VA - Eccentric Soul, Omnibus (Numero Group) (90 tracks) [2012]

ECCENTRIC SOUL
Previously posted January 16, 2020.

VA - Eccentric Soul, Omnibus (Numero Group) (90 tracks) [2012]

The mother of all rare 45 compilations, Numero's 45th release Eccentric Soul: Omnibus closes the first chapter of our decade of mapping the American soul diaspora. The complete box set includes forty-five 45s, each with its own replica label and stylish custom Numero sleeve, as well as a 108-page hardback clothbound book chock-full of liner notes, band photos, ephemera, and indices. Everything is housed in a sleek, portable case featuring metal hardware, durable handle, and a vinyl-wrapped exterior patterned with a de-bossed Numero logo. Available in 19 different color combinations, drawing from red, blue, yellow, green, and orange, this beautiful case is the perfect home for this comprehensive collection. (Amazon)

When Rob Sevier, Ken Shipley, and Tom Lunt began Numero Group, the Chicago-based label specializing in archival compilations of rare and obscure (and mostly soul) artists, the trio’s original vision was to simply create a 10-disc, 20-artist collection of lost soul 7” 45-rpm singles and call it Eccentric Soul. While in pursuit of a particular single recorded at Columbus, OH’s Capsoul Studios, the three befriended and gained the trust of label owner Bill Moss. That friendship not only got them their much sought after single, Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr’s “You Can’t Blame Me”, but also opened the door to a flood of rare and lost recordings from Capsoul Studios.

The original 10 7” set was scrapped and replaced with Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label, a full-on compilation devoted to this small label that released just a dozen 7” and one LP. A decade and 48 releases later, 14 of which are a part of the Eccentric Soul series, Numero Group has figuratively returned to that original stack of 10 7” with Eccentric Soul: Omnibus, Vol. 1, the “mother of all rare 45 compilations.”  Described as “a tangled mess of loose ends”, Omnibus is a collection of 45 7” 45-rpm records representing lost gems that, for one reason or another, couldn’t find a home within earlier compilations. Baton Rouge’s 13th Amendment, with their mission to “abolish musical slavery”, deliver a deep-soul ballad in “Hard To Be In Love”, backed with “The Stretch”, a tight jam that evolved out of warm-up for the group’s horn section. The Soul Walkers’ “Can I Say It Again” practically rips off the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and “Just Jammin’” backed with “After We’re Gone (The World Keeps Turnin,)” by Free Mind is some of the grooviest sounds ever to come out of Milwaukee. The soul music within covers a wide range, from those following the Brownian archetype to those trying to capture the sweet, smooth sounds of Gordy’s Motown and Gamble & Huff’s TSOP and everywhere in between. Housed in a custom 45-box vinyl-wrapped carry case that comes in one of 19 color combinations, the collection includes 45 7” records all with replica labels and a 108-page cloth-bound hardcover book complete with liner notes, rare photographs, various indexes that allow a search by artist, club, label or studio and a digital download. Numero has achieved a reputation for quality both in content and in presentation and Omnibus certainly lives up it, raising the bar such that I can’t imagine what they have in store for their second (consequenceofsound.net)

