Underneath Michael Slaboch’s tree this year was a copy of Joaquim Paolo’s Taschen-released Funk & Soul Covers. There seems to be a glut of record cover books hitting the market in the last few years (vynils are making a comeback if you haven’t heard), and this one doesn’t upset the genre’s balance of uninspired mediocrity. In fact, it sets a new low!
Look close in that bottom right hand corner and find our Asterisk label’s logo on the 2008 reissue of Boscoe’s S/T album. We’ll admit that the Kingdom of Chad-issued LP is something of a grail for funk collectors, rare as rare gets, but it seems like a publisher of Taschen’s salt could find someone in the world with an original copy and have it scanned. Shit, we’ve got two in our office!
A small time fail in the grand scheme of things, but if Taschen wants an audience beyond the casual Barnes & Nobel shopper killing 30 minutes before a movie begins at the cineplex next door, they might want to consider employing editors and compilers with a stronger pedigree in the field.
The wonderful British music lovers at Mojo just gave a “Disc Of The Day” shout to Boscoe, Chicago’s Avant-Soul Black Power Masterpiece. It’s time for this record to start that revolution we keep hoping for. Power! To The People! Put down that scone! Put some Hennessy in that tea!
I happened to catch Chicago Public Radio’s morning show which covered our Boscoe reissue while stuck in holiday traffic today. Here’s a link to the engaging piece by Dan Bindert with some great bites from Boscoe drummer, Steve Cobb talking about the recording of the LP, the band’s political and sociological message & the Chicago music scene during that era. He also gives a much deserved shout out to legendary studio engineer – and my former professor – Malcom Chisolm.
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=31107
