Various Artists
(The Numero Group)
Herein lays the plight of the white music snob: the constant strive for a musical authenticity and an inability to find these moments in their collective punk and rockabilly pasts. But out of that frustration and a genuine love of amazing music comes the great hope for white kids still rocking the vintage vinyl-filled shoulder bag while listening to their iPod: The Numero Group and their amazing series of vintage soul compilations.
On Numero's latest (and their most ambitious) release Light: On the South Side, the label, through both a musical compilation entitled Pepper's Jukebox and 132- page hardcover book featuring photographs by Michael Abramson and an essay by Nick Hornby, chronicles a Chicago music scene from 1975-1977 that was equal parts seedy blues and syrupy funk. The photos and music capture an era when the blues was not considered passé, the civil rights struggle had come to an end, and disco had not taken hold of R&B. The result of the book and music is nothing short of a cultural immersion for the lily-white hipsters who froth at the mouth for every Numero release.
As a complete package, the release is beautiful. The life and laughter that fill the books work as a visual guide for Pepper's Jukebox. Here's an album that can be bawdy one moment (Arelean Brown's proto-cougar anthem "I'm A Streaker") and mournful the next (Little Mack Simmons' "The Same One" is a criminally unknown blues ballad) without skipping a beat.
But between the photos of the snappily-dressed players and foxy mamas on the album, there's a feeling of sadness in the photos and the music. In some ways, this was the last gasp of the blues as a viable, youth oriented form of music. The book and album seem to be a eulogy of sorts for the music and culture that came with it. Within a few years disco would arrive, and with it a glittery wave of beautiful people taking the grit and sadness out of the sound and leaving an artificial, coke-fueled happiness in its wake.
But instead of mourning the past, Light: On the South Side presents this not as a eulogy but instead as a non-stop party for those eager ears and eyes who weren't lucky enough to be there to experience the big shouldered funk and Windy City weepers that await listeners on this disc. Those days may be gone, but the spirit is still with us with scorchers like Artie White's "Gimmie Some of Yours" and Lucille Spann's "Women's Lib".
As a museum peace, Light: On the South Side works to showcase the vibrant sights and sounds of a neighborhood preparing to change, as a culture and scene caught between the past and the future, and as a vibrant tombstone for all of those days gone by. But as an album it's an ass-shaking, head bobbing and foot tapping ode to great artists and the amazing music they created. Somehow, they both work simultaneously on this release.
Standout Tracks: "Women's Lib" (Lucille Spann), "Detroit Blues" (Willie Williams), "The Same One" (Little Mack Simmons) JASON BUGG
