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"Numero 001: Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label"
It was about a year ago when I first stumbled upon the Numero Group, and finally after months of begging to get the true insides on them, they've finally answered my emails and come around to getting some of their stuff to us. Numero 001 is the first part of an indefinite Eccentric Soul series. It's a series of out of print soul music criminally ignored or lost for years in vaults and basements, and part one is a representation of Columbus Ohio's Capsoul label and their releases from the early 1970s.
At the radio station I DJ at, somebody had managed to get a hold of three of the first four Numero releases. I'm a sucker for series releases and the spines and cases stacked together was the first noticable thing. They looked like they belonged together on the shelf. Opening them up, the deluxe booklets were arresting: the clean layout and calculated attention to detail was incredible, featuring stories, biographies, scans of the records, and photographs of some of the people involved. Somebody obviously has paid a lot of attention to this release and the least it deserved was my ears.
The restoration efforts don't end with the packaging. The Numero Group enlisted the very important "fifth Beatle" of Jeff Lipton, the man who truly deserves the title of "master," as mastering these recordings from records is no quick and easy feat. (Jeff Lipton's resume includes a ton of remastering work for Rykodisc and ArchEnemy labels along with acts like Flaming Lips, Magnetic Fields, 27, Empty House Cooperative, and Sebadoh.) The music is vibrant, alive, with full, warm bass sounds and crisp and clean cymbals; and, despite a few vinyl pops here and there, probably sounds better than these old records did on old record players back then.
So the Capsoul label wasn't a great success, perhaps overshadowed by the soul from Detroit and Chicago, but probably more challenged by the lack of money and distribution available to small labels back then. Label founder Bill Moss was notorious for selling records out of his trunk. He was a popular DJ back when DJ actually meant something: he had a great ear, and the music is every bit as powerful and sincere as the heavy hitters of the labels like Stax and Motown.
For a label with a small number of releases, Capsoul captured a substantial spectrum of contemporary soul. "You're All I Need to Make It" is pure heaven, launching the collection with the sugary sweet, but powerful crooning from the group Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr. It's infectious in the mere first seconds and doesn't falter one bit. Marion Black, another fantastic singer, who's represented on this collection by two cuts gives the bluesier side of soul with the more upbeat "Who Knows" and heart-tugging gospel-tinged "Go On Fool." Kool Blues kicks up the pace with the bouncy, infectious "I'm Gonna Keep On Loving You" (no relation to REO Speedwagon), but take things down to the slow dance with their ballad "Can We Try Love Again." Songs like "Sock It To 'Em Soul Brother" by Bill Moss and "Hot Grits" (inspired by Al Green's scalding incident in the south) are firey singalongs that would have been great to see live, at least to read about them in the accompanying booklet would be nice however. Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr return near the end with the grand mid-tempo ballad "A World Without You," which, with its strings and even harpsichord could have even given "Mercy Mercy Me" a run for its money. It's easy to tell that Bill Moss and crew went all out in production and, rightfully so, had some fantastic material to do it with, but at the time hits were regional, and while some of these songs were big in the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Cleveland areas, the important trend-setting music hubs of New York and Chicago simply couldn't be cracked.
In fact, of all the 19 songs on here (including two "bonus cuts"), just about any these songs could have become bigger hits. The talents are undeniable, the songwrtiting was wonderful, and there was clearly a lot invested into the original recording sessions, and, as the story goes, after only a dozen singles and one LP, the label was forced to close, the masters destroyed by a flood, and a box of the remaining stock dumped. The efforts of the Numero Group remind me that the best reason to start a record label isn't "because I want a record label" but "because I have these excellent recordings that more people have GOT to hear." As a person who's had a longtime interest in audio preservation and restoration, it's exciting to see a small operation like the Numero Group put so much time, passion, and attention to these great causes. We have the easy job of simply being able to listen.
samples:
- The Four Mints - Row My Boat
- Ronnie Taylor - Without Love
- Elijah & the Ebonites - Hot Grits!!!
