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James Gilstrap – Love Talk (1976) (Roxbury Records RLX 105)

James Gilstrap – Love Talk
1976 Roxbury Records RLX 105

Jim Gilstrap is better known as a backup singer, but Stevie Wonder fans might know him for singing the first verse of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, which also makes him the first voice you hear on the epic Talking Book.  His name appears on tons of albums. You can see a partial list of his session credits here , where you can see that he was very busy in the 1970s, working in the worlds of rock, soul, jazz, and funk.  The fact that Gene Page did the arranging on this record is also worth noting. This album, which has never appeared on CD, is a nice, short set of soulful disco-funk, and the mellow version of Todd Rundgren’s “Hello, It’s Me” has me wondering if Prince ever covered the song on solo piano.James Gilstrap – Love Talk (1976) (Roxbury Records RLX 105)

Roberto Carlos – O Inimitável (1968)

ROBERTO CARLOS –  O  INIMITÁVEL
1968 CBS Records (Brasil)
This CD pressing 199_? Columbia 850.105/2-464065

12 Days of Christmas – Day 12 – For Three Kings Day, you get one king. O Rei, the incomparable, inimitable Roberto Carlos.  This is a thoroughly excellent record with the exception of one song that annoys the crap out of me.  See if you know Dr. Vibes’ tastes well enough to figure out which one it is, and win a free year’s subscription to Flabbergasted Vibes!  I’m exhausted, too exhausted to give this album a worthy write-up, but maybe I will share the MONO version of it sometime soon and unloosen my tongue with aplomb.   Meanwhile this early CD pressing of the stereo mix sounds pretty good, at least it isn’t crushed / brick-walled like the version include with the “Pra Sempre” boxset.    I hope you have all enjoyed this 12 Days of Christmas, perhaps inaugurating a new tradition as the blog continues into its second decade (!!).  I’m going to be extremely busy in the next few months, so I don’t know how often you’ll hear from me, but may you all be free of trouble in this New Year!

Roberto Carlos – O Inimitável (1968)

Billy Paul – 360 Degrees of Billy Paul (1972)

Billy Paul – 360 Degrees Of Billy Paul
1972 Philadelphia International Records ZX 31793
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96kHz | FLAC |  Art scans at 300 dpi
932 MB (24/96) + 297 MB (16/44) |  Genre: Soul, Funk

Dr. Vibes 12 Days of Christmas – Day 10 – Second day in a row that I’m featuring somebody who I’ve wanted to feature here for years, but never have. Billy Paul, who passed only a few years ago,  without a doubt had the biggest hit of his career off this record, and one of the most famous soul hits of the 70s, “Me and Mrs. Jones”.  They had a thing goin’ on.  Lots of people with lots of different memories tucked away between the notes of that classic.    The whole record is prime cut Philly soul from start to finish though.  Some great Gamble & Huff originals and the cover tunes are extraordinary – Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” and Elton John’s “Your Song”, both covered by scads of other artists, get a top-shelf Billy Paul treatment here.

Billy Paul – 360 Degrees of Billy Paul (1972)

Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love (1982)

Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love
1982 Columbia FC 38197
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Art at  300 dpi
24-bit 192 khz – 1.68 GB | 24 bit 96 khz – 830 MB | 290 MB 16-bit 44.1 khz
Soul – Funk – Disco – Electro

Dr. Vibes’ 12 Days of Christmas – Day 6 – Marvin’s first record for Columbia after getting out of his Motown contract. Sadly it was his last completed work although Harvey Fuqua and Gordon Banks would go on to fulfill his contract by ‘cooking’ some unissued recordings for the ‘Dream of a Lifetime’ album. My vinyl copy is mint, so all stray clicks or pops were removed by hand. It’s so clean you can clearly make out the “It’s not good to masturbate..” in the fade-out of “Sexual Healing.” Modern medicine has proven him wrong about that, by the way..

Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love (1982)