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Track lists

01    13th Amendment    Hard to Be in Love    4:18
02    13th Amendment    The Stretch    3:29
03    Aggregation    A Child Is Born    2:51
04    Aggregation    Can You Feel It    3:13
05    Black Fur    When We Get Together Soon    3:37
06    Black Fur    Feel the Shock    3:28
07    Black Soul Express    Party Time    2:37
08    Black Soul Express    When I Left You    4:53
09    Crystal's Image    A Friend    4:47
10    Crystal's Image    Crystal's Image (Cold Crush Theme)    4:45
11    Darker Shades LTD.    Trackin' Down Jody    3:11
12    Darker Shades LTD.    Trackin' Down Jody Part 2    2:58
13    Deep Heat    Do It Again    3:21
14    Deep Heat    She's a Junkie (Who's the Blame)    2:39
15    Directory    Feel It in Your Bones    3:07
16    Directory    World and Creation    4:49
17    Duracha    Jody Is Gone    2:57
18    Duracha    Ghet-To Funk    3:05
19    Elements of Peace    Together - Part I    2:18
20    Elements of Peace    Together - Part II    3:26
21    Energettics    You Make Me Nothing    2:38
22    Energettics    Rainy Days and Monday    2:59
23    Everyday People    (Loose Booty) Is a Real Thing    4:06
24    Everyday People    Get Next to You    2:33
25    Family Connection    This Time    2:51
26    Family Connection    Lost Her Love    2:10
27    Flack and Company    Disco-TNT    2:58
28    Flack and Company    Been Loving You So Long (Don't Want to Stop)    2:56
29    Free Mind    Just Jammin'    2:23
30    Free Mind    After We're Gone (The World Keeps Turnin')    2:53
31    Hifidelics    Hifidelics Groove    3:30
32    Hifidelics    Quiptown    3:28
33    Hot Snow    Four Times the Love    2:56
34    Hot Snow    Me & You    2:03
35    Inbassador    Everyday    3:45
36    Inbassador    Everybody's Doing It    3:30
37    Intentions    Dig It (Shovel)    3:06
38    Intentions    Blowing with the Wind    4:00
39    Curtis Liggins Indications    Funky Monkey Right On    3:31
40    Curtis Liggins Indications    What It Is?     2:58
41    Majestees    Take Back All Those Things    2:01
42    Majestees    Let Her Go    3:20
43    Mixed Breed    Gotta Go Home    3:17
44    Mixed Breed    Wise    3:02
45    Morning After    Hey Girl    5:12
46    Morning After    Disco - Tick    3:54
47    Now    Land of Now    4:51
48    Now    Lovin' You Is Easy    2:31
49    Procedures    Magic Mirror    3:51
50    Procedures    Give Me One More Chance    4:58
51    Prophets of Peace    The Max    4:08
52    Prophets of Peace    You Can Be    3:33
53    Rokk    Patience    4:22
54    Rokk    Don't Be No Fool    3:40
55    Sag War Fare    Don't Be So Jive    3:26
56    Sag War Fare    Girl You Better Change    3:01
57    Sky's the Limit    Don't Be Afraid    3:48
58    Sky's the Limit    Don't Be Afraid (Instrumental)    3:41
59    Soul Walkers    Can I Say It Again    3:12
60    Soul Walkers    Stay Ahead    4:12
61    Pat Stallworth    Questions    3:38
62    Pat Stallworth    Questions Part 2    2:48
63    Stone Creations    Hands On a Golden Key    3:25
64    Stone Creations    The "It" Song    3:51
65    Super Soul Movement    Bad - Bad - Bad    3:08
66    Super Soul Movement    Bad - Bad - Bad Part 2    3:04
67    Suspicious Can Openers    Fever in Your Hot Pants    2:38
68    Suspicious Can Openers    Tuesday in the Rain    2:16
69    Techniques    Get Technified    4:01
70    Techniques    When You're Away    3:14
71    Third Generation    Mother Nature    3:43
72    Third Generation    Love Is Gonna Rain Down On Me    3:27
73    Three Days Ahead    Face It Man    2:20
74    Three Days Ahead    Rolling Love Part 2    3:48
75    Tickled Pink    Reach Out (And Give Me Your Hand)    3:02
76    Tickled Pink    Never Can Say Goodbye    2:49
77    Trinikas    Black Is Beautiful    2:48
78    Trinikas    Remember Me    2:28
79    Trust    Funk Power    3:40
80    Trust    Explosion    3:01
81    Two Plus Two    I'm Sure    3:03
82    Two Plus Two    Look Around    2:58
83    Union    Strike    2:28
84    Union    Come to My House for Lunch    2:16
85    Volumes    I've Never Been So in Love    2:18
86    Volumes    I'm Gonna Miss You    2:49
87    Walter & the Admerations    Life of Tears    2:31
88    Walter & the Admerations    Man Oh Man (What Have I Done)    2:41
89    Clifton White    The Grade A    2:31
90    Clifton White    Ain't No Love    3:09

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Syl Johnson - Complete Mythology (NUM032) [2010] (4 x CDs)

SYL JOHNSON

Previously posted April 10, 2019

Syl Johnson - Complete Mythology (NUM032) [2010] (4 x CDs)

Joining Otis, Wilson, and Percy, plus both Sam and Dave, is a new deity in the eternal soul pantheon. Take it from Syl Johnson himself: “This box set is the history of a masterful artist whose time has just arrived.” The self-proclaimed “most sampled artist ever,” Syl finally gets his due on this 4CD+6LP box covering his most productive period, 1959 through 1972. Collected for the first time are all of Syl’s Federal, Twinight, Zachron, Special Agent, Cha Cha, and TMP-Ting 45s, plus period cuts from his Japan-only LP Goodie Goodie Good Times, and a murderer’s grip of previously unreleased and little-heard out-takes. Lovingly remastered from the original source tapes, these 81 songs never sounded sharper, clearer, or funkier. And historian Bill Dahl’s comprehensive track-by-track annotations bring deep-research backstory to every one. Our handsomely detailed and artfully crafted 40 page, 12” x 12” booklet also features a 13,000-word biography, scores of unpublished photos, a must-read index covering the history of every Syl-sampling artist (paid-up or otherwise), and the most complete and accurate discography you’re likely to find in this universe. Packaged to deliver top-quality vinyl and CDs together, along with replica LP pressings of both the original Is It Because I’m Black and Dresses Too Short albums, Complete Mythology, five years in the making, makes up for every lost nanosecond by being the definitive Syl Johnson document.

