Various Artists - Sehorn's Soul Farm - 50 New orleans Soul Classics (2010) Charly 2 x CD - Rare Soul (FLAC 507MB)

Repost/upgrade from the old blog...Now this is a rarity moxy doing reviews in FLAC..(I,m gobsmacked!...lol)......This double CD is a reissue of two well regarded LPs that Charly issued in 1982 and 1986, plus 18 extra tracks to fill the CDs more generously. The standard of the additional tracks is similar to those on the original LPs so there is no feeling that they are 2nd rate tunes tacked on to make up the numbers, the only slight quibble might be that the Meters and Lee Dorsey tracks (two by each, neither artist featured on the original LPs) are far better known than anything else here with the possible exception of Aaron Neville's much sampled "Hercules", which may owe its fame to the 1982 compilation anyway. But for an overview of the genre it would be odd to leave them out merely because they were relatively successful compared to any other artists represented here. And it's fair to say that some of the artists here are VERY obscure, as in they made few records, they sold poorly and little is known about them. About 10 of the 50 tracks weren't issued at the time of recording either, in some cases quite bafflingly given their quality the overall standard of the tunes here is very high, and doesn't correlate with how well known the artists are. The music ranges from around 1965 to 1976 and in terms of styles, it's a fairly even mixture of the unmistakably New Orleans sound and more typical southern soul, with ballads, soul stompers and early funk workouts. Standouts for me would include the fabulous Gossip by the obscure Diamond Joe (all 4 of his tracks are very good) and, among several tracks by the relatively well-known Ernie K-Doe, "Hotcha Mama" from 1976 is a stunningly arranged funk tune. The Meters' Cissy Strut is a stone killer too, but you probably knew that. Very little here is less than good especially the tracks played out on the northern scene. But I have one major beef with this compilation, and that is the sound quality on perhaps 20-30% of the tracks. I really don't have any problem with tracks being sourced from vinyl where necessary (though it's interesting to note that even some of the tracks unissued at the time of recording have surface noise, suggesting they and others ? were mastered off the original vinyl compilations, rather than whatever tapes Charly used in the first place, which are presumably lost or damaged) but it's really not very difficult or expensive these days to remove clicks and pops and brighten up the sound a bit. But the most shocking lapse is that several tracks are in reprocessed stereo, and badly done at that. Charly need to up their game as some of these records have been mastered far better on Ace/kent albums..In 1965 the famed talent scout and promotion man, Marshall Sehorn and the legendary producer/musician Allen Toussaint formed the Sansu label. Between them they completely revived the somewhat moribund New Orleans music scene of the mid to late sixties, signing the cream of the city's soul and R&B acts. The bigger acts on Sansu such as Lee Dorsey and The Meters were leased to major labels but all of the local talent appeared on their own imprints including Sansu, Tou-Sea and Dee-Su. The original 'Sehorn's Soul Farm' LP was released in 1982 and collected together 16 tracks recorded by Sansu which formed an important and influential document of New Orleans soul music Now long out of print, the album has achieved iconic status over the years It was joined in 1986 by Volume Two, released in 1986 which also included many more little heard or previously unissued recordings. This is the first time that these albums have appeared on CD and come with 18 bonus tracks not on the original albums including tracks by Lee Dorsey, Betty Harris and The Meters as well as extra material from the talents who made the original albums so desirable....moxy dont be so lazy and publish your reviews yourself..lazy bugger...lol!..My fave track Sonny Fisher..what a record!

AMM

                                                                              Courtesy Of Moxysoulandjazz...Thx M8!

                                                                                                         The Tasters!