Courtesy of Jon Freer from mosoul.co.uk here are three album reviews (sorry no cover shots or tracklistings this time):

V/A – The Original Soul Selection (Original Selection)

The soul instalment of Ian ‘Mastercuts’ Dewhurst’s ‘Original’ series focuses on traditional material rather than any of your nu-fangled nouveau soul or posturing silkily produced 90s and 00s so called R&B. Instead of relying on the vaults of production houses like Motown or Stax, Dewhurst has dug a little deeper, and on the whole, the results are positive. CD one of this collection of cuts from known souly figures and less familiar faces is dominated by relaxing grooves, spruced by a degree of positivity. Choice moments include Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street”, where resolute guitars and reliable brass back tales of life in the ‘hood, and the Jones Girls magically keyed “Nights Over Egypt”. The uplifting and more often than not afro-sized string arrangement touched CD two contains tracks such as Teddy Pendergrass’ downright greedy “The More I Get (The More I Want)” and the rift-healing “Spread Love” from Al Hudson & The Soul Partners. Steadfast soul-kissed nourishment!

V/A – Café Mambo 2005 Collection: Compiled & Mixed by Pete Gooding
(Defected)

Perhaps better known for his love of mind-numbing progressive House than slovenly grooves, this offering Pete Gooding is a true musical patchwork quilt. The first CD mixes party hop with twee sleepy numbers, ‘worldly’ wise lounging affairs and trippy tranced out downtempo cuts, whereas the inferior second CD contains more digitised numbers and relaxed percussive workouts. Aya’s “Looking For The Sun”, with its languid beats, guitar created rays of brightness and keyed wateryness is most certainly a high point on the first CD. This track is followed by a couple more outstanding cuts, which have been hammered by all and sundry. They are 4 Hero’s billowing keyed overhaul of Plantlife’s “When She Smiles She Lights The Sky” and Sebastian Tellier’s “La Riournelle”, a bleeding string and mellow keyed opus. Gooding’s functional mixing is adequate and there are some peaches on this 29 track compilation. However, Pete also supplies some distressing sleepathons, so the listener should be ready with their stereo remote, alongside that summer cocktail and a neatly rolled joint.

V/A – Nice+Smooth House Music: Breezy Beats & Sunny Breaks (Nice+Smooth)

The Nice+Smooth crew bring us a rather fine House offering, which scours their back and future catalogue for tasty dancefloor treats. Clean techy groovers with computerised percussion are pitted against more human sounding breaksy tracks on this comp where there are many musical highlights. Jordan Fields meets R-Diva for “Heaven”, a celestial bumpin’ houser, with praising vocals, open ended beats and an analogue bass that has a mind all of its own. Roy Davis Jr. offers us the similarly non-secular “Cherish”, whose strength lies in the use of some rather uplifting keys. Kinder Atom passes us another “Sangria” and the pleasant inhibition-losing alcohol type effects come courtesy of a pulsing bass, un-nerving keys and fluid organ touches. Summery