previously unissued version of the popular beat ballad Millionaire by the unknown artist Lee Thomas. Finally we're including Johnny Maestro's flip to Stepping Out Of The Picture, Afraid Of Love, which is a corking early soul sound deserving of plays.