Inspired by Detroit's Motown and Memphis' Stax, independent R&B labels started popping up across the country, founded by single-minded entrepreneurs looking to record their local scenes and get rich in the process. The boutique reissue imprint Numero Group has been collecting the output of some of those scenes, starting earlier this year with Columbus, Ohio's Capsoul, and now—after a stop overseas to compile the complete recordings of forgotten European post-punk act Antena—returning to regional R&B for its third release, Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label. Bandit founder Arrow Brown operated in obscurity from Chicago throughout the '70s, leaving behind a handful of singles, mostly by makeshift acts with names like The Arrows and The Majestic Arrows. But Brown's failure to become the next Berry Gordy wasn't due to lack of quality. His label's string-draped, gospel-informed soul ballads were the equal of any Soul Train fodder of the era.
Bandit's secret weapon was arranger Benjamin Wright, who later worked with Aretha Franklin and OutKast, and whose unconventional mix of hoedown fiddles, bluesy big-band horns, playground shouts, and funky scratch guitar on The Majestic Arrows' "One More Time Around" has the feel of a sunny day in a warmly diverse neighborhood. The lyrics Brown wrote for his acts tended to be generic calls to love ("We Have Love," "If You Love Me," "Love Is All I Need," and so on), and his melodies were so slight that his powerhouse vocalists used them just to show off their chops. But songs like the unbelievably fine "Another Day" have a light touch that comes from the interplay of low-budget sound and incongruously sophisticated strings.
Elsewhere in the Bandit talent trust, rubber-voiced soul shouter Johnny Davis (lead singer for The Arrows) brings gravity and vitality to trifles like "You've Got To Crawl To Me" and "Boogedy Boogedy." Less impressive is Brown's son Altyrone, a pre-teen Michael Jackson clone who had some small local success with his shaky come-on songs, and went on to star in the blaxploitation dud The Monkey Hustle before leaving show business in the '80s. The bulk of the songs on Numero Group's compilation come from Bandit's "supergroup" The Majestic Arrows, whose off-kilter, dreamy pop-soul sounds like Chicago covering Sly & The Family Stone. On the band's biggest near-hit, "The Magic Of Your Love," a halting string-and-horn intro gives way to free-flowing rapture, like cool water bursting from rusty pipes.