After Music for Robots issued a limited-edition compilation last year...Now It's "Soul Sides" Compi By Soul Sides Mp3 Blog, Check It Out

Info By City Pages...
It stands to reason that the phenomenon of mp3 blogging would sooner or later result in related official (read "legally licensed") releases. After all, most sites have only enough bandwidth to keep tracks available for a week or two, and dedicated downloaders wind up with a hard drive full of mercilessly compressed audio. This brick-and-mortar outgrowth of journalist/DJ Oliver Wang's similarly titled site (www.soul-sides.com) isn't the first project of its kind--the indie/electronica-centric Music for Robots issued a limited-edition compilation last year--but this early entry sets a high standard for those to come.

Online, Wang posts as much hip hop as anything else, but as the title suggests, this disc is dedicated to dusting off neglected soul gems, mostly of late-'60s/early-'70s vintage. With several tracks in print on single-artist collections ("I Forgot to Be Your Lover," by Stax stalwart William Bell) or other comps (Lee Moses's "Time and Place"), his criteria of inclusion isn't so much bottom-of-the-crate one-upsmanship as musical merit. Wang has a soft spot for songs that exist in better-known versions: Erma Franklin's pre-Janis "Piece of My Heart," Donny Hathaway's post-Lennon "Jealous Guy." The hook of "What a Man" resurfaced on Salt-N-Pepa/En Vogue's 1993 summit meeting; the 1968 original boasts a powerful, organic groove and the forceful voice of Linda Lyndell, who cut just two singles before dropping off the musical map.

Soul Sides also draws attention to career artists with deep, underappreciated catalogs. Amanda Ambrose, who has recorded in a range of jazz and blues contexts since the late '50s, nails the well-constructed pop-soul outing, "I Ain't Singing (No More Sad Songs)" with her piercing, slightly dry delivery. And then there's "Latin Funk Brother" Joe Battan, whose 1967 "Ordinary Guy" combines heartbreak and identity politics: "I'm just an Afro-Filipino/average sort of guy/who you left behind." (The salsa break and far-out organ solo don't hurt, either.) For many listeners, these tracks will be major discoveries, and even those familiar with the field can do as Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' 2005 disc-closer advises and "fall in love all over again."

Soul Sides Blog

Rhythm-n-Blues

Zealous Records...Were U Can Listen

Music For Robots Blog & The Compilation Cd

Info By Pitchfork...
Now that all the hubbub surrounding those newfangled mp3 blogs has died down, it's time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sure, any hipster nerd with a DSL connection can share his/her eclectic taste with the world, but it takes real skill to keep web surfers coming back. I mean, a Kevin Federline track isn't going to leak every day.

Journalist/activist/DJ/all-around cool dude Oliver Wang (or O-Dub if you're nasty) has maintained Soul Sides, one of the best audioblogs on the net, since early 2004. An invaluable source of unearthed R&B, soul, funk, and hip-hop tunes, Soul Sides uses Wang's bottomless record collection for its source material.

And now, those deep cuts will be available to everyone, even those without a DSL connection. Wang has partnered with Zealous Records to bring the listening public Zealous Records Presents Soul Sides Volume One, a compilation of rare soul music, which will hit stores March 21.

How rare, you ask? It's got Aretha Franklin's sister, Erma, singing the original recording of "Piece of My Heart." It's got Donny Hathaway doing John Lennon's "Jealous Guy". It's got Clarence Reid before he was Blowfly. Consider yourself schooled.

Tracklist:

01 Charles May and Annette May Thomas - "Keep My Baby Warm"
02 Clarence Reid - "Master Piece"
03 Lee Moses - "Time and Place"
04 Amanda Ambrose - " (I Ain't Singing) No More Sad Songs"
05 Erma Franklin - "Piece of My Heart"
06 Donny Hathaway - "Jealous Guy"
07 Linda Lyndell - "What a Man"
08 Jimmy Jones - "Live and Let Live"
09 Ann Sexton - "You're Gonna Miss Me"
10 Johnny "Guitar" Watson - "Loving You"
11 Joe Bataan - "Ordinary Guy"
12 Weldon Irvine - "Morning Sunrise"
13 William Bell - "I Forgot to Be Your Lover"
14 Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "All Over Again"

A portion of the proceeds from the disc's sales will go to the nonprofit Rhythm and Blues Foundation, an organization that provides financial and medical assistance to older R&B artists who, to be blunt, got screwed over by the system, ya'll. So by buying this CD, you can damn the man, save the empire, and take a soul trip all in one fell swoop.