For casual soul and funk fans, Syl Johnson's career began in 1967 with the funky, oft-sampled "Different Strokes" and was followed by the burning socially conscious anthem "Is It Because I'm Black." In the 1970s, Johnson's name became synonymous with Hi Records in Memphis -- "I Hear the Love Chimes" was immortalized in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown. But his story begins many years and labels before, in 1959 to be exact. He cut "Teardrops" and "They Who Love" for King Records' subsidiary Federal, based on the strength of a demo he walked in off the street with -- on his way to a Chess session! Johnson recorded a slew of singles for Federal between 1959 and 1962, before leaving and recording for a series of labels that included Cha Cha, One-derful!, TMP-Ting, Zachron, Twinight, and P-Vine, all but the last cut before moving to Memphis and Hi in 1972. The story told here reveals that Johnson -- despite his off-the-chart talent as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer -- never quite got over in the way that peers James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green did.

The evidence is collected convincingly on Complete Mythology, a massive 80-track, six-LP, four-CD set (the CDs mirror the LPs) that is the crowning achievement in archival music freak label Numero Group's catalog thus far. Johnson's career is documented chronologically, from "Teardrops" all the way through to "All I Need Is Someone Like You" (an elegant, Philly soul-inspired duet with wife Brenda), "Annie Has Got Hot Pants Power" (which directly inspired Brown's "Hot Pants"), and "Let's Start All Over Again." None of the Hi material is documented here; it needn't be because it's available elsewhere. This is Johnson's Chicago output before and after Memphis, during the first decade and a half of his career, the vast majority of it for Twinight, a label he helped to found. Johnson is no ordinary soul singer as the sounds here attest: they range from R&B-laced Chicago blues and soul to hard, edgy, jazzy uptown funk that rivals Brown's, to latter-day soul. Along the way are Johnson-penned originals as well as the hits he chased by other artists -- "I'll Take Those Skinny Legs" was written and recorded in response to Joe Tex's hit "Skinny Legs and All." There are even innovative covers of some Motown nuggets recorded in Detroit! There are seven unreleased tracks included in the package, too. In addition, as with all things Numero, the box features an exhaustively researched and annotated book with indispensable liners by Bill Dahl and loads of photos. While Johnson is known for creating myths surrounding his long career -- at 74 he's still going strong -- this set reveals the truth about his true worth as an artist, adding weight and heft to the story, thereby creating a new, and more than likely enduring, mythology. (AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Syl Johnson - Teardrops 2:30

