Dave Hamilton’s astounding productions were hardly known about 20 years ago. Who knew that this producer who had made a couple of northern soul rarities could possibly have more than a handful more in his vaults. The truth emerged that for the best part of two decades Hamilton had made in his tiny Detroit studio a host of great recordings – not just soul, but jazz, funk and even early electro. Although these tracks often had an artisanal home-made feel to them, they were also quite brilliant. One of our first discoveries was ‘Brand New Girl’ by Billy Garner, which when released rapidly became a classic on the deep funk scene. Since then we have issued two CDs of Hamilton-related funk and another of his own solo recordings. The vinyl resurgence now allows us to gather the best 12 of these tracks to create this LP. Along with the Billy Garner track, highlights include Prophet & His Disciples’ ‘You Fool, You Fool’, a salutary tale of drug addiction, originally released on the tiny Pressco label, plus the Webb People’s ‘Bump With Me’ and Hamilton’s ‘The Deacons’, both of which appeared on his TCB imprint. All in all, a fitting tribute to this side of Hamilton’s work. I fully expect DJs the world over to give these tunes a spin.
Dean Rudland
