Various - Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label (CD)

Sealed.

Toiling in Floridian swelter for just a few years, the Deep City label and its sound would permeate the Miami-metro area and dress the set for disco powerhouse TK’s impressive 1970s run. Before “Rockin’ Chair,” “Rock Me Baby,” or “Clean Up Woman,” a few roguish cats from Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 band were blending their flams and paradiddles with the island sounds drifting into Miami’s airwaves from points unknown. Willie Clarke, Johnny Pearsall, Clarence Reid, and Arnold Albury set up the city’s first black record company, pumping out brassy proto-funk and echo-laden ballads by future hitmakers Betty Wright, Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, and Paul Kelly, plus a dozen can’t-miss/did-miss sides by Helene Smith, as well as a slew of 45s bearing Deep City, Lloyd, and Reid labels. Them Two’s “Am I A Good Man” must’ve simply been too damn good; it melted into Intercoastal waterways, alongside Four Tops-ified Moovers acetate “Darling I’ll Go,” and Clarke and company took separate roads toward Henry Stone’s mighty TK empire. The first of Numero’s twin Florida soul volumes, any Eccentric sojourn through the sunshine state begins with The Deep City Label.

1 Am I a Good Man - Them Two
2 Someone to Fulfill My Needs - Moovers
3 I Am Controlled By Your Love - Helene Smith
4 I Don't Need Help - Johnny K. Killens & the Dynamites
5 Stay Away from My Johnny - Freda Gray & the Rocketeers
6 Thrills and Chills - Helene Smith
7 Paralyzed - Betty Wright
8 I Love You Baby - Moovers
9 Pain in My Heart - Helene Smith
10 The Upset - Paul Kelly
11 One Little Dance - Moovers
12 Good Lovin' - Betty Wright
13 Willing and Able - Helene Smith
14 It's My Baby - Paul Kelly
15 You Got to Do Your Share - Helene Smith
16 Good Thing Part 1 - Frank Williams & the Rocketeers
17 Darling I'll Go - Moovers