Epsilon Funk | Soul 22 Items

Originally From East Orange NEW Jersey

THE Exciting Williams Brothers Band GOT Their Start BY Their Father AND Mother MR. Roscoe Williams SR. AND MRS Esther Maude Walker Williams IN THE Late 60’s. They StartED OUT IN Gospel Music Like Their Father AND Family OF Brothers Before Them Whom YOU Will SEE Photos OF “the Original Williams Brothers” Throughout This Site From Time TO Time. THE Group From Oldest TO Youngest AT That Time Consists OF: Roscoe Williams JR. (lead Vocals) Eugene Williams (lead Guitar AND Background Vocals) Osbert Williams (bass Guitar AND Background Vocals) Alexander Williams ( Keyboard AND Background Vocals) AND Anthony Williams (lead Vocals) Anthony WAS THE Youngest Member OF THE Group AT That Time When ONE DAY While ON Their WAY TO Perform A Gospel Show ON MotherS DAY OF 1969, They HAD A Terrible CAR Accident Which Brought THE Family TO A Stand Still DUE TO Injuries AND Left Anthony Paralyzed TO This DAY. BY THE Time THE Exciting Williams Brothers Band Began High School They Asked Their Father IF They Could Play R&B Music. AT First Their Father WAS Against IT BUT When They Began PlayING Dances AND Clubs, SO Many People Began TO Book Them That Their Father HAD TO Install A Business Phone IN THE House TO Keep UP With THE Calls. IN 1975 THE Brothers Auditioned FOR A Beer Company Based IN NEW Zealand (the NEW Zealand Breweries) THE Company Came TO NEW York TO Audition American BandS AND THE Exciting Williams Brothers WON Against 12 Other BandS. THE Brothers Career Skyrocketed. They Toured FOR SIX Months IN NEW Zealand, Recorded A Record AND DID 3 Television ShowS IN NEW Zealand AND A Soft Drink Commercial FOR Sarsaparilla Soft DrinkS. When THE Brothers Came Back TO THE States Their Father Auditioned Them TO THE NEW York BookING Agencies AND That Began THE Group Touring IN THE United States. They Began 3 Months ON THE Road AND 2 Weeks Home AND They DID This FOR 8 Years. THE Exciting Williams Brothers Band Have Come Together TO Unleash A NEW Dimension OF EDM Music Through ESP. They ARE True Legends OF Music AND ONE OF Their RecordINGS Today Sell FOR Nearly $4000.00 PER Copy. THE Brothers USE There Roots IN Gospel Music TO Deliver Hard Hitting Jams AND Grooves TO THE LateST Dance Music Scene, “live” AS They Emerge AND Establish ThemSELVES AS AN Exciting Opening ACT FOR Major DJS.

The Black Smoke Band were comprised of five members

Norwell McNeill on lead vocals (and songwriting duties) Bobby Moore on bass guitarJames Jacobs on lead guitar Joe McLaughlin on keyboards Ronnie Brewington on drums. Joe was also the man behind the band’s resources, financing both the musical kit and studio time.All of the members hail from the town of Dunn, North Carolina - a state which has gifted us some amazing soul music from the 1960’s, 1970’s and beyond.

All of the members of the group began recording music prior to the band’s two releases, before they met and formed as teenagers playing local bars, dance halls and night clubs. They gigged with other local acts. Both of the band’s releases were recorded in 1977 at Arthur Smith’s Studios in Charlotte - and both released on the group’s own label, Black Smoke Productions. ‘Starting my Life All Over Again’ was the first of two releases, a beautiful sweet soul effort, that really showcases Norwell’s earnest, soulful vocals. The flip is a solid funk cut called ’Skateboard’.

‘I’ll Keep Searching’ b/w ‘Get n Off’ was the second and sadly final release from the group - but what a record it is!

A moody, funky, and compelling arrangement that eschewed the ubiquitous disco sound of the period and created a gritty masterpiece for lovers of hard edged soul music. Norwell’s gruff, captivating vocal and some stellar guitar work were all laid over a tight, rolling beat accompanied by strong horn stabs. The pleading, emotional dynamics of the record work brilliantly with its strutting, insistent pace. Delivering both emotionally and musically it was to be the group’s swan song, but left ample evidence of the talent that lay within them as a band.

Eventually the group decided to go their separate ways in 1978, although that was not the end of their musical careers, with all of the members continuing to perform in and around North Carolina for many years.

Ronnie sadly passed away, but the other four original members of the group are still actively making music, with Norwell and Bobby remaining in regular contact today.

Bobby played with Kool & The Gang for a brief spell, alongside other well known acts. Joe continues to run his own studio, and has a large back catalogue of previously unheard material recorded both before and after the Black Smoke years.

