Album: Wendy Rene, After Laughter Comes Rain (Light in the Attic)

Teenaged singer Wendy Rene signed for Stax in 1964 and retired in 1967. This tiny window produced a handful of supreme garage-soul songs, with "After Laughter" later sampled by Wu-Tang Clan and covered by Alicia Keys.

This lovingly curated compilation opens with "Bar-B-Q" , the best meat-related dance-craze song I know. Co-written by Steve Cropper, it's handclapping-soul heaven. "After Laughter" and "What Will Tomorrow Bring" are almost as good. Everything is worth hearing.