Various
★★★★★
Holland-Dozier-Holland Detroit 1969-1977
DEMON. CD/DL/LP
Essential soul from HDH’s Invictus, Hot Wax and Music Merchant labels.
ON LEAVING Motown in 1968, Holland, Dozier and Holland, the songwriting triumvirate behind the ‘Sound Of Young America’, launched their trio of labels with an unimpeachable run of 45s: Chairmen Of The Board’s Give Me Just A Little More Time; Freda Payne’s Band Of Gold; Honey Cone’s Girls It Ain’t Easy, etc; strong, soulful, naturally Motown-y songs that have since become a part of pop’s fabric. This rewarding 4-LP or 3-CD cherry-pick of singles contains them and more, with later material such as New York Port Authority’s I Got It Pt. 1 and the aforesaid Chairmen Of The Board’s Skin I’m In expanding their aural identity: the firstnamed presaging gospel house with its thumping disco beat and the second, tense funk rock featuring members of Parliament-Funkadelic.