Playing these records loudly in public is really the best way to appreciate them - they're supposed to be danced to. Whilst collecting other genres often feels like filling in the gaps or preserving the oddities, there's no rhyme or reason to the quality of genuinely incredible records that time, lack of distribution or whim has left relatively unheard. The beauty of collecting Soul 7"s is an almost endless scope for discovery and rediscovery coupled with the humility it brings you, both of constantly being in the presence of such cruelly overlooked talent, and the realisation that despite an evergrowing collection, it'll never be anything near definitive. Yes, it's even better than Otis Redding's version. If a gun was pointed at my temple for an immediate answer to the ultimate poser: What's your favourite song, it would be hard for me to come up with anything quicker than Jimmy Norman's sublime 'This I Beg Of You' or Barbara Lynn's ultimate slice of Southern melancholia 'You Left The Water Runnin''.
FROZEN SONG PLAYLIST FULL
I have a particular weakness for 'dancers' (from R&B 'tittyshakers' to full tempo Northern barnstormers) and midpaced Rhythm & Soul 'weepers'.
![frozen song playlist frozen song playlist](https://www.musicnotes.com/images/productimages/large/mtd/MN0147899.gif)
Its benefits are elevated if you spend as much time as I do trawling youtube and blogspots searching for unheard or half remembered gems in their compressed, relatively lifeless glory, only for their full majesty to reveal themselves revolving on a proper record player at a later stage. Loud, glossy and succinct, I don't think it can be beat. Maybe it's for the chosen format that does it: The black vinyl jukebox 45 still holds an almost magical hold over me.