That is the story of the Black Smoke Band in 1977. Although short lived, the group have provided soul fans across the UK and beyond with two fabulous singles, considered by many to be shining examples of the musical talent that coursed through America’s suburbs and communities during the golden age of soul and funk music.

A rich vein of talent which remains largely undiscovered even now...

Renaldo Domino blasted onto the fertile Chicago soul scene of the late 60's with a voice as sweet as sugar and deep grooves that sound just as fresh five decades later. Releasing singles on Mercury subsidiaries Smash and Blue Rock, and later Twinight records, Renaldo’s all-too-brief career has still managed to leave an impact to all those lucky enough to hear it.

Domino's Renaldo first record: I Love My Girl & I'm Hip To Your Game, came out in 1967 on the impossible to find Arnell records. I'm Hip To Your Game was later released on Smash in 1969

Renaldo returned to the spotlight in 2007 when the Chicago reissue powerhouse Numero Group put him on the cover of their deluxe box set Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation (which included other greats Syl Johnson, The Notations, and many more). Renaldo’s performing career began to flourish once again with shows around country. In early 2019 Renaldo teamed up with producer Jeremy Kay and arranger JB Flatt and set out to record new tracks that would live up to Renaldo’s great early records. Assembling a crack team of Brooklyn’s best they pulled out all the stops, creating a mix between the lush arrangements of Chicago’s early soul style and the hard-hitting beat of current Brooklyn soul. The new single “No Laggin’ & Draggin’” / “Give Up The Love”, released Feb 2020, is now available on Colemine Records. Backed by The Heavy Sounds, Renaldo’s live performances continue to deliver with passion and precision, making new fans young and old.

I met Kenneth Henderson and Alfonso Jones almost two years ago after searching for these guys for many years. I proudly re-released two remastered version of I'm Gonna Get Ya on Epsilon Eps003 on February 28, 2021. I have built a real friendship with these two fantastic guys and musicians.

It was Alfie & Ken's dream to one day be able to get back in the studio and record more music and who knows one day get back on stage together.

So I decided to make it happen and financed the whole project.

I booked M.V.P studio (owned by my good friend El Willie aka William Travis from Nobody's Children) in West Palm Beach FL, who organised the entire session and booked studio musicians for this project.

Alfie headed to Jacksonville FL to meet Ken for a week of rehearsal and lots of brandy. They travelled to meet El Willie for a one day session and recorded these two amazing tracks.

Now their success is in your hands

Please show your appreciation and support their brand new music!

Jerone is a highly-skilled singer and entertainer who has been entertaining the audience by putting smiles on faces, warming people’s hearts, igniting song in the soul, and inspiring people to get up and move! His background in music takes him deep from Texas to the Hollywood music industry and back again. Along the journey, he has developed skills in event management, event planning, singing, television, music production, theatre production, songwriting, recording, festivals, interpersonal skills, acting, and voice-overs.

Mura were a previously little-known group from Japan, formed by friends Kota Inukai (vocals, guitar), Masaki Endo (bass) and Sho Shibata (drums) in the late noughties. Performing mostly in small events in Sapporo, they were outsiders, and felt a kinship with few other groups, though Inukai mentions rock group Green Apple Quick Step, and hardcore band Ababazure as fellow travellers. This isolation surely feeds into the uniqueness of Mura’s music – they sound little like much that we know of the taggable Japanese underground of their times, and the music they recorded for this, their debut album, spanning a decade, is gloriously all over the shop, from delirious punk wig-outs to strange pop miniatures. The group formed young – Inukai was only fourteen when they started, and Mura was his first ever band. When pressed on what they were listening to while making their music, Inukai recalls that he “used to listen to the works of Haruomi Hosono a lot”, and you can hear traces of this, perhaps, in the breadth of the sound Mura explores, from the lovely, country-esque shuffle of “In The Talk”, through the garage-y plunk of “Rest” and the reflective, melancholy “Younger Brother”. They were also big fans of video game music – “even orchestral covers of video games”, Inukai smiles – and that’s in there, too, in the split-second responsiveness of the playing, the way they flick through ideas and genres almost impatiently, taking minutes to cover terrain that other groups might spend albums and years exploring. But the songs were also grounded in Japan’s history, with many of the songs inspired by “old Hokkaidō,” Inukai recalls, “from the Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa periods.” With Inukai coming up with the melodies, and Shibata fleshing out arrangements, all three members then contributed lyrics. You can hear that collective effort in the way the music moves, every player listening carefully to each other, the songs moving gracefully, but not without verve and vim. It’s a delightful album, full of pop songs that take unexpected turns, with glinting melodies sung out, here sweetly, there with gruff candour, guitars tangling together like an unholy union of Tom Verlaine and Jad Fair, every song charged with a new, unpredictable spirit. Produced by Kota Inukai, Richard Horner, Ikuro Takahashi. With liner notes by Jon Dale.

