Birmingham Sound

Purchase The Birmingham Sound Vol 1 CD here

Purchase The Birmingham Sound Vol 2 CD here

After listening to two collections of recordings called ‘The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill’ Vol 1 & 2 on Rabbit Factory records, LB publications manager Mark Camarigg and I began to wonder why Alabama, so close and seemingly so similar to Mississippi, had only a handful of recorded artists, while Mississippi had hundreds. Our talks led us to this issue focusing on Alabama’s largest city, Birmingham, and the history of its blues scene.
-Brett Bonner, Living Blues

Fans of Stax and the Muscle Shoals sound will find much to savour on both volumes of The Birmingham Sound.
-Paul Ritchie, Shindig

While Muscle Shoals is usually remembered for its output of classic soul music, this compilation proves that the Magic City had its bucket in the well, too.
-Lee Bains III, Thicket

With a mind numbing 24 tracks, The Birmingham Sound Volume II covers its basis and then some. Theres just about every variety of southern soul you can think of. Half the brilliance of listening to this record is discovering all this undiscovered talent that was simmering down in Birmingham back then. This is soul music at its purest and most untampered form and its absolutely amazing. There isnt one duff track on this album and each song is a treasure trove of grooves, emotion and unspoilt music. This could very well be the best compilation of 2008
-Paul Zimmerman, First Coast News

Chicago DJ John Ciba went beyond the call of duty last year when he painstakingly researched, compiled and released The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol 1, a loving and exhaustive collection of ultra-scarce Alabama soul.
-The Onion

The sound is quite a distinctive soulful sound. You hear in the background a history of gospel, Civil Rights, blues, alive-ness, body movement, finger snapping, street sounds, soulfulness, and for me personally it reminds me of weekends on the five mile creek with my cousins, adolescent girl crushes, catching brim-fish with my hands, watching family spats in the summertime, etc. Nostalgia.
-postmodernegro.wordpress.com

Star Pick: Birmingham Sound: Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol 1
-David Cole, In the Basement

Compiler John Ciba has located a treasure trove of soul from the Sound of Birmingham studio. Up there with the best soul comps.
Keith Glass, Rhythms

Looks like the boys at the Numero Group, Stones Throw, Ubiquity and Light in the Attic have a new crate digging competitor.
-Tim Perlich, Now Toronto

Chicago is one of Americas hot spots for the soul music revival, which includes the Dusty Groove record store, the Sonotheque nightclub and local record distributor John Cibas rebirthing of The Birmingham Sound earlier this year.
-Dave Hoekstra, Chicago Sun Times

If anything, The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol 2 might be even stronger than its acclaimed predecessor.
-Bill Dahl, Blues Revue

4 Stars. Birmingham Sound Volumes 1 & 2
-Lois Wilson, MOJO

The debut release for the newly launched Rabbit Factory label which declares it is dedicated to the preservation of sounds just like this, heres hoping theres plenty more where this came from.
-Dan Ferguson, WRIU