Hard times often lead to great music, and that's never truer than in 1960s and ’70s America. With the civil rights movement and Vietnam war raging, society was in turmoil, seemingly lurching from one crisis to another. All of which birthed some of the finest funk and soul records ever committed to vinyl.
Picking great tracks was the easy part – whittling them down a baker's dozen? That was less easy.
The following list includes plenty of 'best of' fodder as well as lesser-known fare. We've got tracks from James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Sly & The Family Stone, alongside such luminaries of the scene as Gil Scott-Heron, Shuggie Otis, Danny White and Gloria Jones. Because of how many times they've been sampled – which shows the huge influence they had on the musicians who came after them – chances are even the songs you don't know will sound familiar.
To hear them at their best, you'll need a system that's up to the task. We can recommend the best speakers, record players and amps for that very task.
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone – The Temptations
A real slow-burner to start. Over 12 minutes, we're treated to the story of a child being told by his mother why his recently-deceased father had such a bad reputation, all over some Shaft-inspired wah-wah guitar, simmering strings, get-up handclaps and that creeping – and slightly sinister – bassline . It's nearly a full four minutes before we hear the classic opening line "It was the third of September..." But boy does it fly by.
Buy The Temptations' All Directions on Amazon
Strawberry Letter 23 – Shuggie Otis
Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown might have made the Quincy Jones-produced, Brothers Johnson version of this track better known, but you can't beat the original. It's a dreamy, wigged-out slice of countrified soul that sounds like nothing else before or since – Otis was a unique talent, a bit like a starry-eyed Rodriguez. This is the man who turned down an offer to join The Rolling Stones and at one point was referred to as "my new favourite guitarist" by none other than B.B. King.
That twinkling intro grabs you from the off, and then it's straight into Otis' soulful vocal. The guitar loop repeats throughout pretty much the entire second half of the track, but it's how your system handles the shifting effects around it that will provide the real flex. Next to this, The Brothers Johnson sound positively saccharine.
Buy Shuggie Otis' Inspiration Information on Amazon
Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
Now this doesn't hang about. Despite having almost nine minutes to play with, Mayfield gets right to it, with the horns kicking in less than a second into the song (yes, those same horns as sampled on Ye's Touch The Sky from 2006). But it's the drums that make the track, with their frantic action helping lay the groundwork for the entire genre of drum’n’bass (though its 1970 release came a year after the song that really birthed the scene).
Move On Up was put out as a single, helping it become one of Mayfield's best known tracks, but to really test your system you need this full-length version. If you can keep still when the guitar comes back in at 4:25, you're made of sterner stuff than us.
Buy Curtis Mayfield's Curtis on Amazon
Ike's Rap II – Isaac Hayes
Sound familiar? That's right, Glory Box by Portishead. And Hell Is Round The Corner by Tricky. And Here by Alessia Cara. And two tracks by Brazilian rap outfit Racionais MC's.
But samples aside, Hayes' low-fi production starts whisper-quiet and builds with that lethargic bassline that's so simple yet so effective. Add some strings and a tinkle of piano, along with Hayes' haunting voice, and you've got an understated classic that's a world away from all his shirtless posturing.
Buy Isaac Hayes' Black Moses on Amazon
A Funky Space Reincarnation – Marvin Gaye
Making an album based on your recent divorce might sound like a recipe for disaster, but if it produces tracks as funky as this, we can forgive a lot. Gaye initially went into the studio intending to knock out an album without really trying, due to his alimony payments. In the liner notes, he summed up his attitude thus: "Why should I break my neck when Anna [his ex-wife] was going to wind up with the money anyway?" He hadn't even written any lyrics for the album, just turned up and started mumbling over the melodies.
But he soon got the bug and over a few takes, lyrics started to take shape. He also realised he "owed the public my best effort", and – finding the process cathartic – he "sang and sang until I drained myself of everything I'd lived through".
This track is one of the highlights. It's very much a product of the late ’70s, referencing Star Wars and Funkadelic in the lyrics, and generally sounds like an intergalactic hippy love-in. Proof that even the most disastrous of personal circumstances can produce something of lasting quality.
Buy Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear on Amazon
Trip To Your Heart – Sly & The Family Stone
Don't call it a comeback. Despite the clattering and wailing intro, this radio-friendly slice of upbeat funk soon settles into a recognisable groove (sampled by LL Cool J for his breakout hit Mama Said Knock You Out). Then the chorus kicks in and it all goes a bit melty. But that's Sly & The Family Stone through and through – with one foot in the progressive psychedelic scene, the other in the world of wedding floor fillers like Dance To The Music. Trip To Your Heart doesn't have the social conscience of Stand! or Everyday People, but it does have a hell of a swing to it, and the tempo changes should prove a workout for any system.
Buy Sly & The Family Stone's A Whole New Thing on Amazon
Super Bad – James Brown
The archetypal James Brown tune? Quite possibly. (Though solely for its call and response section between Brown and trumpeter Fred Wesley, You Can Have Watergate, But Gimme Some Bucks And I'll be Straight runs it a close second.)
