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The Don-E Collection

Fourteen tracks from a British singer, writer and producer who has been quietly excellent for three decades and remains almost unknown outside soul circles.

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Don-E

Don-E belongs to a specific and under-documented tradition: British soul artists who made genuinely first-rate records in the nineties, had a measure of chart success at home, and were almost entirely invisible in the United States.

He writes, sings, plays and produces, which is why his records have a coherence that the era's session-built British soul often lacked. The sound is warm, keyboard-led and rhythmically loose, drawing on American soul without ever quite imitating it — the phrasing stays recognisably London.

He has also worked steadily as a producer and collaborator for other artists, which is how a catalogue this good ends up this obscure: the work is spread across other people's records.

What to listen for

"So Cold" is the track that will draw most people in, and for good reason — D'Angelo plays Rhodes on it, which is a remarkable credit for a British independent release and a real indication of the regard he was held in by musicians.

"Love Makes the World Go Round"-era material is his best-known work at home, and "You And I" here is the closest thing to it.

"The Time Is Now" with Mutya Buena is the most unexpected pairing — a founding Sugababe, well outside her usual context, and it works.

"Drive" and "Hot Like The Summer" are the two where the production is most confident, and "The Way You Are" is the prettiest melody.

"Grown N Sex-E" and "He Ain't Got My Style" are the funniest, and "Stay Awhile" and "Without Your Love" are the ballads.

"Feel Good" and "Step In My Room" close things out and are the most immediate things on the list.

Go deeper

His catalogue is spread across independent releases and is worth assembling properly rather than sampling.

For the wider British soul tradition he belongs to: Omar — whose There's Nothing Like This is the essential record of that generation — along with Lewis Taylor, Carleen Anderson and Young Disciples. All of them made records as good as anything coming out of America at the time and were treated as a footnote.

Why the catalogue is scattered: he has spent as much time writing and producing for other people as on his own records, which is how a body of work this good ends up this hard to find. Assemble it properly rather than sampling it — the run of albums is far more coherent than the streaming presentation suggests.

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