The history of soul and funk music is littered with projects like this, quality albums that somehow slipped under the radar. Help Spread The Message is a solid funk album from deep in the disco era (1978) by Florida’s The Mighty Ryders, the only album they recorded. The vocals are jazzy, the sound is thick-as-treacle funk with layers of keys, clavs, lots of phased guitars and heavy percussion. They include some downtempo and soul tracks too and their particularly distinctive keyboard-and-guitar-based sound gives the whole project a genuine coherence.

– Harold Heath