Our Fame vault excavation continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for southern soul fans. And what better way could there be to start another soul-filled year than with a new volume of “Hall Of Fame”. The previous two volumes of the series presented a cross-section of exceptional, and mostly unissued, material from the vaults of Fame studios from the prime years of Rick Hall’s funky building on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. The previous volumes mixed male and female vocalists and added a smattering of groups, but this one concentrates on the recordings by the great male singers who passed through Fame’s doors in the mid to late 60s.

A sizeable portion of the tracks featured here only came to light during our ongoing research. Most of the artists have appeared previously in our series and will need no further introduction, but it’s a pleasure to be able to add to their number by bringing you thrilling selections from Herman Moore, Billy & Clyde, Dan Brantley and Roy Lee Johnson.

How good and how pleasant it is to be able to again bring you almost two dozen fine slabs of vintage southern soul on CD for the first time. Almost all of them date from the period that most would consider to be Fame’s golden era for soul (1966-68), and the few that don’t are just as compelling. 20 of the 24 have never been issued in any form until now. The release of this third volume concludes the “Hall Of Fame” series but not of Ace’s Fame reissue programme, I’m happy to say. There are still several more projects in the pipeline, so you can look forward to musical visits to Northern Alabama for some while yet.

By Tony Rounce