Albums & artists

Listening guides written to be read before or alongside the record: the context you need, what to listen for, and where to go afterwards. No copied track listings or recycled biographies.

Album guides

Single-album guides go deep on one record: how it was made, how it’s put together, and which album makes the best follow-up.

Album guideMarvin Gaye, What’s Going OnHow a Motown star took control and made a continuous, socially aware song cycle, and how to listen to it. Album guideD’Angelo, Brown SugarA 1995 debut that reaches back to 70s soul through hip-hop production, and a good bridge to the classics.

Listening guides and starter lists

Where to begin with a whole era or style, with a reason for each pick.

Listening guideEssential 1970s funk albums: where to startEight albums that each open a different strand of 70s funk, with what to listen for and what to play next. Listening guideThe sound of 1980s R&B: a listening guideEight albums across the decade, from live-band grooves to drum machines, and what to listen for in each. Listening guideQuiet storm: the sound, the era and albums to exploreThe late-night radio format that named a style of slow, adult R&B, and ten albums that define it. Listening guideStart Here: old school soul, funk and R&BA beginner's route into classic soul, funk, R&B and early hip-hop: how the eras connect, ten albums to start with, and how to keep exploring.

Artists by scene

Artist coverage lives inside the era and scene pages, where each artist sits in context with their producers, labels and contemporaries:

Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield: 1960s soul
The Four Tops, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder: Motown
The O’Jays, the Spinners, Teddy Pendergrass: Philly soul
Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, the Meters: 1970s funk
Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Sade: quiet storm
Teddy Riley, Guy, Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown: new jack swing
Grandmaster Flash, the Sugarhill Gang, Run-D.M.C.: early hip-hop

Where to buy the records

We only link to a specific vinyl or CD edition once we’ve confirmed which pressing it is and that it’s actually available. Until then, our guides stay link-free on the music side. If you’re deciding how to own these albums, read vinyl vs. CD vs. streaming for classic albums.