02 Syl Johnson - They Who Love 2:17

03 Syl Johnson - I've Got Love 2:46

04 Syl Johnson - Lonely Man 2:37

05 Syl Johnson - I Need Love 2:42

06 Syl Johnson - His Gift 2:44

07 Syl Johnson - I've Got To Find My Baby 2:34

08 Syl Johnson - She's So Fine - I Just Gotta Make Her Mine 2:28

09 Syl Johnson - Little Sally Walker 2:34

10 Syl Johnson - I Resign From Your Love 2:35

11 Syl Johnson - I Wanna Know 2:18

12 Syl Johnson - Well Oh Well 2:42

13 Syl Johnson - Please, Please, Please 2:29

14 Syl Johnson - I'm Looking For My Baby 2:32

15 Syl Johnson - She's Alright 2:41

16 Syl Johnson - I Know 2:09

17 Syl Johnson - A Half Love 2:50

18 Syl Johnson - I've Been Talked About 1:42

19 Syl Johnson - This Heart Of Mine 2:44

CD2

01 Syl Johnson - Falling In Love Again 2:27

02 Syl Johnson - I've Got To Get Over 2:23

03 Syl Johnson - Straight Love, No Chaser 2:24

04 Syl Johnson - Surrounded 2:12

05 Syl Johnson - Try Me 2:04

06 Syl Johnson - Half A Love 2:13

07 Syl Johnson - Do You Know What Love Is 1:53

08 Syl Johnson - The Love I Found In You 2:39

09 Syl Johnson - Do You Know What Love Is 1:53

10 Syl Johnson - Things Ain't Right 2:32

11 Syl Johnson - Come On Sock It To Me 2:27

12 Syl Johnson - Different Strokes 2:19

13 Syl Johnson - Sorry 'Bout Dat 2:15

14 Syl Johnson - Ode To Soul Man 2:33

15 Syl Johnson - I'll Take Those Skinny Legs 1:58

16 Syl Johnson - Send Me Some Lovin' 1:41

17 Syl Johnson - Soul Drippin' 2:24

18 Syl Johnson - Fox Hunting On The Weekend 2:32

19 Syl Johnson - Try Me 2:34

20 Syl Johnson - I Feel An Urge 2:25

21 Syl Johnson - I Resign 2:08

22 Syl Johnson - Love Condition 3:05

CD3

01 Syl Johnson - My Funky Band 3:23

02 Syl Johnson - Sockin' Soul Power 2:52

03 Syl Johnson - Double Whammy 2:18

04 Syl Johnson - Dresses Too Short 2:47

05 Syl Johnson - I Can Take Care Of Business 3:01

06 Syl Johnson - Same Kind Of Thing 2:24

07 Syl Johnson - I've Got The Real Thing 2:42

08 Syl Johnson - Take Me Back 2:50

09 Syl Johnson - I Take Care Of Homework 2:19

10 Syl Johnson - Let Them Hang High 2:20

11 Syl Johnson - Don't Give It Away 2:48

12 Syl Johnson - Going To The Shack 2:43

13 Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black 7:34

14 Syl Johnson - Concrete Reservation 2:27

15 Syl Johnson - Together Forever 2:52

16 Syl Johnson - Come Together 3:15

17 Syl Johnson - Black Balloons 2:39

18 Syl Johnson - Walk A Mile In My Shoes 2:43

19 Syl Johnson - I'm Talkin' 'Bout Freedom 3:41

20 Syl Johnson - Right On 7:13

21 Syl Johnson - Everybody Needs Love 3:38

CD4

01 Syl Johnson - One Way Ticket To Nowhere 2:30

02 Syl Johnson - Kiss By Kiss 2:33

03 Syl Johnson - Thank You Baby 2:37

04 Syl Johnson - We Do It Together 2:42

05 Syl Johnson - Try My Love 2:34

06 Syl Johnson - That's Why 2:31

07 Syl Johnson - Get Ready 3:04

08 Syl Johnson - The Way You Do The Things You Do 3:26

09 Syl Johnson - Annie Got Hot Pants Power (Part 1) 3:09

10 Syl Johnson - Wouldn't Change My Lady 2:53

11 Syl Johnson - All I Need Is Someone Like You 2:58

12 Syl Johnson - Let's Start All Over Again 4:18

13 Syl Johnson - Hot Pants Lady 2:53

14 Syl Johnson - Wiggle In Your Hips 2:02

15 Syl Johnson - Your Love Is Good For Me 2:28

16 Syl Johnson - Trying To Get To You 2:19

17 Syl Johnson - Soul Strokes 2:41

18 Syl Johnson - Annie Got Hot Pants Power (Part 2) 2:59

19 Syl Johnson - Soul Heaven 2:35

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VA - Eccentric Soul, The Shiptown Label

NUMERO

VA - Eccentric Soul, The Shiptown Label 

Compiled here are 25 of Shiptown’s most compelling sides recorded between 1965-1977

For a brief moment in the mid-20th century, Norfolk, Virginia was the center of a musical universe led by Noah Biggs. The freewheeling wanderer originally came to the city at the height of the Great Depression in search of a job in the shipping industry, and eventually found work as a longshoreman with one of the area’s thriving shipyards. With a passion for gambling that fueled his interest in entrepreneurship, Biggs placed his bets on the record industry, incidentally, starting one of the few great labels to ever emerge from the area. Shiptown Records was Norfolk’s answer to Motown, a commercial outlet for the loose network of soul and R&B musicians who made a living performing in the area’s nightclubs. A new compilation from the Numero Group, Eccentric Soul: The Shiptown Label, offers a window into the imprint and into the era’s strange and exciting landscape, showcasing its importance without over speaking on the music’s behalf.

Shiptown established an image and brand identity for the “Norfolk Sound,” a regional style of soul music that supposedly inspired the Beatles and found new life as part of England’s “Northern Soul” movement. The label also benefited from the steady influx of people (and capital) moving through the city during the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to its booming shipyards and navy base. Frank Guida, a local record executive who owned the shop and studio where much of the “Norfolk Sound” was first recorded, helped build out the infrastructure of the scene through a successful suite of labels and artists, like vocalist Gary “U.S.” Bonds, who released a handful of singles that spent multiple weeks on the Billboard charts. There was also a certain continuity between the sounds of coastal Virginia and other Black diasporas abroad, as acts like Jimmy Soul borrowed ideas from the calypso records coming to Norfolk from the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the saxophonist Gene Barge’s style seemed to channel the influence of the big band ensembles present throughout his time in the U.S. military, providing backing instrumentation for an entire roster of musicians beyond Shiptown, on labels including Chess and Stax Records. Eccentric Soul: The Shiptown Label brings these influences together, connecting the spirit of the region with the broader sounds of the 1960s.

Ida Sands, a vocalist and member of the Soul Duo and the Idets, became one of Shiptown’s biggest stars. Her solo track “Start All Over Again” appears around halfway through this compilation, reverberating like a triumphant firecracker explosion from the golden age of Phil Spector’s wall of sound. With brash horns, thick guitars, and a fuzzy, lo-fi warmth, the 1969 single feels like a clear standout, the kind of perfect pop single that crate-diggers spend their entire lives looking for—even as it’s conspicuously buried by the album’s sequencing. Sands eventually married founder Noah Biggs, pushing her group the Idets closer to the label. Her bandmate Barbara Stant would become another breakout star for Shiptown, as well as its most prolific recording artist. With their support, Stant released a variety of singles, including “Baby I Love You/I'm Going to Outfit You Baby,” “My Mind Holds onto Yesterday,” and “Unsatisfied Woman,” all of which appear on this compilation. The latter is a sparse, downtempo standout with all of the pain and heartbreak of an Etta James song. Over soft guitar tones, Wurlitzer chords, and steady drums, Stant sings about the humiliation and debasement of investing time and energy in a relationship that’s fated to fall apart. It’s an agonizing entry into a catalog of inarguably sublime breakup songs, one that transcends regional and temporal boundaries to tap into something timeless.

