A local legend in Boston,
Skippy White was at the center of the city's R&B and soul scene, spinning his successful record stores into a radio show and, for a time, a series of labels that captured hometown talent. Curated and produced by
Eli Paperboy Reed -- he provides liner notes co-written with co-producer
Noah Schaffer, and
Peter Wolf and
Peter Guralnick both contribute essays as well --
The Skippy White Story: Boston Soul 1961-1969 chronicles the period when
White was at the apex of his role as scene-maker, the time when he was the guy who helped create a thriving R&B, gospel, and blues scene in Boston. The liners tell the story of how
White brought soul to the city through his radio show and stores, an interconnected enterprise that led him to harbor ambitions to be like his idol
Bobby Robinson, the record man behind the
Fire and
Fury imprints.
The Skippy White Story pulls from the 45s issued on the
Stop,
Ditto,
Bluestown, and
Silver Cross imprints, labels that allowed him to target soul, blues, and gospel artists. Here, the soul accounts for the first half of the compilation, with the blues and gospel the second. The uptown grooves and harmony of
the Precisions and the
Earl Lett Quartet are the highlights, capturing the sophisticated strut and shuffles that fueled soul in the first two thirds of the 1960s. They're so cheerful that the acoustic blues of
Guitar Nubbit provides a bit of a shock initially, but he, along with the gospel singers, do help illustrate the broad reach of
Skippy White. What connects the 15 singles on
The Skippy White Story is how the exuberant energy of the artist is captured with thin, compressed sound. These were records done on the cheap, so it's not a surprise they sound a little flimsy, but that's part of the appeal of the set: it's not so much a collection of lost gems as a snapshot of a scene that was in danger of fading away. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
![The Best of Sam Cooke [RCA]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0190758749310_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "The Best of Sam Cooke [RCA]")
![Super Fly [Original Soundtrack]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0081227980436_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Super Fly [Original Soundtrack]")
![The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield [Rhino]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0603497841967_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield [Rhino]")
