Various - Cree Records Step Inside My Soul - Rare '70 And Modern Soul (2-LP)

2-LP 180-gram vinyl, re-mastered, fold-out cover with 12-page inlay (21x21 cms), Funk & Soul

• High quality but very rare tracks, released on Polydor between 1972 and 1980.
• Masters, originally produced by independent record producers, or indie labels
  
• During the 1970s, Polydor licensed a large amount of soul and funk material.
• Soulful and less poppy songs, often relegated to B-sides, originally pressed in minute quantities.
• Full-color fold-out sleeve with 12-page booklet (liner notes and extensive song comments).
• Carefully re-mastered for vinyl release, pressed on 180-gram virgin vinyl.
  

Of all the major record labels like Atlantic, Epic, Capitol, and Mercury promoting African American music in the 1970s, Polydor did it differently. Polydor licensed in singles, pressing very few copies of each record - mostly as single-sided promos, to gauge demand. As a business model, it didn't work well and very few of their licensed-in records became hits. All the masters on this 2-LP set were small, licensed-in productions, with only one act - Creative Source - actually getting a contract with Polydor (and probably only after the single was released and became a minor hit).

Most of the music on this double album is even rarer because most of the tracks are the more soulful, less poppy soul and funk tunes, some of which were relegated to the B-sides of stock copies pressed in tiny quantities. The short-sightedness of Polydor's policies, even relative to other major labels, became clear when some of the acts on this vinyl compilation like Debbie Taylor and most notably Enchantment, had later success on other major labels. In any case, Polydor's policies led to a large amount of high quality but often very rare soul material, some of which makes its first reappearance on this 2-LP set.
> also available on Cree CD, catalog number CCD 1202

Cree Records 

Cree Records' catalogue begins with the sounds of the 1960s and has no reservations even about 21st century music. Whether reggae or ska, calypso and funk, 70s and 80s soul, cool jazz, rare grooves or forgotten top sellers, whether music from Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica or Namibia and Europe: Cree Records will always turn to the dance floor.