The entire album is filled with similar moments of transcendence, where passion, grief, and joy become more than the sum of their circumstances. With its warm, slightly detuned horns, Wilson Williams’ “I Got a Lot to be Thankful For” is glorious and sure to be sampled by rappers for years to come. For all the incredible blogs, websites, documentaries, and local archives dedicated to preserving the depth of this historical period, nothing compares to musical moments like these.

To listen to the compilation is to bear witness to just how circumstantial the canonical histories of Motown, Stax, Chess, and other mid-century soul labels really are, despite the obvious quality of their catalogs. Shiptown will never be Motown, but it feels equally representative of that particular time and environment in pop music and Virginia, in part because it echoes Motown’s orientation to the political and economic climate of the 1960s. By welcoming listeners into the formation of a minor history—with all of its theaters, streets, neighborhoods, and diasporic influence—Numero gives us something more than the immediate satisfaction of even the best recorded music. It provides a snapshot of unfinished, imprecise histories for an audience eager to participate in the archival process. (pitchfork.com)

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Track lists

01 Dream Team There He Is 2:46

02 Soul Duo Can't Nobody Love Me (Like My Baby Do) 2:32

03 Idets Doggie In The Window 2:45

04 Anglos Since You've Been Gone 2:21

05 Ida Sands Prophesize 3:38

06 Barbara Stant Shadow In Your Footsteps 2:54

07 Wilson Williams I Can't Get Used To Losing You 2:07

08 Flip Flop Stevens Let's Do That Thing (Part 1) 3:27

09 Barbara Stant Baby I Love You 2:27

10 Nat Fross Too Many Skeletons In The Closet 2:36

11 Grooms Slow Down 5:19

12 Barbara Stant My Mind Holds Onto Yesterday 2:53

13 Ida Sands Start All Over Again 2:56

14 Wilson Williams I Got A Whole Lot To Be Thankful For 4:21

15 Positive Sounds I Almost Blew My Mind 3:38

16 Grooms I Deserve A Little Bit More 5:23

17 Barbara Stant Unsatisfied Woman 4:16

18 Positive Sounds You're The One I Need 2:31

19 Dream Team I'm Not Satisfied 2:03

20 Ida Sands Rescue Me 2:39

21 Barbara Stant I'm Going To Outfit You Baby 2:51

22 Soul Duo Are You Lonely For Me Baby 3:14

23 Wilson Williams Ain't That Loving You 2:31

24 Soul Duo This Is Your Day 2:31

25 Art Ensley & The Fabulous Echoes Band Open The Door To Your Heart 2:28

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VA - Eccentric Soul, Omnibus (2012, Numero Group) (90 tracks)

ECCENTRIC SOUL

VA - Eccentric Soul, Omnibus (Numero Group) (90 tracks) [2012]

The mother of all rare 45 compilations, Numero's 45th release Eccentric Soul: Omnibus closes the first chapter of our decade of mapping the American soul diaspora. The complete box set includes forty-five 45s, each with its own replica label and stylish custom Numero sleeve, as well as an 108-page hardback clothbound book chock-full of liner notes, band photos, ephemera, and indices. Everything is housed in a sleek, portable case featuring metal hardware, durable handle, and a vinyl-wrapped exterior patterned with a de-bossed Numero logo. Available in 19 different color combinations, drawing from red, blue, yellow, green, and orange, this beautiful case is the perfect home for this comprehensive collection. (Amazon)

When Rob Sevier, Ken Shipley, and Tom Lunt began Numero Group, the Chicago-based label specializing in archival compilations of rare and obscure (and mostly soul) artists, the trio’s original vision was to simply create a 10-disc, 20-artist collection of lost soul 7” 45-rpm singles and call it Eccentric Soul. While in pursuit of a particular single recorded at Columbus, OH’s Capsoul Studios, the three befriended and gained the trust of label owner Bill Moss. That friendship not only got them their much sought after single, Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr’s “You Can’t Blame Me”, but also opened the door to a flood of rare and lost recordings from Capsoul Studios.

