v/a- THE ONE-DERFUL COLLECTION: M-Pac! Records 2LP

Includes bonus 7".

Highly recommended.

Volume One of this series, covering the One-Derful! label, began with Otis Clay's "Got to Find a Way," his tribute to his mentor and great Chicago West side R+B/soul man Harold Burrage who suddenly departed this world in 1966 while at the height of his powers. In fact, just the year before, Burrage had his biggest hit ever - as well as the M-Pac! label's [#7 on Cash Box's national R+B chart] - with his immortal original version of that hard-charging, relentlessly pulsating soul record.

But we don't just get this amazing record as it was issued in the summer of '65, as Secret Stash has unearthed and provided for the first time ever the entire record with its opening verse and chorus intact. (These had been excised prior to release supposedly so that the radio of the day would have a snappier version to play.) Thus we have one of the finest Chicago soul records of all time finally heard here as originally intended.

As with its predecessors, the sound work on this relatively - ranging to extremely - obscure material is sensational. Again, there's a 36-page accompanying booklet with incredibly detailed liner notes profiling all the featured artists by "Chicago Soul" author Robert Pruter. There is also an opening essay introducing this M-Pac! imprint, as well as a three-page essay on the history of the British Northern Soul dance-club phenomenon and how the One-Derful! / Mar-V-Lus / M-Pac! family of labels became so integral to its development. Without the interest generated by Northern Soul, it is unlikely we would ever get to hear all this great old R+B/soul music prized for its obscurity as much as for its danceability.