Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label

The fourth volume in our Eccentric Soul series examines the oil stained underside of the Motor City sound. There are no gold records, million dollar buyouts, or quaint museums at the end of the story, just a handful of four figure 45s, a box of photographs, and a condemned building. If Detroit was once an ocean of soul, the Big Mack label was certainly an island. Big Mack lasted an incredible twenty years without so much as a sniff of a hit. Dogged by lack of airplay, distribution, and a general lack of understanding of the music business, the label failed on almost every level except where it counted; the music. From soulful doowop to blistering garage funk, a left at sultry R&B and then a quick dodge into budget Hendrix wailing over a steel drum break, this disc is the epitome of Eccentric Soul. Artists include Bob & Fred, the Manhattens, Edd Henry, Ms Tyree Jones, the Essence, the Performers, Mae Young, the Soul President, the Sleepwalkers, the Grand Prix's, and L. Hollis & the Mackadoos.