v/a: Eccentric Soul: The Nickel & Penny Labels

Label: Numero Group

The latest from the Numero Group turns up 25 alternate worlds in which unknown artists like Jerry Townes and Voices are stars, bona fide Bandstand-rocking stars. The two Chicago labels on display here, Nickel and Penny (monetary differences do not imply artistic ones, it should be said), were the work of the versatile Richard Pegue, who slid between recording studio, radio station and record store with silken ease. With all due respect to Chicago radio junkies, this installment of Eccentric Soul seems to suggest that the studio was Pegue's real playground, as he wrote, arranged and produced all 25 of the tunes here. Most of them jump, like the Matta Baby (what's "the matta baby"?)'s "Do the Pearl, Girl," which smashes together a pop-guitar with a swinging, naughty groove. The Norvells' "Why Do You Want to Make Me Sad" is a refined thing, the sophistication of its arrangement betrayed by the tiniest lack of oomph in production. It's that kind of slight detail that -- when you notice them -- reminds you these are not, in fact, chart-topping hits by the leading stars of the day. Which is why these expressions of underdog-soul can be so much more fun to discover.