Summer Slow Jams III

The third Sunday of Summer Slow Jams finds us with the first of four slow-jammy Time-Life collections, Smooth Soul, from 2012.  Made up of four albums, each a double disc featuring 29-32 songs, Smooth Soul features an outstanding collection of romantic soul ballads from the Sixties and Seventies.

As one would expect from such a collection given that it was put together by Universal Music Special Markets, it is heavy on songs from Motown's catalog though most of the usual soul suspects (Atlantic and Stax/Volt labels, Chicago and Philly Soul groups) are here as well.  There are 58 Number One R&B hits among the total 123 Top 10's spread across the eight discs and in fact, the two lowest charting R&B singles on the set still made it to Number Eleven!  

The bonus fifth album, Down Home Soul (not pictured) is a double disc with 25 songs. The album deviates from the "romantic" mission statement and stands as more of a straight, up-beat soul disc and therefore will not be included in today's festivities.  A fellow slow jams aficionado pointed out to me that not every slow song or ballad is necessarily a slow jam by definition but I think many of the songs found in the Smooth Soul collection fit the bill.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

SMOOTH SOUL - I Found A Love (Disc One)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1972	I'll Be Around	The Spinners	1	3
2	1966	Tell It Like It Is	Aaron Neville	1	2
3	1970	Rainy Night In Georgia	Brook Benton	1	4
4	1966	Try a Little Tenderness	Otis Redding	4	25
5	1967	I Found a Love	Wilson Pickett	6	32
6	1966	When a Man Loves a Woman	Percy Sledge	1	1
7	1973	Angel	Aretha Franklin	1	20
8	1970	Patches	Clarence Carter	2	4
9	1971	Thin Line Between Love and Hate	The Persuaders	1	15
10	1966	Love Makes the World Go 'Round	Deon Jackson	3	11
11	1965	I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)	Otis Redding	2	21
12	1965	Baby, I'm Yours	Barbara Lewis	5	11
13	1963	Cry to Me	Betty Harris	10	23
14	1965	Tonight's the Night	Solomon Burke	2	28
15	1963	Just One Look	Doris Troy	3	10
16	1964	Stay with Me	Lorraine Ellison	11	66

SMOOTH SOUL - I Found A Love (Disc Two)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1973	One of a Kind (Love Affair)	The Spinners	1	11
2	1967	(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman	Aretha Franklin	2	8
3	1967	I'm in Love	Wilson Pickett	4	45
4	1972	(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right	Luther Ingram	1	3
5	1968	Slip Away	Clarence Carter	2	6
6	1964	Walk On By	Dionne Warwick	1	6
7	1973	Natural High	Bloodstone	4	10
8	1970	Love On A Two-Way Street	The Moments	1	3
9	1965	Make Me Your Baby	Barbara Lewis	9	11
10	1962	Release Me	Esther Phillips	1	8
11	1967	Hypnotized	Linda Jones	4	21
12	1971	That's the Way I Feel About 'Cha	Bobby Womack	2	27
13	1963	If You Need Me	Solomon Burke	2	37
14	1966	B-A-B-Y	Carla Thomas	3	14
15	1963	Pain in My Heart	Otis Redding	11	61
16	1967	When Something Is Wrong with My Baby	Sam and Dave	2	42

SMOOTH SOUL - Baby, I'm For Real (Disc One)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1971	Never Can Say Goodbye	The Jackson 5	1	2
2	1964	Baby I Need Your Loving	The Four Tops	4	11
3	1969	My Cherie Amour	Stevie Wonder	4	4
4	1971	Just My Imagination	The Temptations	1	1
5	1968	Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing	Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell	1	8
6	1965	Stop! In the Name of Love	The Supremes	2	1
7	1965	Ooo Baby Baby	The Miracles	4	16
8	1966	It's a Man's Man's Man's World	James Brown	1	8
9	1964	Funny (How Time Slips Away)	Joe Hinton	1	13
10	1963	Cry Baby	Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters	1	4
11	1970	Turn Back the Hands of Time	Tyrone Davis	1	3
12	1965	Sitting in the Park	Billy Stewart	4	24
13	1972	Woman's Gotta Have It	Bobby Womack	1	60
14	1964	What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)	The Tams	1	9
15	1966	Searching for My Love	Bobby Moore & the Rhythm Aces	7	27
16	1964	I Had a Talk with My Man Last Night	Mitty Collier	3	41

SMOOTH SOUL - Baby, I'm For Real (Disc Two)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1969	Too Busy Thinking about My Baby	Marvin Gaye	1	4
2	1972	I'm Still in Love with You	Al Green	1	3
3	1972	Oh Girl	The Chi-Lites	1	1
4	1964	My Guy	Mary Wells	1	1
5	1966	Crying Time	Ray Charles	5	6
6	1969	There'll Come a Time	Betty Everett	2	26
7	1969	Oh, What a Night	The Dells	1	10
8	1974	Woman to Woman	Shirley Brown	1	22
9	1969	Baby, I'm for Real	The Originals	1	14
10	1966	What Becomes of the Brokenhearted	Jimmy Ruffin	6	7
11	1974	You Make Me Feel Brand New	The Stylistics	5	2
12	1969	Hey There Lonely Girl	Eddie Holman	4	2
13	1969	Baby, Baby Don’t Cry	Smokey Robinson & the Miracles	3	8
14	1965	Since I Lost My Baby	The Temptations	4	17
15	1963	Mama Didn't Lie	Jan Bradley	8	14
16	1964	Every Little Bit Hurts	Brenda Holloway	3	13

