Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Methodology, Twinight | Tags: Jennifer Ludden, Morning Edition, NPR, Renaldo Domino, Twinight's Lunar Rotation
The Chicago based music label Numero Group reissues forgotten gems from all different genres of music – rock and roll, gospel, funk, R&B and soul. Most recently some of the performers went on tour under the banner of the Eccentric Soul Revue. Guest host Jennifer Ludden speaks with one of the label’s co-founders Ken Shipley and one of the performers, Renaldo Domino.
Filed under: Boddie, Eccentric Soul Revue, Methodology, Uncategorized | Tags: Numero Sale
It was bound to happen, after three years in our 1100 square foot basement office and an influx of over 40 releases, Numero has come to a space crossroads. Sometime around the middle of this year we noticed the warehouse was feeling a bit cramped. And by warehouse, we mean every single inch of office floor that isn’t occupied by a chair or a toilet. We already built new shelves, took out a lease on a storage unit, and reorganized the entire office, then 14 pallets of Light: On The South Side arrived and completely turned this place sideways. Hallways have gone from casual arteries to stomach-sucking traffic jams. The conference room is lined with LPs. Even the bathtub has boxes. And we’re still making records!
In an effort to get this office back to–at the very least–90% capacity, the Numero Group has decided to do something that no other business entity in the history of commerce has ever attempted: we’re going to sell items for less than the retail price! We even came up with a great name for the idea–we’re calling it a “sale.” OK, we recognize that this isn’t a new concept, but the extreme discounting of wares in an attempt to move product is a time-tested consumer hoodwink that, to date, we’ve been loathe to participate in. Until now! Sales generally indicate low prices, but this being Numero, we’re going to go one better. No, screw that, two better. Hell, let’s turn it up to three.
That’s three levels of savings, but not just savings–we’re giving stuff away. And by stuff, we mean stuff.
While supplies last (500 on the nose), buy any three (3) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $45, get a copy of the Ant Hill Mob’s “The Number Runner Pt. 1/2″ 45 free. This previously unreleased Cleveland funk 45 is a sure shot, home hi-fi hit, and is completely unavailable outside this deal. There will be no digital dig, no iTunes, no mercy. Play it on 45, or don’t play it all.
While we still have ‘em, (500 on the chin), buy any six (6) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $85, get a CD copy of the Eccentric Soul Revue live from the Park West Theater, April 4th 2009. If you missed that show, or any of the other five dates on our recent Eccentric Soul Revue tour, this is your shot to get back in the game. The 20 track disc features Renaldo Domino, Nate Evans, the Notations, and Syl Johnson, and cannot be purchased anywhere except in this deal. Plus the Ant Hill Mob 45 and our sincere gratitude.
And until we run out, (89 on the cheek), buy any ten (10) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $135, and get a hand-numbered and personalized test pressing from our archives. This has no real value beyond bragging rights to your sad circle of record collecting friends, and yet, is the must-own holiday item of the year. We guarantee the fingerprints of all Numero Group members will have sullied this trinket. And… you’ll also receive the Ant Hill Mob 45 and Live Eccentric Soul Revue CD.
Here are the titles. Have your plastic accessible.
002 Antena: Camino Del Sol
003 Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label
005 Fern Jones: The Glory Road
008 Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon
009 Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label
011 Eccentric Soul: Mighty Mike Lenaburg
012 Catherine Howe: What A Beautiful Place
014 Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay
015 Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label
016 Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul
017 Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts of Deep City
019 Don’t Stop: Recording Tap
021 Soul Messages From Dimona
022 Brotherman: OST by the Final Solution
023 Eccentric Soul: The Young Disciples
027 Eccentric Soul: Smart’s Palace
*4 Boscoe: S/T
*5 Wee: You Can Fly On My Aeroplane
*6 Caroline Peyton: Mock Up
*7 Caroline Peyton Intuition
That’s over 1/3rd of our entire catalog to choose from, and each of them are worthy of a slot in your growing Numero library. Haven’t you been looking for an excuse to fill in those missing numbers? This is it. Already have them all? Get your friends and family hooked on Numero. It’s a cheap move, sure, but buy the 10 pack, keep the limited stuff, and break the discs out one by one to everyone on your Xmas list. It’s not regifting if you do it with love.
