millie jackson

Dave Godin, late-lamented music journalist and sometime Ace/Kent consultant, wrote long and often about the nature of soul music.

Like most people who really know soul, Dave realized that there could be no trite or easy definition of the genre. It’s simpler, he’d say, to let the music itself do the defining. Dave also spent a lifetime championing what he called “Deep Soul” and indeed Kent issued four mighty Godin compilations illustrating just what he meant by the term. Listening, it’s clear that “Deep Soul” is an adult, tortured music that speaks of pain, heartache, misplaced passion and unrequited love. It’s not always an easy listen and the irony is that this often depressing music possesses a stark beauty all of its own. The obvious question is how can something so overtly painful be so inherently and sweetly addictive. In 1973 Millie Jackson summed up this irony much more succinctly with her hit It Hurts So Good. The song explained that love isn’t always easy, but the occasional pain is compensated by the huge highs. Real soul’s the same. It can and often does hurt – but, to paraphrase Ms. Jackson, it’s a good kind of hurting.