Various Artists - You Gotta Have Soul - Raw Sonoran R&B And Funk (1957-1971) (2020) Zia - LP Only Release Rare R&B/Soul/Funk (MP3) HQ

In the late ‘50s and on through the 1960s, Phoenix, Arizona, was home to a thriving R&B scene. Though no other song catapulted onto the national charts like Dyke and the Blazer’s signature “Funky Broadway,” inspired by the South Phoenix road of the same name, regional soul and funk acts picked up steam in the Valley of the Sun as established artists passed through on the way to the West Coast and performers traveled along the bustling Southern California to Texas black corridor. Culled from the vaults of Arizona music archivist and legendary Arizona disc jockey John “Johnny D” Dixon, You Gotta Have Soul: Raw Sonoran R&B and Funk (1957-1971), compiles essential desert R&B rarities, from Chuck Womack and the Sweet Souls’ breakbeat heavy “Ham Hocks & Beans” to the raw snap of Jimmie “Playboy” McKnight’s “Little Anne” to the brown-eyed Latin soul of Eddie Dimas & the Upsets. I have only been aware of a few of these tracks (the tasters via the northern scene)so it was a complete pleasure and surprise to be sent a copy by my great friend Clash.. I can never get enough of that raw r&b/funk side of soul, very appealing coming from an area in the USA not known for its Black music.

AMM

                                                             Review Courtesy Of Clash

                                                                        The Tasters!