Rough Trade Compilations of The Year: #5

Celebrating 40 years since the game-changing For Dancers Only LP, KENT001, For Dancers Forty revisits the Los Angeles labels that have given us so much. Like KENT001, the collection represents the broad church of the Biharis’ recordings and features soul stompers, rhythm and blues busters, girly grooves and heavenly harmony.

Most tracks are new to Kent LPs and there’s a brand new 1966 soul recording from 50s Modern R&B artists Aaron Collins and the Teen Queens. Long-time Kent favourites Jackie Day, Z.Z. Hill and Johnny Copeland are included with some of their underplayed tracks – for Copeland it’s the first vinyl outing for his dancer ‘I Was Born To Love You’. As ever on our rare soul scene, it’s the lesser-known artists who we revel in and there are stunning tracks from the Simms Twins, the Marvellos, the Intentions and the in-demand (due to the Kent 45 being deleted) ‘I Got Love’ by the Other Brothers.

Tommy Youngblood’s LP track ‘Tobacco Road North’ has been a sleeper, eventually being picked up by hip hop samplers for its atmospheric musical qualities – and we at last give its proper accreditation after decades of misinformation. Little Joe Hinton’s ‘Tired Of Walkin’’ is now looked on as an R&B dance classic, despite its poor sales on release.

The Sweethearts adorn our cover with a recently discovered colour photo from the archives of Modern’s head engineer Bill Lazerus. Apart from their bouncy ‘This Couldn’t Be Me’, they provided backing for many of the stable’s 60s recordings. • You Have “Only”, “Also” and “Forever” – make space for “Forty”