Numero Group US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: One of four new vinyl issues, Numero Group deliver their compendium of regional funk and soul unknowns from Mel Alexander's Consolidated Productions label. The V/A forms a part of a new bundled volume of their longstanding compilation-compilation (yes!), made up of earlier funk cuts released by lesser-spotted interstate funk floggers throughout the 70s, including Tragar, Note, Saadia and Shoestring. Eccentric Soul is its name: first issued in 2004, this big splash homed in on the regional American delights in the genre, stretching as far as Wichita, Kansas, San Antonia, Texas and Norfolk and releasing an uncountable string of tracks by formerly unknown names based in small locales, who'd at that point only just caught onto the incipient funk movement. Here, you may dive into LA's cutthroat music business from 1961-1991, embodied in Mel Alexander's Consolidated Productions, which lay among the longest running Black-owned independent record conglomerates of the 20th century.

Review: Tragar and Note, both owned by Jesse Jones, spanned critical regional r&b, soul and funk from 1968-1976. A Numero Group classic, Eccentric Soul compiles 34 key tracks across from Jones' travails over two LPs, a great effort of which we are now reminded on this 15 year anniversary deluxe edition, which brings the record to vinyl for the first time. Featuring rare-as-hens-teeth 45s by Eula Cooper, Tee Fletcher, Richard Cook, Frankie & Robert, Tokay Lewis, Nathan Wilkes, Chuck Wilder, Bill Wright, Sonia Ross, Sandy Gaye, Four Tracks, and Young Divines, the compilation charts a genealogy of parallel soul universes, filled with endless replication: in this distinctly Atlantan approach, we can still hear the Berry Gordy phenotype, the James Brown archetype, the Temptations chromosome, copied and mimicked and mutated into a thousand forms. When a true hit made its big splash, Eccentric Soul was that very last ripple.

Review: Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels is yet another superb journey into the lesser-known realms of soul music curated by one of our faves, the Numero Group. This particular compilation unearths rare gems from the Tragar and Note labels and offers a glimpse into the vibrant soul scenes of the 1960s and 1970s. From raw and gritty performances to polished and sophisticated arrangements, each track tells a unique story of love, loss, and perseverance. With soulful vocals, infectious grooves, and lush instrumentation, the album captures the essence of a bygone era while remaining relevant and compelling to contemporary listeners. Essentially, it's a treasure trove of forgotten classics waiting to be rediscovered.

Review: Discovered after 55 years, the previously unreleased soundtrack to the 1964 noir film You're Not From Around Here finally emerges from the Louis Wayne Moody archive. Laden with twangy tremolo and reverb-drenched revenge, it navigates themes of alienation, paranoia, and existential echo. Packaged in a replica film canister with rusted varnishes and a debossed logo, it immerses you in a world of moral ambiguity. This Cabinet of Curiosities release by Numero delves into the esoteric possibilities of curation, weaving threads of intentionality and psychic connections through music history. It's a tribute to the DIY museum and the emotionally charged artifacts of post-industrial consumerism.

Review: Numero Group embark on a conceptual soundtrack release, allegedly having discovered this (mysteriously uncredited) album on the vaulted shelves of the "Louis Wayne Moody pictures" archive. Building on their eerily confounding Louis Wayne Moody compilation series, which compiles lost 60s soundtrack cuts and one-offs by short-lived band projects (and sowing real confusion as to whether the artists featured actually existed), this is certainly a dubious continuation. However, the artists featured here - which takes its inspiration as an alt-reality, alt-score of the classic film You're Not From Around Here - did really exist, albeit at the sacrifice of much recognition in their days. Cycling through lost ditties from The Dropouts, The Florescents, Branko Mataja and Johnny Blue, to name a few, this one packs a backpack's worth of grieving guitars, somber surf and haunting hiss, zipped tight with the teeth of abandonment, dashed dreams, moral ambiguity, fate, tearful goodbyes, and lukewarm diner coffee.

Review: Resurfacing from obscurity after 58 years in the Louis Wayne Moody Pictures vault, this unearthed soundtrack unveils a treasure trove of melancholic melodies, mournful guitars, and eerie echoes. It is another of the seemingly endless gems to come from the great folks at Number Uno and is laden with themes of abandonment, shattered dreams, and existential ponderings. The album, titled They Move in the Night, weaves a narrative of moral ambiguity and tearful farewells, set against the backdrop of lukewarm diner coffee and the relentless pursuit of society's shadows. Fascinating stuff.

Review: 'Beehive Breaks' is a new curveball from the Numero label, pitting together 15 'feminine funk' fixtures for your listening pleasure. All sourced from the label's back catalogue, we're met with an impressive array of funky-drummed, double-X'ed ditties, from Sandy Gaye's Cruella-synched 'Watch The Dog That Brings The Bone' to James Brown's soul sister #1 Marva Whitney; from teenage girl gangs The Trinikas and Promise, to Miami's queen of soul, Betty Wright; and to top it all off, there's even a previously unissued belter from Chicago's Sonics Band on there.

Review: Numero Group brings together a slew of desirable and very rare soul and funk songs together for one fantastic compilation. Many of these tracks in their original physical release form - you'd be looking at hundreds of dollars for the first pressings, so thank Numero Group for gathering these together and saving the fans from spending a lot of money and a lot of time finding them. Tracks like the amazing 'Mr.Lucky' by Betty Wright - which sounds fit for a blockbuster movie soundtrack - Trinikas' 'Remember Me' and the James Brown-like funk 'Good Things' by Pearl Dowdell are must have scarce tracks, but there's a host of yet to be discovered gemes here too, like Fay Cooper's 'Closer Together' and Betty & Angel's 'Everlasting Love'.