Repressed for the first time in ages! Mid 50s Detroit was a hotbed of teen talent, all aspiring to sign a recording contract, get famous and buy a big car.

Scores of young black vocal groups practiced their harmonies in stairwells or under street lamps, dreaming that one day their time would come.

The Falcons were one of these but because of their gospel background and thanks to the guiding influence of manager and mentor, Robert West, they went on to become the first soul group.

Who knows: if Eddie Floyd, Mack Rice, Wilson Pickett/Joe Stubbs, Willie Schofield and Lance Finnie had stuck together, they may well have rivalled other Detroit super groups such as the Temptations and Four Tops for success.

This 4CD set brings together all known recordings by the original Falcons, along with alternate takes, guest appearances, cover versions and songs musically supervised or written by members of the group.

Solo recordings by group members are also included from 1956 to 1963, the time they were recording together.

The set is also, in a sense, a history of soul itself, showing how the genre develops from its early stirrings in doo-wop, taking in R&B and gospel along the way and culminating in two of the very first records that can definitively be described as soul: the Wilson Pickett-led tracks Take This Love I've Got and I Found A Love, the first two tracks on this compilation.

Sleeve notes by Keith Rylatt (author of Groovesville USA: The Detroit Soul & R&B Index)