The original 10 7” set was scrapped and replaced with Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label, a full-on compilation devoted to this small label that released just a dozen 7” and one LP. A decade and 48 releases later, 14 of which are a part of the Eccentric Soul series, Numero Group has figuratively returned to that original stack of 10 7” with Eccentric Soul: Omnibus, Vol. 1, the “mother of all rare 45 compilations.”  Described as “a tangled mess of loose ends”, Omnibus is a collection of 45 7” 45-rpm records representing lost gems that, for one reason or another, couldn’t find a home within earlier compilations. Baton Rouge’s 13th Amendment, with their mission to “abolish musical slavery”, deliver a deep-soul ballad in “Hard To Be In Love”, backed with “The Stretch”, a tight jam that evolved out of warm-up for the group’s horn section. The Soul Walkers’ “Can I Say It Again” practically rips off the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and “Just Jammin’” backed with “After We’re Gone (The World Keeps Turnin,)” by Free Mind is some of the grooviest sounds ever to come out of Milwaukee. The soul music within covers a wide range, from those following the Brownian archetype to those trying to capture the sweet, smooth sounds of Gordy’s Motown and Gamble & Huff’s TSOP and everywhere in between. Housed in a custom 45-box vinyl-wrapped carry case that comes in one of 19 color combinations, the collection includes 45 7” records all with replica labels and a 108-page cloth-bound hardcover book complete with liner notes, rare photographs, various indexes that allow a search by artist, club, label or studio and a digital download. Numero has achieved a reputation for quality both in content and in presentation and Omnibus certainly lives up it, raising the bar such that I can’t imagine what they have in store for their second (consequenceofsound.net)

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Track lists

01    13th Amendment    Hard to Be in Love    4:18
02    13th Amendment    The Stretch    3:29
03    Aggregation    A Child Is Born    2:51
04    Aggregation    Can You Feel It    3:13
05    Black Fur    When We Get Together Soon    3:37
06    Black Fur    Feel the Shock    3:28
07    Black Soul Express    Party Time    2:37
08    Black Soul Express    When I Left You    4:53
09    Crystal's Image    A Friend    4:47
10    Crystal's Image    Crystal's Image (Cold Crush Theme)    4:45
11    Darker Shades LTD.    Trackin' Down Jody    3:11
12    Darker Shades LTD.    Trackin' Down Jody Part 2    2:58
13    Deep Heat    Do It Again    3:21
14    Deep Heat    She's a Junkie (Who's the Blame)    2:39
15    Directory    Feel It in Your Bones    3:07
16    Directory    World and Creation    4:49
17    Duracha    Jody Is Gone    2:57
18    Duracha    Ghet-To Funk    3:05
19    Elements of Peace    Together - Part I    2:18
20    Elements of Peace    Together - Part II    3:26
21    Energettics    You Make Me Nothing    2:38
22    Energettics    Rainy Days and Monday    2:59
23    Everyday People    (Loose Booty) Is a Real Thing    4:06
24    Everyday People    Get Next to You    2:33
25    Family Connection    This Time    2:51
26    Family Connection    Lost Her Love    2:10
27    Flack and Company    Disco-TNT    2:58
28    Flack and Company    Been Loving You So Long (Don't Want to Stop)    2:56
29    Free Mind    Just Jammin'    2:23
30    Free Mind    After We're Gone (The World Keeps Turnin')    2:53
31    Hifidelics    Hifidelics Groove    3:30
32    Hifidelics    Quiptown    3:28
33    Hot Snow    Four Times the Love    2:56
34    Hot Snow    Me & You    2:03
35    Inbassador    Everyday    3:45
36    Inbassador    Everybody's Doing It    3:30
37    Intentions    Dig It (Shovel)    3:06
38    Intentions    Blowing with the Wind    4:00
39    Curtis Liggins Indications    Funky Monkey Right On    3:31
40    Curtis Liggins Indications    What It Is?     2:58
41    Majestees    Take Back All Those Things    2:01
42    Majestees    Let Her Go    3:20
43    Mixed Breed    Gotta Go Home    3:17
44    Mixed Breed    Wise    3:02
45    Morning After    Hey Girl    5:12
46    Morning After    Disco - Tick    3:54
47    Now    Land of Now    4:51
48    Now    Lovin' You Is Easy    2:31
49    Procedures    Magic Mirror    3:51
50    Procedures    Give Me One More Chance    4:58
51    Prophets of Peace    The Max    4:08
52    Prophets of Peace    You Can Be    3:33
53    Rokk    Patience    4:22
54    Rokk    Don't Be No Fool    3:40
55    Sag War Fare    Don't Be So Jive    3:26
56    Sag War Fare    Girl You Better Change    3:01
57    Sky's the Limit    Don't Be Afraid    3:48
58    Sky's the Limit    Don't Be Afraid (Instrumental)    3:41
59    Soul Walkers    Can I Say It Again    3:12
60    Soul Walkers    Stay Ahead    4:12
61    Pat Stallworth    Questions    3:38
62    Pat Stallworth    Questions Part 2    2:48
63    Stone Creations    Hands On a Golden Key    3:25
64    Stone Creations    The "It" Song    3:51
65    Super Soul Movement    Bad - Bad - Bad    3:08
66    Super Soul Movement    Bad - Bad - Bad Part 2    3:04
67    Suspicious Can Openers    Fever in Your Hot Pants    2:38
68    Suspicious Can Openers    Tuesday in the Rain    2:16
69    Techniques    Get Technified    4:01
70    Techniques    When You're Away    3:14
71    Third Generation    Mother Nature    3:43
72    Third Generation    Love Is Gonna Rain Down On Me    3:27
73    Three Days Ahead    Face It Man    2:20
74    Three Days Ahead    Rolling Love Part 2    3:48
75    Tickled Pink    Reach Out (And Give Me Your Hand)    3:02
76    Tickled Pink    Never Can Say Goodbye    2:49
77    Trinikas    Black Is Beautiful    2:48
78    Trinikas    Remember Me    2:28
79    Trust    Funk Power    3:40
80    Trust    Explosion    3:01
81    Two Plus Two    I'm Sure    3:03
82    Two Plus Two    Look Around    2:58
83    Union    Strike    2:28
84    Union    Come to My House for Lunch    2:16
85    Volumes    I've Never Been So in Love    2:18
86    Volumes    I'm Gonna Miss You    2:49
87    Walter & the Admerations    Life of Tears    2:31
88    Walter & the Admerations    Man Oh Man (What Have I Done)    2:41
89    Clifton White    The Grade A    2:31
90    Clifton White    Ain't No Love    3:09

