Numero Group digs deep into the tape vault of Milwaukee-via-Chicago indie soul label Magic Touch for their latest Eccentric Soul series compilation.
Here's the scoop from Numero Group...
Ever hear of cutting a rug? How about how a midwest carpet company used a little Magic Touch to transform itself into one of the region’s longest running indie soul records labels.
The Eccentric Soul Flagship collection continues to expand with the edition of the Magic Touch Label - a stone soul winner partially representing our home-turf of Chicago and nearby favorite Milwaukee. This one has been over 20 years in the making dating back to our earliest encounters and projects with local-ish legend Harvey Scales. Magic Touch Records was named after serial entrepreneur Lennie Lacour’s Magic Touch Carpets business though it would ultimately be the other form of “Cutting A Rug” that would leave the more lasting legacy of its founder.
Magic Touch Records went on to play a vital role in documenting and promoting independent Midwest soul music and dance records for more than 2 decades starting in the mid-60s and lasting through the mid-80s. Founded in Milwaukee-via-Chicago in 1964 by producer, songwriter, singer, and businessman Lennie LaCour, Magic Touch and its affiliated label imprints helped bring the regions emerging R&B and soul scene to a wider audience with a roster of acts including Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds, Junior & The Classics, Sean Taylor, Marvelle & The Blue Match, and The Comic Books.
Featuring 26 essential cuts from 1964–1980, this collection spans sockin’ R&B, basement beehive soul, hard funk, and group harmony across LaCour’s many imprints, complete with extensive notes, photos, and ephemera. Highlights include Harvey Scales classics “Get Down,” “Broadway Freeze,” and “Love-Itis,” alongside favorites from Junior & The Classics and Marvelle & The Blue Match. The Numero Group exclusive edition also includes a bundled 7” grail: James Monroe’s "Frontiersman Of The Galaxy" b/w "Funky Lady." Listen to both sides along with a few more Magic Touch label classics below.
While you're waiting for the Magic Touch comp to magically appear, check out Numero's Magic Touch 7" bundle featuring rare tracks by LaJohn & Sheela, Light Touch Band and Andy Crown in snazzy custom Magic Touch "Double Disco" sleeves right here.
Numero Group's 26-track double vinyl compilation Eccentric Soul: The Cuca Label is out July 12th.
Here's the scoop...
Late night '60s R&B caught on tape at Jim Kirchstein's jack-of-all genres Cuca studio. Released on minuscule pressings into the Wisconsin wilderness, these 26 sasquatch-rare tracks – many of which previously appeared on Numero Group's digital comp Eccentric R&B: The Cuca Label back in 2020 and still available here – uncover the soulful paths between the Chicago, Milwaukee and Rockford scenes. Featuring Harvey Scales, Step By Step, Betty Moorer, Seven Sounds, Twilighters, Birdlegs & Pauline, Esquires, Artie & The Pharaohs, and Fantastic Six, this 2xLP tells an alternate history of soul music that could only happen in the Hinterlands on Highway 12.
You can pre-order a copy of Eccentric Soul: The Cuca Label right here. Check thepreview clip, Betty Moorer's "The Long Hot Summer" (originally released under the name "Betty Moore" on Cuca's Badger A Go Go comp), Birdlegs & Pauline's "Too Much At Stake," Harvey Scales' "Independency" and Rex Swanigan & the Fabulous Troubadores' cover of "Hey Joe" issued as "Tribute To Jimi Hendrix" followed by the track listing below.
Eccentric Soul: The Cuca Label
1. Twiliters - Restless Love / 2. Harvey Scales - Glamour Girl / 3. The Devilettes - I'll Say "Yes" / 4. Little Artie & The Pharaohs - It Puzzles Me / 5. Birdlegs & Pauline - Too Much At Stake / 6. Betty Moorer - The Long Hot Summer / 7. The Esquires - You Don't Care / 8. Supreme Four - I Lost My Job (And I've Got To Find Another) / 9. Harvey Scales - Ten Thousand Years / 10. Betty Moorer - One More Time / 11. The Devilettes - I'm Leaving You / 12. Supreme Four - I Love You, Patricia / 13. Twiliters - We Three / 14. The Devils & The Devilettes - Tell Me / 15. Step By Step - Time After Time / 16. Harvey Scales - Independency / 17. Betty Moorer - My Man Lives / 18. Twiliters - Can't You Stay A Little Longer / 19. The Devils & The Devilettes - Love And Understanding / 20. Step By Step - She's Gone / 21. Harvey Scales - Every Step Of The Way / 22. Twiliters - Girl Of My Dreams / 23. Fantastic Six - I Never Knew Love / 24. Artie & The Pharaohs - I'll Take Care Of You / 25. Birdlegs & Pauline - Mist Of A Dream / 26. The Fabulous Troubadores - Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 7 – due February 26th – boasts loads of unheard and lesser known gems from the vaults.
