Technically New Zealand didn’t have a dedicated Soul music scene during the time frame of this re­lease. Only The Action, Le Frame and Leo De Castro would class themselves as exclusively Soul artists. What we did have in abundance was an abundance of world class Pop, R&B and cabaret art­ists that included soul themed tracks in their repertoire. Many of the tracks on this collection are well known, but don’t be expecting to hear too many carbon copy versions but rather our own unique take as we dismantle these tracks and give them a taste of Kiwi.

In a star studded line up highlights are a plenty starting with Sandy Edmonds as she blitzes Shirley Ellis’s version of ‘Soul Time’, followed by The La De Da’s, The Underdogs, The Challenge and The Newsounds in the opening salvo through to Leo De Castro who was regarded as New Zealand’s finest soul singer, who only ever recorded one track in his home country. Peter Williams (ex Max Merritt & The Meteors) features twice, once as lead singer on his own song with The Groove (Australasia’s first super group) and also his UK recorded song with chart toppers Blue Mink as the backing band. Mr Versatility Ray Woolf features on three tracks and nails it every time. Our original King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Johnny Devlin tears himself through his UK record­ed ‘Hurtin’. Many of the highlights come from the unreleased tracks on show including tracks from The Deep Set aka Troubled Minds, The Spectres, Le Frame, Renaissance & Leo De Castro.