Searing side of deep soul from New Orleans

Cynthia Sheeler “One Minute Of Your Time” (Phil-La of Soul, 1974)

Today’s slab of beauty comes from the Cynthia Sheeler on the Phil-La of Soul label.  Though Phil-La of Soul was a Philly based label that had lots of success with hometown artists, notably The Fantastic Johnny C and Cliff Nobles & Co., Cynthia Sheeler, as a little reading of the fine print suggests, was actually a product of New Orleans.  Though this record didn’t have much chart action for Phil-La, it’s no indicator of its quality; this is indeed a heavy record.

The song opens with a painfully sweet clean guitar carrying the track.  While the record could go either way in terms of tone- saccharine or sad- before the singing comes in, Cynthia takes the song decidedly into the deepest realms of longing and desire.  This track is masterfully produced and arranged, the horns acting as perfect tent poles and the bass, without being overly complex, is a perfect walking stick to lead the rhythm section. It has all the slickness of the early 70s without the sheen that marks so many of the records that come just after this time period. The record was produced by curiously named “Dollars & Cents” actually a  pseudonym for Louisiana mini-mogul Senator Nolan Jones.

Before settling into his New Orleans / Louisiana record kingdom Jones was performing on an Army base in Fort Benning with Oscar Toney Jr. (a fact I left out of Toney’s write up back a few months ago but had read elsewhere.) Upon discharge he returned to the Crescent City and got himself involved in the vibrant local scene as a performer before turning over the microphone in favor of record production subsequently starting his own string of labels including Erica, JB’s, Hep Me and Superdome.

Sheeler’s visibility is highest in the mid-70’s, releasing a string of singles on a few of Jones’ labels (including Superdome where today’s record first saw the light of day and was then licensed to Phil-La of Soul) and she was very frequently joined by heavy NOLA talent, Raymond Jones is none other than Ray J, Wardell Quezergue and of course Senator Jones further ensuring that everything she touched turned to gold (at least to our ears, if not on the charts.)

This record isn’t the usual upbeat stuff that seems to control the market share of this blog but it’s an excellent record so I hope you’ll give it a few go-rounds on your headphones.

Alright everyone, back to grinding out the goo, see you soon.

Hope this finds you all well and here’s to a better turnout for Saturday’s playoff game.

-George / Snack Attack

PS, at the request of a couple of friends (literally!) I started a facebook page if you’re interested: http://www.facebook.com/MusicalEpisode

PPS, for an interesting point of contrast, it’s worth checking out today’s track side by side with this Beck track.  His only sample clearance is for the clear Ramsey Lewis lift.

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