In 1978 ,three friends.

Woody Whittaker, Ronnie Arch, and Wayne Chatman

Came together with their musical ideas and talents to form the music production company, “Cabfare Productions”.

Under that parent company, the performing group T.A.X.I.E.



Talented

Artist

Xclusively

In

Entertainment

​

Archwoods Productions and Archwoods Publishing was born.



Eventually adding musicians/song writers, Charles (Ice Cream) Williams,

Oneida James, and the amazing vocalist, Carlita Durhan, the original guitarist for the R&B group Taste Of Honey.

​T.A.X.I.E. performed many engagements through out the Los Angels Hollywood circuits. Opening and appearing with renowned artist such as Stevie Wonder, Dennis Edwards, and the Mary Jane Girls.

The members of T.A.X.I.E. are not only great musicians and performers, but also are very talented and awesome song writers.



Some of their compositions have been performed and recorded by, Grammy winner Diane Reeves, Tahj Mowry, AlfredaJames, Greg Rose, and musical groups such as Infinite.

Archwood’s Productions also produced, published and promoted music and live concerts throughout the United States and Europe.

Over the years, this partnership has developed a music catalog of over 100 songs, compositions, and videos. In the future, they will continue to write and produce excellent music, promoting new and established artist.

An R&B band formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, in 1961. The members were lead vocalist and guitarist Harvey Scales (b. 1941, Arkansas, Usa), Monny Smith, Bill Purtie, Rudy Jacobs, Al Vance, Bill Stonewall and Ray Armstead. Superstar James Brown was sweeping the charts in the late 60s with his new kind of hard soul called ‘funk’, and under his influence, Harvey Scales And The Seven Sounds, like numerous other groups at that time, made their presence felt recording new funk sounds. The group’s one hit, ‘Get Down’ (number 32 R&B, 1967), was recorded on Lenny LeCour’s Magic Touch label. The b-side, ‘Love-itis’, was later recorded by the rock group J. Geils Band. After signing with Chess Records, Scales and his group had a regional hit with the LeCour-produced ‘The Yolk’ in 1969. Later, under the aegis of Detroit producer Don Davis, the group recorded for Stax Records with little success. In 1976, for southern soul hit-maker Johnnie Taylor, Scales co-wrote the massive hit ‘Disco Lady’. That success secured Scales a recording contract with Casablanca, with whom the artist released two albums. Scales was still recording in the early 90s.

Previously Unissued funk with killer sax

Ultra obscure funk (official re-issue)

EPS023 is the second Mantis 45rpm on Epsilon Record Co.
This is a sensational previously unissued double sider from 1976.
Do We Have Love is a beautiful sweet soul side with killer vocal from Rocky Whitaker.
Click on play and put on your dancing shoes!

Dana V Andrews is a man who is still very much in love with music of all types. At 23 years old and far from living a perfect life, his love of music led him to go to Los Angeles, California in 1973 with a talented songwriter in search of fame and fortune. Dana played a role while working on a song and album that was a big hit for the now deceased Mr. Barry White. In 1975 he met David Futch and together they formed a record and publishing company that recorded R&B and Gospel music. One of the gospel Groups, the Highland Park Community Choir out of Highland Park, Michigan had a song nominated for a Grammy Award in 1976.

That same year, Dana V. Andrews recorded two songs titled “Mr. Justice” because he was distressed by the social injustice he saw and still sees in our world. His humble hope was that “Mr. Justice” could be a rallying call for the majority of good people in the world. To unite and vote for responsible, fair, politicians who had helping the people foremost in their hearts. And “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” because he had faith that eventually right will win out over wrong. He still does to this day. He still believes today that when the majority of people stand for righteous justice with genuine love leading the way that governmental bipartisanship will defeat hate, prejudice, and injustice.

The late Bobby Baker originally from College Park Georgia, was an original member of the American rhythm and blues band The Coasters formed in 1955. He sadly passed away in Feb 2022.Bobby was hired by Dana V Andrews & David Futch (originally from Detroit Co-owner of Davida Inc & founder of Gospel Label Futch Music Record with his brother Josh) with an amazing group of musicians including the incredible Patrice Rushen for this project. ‘Everything Has Got To Be Alright’ Is an ultra rare Gospel Crossover Funky Soul 45 and it’s by far the rarest on Davida Inc records Music perfection!