young disciples
I've long been a devoted fan of Numero Group's uniformly stellar Eccentric Soul compilation series, and their latest release, Eccentric Soul: The Young Disciples -- composed of 21 lost gems from East St. Louis' Young Disciples collective from the late '60s/early '70s -- is among the strongest of the bunch. From the label:"With nearly eighty local youths involved from both sides of the Mississippi, the Young Disciples (named for one of the area's most notorious gangs) encompassed solo acts, duos, male and female vocal groups, a massive horn section and a troupe. Every sweat-drenched recording included here emerged from this grass-roots organization that changed, if not saved, lives."
The whole thing is essential, but it's the three songs from Sharen Clark & the Product of Time that have been on repeat. In particular, this heartwrenching soul ballad from 1970 makes the fact that we've never heard of Ms. Clark before feel like a huge injustice:
Read more about the history of the Young Disciples collective here. Eccentric Soul: The Young Disciples is out next week on CD, and will be available on vinyl in January, but you can get it digitally now here.
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elsewhere:
New Paw Tracks signee Dent May was discovered by the Animal Collective dudes while they were recording Merriweather Post Pavilion down in May's hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. Here's the Tropicalia-tinged first track from his forthcoming The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele LP, which was inspired by the likes of Serge Gainsbourg + Lee Hazlewood:
The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele was recorded by Rusty Santos in May's double-wide trailer in Taylor, MS, and
is out February 3, 2009, on Paw Tracks. Featuring album art (pictured above) by the immensely talented Will Bryant.
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