"Leave it to the English to find the soul gems we in America missed. There are a few artists here you will know--Ben E. King, Arthur Conley, Eddie Holman--but their songs here were not hits, although they were equally good as the songs that were. If you like soul, spend a few more bucks on this import (volume 1 is just as good). You'll get 25 great songs, inspiring liner notes, state of the art sound. And the warm feeling you get from listening to vocalists who are more concerned with showing their emotions than showing off their vocal technique."
Ignore the previous review
03/26/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"the previous reviewer would be well advised to stick to otis/sam & dave best of compilations.but for those with a wider ranging appreciation for deep southern soul, this is a tasty collection. a step down from volume 1, and perhaps not quite as good as volume 3, this set is nevertheless brilliant. there are plenty of great non-hit singles from the stax/volt catalogue. if you have the first stax singles box, most of these will be superfluous, but it's great to hear them in a new context. particularly strong are the soul children and ruby johnson tracks. but then, the wendy rene and carla thomas tracks aren't too shabby either.another great track is the classic toussaint mccall slow burner, "nothing takes the place of you." if you don't have this elsewhere, it's inclusion alone justifies the purchase of this cd."losin' boy" by eddie giles is another winner. of course, everyone will have their favorites, and with 25 tracks, there is a veritable treasure trove to pick from. go ahead and buy all three volumes today."
Well worth the wait!mercy!
Glenn Nippert | 05/21/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"mercy!4 times i've tryed to get these dave godin's deep soul treasures n finally got them, let me precisely make strong emphasis on these collections, that every man woman n child n beast should be able to hear these fabulous recordings, amen!!i sat all by myself when i first played them n i cried, wept,screamed n moaned,with emotional outbursts, especially the most beautiful recording of all time,go now the soul stirring, miss bessie banks n anyone but you, the breathtaking miss barbara west, those two alone is well worth the weight in gold!!keep on keeping on, more more more more, thank you:j.h."
Lost and Found Classics
Glenn Nippert | Alpharetta, Georgia United States | 06/08/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album was quite an education for me since I knew of only a small handful of the more famous artists such as Ben E. King, Otis Redding, Arthur Conley and Irma Thomas. I would come to be more familiar with Doris Duke, Eddie and Ernie and Wendy Rene through my purchases of further volumes in the Deep Soul Treasures collection. It was a real ear opener to hear the haunting,original version of "Go Now" by Bessie Banks after being raised on the hit,pop version by The Moody Blues. Another pleasant discovery was The Soul Children who were musical protegees of Isaac Hayes, who along with his songwriting partner David Porter, wrote three of the 25 songs on this album. Arthur("Sweet Soul Music") Conley, himself the protegee of Otis Redding sings Otis' beautiful,pleading "Let Nothing Seperate Us". George Perkins' plaintive, yearning "Cryin'In The Streets" made the hair on my arms stand up. This is one moving, not to mention, catchy song. Melody is not often the strong point of Deep Soul, as the focus is on the simple arrangements and Soulful vocals, but a lot of these songs will take up permanent residence in your brain after a few listens. One of my favorites is the closing song by the obscure Lisa Richards, whose angelic vocals on "Let's Take a Chance", will make you weep with joy. It is such pure, simple, ear candy, that I can't believe it wasn't a hit. It is a real testimony to the talent of even the most obscure artist here, that they can be mixed in with Otis Redding and Carla Thomas and Johnny Adams and blend in so seamlessly. There was such an abundance of great Soul and R&B in the sixties and seventies that we are still catching up with it, and thanks to compilations like this one, we will."