May 5, 2023
Fat Possum
2xLP
Originally founded in the late 50s as a rockabilly label, Hi Records had to adapt and reinvent itself several times before it would go on to help define the Memphis sound, that light and melodic soul and funk that poured out of small studios around Tennessee in the late 60s and 70s. Rockabilly was already waning, and a new racial consciousness in the South led to innovative new forms as black artists began to flourish commercially. In 1968, Al Green started recording for Hi, and a new vision for the label began to be put in place. Led by trumpeter and producer Willie Mitchell, who recorded hit after hit in a small repurposed movie theater, now the iconic and still operational Royal Studios (Bruno Mars recorded Uptown Funk here), Hi Records assembled one of the finest catalogs in soul music. This compilation, first released on vinyl in 2020, and compiled by long time Japanese funk DJ and Rare Groove expert Daisuke Kuroda, is an excellent survey of Hi at its peak. It features some deep cuts from some of the more popular names (Al Green, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles), though what the album really provides is a gateway to discovering some of the lesser known artists. Unearth the faded footprint of groups like Africano or Odyssey; some of these songs represent the only recorded musical output of the artists. The good thing about a high water mark is that it's always there for us to see, openly telling its however-brief story to those who are willing to look.