The Essential Seven B Collection

Six sides of Northern Soul, Deep Funk and RnB Club Monsters from the Crescent City

There have been plenty of bigger labels, a great many more storied ones, and quite a few whose ratios of killer to filler run a bit more in favour of the curious purchaser: but there's something special about Seven B. The powder-blue label and plain, simple logo may not always be an iron-clad guarantee that the music in the grooves of the 45 is great, but there's a real sense of magic about each and every one of the New Orleans label's releases, and here we've picked out the best and the rarest.

Of the 3x7"s contained in this pack we first come up with the full length of "Pass The Hatchet", with Eddie Bo playing the musical chameleon linking funk, soul and the Mariachi. Eddie continues on side 2 with the bewitching "From This Day On" on which drummer James Black ended up kicking out the trumpet player and doing it himself; then 17-year-old Lenny McDaniel blasts a fiery trail of pure energy through 'Something Out of Nothing'; Inez Cheatham teams up with Eddie Bo to give us "Lover And A Friend" over James Black's monstrous backbeat; and finally Pat Brown renders her sole 45 "Good Got To Suffer For The Bad" before seeing the light and joining a church.

With deep liner notes from Seven B archivist Angus Batey including quotes from his exclusive Eddie Bo interview, this is the only survey of the legendary New Orleans label to date, and as such is an important milestone in the history of Louisiana funk n' soul music – not to be missed!