VA - After Hours: The Collection (Northern Soul Masters From The Vaults Of Atlantic, Atco, Loma, Reprise & Warner Bros. Records 1965-1974) @ 320

Just because the title references the kinds of major labels that you'd imagine have anthologized their soul records countless times over doesn't mean there's not still a wealth of classic material out there waiting to be discovered -- sure, After Hours draws on the vast catalog of Warner Bros. and its affiliated imprints, but the grooves here are as great and as obscure as anything you're going to find from record companies that operated in the middle of nowhere. If anything, this stuff's even better than the really backwoods finds, because these artists had the Warner studio muscle at their disposal -- meaning that even if the singles in question never cracked the charts, it wasn't for lack of spit and polish. There are familiar singers here as well -- the incomparable Barbara Lewis checks in with "I Remember the Feeling," Johnny Copeland contributes "Sufferin' City," and even Ella Fitzgerald turns up on "Get Ready" -- but the real scores are the never-weres, among them Alice Clark's "You Hit Me," Ben Aiken's "Satisfied," and David & Ruben's "I Love Her So Much It Hurts Me."

VA -  After Hours The Collection, Northern Soul Masters [2011]

CD1 (25 / 1:04:54)

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 1. Alice Clark - You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me) 

 2. Ike & Tina Turner - Somebody (Somewhere) Needs Me 

 3. David & Ruben - I Love Her So Much It Hurts Me 

 4. Harvey Averne Dozen - Think It Over 

 5. Darrell Banks / Angel Baby - Angel Baby (Don't You Ever Leave Me) 

 6. Larry Laster - Go for Yourself 

 7. Barbara Lewis - I Remember the Feeling 

 8. Ben Aiken - Satisfied 

 9. Blossoms - That's When the Tears Start 

 10. Ambassadors - Good Love Gone Bad 

 11. Linda Jones - My Heart Needs a Break 

 12. Deon Jackson - Ooh Baby 

 13. Coasters - Crazy Baby 

 14. Astors - In the Twilight Zone 

 15. Tami Lynn - I'm Gonna Run Away from You 

 16. Ella Fitzgerald - Get Ready 

 17. Lou Ragland - Since You Said You'd Be Mine 

 18. Dynells - Call On Me 

 19. Patterson Singers - How Can You Say That Ain't Love 

 20. Bobby Womack - Find Me Somebody 

 21. Barbara Lynn - This Is the Thanks I Get 

 22. Bobby Wilson - Feels Good 

 23. Johnny Copeland - Sufferin' City 

 24. Esther Phillips - Just Say Goodbye 

 25. Hal Frazier - After Closing Time 

CD2 (25 / 1:03:10)

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 1. Apollas - Mr. Creator 

 2. Mike Post Coalition - Afternoon of the Rhino 

 3. Ben E. King - I Can’t Break the News to Myself 

 4. Linda Jones - Just Can’t Live My Life 

 5. Marvellos - Something's Burnin' 

 6. Joanie Sommers - Don’t Pity Me 

 7. Archie Bell and the Drells - Here I Go Again 

 8. Marketts - Stirrin' Up Some Soul 

 9. Vala Reegan & the Valarons - Fireman 

 10. Percy Sledge - Baby Help Me 

 11. Esther Phillips - Catch Me I'm Falling 

 12. The Watts 103rd. Street Rhythm Band - The Joker (On a Trip Thru the Jungle) 

 13. Soul Brothers Six - Thank You Baby for Loving Me 

 14. Lorraine Ellison - I Got My Baby Back 

 15. Charles Thomas - Man with the Golden Touch 

 16. Barbara Lynn - Take Your Love and Run 

 17. Embers - Where Did I Go Wrong? 

 18. Stovall Sisters - Yes to the Lord 

 19. Wendy Rene - Bar-B-Q 

 20. Leslie Uggams - Don’t You Even Care 

 21. Mary Wells - Keep Me in Suspense 

 22. Delights Orchestra - King of the Horse 

 23. Patti Labelle & the Bluebelles - You Forgot How to Love 

 24. Bobby Sheen - Something New to Do 

 25. Valerie & Bobby Capers - West 4th Street 

CD3 (25 / 1:05:08)

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 1. Carl Hall - Mean It Baby 

 2. Pointer Sisters - Send Him Back 

 3. Drifters - You Got to Pay Your Dues 

 4. Linda Jones - A Last Minute Miracle 

 5. Tony & Tyrone - Please Operator 

 6. Darlene Love - Too Late to Say You're Sorry 

 7. Cajun Hart - Got to Find a Way 

 8. Deliah Keenebruew - Bright Lights 

 9. Jimmy Hughes - Slippin' Around with You 

 10. Sister Sledge - Love Don't Go Through No Changes On Me 

 11. Cliff Nobles - My Love Is Getting Stronger 

 12. Plus 4 - Happiest Girl in the World 

 13. Archie Bell and the Drells - A Thousand Wonders 

 14. Mary Wells - Can't You See (You're Losing Me) 

 15. Soul Brothers Six - I'll Be Loving You 

 16. Three Degrees - Contact 

 17. Life - Tell Me Why 

 18. Teen Turbans - We Need to Be Loved 

 19. Innocent Bystanders - Frantic Escape 

 20. Roy Redmond - Ain't That Terrible 

 21. Voice Box - I Want It Back (Your Love) 

 22. Big Guys - Hang My Head and Cry 

 23. Willie Tee - I Want Somebody (To Show Me the Way Back Home) 

 24. Al Perkins - Nothing Is Impossible 

 25. Barbara Lynn - You're Losing Me 

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