Shades of Blue is very much a personal commentary on some of the great blues and authentic soul music produced from the 1940s to the present day - the power of the blues, the deep emotion to be found in the best of soul, the sheer inventiveness that came with popular success - all shades of blue in fact!

It started off as a small Primer around 1997/8 and although it's grown a little since then I hope it still continues to function as a useful introduction for any newcomer to the music. To that end it still almost exclusively focuses on well-known or mainstream performers. There are other sites much better equipped to detail the minor players in R&B; and soul; and in any case there are still many more major artists who need to be added. Maybe they will be, if I ever get a structured update process sorted out!

Shades hopefully also demonstrates that this is far from a simple homage to the past - along with the history, there's still a lot being recorded today that's worthy of following the best from the 50s, 60s and 70s. The R&B; "badge" is really only used to try and define the site boundaries, and it clearly contains entries within it that stretch any typical definition to breaking point. It's then frequently ignored anyway - I hope everything meets the spirit and legacy of what we might term R&B.; This approach means more than a few idiosyncratic entries and maybe a few pleasant surprises along the way. .........

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