Super Bad's opening drum beats hit you right in the chest, and the raucous chorus contains some of the most ferocious shrieking ever committed to vinyl. As with a lot of the rap music it inspired (and that sampled Mr Brown's oeuvre), it's basically a song about how excellent the person singing it is. And on the strength of this evidence, who are we to argue?
Buy James Brown's Funk Power on Amazon
California Soul – Marlena Shaw
A dead cert for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics opening ceremony, this. Ms Shaw's sunshine-drenched paean to the music of the Golden State has some iconic orchestration, finger-snapping drums and of course, her wonderfully soulful voice. Her notorious 1973 live performance of Woman Of The Ghetto showed Shaw could do raw anger with a sustained swagger like no one else, but this is a completely different vibe: a joyous celebration of soul music ("When you hear the beat you want to pat your feet...").
The strings give it a really cinematic feel, which probably explains why it regularly features on TV shows and adverts as a shorthand for California's sunny optimism. Hear it and smile.
Buy Marlena Shaw's The Spice Of Life on Amazon
Tainted Love – Gloria Jones
Before Soft Cell there was Gloria Jones, and this proper foot-stomper of a Northern soul classic. (Incidentally, Soft Cell's original 12-inch release of it segued into a similarly eerie version of Where Did Our Love Go? by The Supremes, showing their soulful influences.)
This one's all about the beat. It's not an overly complex or congested production, but if your set-up can keep time well, you'll be in for a treat. And if it can pick out the details of those horns that simmer in the background as the tension builds towards the chorus, even better.
Buy Gloria Jones' Tainted Love on Amazon
Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Gil Scott-Heron
So many great Gil Scott-Heron tracks to choose from, but for a full system workout it has to be Home Is Where The Hatred Is. Heron was a fascinating figure – the voice of a lounge singer combined with the activism of a Black Panther. Listening to his smooth delivery, you could picture him crooning his way up the charts with cookie cutter love songs. But of course he had too much heart – and, yes, probably too many demons in his personal life – to chart that particular course.
This is typical of his style. The energetic vocal slams society's hypocrisy in its treatment of drug addicts, but the instrumentation is surprisingly delicate, so your system will have to be capable of showcasing both. Stripped of Heron's lyrics, it could be the kind of thing played in a hotel bar before the comedian comes on. But thanks to Heron's visceral imagery, you're plunged into the nightmarish world of the junkie. The constant wash of cymbals during sections will require a diligent high-mid, while the echo effect on the vocals towards the track's close risks sounding muddied.
Buy Gil Scott-Heron's Pieces Of A Man on Amazon
Give It To Me Baby – Rick James
Give It To Me Baby probably isn’t the sort of tune that would receive a huge amount of airplay were it to be released today, partly because that funky disco sound hasn’t been big since the early ‘80s (Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams notwithstanding), and partly because the tale of cheeky old Rick James, never a stranger to a legal issue, pining for sex with his girlfriend after a night on the town might feel a little… outdated.
All that aside, it’s an inescapable belter. From the moment that funky, almost risqué bassline fires up you know you’re in for a good time, with the most capable systems able to bring out the snap of the key rhythmic pattern alongside the depth, weight and texture that bass anchor demands. Give It To Me Baby is nothing without James’ falsetto, a perfect time to assess whether your hi-fi or headphones are digging out that oxymoronic combination of look-at-me confidence and pleading desperation.
The verses should be packed with pep and spark, while that cocksure chorus will be in your head for days after a decent listen. Just be careful when and where you end up humming the main refrain.
Buy Rick James' Street Songs on Amazon
Soul Man – Sam & Dave
We’d describe Soul Man as a potent mix of ’60s funk and soul. Isaac ‘Shaft’ Hayes (who also gets his own entry on this list) was inspired to write it in the aftermath of the 12th Street Riot in Detroit, Michigan in July 1967. And, even though the track is only just over two minutes long, its impact is long-lasting thanks to its upbeat, uptempo vibe. We could quite happily listen to this back-to-back-to-back and not get bored.
The tune is powered along by a playful bassline, catchy guitar riff and a combination of trumpet and saxophones which punctuates particular moments of the track with precision and a sharpness which could excite a poorer system’s treble. Sam and Dave take turns singing the main verses so your system needs to be transparent enough to differentiate and pick out the required levels of detail in their soulful and snappy delivery.
Buy Sam & Dave's Definitive Soul: Sam & Dave on Amazon
Natural Soul Brother – Danny White
This one sums up the sound – and spirit – of New Orleans in the 1960s. White never made it big like his contemporaries Allen Toussaint, Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye (the last two of which he toured with), but he did find success later in life not as a singer but as manager of the seminal New Orleans funk outfit The Meters. But in a more just world, cuts like this would have made him a household name.
It has it all. The syncopated drums are typical of the genre, and will require on-point timing to sound their best. While that bassline isn't especially demanding, it drives the track, so if your system lacks detail in the low end, it'll really kill the song dead. And that vocal – as charismatic as James Brown, but smoother, less yappy – will show whether your system has enough separation within the high-mids. Throw in some surprise horns midway through, putting your set-up's treble through the wringer, and you've got not only a full system workout, but a great time to boot.
Buy Soul Jazz Records' New Orleans Funk on Amazon
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