The \'secret weapon\' in Ace\'s soul arsenal was originally set up, in 1989, as an outlet for the more contemporary soul and dance that was coming through our acquisition of the Spring catalogue. The Kent imprint was still fully committed to 60s and BGP was occasionally supplementing a primarily jazzy schedule with the occasional foray into hardcore funk. Millie Jackson, Fatback and Joe Simon from Spring, and artists such as Sylvester from Fantasy did not (and still don\'t) really fit the Kent and BGP templates, so we decided to establish a third outlet for this kind of soul and/or dance music. Say hello to Southbound.

Since its initial inception, some 16 years ago, Southbound has solidly stuck to its original brief - to the point where its roster-to-date now includes many of the greatest names in 1970/80s black American music. We're proud to have Millie Jackson, the Fatback Band, Sylvester and Joes Simon and Tex (all of whom shifted a lot of vinyl back in the day) on Southbound. We're just as proud to have most of those artists' finest original albums available, in the 21st century, as Southbound CDs. Southbound has also delved below soul's popular surface on many occasions, reissuing rarities from funk and modern soul favourites Ripple, Side Effect, Maceo & All The King's Men and Don Julian & the Larks, among others. Southbound is an integral part of our roster, and its release schedule will always aim to refresh those parts of the soul that Ace and BGP don't usually reach within their own respective musical remits.

• Single artist albums
• Various artist compilations

Act 1

C J And Co

The Dells

Fatback

Millie Jackson

Maceo And All The King's Men

The Players Association

Side Effect

Joe Tex