”by John Broven

”Located In The Record Center Of The South” was the slogan of Excello Records during its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. The record centre was, of course, Nashville, Tennessee and through our many reissues from Excello and its gospel parent Nashboro (and also Champion and Dial) we have shown that there was far more to Music City USA than just country music.

This release is sub-titled The Grand Excello R&B Finale and indeed it is for us, following the acquisition of Excello by MCA/Universal. There will be one more release in June 98, THE BEST OF EXCELLO GOSPEL (CDCHD 687) yes, gospel on Excello! – and then our collection will be complete.

The almost bottomless depths of the Excello catalogue is illustrated by this compilation of highly collectable singles that, at this late stage, are making their first appearance on Ace CD. Recorded at Ernie Young’s Nashville and Jay Miller’s Crowley, Louisiana studios, the very essence of Excello Records is reflected here. There is rocking blues from Jerry McCain and Rudy Green; Nashville R&B from Good Rockin’ Sam, Johnny Angel and Earl Gaines; class female R&B from Lillian Offitt and Carol Fran; swampy R&B instrumentals from Guitar Gable and Classie Ballou; swamp-pop from Jay Nelson; and doo wop from the Gladiolas on the original take of the manic Sweetheart Please Don’t Go, without the overdubbed sax!

Appropriately we conclude with swamp-blues, the genre that made Excello such a vital creative force in the British R&B Boom of the 1960s. Worthy of note are Lazy Lester’s final 45 coupling, Lonesome Sundown’s unreleased masterpiece I Got A Love (Way Down In My Heart), the ever-reliable Leroy Washington, and the so-tasteful guitar overdubbed version of Slim Harpo’s perennial Rainin’ In My Heart.

We can but reflect on a 5-year reissue campaign that has strengthened the aura of Excello Records as a major independent label in the field of blues, R&B and southern soul, located, as it was, in the Record Center of the South.”