It is 1983 and you've just stepped into your Ford Capri with your girlfriend Julie. You live in Harlow, but in your head you're really somewhere near Salou in Spain, next to your yacht. But the thing you really love is soul and they play nothing but at Sups in Loughton. OK, so It's not 1983 at all. It's 2014, but listening to this electrofied soul, will put you back in the zone. Tom Findlay, one half of Grammy-nominated Groove Armada, has put this collection together: a stamp of authenticity in itself. Tom has also put a few of these through the edit wringer, reworking many of the tunes for maximum towelling sockability.
You'll probably recognise a few tunes. There's Mtume's incredible Juicy Fruit, which still sounds advanced and modern, while I Specialize In Love, mixed by disco legend Tee Scott, is even older yet sounds equally perky. The 1980s was a period that was pretty much owned by Minneapolis thanks to Prince and former cohorts Jam & Lewis and the latter weigh in with a pair of killer productions, Thelma Houston's You Used To Hold Me So Tight and Alexander O Neal's What s Missing. And since this is Late Night Tales, there is always our exclusive cover version, this time done by Findlay and Tim Hutton's Sugardaddy, who've delivered an ace version of Don't Look Any Further.
Grab yourself a bar stool, order a cocktail, take a sip, and pretend you're lying on a shagpile carpet with the soul star of your dreams.
Bill Brewster
Automatic Soul, like my previously compiled Late Night Tales Music For Pleasure, is based very much on a sound. It's a sound that I feel has been overlooked: 80s R&B-infused music, with drum machines, synths and invariably brilliant vocals. It's formed the bedrock of my rare groove sets for all the years I've played. It's not the most fashionable, but to me it's the perfect marriage of technology and soul, hence the title for this album, Automatic Soul. There are plenty of songs I could have included, and no doubt some that I shouldn't, but I've tried to represent what's best to me from this era. It's not a classic Late Night Tales. It's a pretty personal journey, which I hope some of you might be willing to share...
Tom Findlay Groove Armada September 2014
Track list:
Rene & Angela - I'll Be Good
Zapp - Heartbreaker (p1 + 2)
Timex Social Club - Rumors
Mtume - Juicy Fruit
Sugardaddy feat. Ronika - Don't Look Any Further
Meli'sa Morgan - Fool's Paradise
George Franklin Smallwood & Marshmellow Band - You Know I Love You
Royalle Delite - I'll Be A Freak For You
Bits & Pieces - Don't Stop the Music
Donna Allen - Serious
Change - Change Of Heart
The Gap Band - I Owe It To Myself
52nd Street - You're My Last Chance
Thelma Houston - You Used To Hold Me So Tight
Alexander O'Neal - What's Missing
Aurra - You And Me Tonight
Samson & Delilah - I Can Feel Your Love Slippin' Away
Sharon Brown - I Specialize In Love