Eccentric Soul 007- The Deep City Label

For more great music reviews & torrents, visit btbeat.comrnrnrnrnFrom the first moments of a falling-down-the-stairs bassline and a gritty guitar from the opening track, the self-doubting dirge "Am I A Good Man?", it\'s clear the latest compilation in the Numero Group\'s Eccentric Soul series is yet another gem unearthed. Operating as a kind of mini-Motown with a stable of house musicians and composers, Miami\'s Deep City Records delivered a modest catalog in the mid-60s. What\'s clear from the energy of these recordings is that while Deep City may not have had A-listers like Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, or Martha Reeves, there was no shortage of commitment when it came time to deliver a scorching soul workout. rnMinus the subtlety of Otis Redding\'s version, standout vocalist Helene Smith delivers a sincere and emotional "Pain In My Heart." A young Betty Wright, who would score Top 10 R&B hits in the 70s, previews her later success on "Paralyzed." Witty lyrical variations on everyday soul themes also abound, as in Smith\'s holiday-themed "Willing And Able" which proclaims "I don\'t want diamonds for Christmas, and I don\'t want Santa hangin\' \'round, unless he\'s going to bring me you" and Paul Kelly\'s "The Upset," which treats competition for a lover\'s affections like Cassius Clay treated Sonny Liston. A real knockout. rnrn- amazon.comrnrnrnrnPossibly the most influential of all the 60s Miami soul label\'s, the Deep City sound not only changed the Metro-Dade area, but set the tone for disco powerhouse TK\'s impressive run in the 70s. The singles on Willie Clark and Johnny Pearsall\'s Lloyd and Deep City label\'s are Florida\'s rarest of the rare, and we\'ve collected the best of their four year run here. Includes Betty Wright and Paul Kelly\'s first sides, the can\'t-miss-but-did diva Helene Smith, obscure work by Frank Williams & the Rocketeers, as well as a previously unreleased acetate by the Moovers. rnrn- numerogroup.comrnrnrnrnDuring the 1960s, it was difficult to find a moderate-sized American city that didn\'t have an independent soul label pumping out singles destined for thrift-store obscurity. Numero Group\'s incomparable Eccentric Soul series has already documented two such labels, Chicago\'s Bandit and Columbus, Ohio\'s Capsoul; with the third volume, the label shines a light on Miami\'s Deep City imprint. What distinguishes Deep City from most of its mid-60s peers is that, while its own output fell on deaf ears outside of Miami, several people involved with the enterprise eventually found success in the music history.rnDeep City essentially laid the groundwork for Henry Stone\'s T.K. imprint, honed Willie Clarke\'s production skills, and discovered Betty Wright, Paul Kelly, and Clarence "Blowfly" Reid. The label\'s Criteria Studio also played host to giants like Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin-- closer brushes with fame than most shoestring-budget soul labels enjoyed. Many of the musicians who played on these recordings cut their teeth in Florida A&M University\'s "Incomparable Marching 100" band, and you can hear that discipline in the comp\'s solid backing tracks, wicked horn arrangements, and complex drumming.rnrnFor their parts, Clarke and label co-founder Johnny Pearsall were moonlighters, working at a local middle school (Clarke taught art, Pearsall was an administrator), while arranger Arnold Albury was a music teacher and Incomparable Marching 100 alum. From the beginning, Deep City had the potential for national success, hitching its wagon to should-have-been-a-star Helene Smith. Smith had a sweet, rangey voice not dissimilar to Mary Wells, and her five songs here reveal a remarkably developed talent. In particular, "You Got to Do Your Share" and the spacey "I Am Controlled By Your Love", with its chinking guitars, deliciously nuanced lead, and heavenly backing vocals, deserved a much-larger audience.rnrnThose backing vocals were provided by the Moovers, an amazing harmony soul combo who crop up several times on the compilation, most notably on "One Little Dance" and "Someone to Fulfill My Needs", the latter a spooky crawler full of great harmonies and sumptuously deep bass. The previously unreleased Moovers track "Darling I\'ll Go", lifted by Numero Group from acetate, kicks off with an intro that sounds like a cousin to the Skatalites\' "Addis Ababa", offering the starkest indication of the label\'s proximity to Jamaica. Though the occasional Latin influence does pop up in the rhythm section, Motown and the then-burgeoning sound of Southern soul are far more dominant touchstones.rnrnThe Southern soul influence is most apparent on Johnny K. Killens & The Dynamites\' driving proto-funk cut "I Don\'t Need Help", which features drier production than most of what surrounds it. More difficult to classify is the opening cut, Them Two\'s "Am I a Good Man". The song is a smoky masterpiece of tortured soul, with a huge bassline pulling it through its various movements while Smith\'s ghostly backing vocals coax the dual lead vocalists to a cold sweat. The song also makes it clear how superb Numero Group\'s remastering job is-- the production is traceable to its time, but the sound quality and depth of field is thoroughly modern. Coupled with the extensive liners and photographs, this is what sets Numero apart from other reissue labels.rnrnThe final chapter of the brief Deep City story-- the label only lasted from 1964 to 1968-- is a classic music industry falling-out tale. By 1967, Pearsall was married to Smith, who was enjoying her status as Miami\'s queen of soul, and the introduction of Betty Wright to the label\'s roster, such as it was, did not go over well. The tracks Wright waxed for Deep City are uniformly astounding, her voice brimming with passion, and had personal politics not interfered, she and Smith would have made a formidable pair. The result of a prospective competition between the two for supremacy at the label is another tantalizing what-if.rnrnAs it happened, Pearsall refused to work with Wright, and Reid (who wrote, produced, and played sessions for Deep City) exited with Clarke and Wright, leaving Pearsall to finish the label\'s run with a Helene Smith LP that collected all of her sides. For Pearsall and Smith, it was the end of their involvement in music, while many of the other players in the Deep City story went on to success in the disco era or remained active as session players in Miami. Though their paths ultimately diverged, the music they were responsible for at Deep City was truly among the best small-label soul of the 60s, and here it\'s well-preserved, presented in beautiful packaging with remastered sound, and for once, receiving national distribution.rnrn8.7/10rnrn- pitchforkmediarnrnrnrnArtist: Various Artists rnAlbum: Eccentric Soul 007: The Deep City Label rnDate Of Release: 2007rnGenre: R&B/SoulrnBitrate: VBR --alt-preset extreme