V.A. Eccentric Soul: Sitting In The Park

Hear the document of one man’s passion crossing over into obsession. Chicago radio disc jockey and soul archivist Bob Abrahamian was deeply devoted to celebrating and documenting unknown Chicagoland group harmony music. Upon his untimely passing in 2014, he left behind hundreds of radio programs and a daunting collection of 35,000 carefully-selected 45s. Our collection borrows its title from Abrahamian’s long-running and acclaimed WHPK radio show, and it spins a tale that’s cautionary, inspiring, and set to the sounds of the impossible-to-find tracks that made Bob Abrahamian’s on-air playlist and animated the radio programs that were his life’s work. Collected here are 12 artists (16 on the CD) featured on Sitting In The Park, in their own words and through the lens of our friend Bob.

A decade into its limitless ambitions, Numero’s flagship Eccentric Soul series is effectively remapping the American soul diaspora. Each compilation explores, in exacting detail, another US city’s smallest time hooks and would-be world beaters tossed into the glutted big-hole record sea of the 1960s and ’70s. In Eccentric Soul’s alternate universe are motley and mishandled Motowns beyond number, and the unforgettable records that could have, and should have, and never did. Find their stories here, retold for the first time.