Ace Records

14/02/2025

Dean Chalkley's short film 'Good For The Soul' is out now!

Watch the full version on the Ace Records YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Y71W4PJihzw

Director: Dean Chalkley
Producers: Dean Chalkley & Emma Noble
Featured Dancer: Durassie Kiangangu
Editor, Sound Design & Mix: Florian Bel
Music: Tobi Lark - True True Love

13/02/2025

Rarely seen press releases from the early days of Kent Records. ✊

11/02/2025

NEW PODCAST - Ady Croasdell on DJing for The Jam on tour, searching out rare records for PW and a new Paul Weller compilation for Ace Records

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Grab a virtual coffee at Paul Weller Fan Podcast (Facebook Group) 🙏

10/02/2025

An extra special 7" due: 28.02.2025 ✊

Dean Chalkley’s Good For The Soul celebrates the joy of dancing to northern soul. This fast paced stylised short film plugs right into the emotional and cathartic nature of the music. Intricate and expressive dance moves are delivered by Durassie Kiangangu to a soundtrack of blistering rhythms and raw vocals from Tobi Lark’s rare soul track ‘True True Love’. The resulting combination is a fusion of dextrous dance moves and potent sounds that will turn your heartbeat up.

The film was originally presented at 50 Years On The Soul Stays Strong exhibition, that marked the 50th anniversary of the first legendary Wigan Casino Allnighters in 1973. Northern soul has a rich legacy and its devotees are very passionate about it, but this film focuses on the here and now, the energy, heat and wonder of being in your own dancing world.

The northern soul scene continues to attract devotees young and old all keeping the faith and letting the music move them.

‘True True Love’ was released as the first Kent Select single in 2006 and original copies sell for £300 plus − if you can find one. Ace are delighted to re-issue ‘True True Love’ on vinyl paired with an unreleased instrumental version by the Dave & Darrell Band.

The single comes in a picture sleeve featuring a still from Dean Chalkley’s amazing film along with liner notes written by Ady Croasdell.

10/02/2025

https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/brides-of-funkenstein-funk-or-walk-reissue-1978-148807/

From the wild, weird world of Parliament and Funkadelic to the cool, smooth sounds of soulful sisterhood

07/02/2025

Next Friday, February 14th, Dean Chalkley’s short film 'Good For The Soul' premieres on Ace’s YouTube channel.

Set your reminders and join the countdown on our YouTube channel here:
https://youtu.be/Y71W4PJihzw

06/02/2025

Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions AAA 50th Anniversary Edition will be released: 28.03.2025 🔥

Lonnie Liston Smith's "Expansions" is one of the most influential records ever to have been released with its sound ricocheting through many different music scenes. It is one of dance music's fundamental building blocks, and an anthem to UK clubland.

Now for its 50th Anniversary we are celebrating that influence by an ultra-high quality deluxe vinyl edition of the album. Using the original album master tape we decamped to Frank Merritt's East London studio, the Carvery, for an all Analogue cut of the album - it has never sounded better!

We have housed this in a tip-on a laminated gatefold sleeve, which has allows Jack Martin's original painting of Lonnie to shine as never before. We have also a fully illustrated sleeve note by Frank Tope, telling the story of how the record took its journey through the universe from its spiritual jazz route to become a clubland anthem. This story is told with help from Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and more.

The album as a whole is essential, going beyond the dance-ability of the title track, through its seven tracks to be one of the great jazz albums of the 70s. Produced by Lonnie and Bob Thiele (producer of Gil Scott-Heron's “Pieces Of A Man” and John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme”) it should be in every record collection.

05/02/2025

The Blue and Red Yolk versions of "Paul Weller Presents That Sweet Sweet Music" are now sold out. Black vinyl and CD versions are on presale now. 🙏

05/02/2025

Great Chiswick Records piece in the current Shindig! Magazine... the latest! (Issue 160) by the legendary Kris Needs. Well worth checking out...

03/02/2025

Hit & Run! More Motown Guys will be released: 28.03.2025 🔥

In a history so rich, there’s always more to know. Nothing illustrates the point better than this compilation of rare and previously unissued Motown recordings. It summons the work of artists, familiar and unfamiliar, committed to tape at the company’s headquarters at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit between 1961 and 1968 – arguably Motown’s golden era.

Among the familiar names here are Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marv Johnson, the Temptations and Four Tops – mainstays whose unique talent, when coupled with that of the company’s in-house songwriters, musicians and producers, empowered Motown during the 20th Century, and continues to ensure its legacy in the 21st. Among the unfamiliar? Michael Thomas, for one; Johnny Earl, for another. And the truth is that some of the others here – the Hit Pack, the Serenaders, Gino Parks – are barely known outside the circle of Motown aficionados.