Here's the scoop...
This latest episode of the high-quality end of the Northern Soul world is as varied as the scene has become, featuring manic funk, Detroit grooves, doo wop-inspired ballads, neo-Motown and pure soul stompers.
Los Angeles features strongly throughout. As a taster of the pleasures to come over the next couple of years, the opening tracks by ex-Motowners Carolyn Crawford and Kim Weston, along with the Joe Buckner & Major IV number, are from Mickey Stevenson’s late 60s Los Angeles operation; and the Lovers’ acetate-only ‘She’s Supreme’ and John Wesley & the Four Tees’ stomping version of the Williams & Watson LP track ‘Love Is Such A Funny Thing’ were recorded under the aegis of the city’s great arranger Arthur Wright.
Researching the tape vaults during lockdown has proved fruitful. The first version of Claude Huey’s ‘Why Would You Blow It’ by the unknown Isaiah Smith was discovered among the Galaxy tapes, as was the Brothers Of Soul’s ‘I Need Your Love’ – any previously unheard track by this redoubtable outfit is big soul news. I had originally thought that Buck Ram’s group Two Cats & A Mouse would be 50s sounding, like most of his acts, but ‘Love In My Heart’ proved to be a classy cover of the Oracles’ 1967 rarity on OM.
Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds
From Milwaukee, the Badger State, we have two little-known 1963 recordings from the Cuca label. ‘You Don’t Care’ by the Esquires (aka Betty Moorer’s brothers’ group the Ambassadors) first appeared on “Badger A-Go-Go”, a compilation album issued on Cuca’s Night Owl subsidiary in 1968, while Harvey (Scales) & Seven Sounds’ beat ballad ‘It’s Midnight’ was finally made available as a download-only in 2020.
Jack Ashford’s influence is also strong. ‘Crazy Things’ by the unknown Joe Douglas, one of Jack’s earliest productions, was cut in Philly with a Motor City backing track. Jack’s Pied Piper set-up produced the Hesitations’ ‘Soul Kind Of Love’, the second 45 from their superlative “Soul Superman” LP, and his later work with Detroiters Lorraine Chandler and George Rountree is represented by Philly singer Ray Gant’s update of Eddie Parker’s ‘I Need A True Love’, and the Family Brick’s vocal group version of ‘I’ll Fly To Your Open Arms’, which Jack sang on his “Hotel Sheets” LP.
Other soul legends include Major Lance with ‘Girl, Come On Home’ (the original flip of ‘Since I Lost My Baby’s Love’) and the Exits’ ‘Under The Street Lamp’, which epitomised the aspirations of black street corner vocal groups. Joe Hicks’ ‘Don’t It Make You Feel Funky’ is adrenalin-driven soul, adored by the Northern Soul crowd. Rocky Gil’s ‘It’s Not The End’ and Little Nicky Soul’s ‘You Said’ are both mega-money items, but the rarest and most-desired track has to be ‘The Intruder’ by Melvin Hicks & the Versatiles, which was thought to exist only on acetate but is actually a missing number on a collectible soul label – all will be revealed. – ADY CROASDELL
Pre-order a copy of the CD right here. Listen to the uptempo Joe Hicks banger "Don't It Make You Feel Funky" and Little Nicky Soul's "You Said" arranged by Richard Tee and the Jack Ashford & Mike Terry-penned "Crazy Things" by the little known Joe Douglas.
Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 7
01 Ready Or Not Here Comes Love - Carolyn Crawford
02 It Takes A Lotta Teardrops - Kim Weston
03 The Intruder - Melvin Hicks & The Versatiles
04 She's Supreme - The Lovers
05 Why Would You Blow It - Isaiah Smith
06 It's Not The End - Rocky Gil & The Bishops
07 It's Midnight - Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds
08 You Said - Little Nicky Soul
09 You Don't Care - The Esquires
10 I Need Your Love - Brothers Of Soul
11 I Wish I Knew - Joe Buckner & Major IV
12 I'll Fly To Your Open Arms - The Family Brick
13 I Need A True Love - Ray Gant & The Arabian Knights
14 Don't It Make You Feel Funky - Joe Hicks
15 Love Is Such A Funny Thing - John Wesley & The Four Tees
16 Soul Kind Of Love - The Hesitations
17 Crazy Things - Joe Douglas
18 Love In My Heart - Cats 'n' Mouse
19 Farewell Goodbye My Love (Edit) - The Performers
