VA - Soul Cal: Disco & Modern Soul Masterpieces 1971-1982 (2012)

A decade in the making, Soul Cal is the definitive survey of America's best, independent, 70s soul-ensembles. Profiled within this album and book are the bands that transitioned from funk to disco; the bands that kept up the backbeat as rhythm moved to the backseat. Against the odds, they left recorded artifacts for we at Now-Again to dig out, dust off and restore. Collected here for the first time are the musical dreams of dozens, dreams that were deferred but were never discarded. Soul Cal features some well-known figures from the various soul scenes that paved the way for their resurgence. The Northern Soul, Modern Soul and Deep Disco and Funk circles have all obsessed over the likes of Luther Davis, Rhythm Machine, Mixed Sugar and Record Player. But these and Soul Cal's other bands many of whom managed only to release a solitary 7" single in their heyday - will be unknown to most. Their obscurity notwithstanding, the music made by these bands is sure to strike a chord within the soul of any person taken by black American music from the latter half of the 20th century. In his long-running investigation into this flux-period in black American music, compiler and key researcher Eothen "Egon" Alapatt sought not only licenses, records and master tapes - but the stories and backdrops of these majestic soul songs and the ensembles that created them. It is due to the immense research that his investigation demanded and the trove of information and music he unearthed that we at Now-Again decided to present Soul Cal as an album and a book at the same time. Soul Cal's music is too good to be anonymously relaunched and a CD or LP booklet can only hold so much information. Simply telling the stories of these bands without unleashing their largely unheard music just seemed unfair. Thus, Soul Cal offers the enthused a chance to listen to, read about and reflect on this great burst of black American creativity in the decade after funk, the decade before hip-hop.