Super Cool California Soul 2
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The years 1966 to 1982 were pivotal in the development of black music in America, but by the late '60s, major movements in Motown's Detroit and in Memphis at Stax were near their peak. Enter California, with music scenes brewing in the north, south, and throughout, as well as musicians migrating to the Golden State just as John Soule wrote and Horace Greeley advised a century before. Super Cool is part two of Ubiquity's story of lesser-known contributors to California soul, from Los Angeles chanteuse and Philadelphia native Spanky Wilson to bay legend Darondo, a man of considerable mystery and leisure and possibly other pursuits which may or may not have involved America's oldest profession. "Sly Stone, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers — it was crazy back in them days," says the sixty-year-old Darondo, whose sublime "Such a Night" is among the standout selections on Super Cool, alongside the ironically titled Joey Jefferson Band instrumental "Revolution Rap" and the satisfying rare groove of LAPD's rhythm-centric "Big Herm." Rodney Trotter's "Space Nigga" recruits Funkadelic's Tiki Fulwood, Eddie Hazel, and Billy Bass Nelson as supposed visitors from a far-off galaxy who are dispatched to Earth to remove the word "nigger" from the vernacular. It's not something that passes quality control at Motown, which makes Super Cool all the more appealing. This is the then-sound of a regional underground, and a soundtrack for subcultures that birthed our leaders of today.