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Syl Johnson - Complete Mythology (NUM032) [2010] (4 x CDs)

SYL JOHNSON

Syl Johnson - Complete Mythology (NUM032) [2010] (4 x CDs)

Joining Otis, Wilson, and Percy, plus both Sam and Dave, is a new deity in the eternal soul pantheon. Take it from Syl Johnson himself: “This box set is the history of a masterful artist whose time has just arrived.” The self-proclaimed “most sampled artist ever,” Syl finally gets his due on this 4CD+6LP box covering his most productive period, 1959 through 1972. Collected for the first time are all of Syl’s Federal, Twinight, Zachron, Special Agent, Cha Cha, and TMP-Ting 45s, plus period cuts from his Japan-only LP Goodie Goodie Good Times, and a murderer’s grip of previously unreleased and little-heard out-takes. Lovingly remastered from the original source tapes, these 81 songs never sounded sharper, clearer, or funkier. And historian Bill Dahl’s comprehensive track-by-track annotations bring deep-research backstory to every one. Our handsomely detailed and artfully crafted 40 page, 12” x 12” booklet also features a 13,000-word biography, scores of unpublished photos, a must-read index covering the history of every Syl-sampling artist (paid-up or otherwise), and the most complete and accurate discography you’re likely to find in this universe. Packaged to deliver top-quality vinyl and CDs together, along with replica LP pressings of both the original Is It Because I’m Black and Dresses Too Short albums, Complete Mythology, five years in the making, makes up for every lost nanosecond by being the definitive Syl Johnson document.

For casual soul and funk fans, Syl Johnson's career began in 1967 with the funky, oft-sampled "Different Strokes" and was followed by the burning socially conscious anthem "Is It Because I'm Black." In the 1970s, Johnson's name became synonymous with Hi Records in Memphis -- "I Hear the Love Chimes" was immortalized in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown. But his story begins many years and labels before, in 1959 to be exact. He cut "Teardrops" and "They Who Love" for King Records' subsidiary Federal, based on the strength of a demo he walked in off the street with -- on his way to a Chess session! Johnson recorded a slew of singles for Federal between 1959 and 1962, before leaving and recording for a series of labels that included Cha Cha, One-derful!, TMP-Ting, Zachron, Twinight, and P-Vine, all but the last cut before moving to Memphis and Hi in 1972. The story told here reveals that Johnson -- despite his off-the-chart talent as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer -- never quite got over in the way that peers James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green did.

The evidence is collected convincingly on Complete Mythology, a massive 80-track, six-LP, four-CD set (the CDs mirror the LPs) that is the crowning achievement in archival music freak label Numero Group's catalog thus far. Johnson's career is documented chronologically, from "Teardrops" all the way through to "All I Need Is Someone Like You" (an elegant, Philly soul-inspired duet with wife Brenda), "Annie Has Got Hot Pants Power" (which directly inspired Brown's "Hot Pants"), and "Let's Start All Over Again." None of the Hi material is documented here; it needn't be because it's available elsewhere. This is Johnson's Chicago output before and after Memphis, during the first decade and a half of his career, the vast majority of it for Twinight, a label he helped to found. Johnson is no ordinary soul singer as the sounds here attest: they range from R&B-laced Chicago blues and soul to hard, edgy, jazzy uptown funk that rivals Brown's, to latter-day soul. Along the way are Johnson-penned originals as well as the hits he chased by other artists -- "I'll Take Those Skinny Legs" was written and recorded in response to Joe Tex's hit "Skinny Legs and All." There are even innovative covers of some Motown nuggets recorded in Detroit! There are seven unreleased tracks included in the package, too. In addition, as with all things Numero, the box features an exhaustively researched and annotated book with indispensable liners by Bill Dahl and loads of photos. While Johnson is known for creating myths surrounding his long career -- at 74 he's still going strong -- this set reveals the truth about his true worth as an artist, adding weight and heft to the story, thereby creating a new, and more than likely enduring, mythology. (AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Syl Johnson - Teardrops 2:30

