Brunswick Records was a relatively minor imprint that first popped up in the 1920s, then was passed around the corporate track, owned at one time or another by
Warner Brothers,
Columbia, and as the '50s rolled on, by
Decca Records. Enter street-smart Detroit manager
Nat Tarnopol, whose main client at the time was the dynamically talented
Jackie Wilson.
Wilson's debut single,
"Reet Petite," appeared in 1959 on
Brunswick, shooting to the top of the
R&B charts, the first of 11 singles by
Wilson to go Top Ten between 1959 and 1963, and
Brunswick was suddenly on the map as a major player in the
R&B market. By the mid-'60s,
Decca had completely turned the imprint over to
Tarnopol, who relocated operations for the label to Chicago in 1967 and began turning out smooth, elegant, and sophisticated productions that mixed innovative horn and string arrangements over rock-solid and proto-funky rhythm tracks and some of the sweetest vocal harmonies this side of Heaven. With a solid stable of artists that included
Wilson,
Gene Chandler,
Tyrone Davis,
Barbara Acklin,
the Artistics, and
the Chi-Lites,
Tarnopol's
Brunswick label rivaled
Motown as a hit machine through the '60s and virtually established what has come to be called
Northern soul. By 1970,
Brunswick was officially a part of
MCA Records, who didn't exactly understand what they had on their hands, and financial and corporate problems soon set in for
Tarnopol and
Brunswick. The label struggled through the
disco era before finally closing its doors officially in 1981, leaving behind an astoundingly solid catalog of music. This wonderful two-disc collection is like a jukebox set on all the hits all the time, and none of these 40 tracks are anything even close to filler. Classic side follows classic side, one after the other, including
Jackie Wilson's stirring
"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher," the Young-Holt Trio's delightful
"Wack Wack" (and in a later incarnation as
Young-Holt Unlimited, the timeless
"Soulful Strut"),
the Artistics'
"I'm Gonna Miss You," Erma Franklin's funky
"Gotta Find Me a Lover," and
Fred Hughes' hard-charging and epic
"Baby Boy." Then there are
the Chi-Lites, who were a hit factory all on their own, producing classics that ranged from the urbane
"Oh Girl" to the political punch of
"(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People" and the sophisticated symphonic atmospherics of
"The Coldest Days of My Life." Less celebrated than
Motown or
Stax,
Brunswick's legacy is every bit as impressive, as this generous anthology makes clear. Here an unsung label gets its due, with nary a slack note in over two hours of music, making this set a timeless treasure. ~ Steve Leggett
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