Of this collection’s 25 tracks, 15 have never been available before, but the music is surely as engaging and illuminating as anything already out in the world. Sadly, nobody can be quite certain who within Motown was advocating for these lesser-known artists, or why the music failed to capture sufficient votes in the company’s storied Quality Control meetings every Friday – or at least the pre-meeting approval of the QC queen, Janie Bradford.

There is, however, an advocate who can be cited here: the late Keith Hughes, who died during the making of this compilation. Keith was unswerving in his devotion to Motown, and to its many backstories. Since 2010, Keith compiled and annotated more than 20 such albums for Ace Records and its offspring, Kent, working with colleagues Mick Patrick, Tony Rounce and, at Universal Music’s Motown catalogue division, Harry Weinger.

Even Keith could not have imagined that his first Ace project – by his Motor City heroes, the Satintones – would lead to so many years of satisfying excavations. He had form, firstly writing about Motown for various publications, then creating a unique database of its recording sessions in print and, subsequently, online with Don’t Forget The Motor City. Later, Keith was recruited to work on Universal Music’s award-winning “The Complete Motown Singles” CD series – the defining chronicle of the heyday of Berry Gordy’s music machine. With his singular passion, Keith Hughes never stopped searching. In a history so rich, there’s always more to know.

1. WITHOUT YOU BABE ● SKIP CUNNINGHAM (2025) 2.34
2. BABY HIT AND RUN (Version 1) ● THE CONTOURS (2025) 2.59
3. THE ROSE OF MY LIFE ● MICHAEL THOMAS (2025) 2.41
4. LUCKY LUCKY ME ● IVY JO HUNTER (2015) 2.47
5. STOP AND THINK ABOUT LOVE ● JOHNNY EARL (2025) 2.10
6. SHOW ME THE WAY ● J.J. BARNES (2016) 2.42
7. SINCE I DON’T HAVE YOU ● THE TEMPTATIONS (2017) 2.26
8. MUST BE QUITE A SHOW ● MARVIN GAYE (2014) 2.20
9. SAD SOUVENIRS ● MARV JOHNSON (2025) 2.22
10. DREAM GIRL ● SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES (2017) 3.07
11. I FEEL LIKE I’M FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN ● JIMMY RUFFIN (2017) 3.02
12. JUST YOUR LOVE ● FOUR TOPS (2015) 1.57
13. GOODBYE EILENE ● SHORTY LONG (2015) 3.00
14. STEPPING CLOSER TO YOUR HEART ● THE MONITORS (2015) 3.00
15. TO SEE THE SUN AGAIN ● IVY JO HUNTER (2025) 2.35
16. I HAD A VISION ● FREDDIE GORMAN (2025) 2.21
17. ALL I GOT ● GINO PARKS (2025) 2.38
18. HUSH ● SAMMY WARD (2025) 3.11
19. WHO DO YOU LOVE? ● BRUCE CHANNEL (2025) 2.24
20. IT’S LOVE BABY (24 HOURS OF THE DAY) ● JOE STUBBS (2017) 3.17
21. WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED ● LAMONT DOZIER (2025) 2.58
22. SLICK CHICK ● THE SERENADERS (2025) 2.51
23. SING A LITTLE SONG ABOUT YOU ● MARV JOHNSON (2025) 2.17
24. HAMTRAMCK MAMA ● MIKE VALVANO & R. DEAN TAYLOR (2025) 2.10
25. WE CALL IT FUN ● THE HIT PACK (2025) 2.25

31/01/2025

Wow, thanks for all the entries folks! This month's winners were:

Peter Wilson
Kevin Skory
Chris Vinson

As ever if you know them, tag them below so they don't miss this post. 🙏

31/01/2025

It's Ace new release day folks! Like, share or comment to win one of three sets of new releases. The winners will be drawn out of the hat at 5pm today. 🙏

31/01/2025

Dean Chalkley’s short film 'Good For The Soul' is a heartfelt celebration of Northern Soul and the pure joy of dancing.

Premiering February 14th on Ace’s YouTube channel, this cinematic tribute embodies the energy, passion and spirit of a culture that continues to inspire generations.

30/01/2025

Paul Weller Presents That Sweet, Sweet Music will be released on Blue Yolk Vinyl (400 numbered copies), Gatefold Vinyl and CD on 28.03.2025 ✊

Soul music has always been in Paul Weller’s blood from early Jam covers of Martha & the Vandellas 1963 classic ‘Heatwave’. Along with other forms of music, soul found its way into Paul’s record collection, nourishing his ears and informing his own songwriting.

