I recently came to the realization that we haven't explicitly covered the band Slave here in the several years since BE's inception. Now our omission can be justifiable to a point. Slave is a rather obvious group from the era, but a damn important one at that. Hailing from Dayton Ohio circa 1975, Slave were one of a handful of 70's artists that set the foundation for the Boogie-Funk sound as we know it. A common record no doubt but thanks in large part to Steve Arrington's vocals and the bands top notch arrangement, Feel My Love delivers in a big way. As Slave continued to hit new peaks in the early 80's their "Fearless Leader" Steve Washington left the band to form the equally killer group, Aurra. By request I also am posting Baby Love a prime Aurra track from 1983 with a b-side Mastermix by Shep Pettibone to boot.

Slave - Feel My Love
Aurra - Baby Love
Aurra - Baby Love (Shep Pettibone Instrumental Mastermix)

Aurra was a modern soul group from Ohio that got together in 1979. The project was a spin off of Slave and it allowed the talented songwriter/producer/arranger Steve Washington to bring twice the heat (and make twice as much scrilla) to two separate labels. The singers, Starleana Young and Curt Jones have a playful and conversational way of singing the songs which really make the songs special. It is almost like you are listening to an argument between a married couple sometimes. Aurra disbanded 1986 due to a legal dispute, after which Young and Jones went on as Déjà.

mp3: Aurra - Nasty Disposition
mp3: Aurra - Checking You Out
mp3: Aurra - Such A Feeling (LeBaron Edit)