A1 Alan Parker - Love Is All
A2 Alan Parker - Mr. Smooth Man
A3 Les Hurdle - You've Got What It Takes
A4 Alan Parker - You're A Winner
A5 Alan Parker - Your Smile
A6 Mike Moran - Time Goes By
B1 Alan Parker - Move And Shake Your Body
B2 Mike Moran - Love Doctor
B3 Alan Parker - Soul Slap
B4 Alan Parker - Crumpet
B5 Alan Parker - That's What Friends Are For
B6 Alan Parker - Flying High
180G VINYL
2018 REISSUE – REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART
When Alan Parker recorded the killer library soul-funk LP The Voice of Soul with session vocalist Madeline Bell in 1976, some bright spark at Themes decided to also release all of the backing tracks as a separate, and equally innocuously title LP called The Sound of Soul. Thank goodness for bright sparks.
Released as a collection of “unobtrusive musical backings in various rhythmic styles”, the LP’s original description dryly explains “these tracks have been issued without melody and are therefore particularly suitable for use behind commentary. Female vocal versions of these tracks are issued on TIM 1021 The Voice Of Soul and it is possible to edit from vocal version to instrumental version or vica versa where commentary or scene changes occur”.
Madeline Bell was backed by The Rhythm Section, who were for all intents and purposes the Themes International Music house band. So what we end up with here is entire album of instrumental work-outs by a band comprised of the formidable talents of Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards, Alan Parker on guitars, Barry Morgan on drums, Les Hurdle on bass guitar and Frank Ricotti on percussion.
Without Bell’s vocals these backing tracks are given all the room they need to breathe. Each one more than stands up on its own.
The Sound of Soul is a real diggers’ delight and, unsurprisingly, a must-have counterpart to The Voice of Soul.
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for The Sound of Soul comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.