Getting a CD (double, no less) like this unexpectedly in the mail to review really makes my week. Minaret was briefly a busy Southern soul label that was an offshoot of Playground Studio on Florida’s gulf coast in Valparaiso. (Johnny Adams recorded there in the early 1970s.) Distributed nationally by SSS (a Shelby Singleton Corporation), the two-dozen or so first-class releases on Minaret somehow eluded the charts. By far the label’s most prolific artist was Big John Hamilton—and brothers and sisters, this man could sing. Most of Hamilton’s releases were taken at a mid-tempo soul groove. Not surprisingly, the instrumentation reminds listeners of what was going on in nearby Muscle Shoals at the time, but vocally, he invites comparison to Stax’s Johnnie Taylor, as well as Sam & Dave. A brilliant songwriter to boot, tracks like the opener “The Train,” “I Have No One,” “How Much Can a Man Take” and “I Just Want to Thank You,” is sanctified Southern soul at its apex. “Pretty Girls” proves Hamilton is just at ease with up-tempo material and “Big Fanny” shows he had a lighter side. Genie Brooks is a name familiar to only hardcore soul buffs, but her six tracks here are suburb, highlighted by “Juanita” and the title track, which Johnny Adams once appropriated.

The only other familiar name here is Arkansas bluesman Willie Cobbs and his “Don’t Worry About Me” is about all you can ask for in a blues tune. Other artists contributing boss tracks here are Count Willie and the Dukes, Doris Allen (“A Shell of a Woman” is stirring), Gable Reed (“I’m Your Man,” oh-wee), Johnny Dynamite and Leroy Lloyd and the Dukes. Containing 40 tracks, this is certainly the sleeper reissue of 2013. Not one bad track—none. Not only is the music great, but the CD provides a history lesson as well.