We don’t need to recap a questing musical career from the Jam to the Style Council which then blossomed into one of the most productive and revered careers of any UK solo artist. Paul has written anthems, standards and a songbook that have always developed from his own feelings.

Whilst Paul has talked about his love of soul music he has, before now, simply been too busy to sit down and curate a collection of his favourite tracks and get it into the record racks.

Ace Records are honoured and delighted to finally release that Paul Weller curated collection which he has aptly titled, “That Sweet Sweet Music”.

This 2-LP set and CD open the curtains on 26 tracks that are some of Paul’s favourite soul records most of which nestle on vinyl in his own collection. He can still recall paying £70 for his copy of Jon Lucien’s 1971 ‘Search For The Inner Self’ 7” at a record shop in Leicester in the 90s. Some of these tracks are soul classics like James Carr’s 1966 ‘Pouring Water On A Drowning Man’ and Brother to Brother's brilliant take on Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s ‘In The Bottle’ from 1975. Others are deliciously obscure wonderous gems like the A-side of Blackrock’s sole 1971 single ‘Blackrock “Yeah, Yeah”’, ‘Life Walked Out’ from the same year by The Mist or Syl Johnson’s ‘Black Balloons’ taken from his 1970 album “Is It Because I’m Black?”.

There are plenty of big vocal hitters such as Darrell Banks, Spinners, Joe Simon, O.C. Smith, the Dells and Betty Davis. Whilst the core is vocal soul the music does branch out with Paul selecting a wicked instrumental from the flipside of the Isley Brothers’ ‘Twist & Shout’ from 1962 and the funky jazz of the Headhunters ‘God Made Me Funky’, the A-side of their first 1975 seven-inch.

Paul has not only written an introduction but the way he has curated the music allows each side of the vinyl and the CD to flow like a river taking the listener on a journey through some of his favourite music.

It’s a Sweet Sweet collection indeed.

1. GOD MADE ME FUNKY - The Headhunters
2. SPANISH TWIST - The I. B. Special
3. BREAKAWAY - The Valentines
4. TOP OF THE STAIRS - Collins & Collins
5. DONT LET THE GREEN GRASS FOOL YOU –
The Spinners
6. BLACK BALLOONS - Syl Johnson "
7. SOULSHAKE - Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson
8. I CAN'T MAKE IT ANYMORE - Richie Havens
9. YOU GOT TO HAVE MONEY - The Exits
10. PULL MY STRING (TURN ME ON) - The Joneses
11. RUN FOR COVER - The Dells
12. ON EASY STREET - O.C. Smith
13. IT AIN'T NO BIG THING - The Radiants
14. SUMMERTIME - Billy Stewart
15. IN THE BOTTLE - Brother To Brother
16. HARD TIMES - Baby Huey
17. MAGGIE - Johnny Williams
18. WHEN - Joe Simon
19. POURING WATER ON A DROWNING MAN
- James Carr
20. THAT'S ENOUGH - Roscoe Robinson
21. BLACKROCK “YEAH, YEAH” - Blackrock
22. GOLDEN RING - American Gypsy
23. SEARCH FOR THE INNER SELF - Jon Lucien
24. LIFE WALKED OUT - The Mist
25. IN THE MEANTIME - Betty Davis
26. BEAUTIFUL FEELING - Darrell Banks

28/01/2025

...gorgeous." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ MOJO

Norma Tanega: "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" will be released on CD & LP on: 31.01.25

Norma Tanega is best-known for her single ‘Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog’ which became an unlikely international hit in 1966. It not only brought her into the spotlight, but to the UK where she toured, appeared on TV and started a long-term relationship with Dusty Springfield.

Tanega would later move to the UK to live with Springfield. Still a musical force she signed to the UK arm of RCA-Victor and in 1971 released a single ‘Nothing Much Is Happening Today’ / ‘Antarctic Rose’ and an album called “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile”. Neither sold strongly and splitting up with Springfield, Tanega returned to America.

In recent years original copies of “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile” have become highly sought after by collectors of folk and psychedelic folk and change hands for up to £400. The album has, until now, never been reissued on vinyl.

Produced by Don Paul, Tanega worked in the studio with multi-instrumentalist Mike Moran and the results were an amazing confection. ‘Nothing Much Is Happening Today’ might have been an unlikely single but today sounds like an earworm especially when halfway through it sounds like Pink Floyd are backing Tanega. ‘What More In The World Could Anyone Be Looking For’ appears as two version – one lushly arranged and the other presented as simple folk song. Both are winner. ‘A Goodbye Song’ is a small treasure box about losing love. The album is glued together by a number of short intrumentals.

