One of the items on my list for RSD was something called the "Cotillion Soul 45s-1968-1970" boxed set. This set was limited to 2,500 worldwide and was to include ten 7" singles, some of which hadn't seen the light of day since their initial release, featuring such artists as Otis Clay, Baby Washington, Walter Jackson and some lesser known but no less wonderful people like C & The Shells and The Blendells.
I searched high and low and came up empty, so empty that I couldn't even locate the set on eBay for a premium. Then a friend mentioned to me that it may have been either delayed or cancelled altogether, info gleaned from a chatroom on one of the RSD blogs.
My relentless and occasionally obsessive searches finally found the damn thing. It did indeed come out and I managed to snag one of the three remaining copies on Amazon. (The other two have since been sold, as well.)
I mention this now because sets like this, or more to the point, obscure soul compilations, are often hit or miss. Like "unreleased tracks," or "b-sides" added to a deluxe edition of a CD, you soon realize why most of the tracks were unreleased in the first place. But not here. Of the 20 tracks, only the Moses Smith single failed to thrill me, leaving 18 tracks that absolutely killed me.
There are songs written by Dan Penn, Bobby Womack, and Eddie Hinton. The cover of Chip Taylor's "Anyway That You Want Me" by Walter Jackson is a personal fave. This is one of the most solid sets of soul music to come along in some time.
Here's the tracklist. (You may need to enlarge it a bit.)
For you vinyl collectors and fans of soul music, I cannot stress just how wonderful this box is. Beautifully packaged and great...GREAT sound on the singles, it even comes with a code to download the whole set.
There are still some sets available on eBay, though not many and not cheaply. But seeing as how this is becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain, I'm thinking of doing something I've never done on a Friday....so stay tuned and pay attention. There will be little to no fanfare for tomorrow's WM.
7 comments:
Like the Numero releases, these sorts of collections are so hit or miss that I'm generally reluctant to buy them sound unheard. Looking forward to any sneak samples you might zip out.
Nothing like sweet soul music.
Here is something very obscure.
Rosco Gordon's "Little Bit Of Magic" from 1969. It smokes. I like to imagine Bryan Ferry covering it on "These Foolish Things".
http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/rosco_gordon_little_bit_of_magic.mp3
I'm a big Otis Clay fan, and was pleased to see his name in that boxed set. When I was in college in the mid 80s, we had an annual blowout party where we were able to bring in some real great blues and soul talent from Chicago. It wasn't like Animal House or anything, we seriously dug the music. One year we had Otis Clay and his band play in our house and they were amazing. Been a fan ever since.
I'm enticed...
I agree exactly with Jeff above - went a little hog-wild on the Numero releases, only to realize diminishing returns after a while. But your commentary about this Cotillion set has me interested... if it sounds as good to my ears as you say, I may have to seek it online myself. Vinyl 45s are actually my favorite format of music.
Oh my, Sal. Now it really is a Memorial Day Weekend to remember. Thanks so much.
Iggy
Too cool. Thanks Sal.
Thank you for this set! Nice classic Soul/R&B sound. Some of these artists could have been big. Saw this box set in a store recently for $75.
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