VA - True Soul: Deep Sounds From The Left Of Stax Vol. 1 (2011)

Now-Again Records, in association with label-owner Lee Anthony, is proud to present the release of True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax, a collection of rare and unreleased funk and soul music from the fabled Arkansas indie. Over twelve years in the making, this anthology presented over the course of two volumes of CD/DVDs and one four-LP box set seeks to establish True Soul's rightful place within America's funk and soul pantheon. As much as this CD/DVD set is about the adventurous, always-funky and oh-so-rare recordings that True Soul made possible, it is also about Anthony, the man. A true, American "up-from-the-bootstraps" story, Anthony's is one in which his frontiersman s entrepreneurial spirit and vision remains undeterred as he sets up black-owned businesses in a post-Jim Crow South and succeeds in capturing recordings from the high water mark of America's funk and soul movement. Anthony's story intertwines with the renowned Sam Philips an early mentor and patron and Memphis's Al Bell and Willie Mitchell with whom Anthony collaborated as he tried to cultivate Little Rock's funk and soul in the shadow of Stax and Hi Records. This anthology will make influence amongst the history of southern funk and soul is transparent, as his story of how he helped turn a stranded road band into the Gap Band. This comprehensive True Soul Records anthology presented in a 56- page, full color hardbound book chock full of photos, ephemera and extensive liner notes - not only carries the rare distributed funk and soul 45s that led the likes of renowned collectors DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist to Lee Anthony s door in search of Anthony s fabled "treasure chest", but also includes previously unreleased boogie, disco and party rap recorded in True Soul s early-80's twilight. Accompanying legendary cuts such as "Slipping Around" and "Doing my Own Thing" is a DVD containing excerpts from The True Soul Revue television program, that captured live performances from the True Soul All Stars in 1973.