Heels & Souls launch their label with Special Touch's street soul classic LP 'Garden Of Life'

Music

London-based DJ duo and charitable party bosses Heels and Souls launch their new label with a reissue of Special Touch’s classic street soul LP Garden Of Life.

Originally released in 1991 on cult label TSR Recordings, the album perfectly embodies the sound of street soul and remains highly sought after on Discogs, having never traded hands for less than £100. Heels and Souls have worked closely with TSR founder, producer and DJ Robert Charles Roper and his brother Duval, who provides the soaring vocals across the record, to present a relicensed version of this nine-track gem for the first time, remastered from the original DAT tape at The Bakehouse Studio.

Label co-founders Ben Croft and Patrick Forrester, alongside Prime Direct Distribution, will also be donating their respective share of profits to The Black Curriculum, a social enterprise delivering Black British history programmes and teacher training to facilitate both national curriculum and wider societal changes.

Speaking about the album Robert Charles Roper said: “We wanted to capture some different aspects of life in the real world. With most soul albums dealing mainly with love and relationships, we wanted to add topics like hope, gratitude, self love and the healing power of music. We hoped people who listened to the album would feel uplifted, with the sense that no matter how hard things get in life, to never give up on their goals.“