Soul music is back in fashion as shown by the popularity of Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Florence Welch and many more. This book goes back to its roots and takes the reader on a fascinating journey through lesser-known great soul tracks.
Deep Soul Ballads looks back to an earlier era in soul music from a contemporary viewpoint and rediscovers132 ballads recorded by (mostly) black American soul singers across a 25-year post-war period. Much of the best soul music of the Sixties and Seventies never received much mainstream exposure, and was little heard or appreciated except by those who deliberately sought it out. One of the aims of Deep Soul Ballads is to bring these neglected performers into the spotlight and introduce readers to some of their finest recordings. But the book also looks at tracks by well-known artists ranging from Doris Day[!] to Aretha Franklin by way of Otis Redding and The Four Tops. Deep Soul Ballads is a personal selection rather than a historical overview. The aim is to encourage the reader to undertake his or her own journey but, as with every journey of exploration, the enjoyment lies in reading one's own map, going down byways and detours and, in the process, discovering sites of pleasure not mapped out by others.