SMOOTH SOUL - How Sweet It Is (Disc One)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1964	How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)	Marvin Gaye	3	6
2	1970	I'll Be There	The Jackson 5	1	1
3	1965	The Tracks of My Tears	The Miracles	2	16
4	1968	Stay in My Corner	The Dells	1	10
5	1970	The Thrill Is Gone	B.B. King	3	15
6	1963	Our Day Will Come	Ruby & The Romantics	1	1
7	1962	Two Lovers	Mary Wells	1	7
8	1964	I'm So Proud	The Impressions	2	14
9	1965	My Girl	The Temptations	1	1
10	1968	You're All I Need to Get By	Marvin Gaye & Tammie Terrell	1	7
11	1972	Betcha by Golly, Wow	The Sylistics	2	3
12	1966	Love Is a Hurtin' Thing	Lou Rawls	1	13
13	1968	Never Give You Up	Jerry Butler	4	20
14	1969	My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)	David Ruffin	2	9
15	1969	What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)	Junior Walker & The All Stars	1	4
16	1969	Jealous Kind of Fella	Garland Green	5	20

SMOOTH SOUL - How Sweet It Is (Disc Two)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1969	Someday We'll Be Together	Diana Ross & The Supremes	1	1
2	1962	You've Really Got a Hold on Me	The Miracles	1	8
3	1973	Let's Get It On	Marvin Gaye	1	1
4	1966	Sunny	Bobby Hebb	3	2
5	1968	I Wish It Would Rain	The Temptations	1	4
6	1970	If I Were Your Woman	Gladys Knight & The Pips	1	9
7	1971	Have You Seen Her	The Chi-Lites	1	3
8	1968	Love Makes a Woman	Barbara Acklin	3	15
9	1972	In the Rain	The Dramatics	1	5
10	1970	The Bells	The Originals	4	12
11	1966	Let's Go Get Stoned	Ray Charles	1	31
12	1965	I'll Be Doggone	Marvin Gaye	1	8
13	1963	That's the Way Love Is	Bobby "Blue" Bland	1	33
14	1965	I Do Love You	Billy Stewart	6	26
15	1967	Nothing Takes the Place of You	Toussaint McCall	5	52
16	1965	Rainbow '65 (Part 1)	Gene Chandler	2	69

SMOOTH SOUL - Piece Of My Heart (Disc One)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1971	Ain’t No Sunshine	Bill Withers	6	3
2	1973	Midnight Train to Georgia	Gladys Knight & The Pips	1	1
3	1972	Me and Mrs. Jones	Billy Paul	1	1
4	1972	If You Don't Know Me by Now	Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes	1	3
5	1972	Everybody Plays the Fool	The Main Ingredient	2	3
6	1965	Hurt So Bad	Little Anthony & The Imperials	3	10
7	1967	Close Your Eyes	Peaches & Herb	4	8
8	1969	The Chokin’ Kind	Joe Simon	1	13
9	1968	La-La Means I Love You	The Delfonics	2	4
10	1968	Cowboys to Girls	The Intruders	1	6
11	1967	Mercy, Mercy, Mercy	Cannonball Adderley	2	11
12	1965	Yes, I’m Ready	Barbara Mason	2	5
13	1964	Oh No, Not My Baby	Maxine Brown	2	24
14	1967	Dry Your Eyes	Brenda & The Tabulations	8	20
15	1963	The Love of My Man	Theola Kilgore	3	21

watch Al Green perform "Let's Stay Together" on Soul Train

SMOOTH SOUL - Piece Of My Heart (Disc Two)
	year	title	artist	R&B	Pop
1	1971	Let's Stay Together	Al Green	1	1
2	1974	Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me	Gladys Knight & The Pips	1	3
3	1970	Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)	The Delfonics	3	10
4	1973	The Love I Lost	Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes	1	7
5	1969	Going in Circles	The Friends of Distinction	3	15
6	1968	Little Green Apples	O.C. Smith	2	2
7	1972	Lean on Me	Bill Withers	1	1
8	1964	Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um	Major Lance	1	5
9	1967	The Dark End of the Street	James Carr	10	77
10	1967	Piece of My Heart	Erma Franklin	10	62
11	1962	You'll Lose a Good Thing	Barbara Lynn	1	8
12	1966	I'm Your Puppet	James & Bobby Purify	5	6
13	1965	Hold What You've Got	Joe Tex	1	5
14	1967	Are You Lonely for Me Baby	Freddie Scott	1	39

SMOOTH SOUL - THE WHOLE 122 SONG SHEBANG!

This post is dedicated to B.B. King, who went riding with the King the day this was written.