Review: Thanks to his BBC 6Music show, self-styled "complete package" - comic, actor, radio presenter, DJ and stand-up poet - Craig Charles has become the UK's best-known funk and soul enthusiast. It's perhaps unsurprising, then, that his annual Funk & Soul Club compilations are extremely popular. This third collection is every bit as potent as predecessors, featuring as it does a riotous mix of heavy funk, horn-totin' soul revivalism, dancefloor-friendly funk breaks (Skeewiff and Stephen Gray), cheeky brass band workouts (Hot 8 Brass Band's famous cover of "Sexual Healing") and a dash of smooth soul (the effortless Omar). With all bases covered and some killer material, it should be essential listening for all those of a soul and funk persuasion.
Review: Dusty's Jazz & Milk imprint has developed a killer reputation for providing us with some of the best hepcat-jazz-with-a-contemporary-twist thrills in recent years. Here he decides to tie up the story so far in a neat compilation featuring some fine work by his every trusty roster. Highlights include Dusty's laid back brassy mix of "Afro Hop", Sam Irl's deep and sensual house cut "Time", the stoned g-funk of "Hey Girl/Boy" and the furious drum-fuelled joint "A Good Old Holiday Groove".
