Pachuco-Soul! - A Collection Of Vintage East-L.A. Grooves From The Vaults Of Rampart Records (Vampisoul - 2004)

Fourth post in a row on a label compilation. This time, it's the Eastside sound of Rampart Records. Eastside goes for the Eastside part of Los Angeles and its Mexican American community and musicians. The entire Eastside scene success was due largely to one man, Eddie Davis, that produced and pushed hundreds of records from 1958 to the early nineties. His biggest selling record was Land Of 1000 Dances by Cannibal And the Headhunters, the kind of garage anthemic sound the Eastside bands were famous for. They followed all the musical trends, from rock'n'roll, doo-wop, funk, soul and even disco, spicing it up from times to times with traditional Mexican instrumentation like a mariachi trumpet on The Majestics' (I Love Her So Much) It Hurts Me, the Santana sound alike latin rock of Tocayo (Con Safos) or on Mickey & The Mex-Tex's Borracho. The Frog by The Village Callers is the real curiosity on Pachuco-Soul! because it saw this latin soul band venturing into bossa territories. Another massive song is Skylite's Boogie Butt and its infectious bassline. Break diggers will go directly to One G Plus Three's Poquito Soul. You won't find only songs released on Rampart Records here but others as well released on labels like Faro Records, Linda Records or Valhalla Records. The legacy of the Eastside sound is still well alive today inside the Mexican American community, especially thanks to the lowriders fans who made of doo-wop and sweet soul their official soundtrack (cf. the excellent article on this scene published in the number 49 of Waxpoetics).

Download => Pachuco-Soul!

Good To The Last Drop - From The Ember Tape Vaults Rare Sixties & Seventies Soul (Fantastic Voyage/Future Noise - 2009)

Ember Records was founded in London by Jeffrey S. Kruger. He enlisted a journalist, John Abbey, to seek out soul nuggets in America to give them a proper UK release. With a discerning licensing policy and the subsequently constant quality of his soul 45" releases, Ember Records became a major force in British music industry. Most of the artists Ember licensed never really made it, except maybe The Jones Girls or Johnny Otis, but all need to be absolutely rediscovered, from the psyche soul of Milt Matthews Inc to the gospel of Mary Frazier Jones. Adidas paid Pilooski to make an edit of Why Can't There Be Love by Dee Edwards for a commercial a few years ago and the original is also featured on this compilation. Good To The Last Drop (the name of a Johnny Otis song) gives is a good occasion to have a large overlook (23 tracks) on this rich and excellent catalogue. Most of the songs featured had never been released before on CD and have never been released again since so, Northern Soul and Mods heads just enjoy.

Download =>  Good To The Last Drop

The Best Of Lash Records - Rare R&B & Soul Productions - 1961-1975 (Lash Records - 2009)

After the Ref-O-Ree label from Nasville, let's focus on Lash Records from Philadelphia. Created by brothers Al and Howard Ravitsky and a friend, Gil Lipschitz. It really amazes me to see those three jewish guys create a record label dedicated to underground doo-wop, R&B and soul, cuting sessions after sessions 7" in search of a national success that never came. But it's not the fault of the music, authentic, raw and good as I like it. It's not a surprise that Lash Records was popular among Northern Soul heads, his late 60's and early 70's recordings by the likes of Timmy Carr, Benny Sigler, Alfreda Brockington or Patty Hamilton being incredibly funky. A welcome discovery that allows you to possess nearly  all Lash releases (30 tracks) for a very decent price.

Download =>  The Best Of Lash Records