Get hit in yo' soul - again

Old soul sounds never die - they just get recycled on CD. Let Geoff Brown be your guide...

In the distant past, before Ann Summers shops and BBC "educational" videos, there was a sex aid of sublime efficacy. It was the soul voice. Bursting with passion or sweetly beseeching, here be voices to melt the stoniest heart. Good tidings, friends: such voices emote still, come comparatively cheap and will satisfy your listening needs be they gritty funk or MOR.

MOR? Once every few years there's a fashion for easy listening and (duck!) here comes another one. Sequel has released three CDs containing six of Dionne Warwick's Scepter albums from the Sixties. Heavily larded with Burt Bacharach and Hal David compositions, they'll add a touch of uptown pop-soul to your next MOR themed party. Now better known as Whitney Houston's auntie, Warwick's early albums such as Presenting Dionne Warwick and Make Way for Dionne Warwick demonstrate her classy style.

Who needs a Bono and Luciano Pavarotti duet when one can hear both and more in Jackie Wilson's voice box? Berry Gordy wrote hits for the former Golden Gloves boxing champion in the late Fifties, gaining knowledge that prompted him to build the Tamla Motown empire and now three Charly CDs chart The Jackie Wilson Story in two volumes of The Chicago Years and one of The New York Years (with three more Big Apple volumes to follow). Wilson had a remarkable range.In New York, he recorded rock 'n' roll, rhythm 'n' blues and bravura ballads. He later sang soul, joyously, in Chicago. He went tragically, suffering brain damage after collapsing on stage in 1975. Recovery was minimal and he died nine years later.

At first glance, Michael Jackson and Ike Turner have little in common but both in their way changed popular perceptions of a part of African- American music - and had careers knocked awry by scandal.

Mikey has given us a potted version of history but omitted all musical reference to the five record-breaking brothers. Motown and Charly have filled the gap. Soulsation!, a four CD box set, is a lively romp through the Jackson Five's Motown career; comes with the usual rare and unreleased add-ons. Charly's The Jackson Five Featuring Michael Jackson collects rudimentary pop-soul sides recorded for Steeltown, their pre-Motown label. Poor sound quality will deter all but the devoted.

The rehabilitation of Ike after ex-wife Tina's success and damning autobiography has been based on reclaiming his reputation as a blues guitarist, bandleader and rock `n' roll catalyst. Ace's Rhythm Rockin' Blues features 21 tracks by his band, Kings of Rhythm, recorded for LA label Modern in the Fifties, including Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88", regarded by many as the first rock `n' roll record.

Those keen to excavate soul's roots should keep eyes peeled at the gospel shelves where Ace and Charly serve the Lord with excellent reissues and compilations. Charly's latest batch includes Alex Bradford's Too Close to Heaven and Love Lifted Me by the Original Gospel Harmonettes featuring Dorothy Love Coates. In a market dominated by women singers, Bradford's booming baritone influenced James Cleveland, Ray Charles and Little Richard. Coates sang with incredible, swelling fervour.

Not all soul singers need fire in their belly as Curtis Mayfield proved. Kent Soul collect The Impressions (1963) and The Never Ending Impressions (1964), two seminal Chicago soul albums on one CD. Mayfield's Curtom label had the group Natural Four and Charly Groove has re-released their eponymous 1974 album, notable for classy arrangements from Leroy Hutson and Rich Tufo. When the Imps' hits began, the Whispers' campaign started too, but they were a quiet secret until the end of the Seventies. Their classy Solar disco hits are collected on a Best of ... collection on Castle's Renaissance label.

Obscurity can be parlayed into "legendary" status in any field but, by God, soul did it first! The beat goes on with dozens of "Various Artists" collections. "We Dig Deeper" warns the cover of Kent's Serious Shades of Soul, but it's better than Sequel's Soul Underground Volume One - Feelin' Good All Over, 24 northern soul tracks, few of which are enduringly listenable. For more bump on the rump try Back to Funk (BGP/Ace) which collects 11 tracks from 1970-73 on the Eastbound and Westbound labels or the more populist mid-pricer Overpowered by Funk (Renaissance/Castle).

Finally, The Spring Story, (Southbound/Ace) reminds us what a broad spread of soul languages this label spoke - Motown- and Philly-based dance, cheatin' Southern soul ballads, and funk - with Millie Jackson, Joe Simon, the Fatback Band and house writer-producer Raeford Gerald the main narrators.