Verve Vinilo y CD

Review: The godfather of soul found himself dipping into jazz on this classic but lesser-known album, Soul On Top (Verse By Request Series). Now getting a proper reissue treatment it is sure to convert many new fans to his abilities across the six sizzling tracks from this 1969 album, which includes the classic 'It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World' and a new version of 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag'. Brown provides the vocals to a 18-piece big band set up that was led by drummer Louis Bellson and arranged by Impulse! star Oliver Nelson. Brown always said he was a jazzman at heart and this goes some way to proving that, with saxophonist Maceo Parker adding plenty of vital swing.

Review: Mel Brown's Chicken Fat album is the latest to get the reissue treatment by the good folks at Verve. The guitarist's 1967 Impulse! debut is said to be one of the funkiest and most original the late ever put out. His signature picking style is clean and bluesy and was honed while he played with legends like John Lee Hooker's and T-Bone Walker's bands. There is also plenty of well swung soul-jazz in the great organ work and for this version the original audio has been transferred from the analog tapes to nice heavy vinyl.