After many years and many many many phone calls later we’ve finally found the elusive and mysterious Andre Evans (0r Evons as he prefers).  We’re proud to sign his material from the Evans Pyramid-era to our label and please look out for a release of all of the officially released Evans Pyramid material as well as some unreleased tracks. More info on the artist and this release coming soon!

Publicity photo of Andre

Cultures of Soul Records has been around for 2 years now and to celebrate you’ve got a deal for you! Just buy two 7 inches at our store and get $7 off your order. It’s essentially like getting one 7 inch for free! The deal is good until February 23rd. The promo code is 7INCHDEAL.

Cultures of Soul Special

What can we say about this record? Explosive drums? Check! Soulful female vocals soaring through the stratosphere? Check! Lyrics telling a story of lost love and heartache? Double Check!  Usually we at Cultures of Soul release records geared towards the dancefloor but the Darling Dears were too damn amazing to pass up. So through our good friend and fellow deep funk and soul aficionado, PJ Gray, we hooked up with Alvin (Lawrence) Lofton and the four amazing voices of the Darling Dears that made this record what it is.

Alvin’s career encompasses years spent as a record promoter for artists such as Barbara Mason, Marva Josie, the Manhattans and Black Ivory and his relationship with the Darling Dears began in the early ’70s in Rochester, New York. At the time he was a budding record promoter as well as the President of the Carla Thomas International Fan Club, which is what led to the group’s manager, Mary Ann Bradford (who is also the sister of band member Kim McFadden), to contact him about her sibling’s rising act. Young and undeniably talented, the foursome featured the emotive vocals of McFadden, Beverly Howard, Salena Howard and Helen McGowen. Fellow Rochester band Funky Heavy,  who was already well-known in the area, often rehearsed with the girls and  served as backup for many of their live performances.

It wasn’t long before the Darling Dears began tearing it up around town, starting off each show with Billy Preston’s “Outa-Space.” Inspired by the likes of Al Green, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5 and James Brown, the girls also proved to be quite the dancers. The most notable mover of the bunch was undoubtedly Kim, who was able to work her gospel dance moves into almost every gig.

The story of how “And I Love You” came to be is certainly an interesting one. One day Alvin and the Darling Dears were rehearsing at a local church with Funky Heavy, and Funky Heavy came up with the melody. After penning the lyrics, Alvin hooked up with local music impresario and owner of Fine Recording Studio, Vince Jam, and scheduled some studio time. Two 4-hour sessions and a measly $200 later, with a local friend from high school playing the flute and Kim taking care of the spoken word at the end, the track was completed.

The idea for the A side came about when Alvin was completing some freelance promotional work with Cap City Records out of Washington D.C., where he met Joe Tate.  Alvin mentioned to Joe that he was looking for a song to put on the single with “And I Love You” and Joe suggested a song he wrote for the group Rock Candy, which was “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another.” The track was recorded with the band performing behind Beverly’s lead vocals in one room and the other girls singing backup in another.

The recording was pressed up in a quantity of 1,000 and received airplay on local Rochester radio stations such as WCFM and WRUR.  It was also sold on consignment to stores locally such as House of Guitars, Record Theater, and Record Archive. Unfortunately, the single didn’t sell too well, so it wasn’t long before the group broke up and each of the members gave up their dreams of becoming famous singers to start raising families. Little did they know that decades later, both songs would go on to become sought-after collectible records and undisputed hot tracks in revered soul music circles.

Cultures of Soul is proud to present a special limited edition issue of this 45 licensed courtesy of Alvin Lofton and the Darling Dears. Limited to 500 copies and fully remastered with a special replica label of the original issue. The first 50 pre-orders will also receive a reprinted photo of the group. Order here at our Bigcartel.com store for $9.99.

Salena and Beverly Howard of the Darling Dears with Funky Heavy

I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another

And I Love You

Cultures of Soul recording artist, Stanton Davis was recently interviewed on Blog Talk Radio.  It’s a great interview that really covers Stanton’s career and his journey through the history of music.

Interview with Stanton Davis

We feel very privileged and excited to be releasing this extraordinary 2-sider of deep soul with amazing drums.  You all know the story of how Mark Taylor uncovered many of the recordings and releases from the Fine Recording Studio in Rochester, New York.  You also may remember how quickly the original copies Mark had left sold out. Well now is your chance to get your own copy or two! Coming out on February 21st, you can pre-order now at our Bigcartel store for $9.99.  Special thanks for PJ Gray of Galactic Fractures! Look for his interview with the group coming soon!

I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another

And I Love You

Legendary DJ Kenny Dope Gonzales has done a re-edit of our very first release by the Original Black Sheep of the Family.  If you remember we spent some time transferring and listening to unreleased material from Bili Sparrow’s master reel to reel tapes back in 2010.  We still have a handful of  copies of the original version of this that we put out back then that you can purchase directly from us at our store.

http://soundcloud.com/kenny-dope/do-you-wanna-dance-kenny-dope

Bob Abrahamian hosted Michael Sharkey, the chief songwriter for the Fabulous Fugitives on his wonderful radio show on WHPK Radio Chicago called Sitting in the Park.  Bob’s show and interviews feature a plethora of information and music about rare soul. Also check out his interview on Soul-Source for more info on Bob and  his show.

Interview with Michael Sharkey

As a gift to you and a thank you for all of your support this past year we’ve posted a mix of our current favorite rare boogie dance tracks! Enjoy!

Tracklisting:

1. Masurrati and Huey Harris  - Superduper Lovin

2. Light Touch Band – Chicago

3. JT – I Love Music

4. Marini – Let’s Get It On

5. Galaxy – Let Love Begin

6. Royale – I Want Your Body

7. Willie Phillips – Sure Do Need Your Love

8. Sex- Love Thing

9. Energettics – You Made Me Nothing

Download Here

It’s simple just purchase our latest release, World’s Funkiest Covers on LP or CD directly from us and you’ll be automatically entered into our contest to win a limited edition World’s Funkiest Covers T-shirt, featured above. You must make the purchase by December 21st and through our website at in order to enter the contest:

http://culturesofsoul.bigcartel.com/product/world-s-funkiest-covers-lp

And the winner is…..

Andy Buchonet

Congrats Andy and thanks to all of those that entered the contest and thanks for all of your support in 2011! (Updated 12/26/11)

Here’s a photo recap of some of the parties we held in honor of our newest release – World’s Funkiest Covers!

From Richio Suzuki and the Version Excursion Party in London at the Juno Bar in Shoredich

From Lucern, Switzerland and the Planet Booga Crew!

And here’s some photos from our party at Soul Le Lu Jah in our hometown!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to host a party for us and to all of those who came to the parties! And don’t forget we’ve got a couple more parties coming up! Monk-One and E’s E in Brooklyn are throwing a release party at Sycamore on December 15th. Marc Forrest is hosting a party in Berlin on December 24th!