Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label

by ECCENTRIC SOUL: PRIX LABEL / VA

Overview

The Numero Group is expert at finding, compiling and annotating the output of obscure independent R&B and soul labels, and they've done it again with this collection of tracks recorded between 1969 and 1973 at Clem Price's Columbus, OH-based Harmonic Sounds Studio for his fledgling Prix Records imprint. Price's label released less than a dozen singles in its history, none of which charted or made much more than a regional impact on the world, but thanks to Numero these delightful rarities are now back in circulation. Several of those singles are collected here, along with recently discovered master takes and assorted demos (and at least one extended remix), and the end result is like an alternate history of late-'60s soul. The very first track is truly stunning, a brilliant and exciting song called "Wait a Minute" sung by lost soul man Eddie Ray, and in a fair and just universe, this one would have been a massive hit. Ray's "Glad I Found You" is only a fraction less amazing, and both songs (and performances) qualify for great lost gem status. Nothing else in this anthology is quite so striking, but only by degree, and cut after cut exhibits impassioned singing and a suitably loose and appropriately ragged instrumental backdrop, usually anchored by saxophonist Chip Willis and/or guitarist Joe King. The promotion and distribution problems facing independent labels have always been daunting, and this is undoubtedly what led to Price closing the doors on Harmonic Sounds and Prix in 1974, but the music he preserved and which is re-preserved by the Numero Group on this fine and fun compilation show that none of it was in vain. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	06/05/2007
Label:	Numero
UPC:	0825764101523
Rank:	148032

Tracks

1. Wait a Minute  - Eddie Ray
2. Mystic  -  OFS Unlimited
3. Never Walk out on You  - Gene King  - Mitch Mitchell
4. Speak on Up  - Joe King
5. Ain't Gonna Run  -  Royal Esquires
6. You Got Me  - Eddie Ray
7. I'm Gonna Gitcha  -  Double Exposure  - Chip Willis  -  Chip Willis & Double Exposure
8. Can't Get a Nuff  - Mitch Mitchell  - Mitch Mitchell
9. Melon Jelly  -  Soul Ensemble
10. Glad I Found You  - Eddie Ray
11. Listen Black Brother  - Marion Black
12. Our Love Used to Be  -  Royal Esquires
13. Mister Kidneys  -  OFS Unlimited
14. Come on and Gettit  - Marion Black
15. You're My Everything  - Joe King
16. Untitled Studio Moves  -  Harmonic Sounds Band
17. You Got Me  - Eddie Ray
18. You and Me  -  Penny & The Quarters
19. You Are Mine  - Eddie Ray

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Mitch Mitchell   Primary Artist,Primary Artist
Chip Willis & Double Exposure   Primary Artist
Eddie Ray   Primary Artist
Chip Willis   Primary Artist
Royal Esquires   Primary Artist
Marion Black   Primary Artist
Gene King   Primary Artist
Soul Ensemble   Primary Artist
Double Exposure   Primary Artist
Joe King   Primary Artist
Harmonic Sounds Band   Primary Artist
Penny & The Quarters   Primary Artist
OFS Unlimited   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Rob Sevier   Compilation Producer,Reissue Producer,Liner Notes,Research
Clem Price   Audio Production
Dante Carfagna   Compilation Producer,Research,Liner Notes
Mitch Mitchell   Composer
Jessica Thompson   Assistant
Jeff Lipton   Mastering
Ken Shipley   Reissue Producer
Tom Lunt   Reissue Producer