02 Syl Johnson - They Who Love 2:17

03 Syl Johnson - I've Got Love 2:46

04 Syl Johnson - Lonely Man 2:37

05 Syl Johnson - I Need Love 2:42

06 Syl Johnson - His Gift 2:44

07 Syl Johnson - I've Got To Find My Baby 2:34

08 Syl Johnson - She's So Fine - I Just Gotta Make Her Mine 2:28

09 Syl Johnson - Little Sally Walker 2:34

10 Syl Johnson - I Resign From Your Love 2:35

11 Syl Johnson - I Wanna Know 2:18

12 Syl Johnson - Well Oh Well 2:42

13 Syl Johnson - Please, Please, Please 2:29

14 Syl Johnson - I'm Looking For My Baby 2:32

15 Syl Johnson - She's Alright 2:41

16 Syl Johnson - I Know 2:09

17 Syl Johnson - A Half Love 2:50

18 Syl Johnson - I've Been Talked About 1:42

19 Syl Johnson - This Heart Of Mine 2:44

CD2

01 Syl Johnson - Falling In Love Again 2:27

02 Syl Johnson - I've Got To Get Over 2:23

03 Syl Johnson - Straight Love, No Chaser 2:24

04 Syl Johnson - Surrounded 2:12

05 Syl Johnson - Try Me 2:04

06 Syl Johnson - Half A Love 2:13

07 Syl Johnson - Do You Know What Love Is 1:53

08 Syl Johnson - The Love I Found In You 2:39

09 Syl Johnson - Do You Know What Love Is 1:53

10 Syl Johnson - Things Ain't Right 2:32

11 Syl Johnson - Come On Sock It To Me 2:27

12 Syl Johnson - Different Strokes 2:19

13 Syl Johnson - Sorry 'Bout Dat 2:15

14 Syl Johnson - Ode To Soul Man 2:33

15 Syl Johnson - I'll Take Those Skinny Legs 1:58

16 Syl Johnson - Send Me Some Lovin' 1:41

17 Syl Johnson - Soul Drippin' 2:24

18 Syl Johnson - Fox Hunting On The Weekend 2:32

19 Syl Johnson - Try Me 2:34

20 Syl Johnson - I Feel An Urge 2:25

21 Syl Johnson - I Resign 2:08

22 Syl Johnson - Love Condition 3:05

CD3

01 Syl Johnson - My Funky Band 3:23

02 Syl Johnson - Sockin' Soul Power 2:52

03 Syl Johnson - Double Whammy 2:18

04 Syl Johnson - Dresses Too Short 2:47

05 Syl Johnson - I Can Take Care Of Business 3:01

06 Syl Johnson - Same Kind Of Thing 2:24

07 Syl Johnson - I've Got The Real Thing 2:42

08 Syl Johnson - Take Me Back 2:50

09 Syl Johnson - I Take Care Of Homework 2:19

10 Syl Johnson - Let Them Hang High 2:20

11 Syl Johnson - Don't Give It Away 2:48

12 Syl Johnson - Going To The Shack 2:43

13 Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black 7:34

14 Syl Johnson - Concrete Reservation 2:27

15 Syl Johnson - Together Forever 2:52

16 Syl Johnson - Come Together 3:15

17 Syl Johnson - Black Balloons 2:39

18 Syl Johnson - Walk A Mile In My Shoes 2:43

19 Syl Johnson - I'm Talkin' 'Bout Freedom 3:41

20 Syl Johnson - Right On 7:13

21 Syl Johnson - Everybody Needs Love 3:38

CD4

01 Syl Johnson - One Way Ticket To Nowhere 2:30

02 Syl Johnson - Kiss By Kiss 2:33

03 Syl Johnson - Thank You Baby 2:37

04 Syl Johnson - We Do It Together 2:42

05 Syl Johnson - Try My Love 2:34

06 Syl Johnson - That's Why 2:31

07 Syl Johnson - Get Ready 3:04

08 Syl Johnson - The Way You Do The Things You Do 3:26

09 Syl Johnson - Annie Got Hot Pants Power (Part 1) 3:09

10 Syl Johnson - Wouldn't Change My Lady 2:53

11 Syl Johnson - All I Need Is Someone Like You 2:58

12 Syl Johnson - Let's Start All Over Again 4:18

13 Syl Johnson - Hot Pants Lady 2:53

14 Syl Johnson - Wiggle In Your Hips 2:02

15 Syl Johnson - Your Love Is Good For Me 2:28

16 Syl Johnson - Trying To Get To You 2:19

17 Syl Johnson - Soul Strokes 2:41

18 Syl Johnson - Annie Got Hot Pants Power (Part 2) 2:59

19 Syl Johnson - Soul Heaven 2:35

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