Listen, the sale has already started. The limited items are only getting more limited as you waste time hemming and hawing. In the spirit of the season, give to us by giving to yourself.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue | Tags: 2pac, Boogie Down Productions, Different Strokes, Hip Hop samples, NWA, Public Enemy, Syl Johnson, Wu Tang
Nice look back at Hip Hop history through a single sample: Syl Johnson’s Different Strokes.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson | Tags: 9:30 Club, Guns n' Roses, Megadeth, Syl Johnson, Use Your Illusion I & II
Easily one of the highlights of the tour was seeing Syl sport a Megadeth Countdown To Extincition t-shirt on stage under his jacket in Chicago and DC. We picked up a copy of Guns n’ Roses Use Your Illusion II in Columbus for the long car ride to the 9:30 Club and midway through the highly pompous album – check “Get In The Ring” to refresh your memory – we realized that Syl has this heavy Axl Rose inflection in his voice these days. This led us to the idea of a Syl Johnson cover album called, Blues Your Illusion I & II. Try singing this like Syl, “Ohhhh you could be miiiinnnne. But your waaaaay out of liiiinnnnne.” I think we are on to something….
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson | Tags: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson
The week seemed like a year. Look at our inboxes for proof that the world is constantly moving, even as we were trapped in a van for 10 hours a day debating who was worse: Spin Doctors or Hootie (fight it out amongst yourselves in the comments section). The idea of typing up a tour diary seems impossible right now, what with boxes of merchandise to unpack, accounts to settle, and the daily grind of running a record label (we only tour in a spare time), but hopefully we’ll be able to put some of the madness down before it’s replaced by new headaches.
A few people must be thanked, people who likely will never read this, but thanked they will be regardless of RSS feed. Bill Sullivan, for keeping this entire thing from going off the rails (even if it did go off the rails in Brooklyn). Erik Selz, for convincing promoters to give us an absurd amount of money for a totally unproven side show attraction. Dana Meyerson at Biz 3, for making sure we were in front of everyone who reads a paper, magazine, or church bulletin. Scott Adamson, for keeping it together in the midst of a terrible tragedy. John Allen for the hospitality in Brooklyn, Damon Carfagna for the same in Columbus. The cities of New York and Brooklyn for not ripping our van off while it was filled with $25K worth of merchandise. Charlie Shipley, for the programs, even if we didn’t need all 4700.
To everyone who came out, we hope you had a wonderful time. And to those who stayed home… well… you done fucked up.
Now, to the point of this post. When Tim Sutton at Getty Images wrote and said he wanted to shoot the Brooklyn show, we expected that he would get a handful of shots from the crowd and be done with it. When he arrived on Friday night and went straight back stage, we knew it was going to be much deeper. This is just the tip:
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue | Tags: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Light On The South Side, Missy Dee, music hall of williamsburg, notations, Numero Group, Renalo Domino, Soul revival, Syl Johnson, Twinight
The New York Times feels the love vibes emanating from The Eccentric Soul Revue.
Money quote, and I do mean money: “Many fans left the club clutching Numero Group LPs, destined for their own collections.”
Yes they did.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue
Thanks so much to everyone who made it out the shows this week. We’ll have more pictures, videos and war stories here in the coming days.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue
“Man, if we can just get through this, there’s no way we’re ever gonna do it again,” says Numero Group co-owner Ken Shipley about his ambitious label’s ambitious tour: the Eccentric Soul Revue, an unrelenting, sweat-soaked revue starring unsung heroes of ’60s and ’70s Chicago soul. “You gotta ride white-knuckle the entire time to get it done. That’s not the business we’re in. We make records. We source old master tapes. We don’t do anything that’s scary!”
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue | Tags: Four Mints, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Marion Black, Renaldo Domino, Syl Johnson, the Notations
Money quote:
“…there is nothing more beautifully, wonderfully human than vintage soul music circa late ’50s through the early ’70s. And Monday night at the luscious Lincoln Theatre, we got a gold Cadillac full of it.”
