On The Soul Side

Ted Taylor : Houston Town & Can't Take No More
taken from the album "Taylor Made" on Ronn (197?)

Fred Hughes : Baby Boy, Don't Let This Happen To Us,
& Who You Really Are
taken from the album "Baby Boy" on Brunswick (197?)

So it looks like, after nearly 3 years of blogging here at the Crate (almost 300 songs, not counting mixes and radio shows), a collaboration is in the works with the honorable O-Dub-- creator of Soul-Sides.com. We're not precisely sure what form this team will take, but expect to see/hear some of his posts right here in Captain's Crate- at least for a lil' while. What will this mean for you? well, mostly just that there will be more good music available for download right here. One less link to click for your tired and aching index fingers.

Soul-Sides was one of the reasons why I started this site to begin with. It seemed like such a novel idea back in 2004. And it's still a great source for music, info and inspiration (not to mention sampler food). To celebrate this engagement, I'm sharing some recently gleaned soul cuts of my own. Perhaps they'll even make their way onto his page (which might be part of the arrangement).

If any of Ted Taylor's other records are as consistently top tier as this one, then it's hard to imagine why he never crossed over on a bigger scale. Pretty impressive to hear material as well produced as this coming from a little Louisiana indie label. It's one of those records where you can honestly drop the needle on any track and be pleased. Taylor's wiry vocals remind me of the great Syl Johnson, climbing and darting down swiftly without ever slipping. Gotta love the fuzzed blues guitar on "Can't Take No More" too. For a couple other tracks by Mr. Taylor, head over to Darcy's Feel It Blog.

Fred Hughes is another nearly ungoogleable cat. I see that now-defunkt soul blog Number One Songs In Heaven posted another song off this album at one point, but other than that I can't tell you much. This album has a rougher and rawer sound than Taylor's but damn if the melodies aren't catchy as hell. "Who You Really Are" in particular has that instantaneously familiar sound to it (could be a sample source I'm forgetting); and listen to that beautiful drum break!

On one last note- check out this other great blog I've been getting music from. Kikin Bakk brings out more of the nasty funky latin afrobeat soul and reggae that we love here in the Crate.