V/A: This Is Mod 1960-1968 [BGP]

Why you'll love it

Dean Rudland compiled and annotated this set from the Ace Records family of catalogues. It runs from southern and Memphis soul to raw R&B and early northern soul, with Clarence Carter, The Ikettes, James Carr, Mary Love and Timmy Thomas.

This edition

• Compiled and annotated by Dean Rudland
• Stereo mix

About the album

The mods cared about two things above all: the cut of the suit and the record on the turntable. This set heads down into the cellar clubs of Soho, where the sharpest dressers in London danced to imported soul and R&B from black America, and it picks the kind of sides that kept them there until the last bus.

Clarence Carter's "Looking For A Fox" opens with a strut, Lonnie Mack & The Charmaines tear into "Money (That's What I Want)," Jimmy Hughes takes on "Hi Heel Sneakers" and The Ikettes bring the "Camel Walk." Richard Berry & The Pharaohs, Lowell Fulsom, Darrow Fletcher, Mary Love and Hank Jacobs follow, before James Carr, Arthur Conley's "I Can't Stop (No, No, No)" and Timmy Thomas' "It's My Life" close it out. The Merced Blue Notes' "Sundown" adds a little jazz, and Mary Love's "Lay This Burden Down On Me" and Danny White's "Keep My Woman Home" are the deep soul moments.

It's part of BGP's vinyl series of genre compilations, and it plays like a perfect night out with no queue for the cloakroom.

Also at Kops: more This Is Mod on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On BGP (cat# BGPD 1115), the 2024 compilation.