Run by brothers
Hy Weiss and
Sam Weiss, New York City's Old Town Records label and its subsidiary imprint Barry Records specialized in deep soul and R&B sounds during their run in the 1950s and '60s. While they were based on the East Coast, Old Town's best material was very much in the vein of Southern soul, and
Heavy Soul: Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides collects two dozen of the stronger recordings they released between 1962 and 1969. The
Weiss brothers were not above lifting arrangement and production styles from other popular artists of the day, and "Sugar" by
Bobby & Betty Lou sounds like a lost classic from Stax's glory days, while
Lester Young (no relation to "
Pres") is a dead ringer for
Otis Redding on a couple of cuts, both in his performance and the work of his backing band. But what these tunes might sometimes lack in originality, they more than make up for in pure passion, and
Bobby Long's driving "Heartbreak Avenue," the anguished "Nobody Knows" (
Bobby Byrd recording undercover as "
the Flambeaus"),
John Standberry, Jr.'s slinky "Marie," and the wild and funky "Dirty Old Man" from
Irene Reid are superb examples of '60s soul obscurities that deserve wider circulation. While a few cuts sound as if they were rescued from old vinyl pressings, for the most part the remastering on this set sounds quite good, and
John Ridley's liner notes are informative and well researched. If you're looking for hits, they're in short supply on
Heavy Soul: Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides, but fans of classic soul will find plenty to savor here.