All told “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile” is a lost classic.

The CD edition contains four bonus tracks. With liner-notes by Bob Stanley - I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Order One Today…

24/01/2025

You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls. Release date: 31.01.2025 🔥

“You Got Me Hooked!” is the latest instalment in Ace Records’ ongoing survey of British girl singers of the 1960s. Recent volumes in the series focused on the catalogues of Decca (“Don’t Blow Your Cool!” CDTOP 1568), Pye (“She Wants You!” CDTOP 1586) and Philips/ Fontana/ Mercury (“Live It Up!” CDTOP 1550). This new edition comprises a cherry-picked collection of cool she-pop from the EMI family of labels: Parlophone, Columbia and HMV. Most of the tracks were recorded at Abbey Road, a short tube ride from EMI HQ in Marylebone, hence the “Marylebone Beat Girls” subtitle.

Of the 26 tracks, a generous half are new to CD. These include ‘Too Late To Say You’re Sorry’ by the aptly named Soulmates featuring lead vocals by Liza Strike, which garnered a USA cover by Darlene Love, no less; Friday Browne’s fabulous recording of ‘Getting Nowhere’, a great Graham Gouldman song later popularised as ‘I’m 28’ by both P.J. Proby and Toni Basil; a spunky version of Ben E. King’s ‘Cry No More’ by Liverpool sister act the Three Bells; and ‘Don’t Let It Rain’ by Kathy Kissoon, the girl formerly known as series favourite Peanut.

Among the many other highlights are Helen Shapiro’s soulful rendition of Lesley Gore’s ‘I’m Going Out (The Same Way I Came In)’; Jackie Lee’s ne-plus-ultra ‘The Town I Live In’; Alma Cogan’s ‘Snakes And Snails’, a beat group-style nugget written and produced by Chris Curtis of the Searchers; Millicent Martin’s feisty ‘Get Lost My Love’, a vocal version of Quincy Jones’ classic instrumental ‘Soul Bossa Nova’; and cover girl Vashti Bunyan’s blissfully delicate ‘Train Song’. As usual with this series, the disc comes with a swish 24-page booklet packed with pictures and a 7,000-word track commentary by compiler Mick Patrick and genre expert Ian Chapman.

1. SNAKES AND SNAILS ● ALMA COGAN (1965) 2.34
2. I’M GOING OUT (THE SAME WAY I CAME IN) ● HELEN SHAPIRO (1998) 2.44
3. DON’T LET IT RAIN ● KATHY KISSOON (1969) 2.40*
4. TOO LATE TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY ● THE SOULMATES (1965) 2.35
5. GETTING NOWHERE ● FRIDAY BROWNE (1966) 2.57
6. THE TOWN I LIVE IN ● JACKIE LEE (1966) 2.49
7. FROM NOW ON ● CILLA BLACK (1967) 1.49*
8. CRY NO MORE ● THE THREE BELLS (1966) 2.42
9. HE’S GOTTA LOVE ME ● ELKIE BROOKS (1965) 2.32
10. HOW CAN I KNOW ● LIZA & THE JET SET (1965) 2.36
11. YOU CAN GO ● VALERIE MITCHELL (1966) 2.14
12. JUST LIKE A MAN ● EMMA REDE (1967) 2.50
13. BABY IT HURTS ● GLENDA COLLINS (1964) 2.21
14. STOP THE MUSIC ● ELKIE BROOKS (1966) 2.46
15. HE DOESN’T LOVE ME ● THE THREE BELLS (1964) 2.37
16. I KNOW ● TIFFANY (1965) 2.14
17. BABY PLEASE DON’T GO ● OTTILIE PATTERSON (1964) 1.45
18. GET LOST MY LOVE ● MILLICENT MARTIN (1963) 2.42
19. TAKE ME AWAY ● JANE HILLERY (1966) 2.18
20. WILL I NEVER SEE THE SUN ● KATHY KISSOON (1969) 3.22*
21. COME IN TO MY ARMS AGAIN ● BARBARA RUSKIN (1967) 2.42
22. TRAIN SONG ● VASHTI (1966) 2.13
23. YOU KISSED ME BOY ● LESLEY DUNCAN (1964) 2.26
24. AND (TO ME HE MEANT EVERYTHING) ● FRIDAY BROWNE (1966) 1.41
25. YOU GOT ME HOOKED ● THE JET SET (1964) 2.38
26. LOVE SONG ● VASHTI (1966) 1.57
Mono except * Stereo