Lou Pride – The Suemi Sessions

Chicago born Lou Pride, steeped in the traditions of the gospel church, falls in love and moves to the sun-baked Texan border town of El Paso, home to a US army base and not much else. Dreaming of a singing career, he cuts a few singles for the small local rock & garage label Suemi. Little did he know that, just a few years later, those very recordings were to create havoc thousands of miles away on the UK soul and funk scenes, and the values of the 45s would reach four figures, due to the demand by DJs and collectors! The first 45 recorded is a prime example of raw and heavy funk. Mistakenly credited to ‘The Groove Merchants’, Lou Pride’s ‘You Got to Have Someone for Me’ has never failed to do the business on the dancefloor, and has been staple peak-of-the-night fodder for the few deep funk DJs lucky enough to own one. The second 45 Lou cut for the label was a cover of James Brown’s ‘It’s a man’s man’s world’ – here in a more uptempo style and with buckets of funk, and again a stone cold classic that is (IMHO!) better than the original. The third of these rarities is the Northern soul anthem ‘I’m Com’un Home In The Morn’un’ – often bootlegged due to massive demand in the 70s, but here taken from the original masters, making the sound available on 45 and in pristine quality for the first time since it was first pressed over 30 years ago! These singles show the meeting points of the soul and funk sounds – heartfelt, gritty, raw and high in tempo – a sound that we here at Jazzman are proud to make available once more. What’s more is that we have recreated the original labels and included the original B-sides, and on the back of the box there are some detailed and comprehensive notes and pictures – listen, read, dance, enjoy!