VA - Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts of Deep City (2007)

Like a dusty curtain thrown back to reveal a pot of soul-glowing gold, a decrepit cardboard box, stained with age and filled with ancient tape reels, enshrines The Outskirts of Deep City. Read the liner notes and you'll learn that the box was discovered in a Florida closet that time forgot, revealing treasures from one of the original Miami sound machines on this sequel to 2006's Eccentric Soul Vol. 7, The Deep City Label. The long-lost artists represented here are very much products of their time, often aping the sounds they no doubt loved to listen to: the Deep City Band's own "Masterpiece" takes a cue from the funky sounds of New Orleans neighbors the Meters, and the pistol-report sound effects that punctuate Betty Wright's "Mr. Lucky" could have been lifted directly from Jr. Walker's world-shaking "Shotgun." Gems like Clarence Reid and the Rollers may not have had the luck or timing to top the charts outside of Florida, but there's no questioning the sincerity of these performances. Fans of hard-to-find soul, take heart. By all indications, the loving archivists at Numero Group haven't yet scraped dry the well of ancient acetate to deliver this sublime new collection. On the contrary, it appears that they're picking up speed and may soon reach cruising altitude. --Ben Heege