Salsoul catalogue now (Suss'd ?) / First Choice

[Westwood]

Hey guys, I used to post a bit a couple of years ago and then could not afford to anymore because of time restraint.
I have two questions: what has happened to the Salsoul.co.uk website and suss'd uk who were distributing all those wonderful Salsoul collections and anthologies? Did they go bust or something? I loved them, everything from them was of the highest quality. Last week I purchased "Salsoul Nation" through an amazon seller thinking it was another great compilation, instead it's a pretty useless mixed compilation or the nth re-edits of whoever was in charge of that project.
Also, most of the great actual compilations that they released are out of print. Some had been apparently reprinted, as amazon.co.uk has two listings with two separate release dates, and some sellers point out for example, this Salsoul Nation had two different artworks....

Also, how come Salsoul 30th Encore seems to be so lacklustre? It seems to be very overpriced by some sellers and it was never listed on the Salsoul website.

And lastly, on wikipedia, the Salsoul Records entry, they wrote that Salsoul acquired the First Choice albums from Philly Groove (the one from WB too?) and later re-released them. When was this, and was this on vinyl or cd, and if cd, what was the quality? I'm asking because I think it's way overdue for me to get those 3 pre-salsoul albums and I want the best editions, and before I head for a search of ex-m original US vinyl I wanna be sure.
It's just too bad that they won't release acomprehensive anthology, the Salsoul one was really wonderful, and the other mixes could be found on the other various artists compilations...

Thanks guys :)

[FunkyChris]

Perhaps suss'd is gone because they used mp3s for the most of their releases

[neonlights]

Not sure what happened to Suss'd, but the defunct Salsoul UK website was pretty useless after a while anyway. The last time I had checked it looked like it hadn't been updated in a good year or two.. Not sure if they're bust, but the latest Suss'd compilation (that I know of), Deep Disco Culture, Vol. 2 is still available.

As far as their compilations go, as nice looking and well compiled as they were, some of the ones that I've managed to acquire left something to be desired as far as sound quality goes.. I had no idea they used mp3s, as FunkyChris said.. wow.. (How did you find out, FunkyChris?) Maybe I won't be getting the Deep Disco Culture CDs, after all.. (though I'll still be holding on to the excellent Walter Gibbons compilation )

As far as Salsoul acquiring and reissuing First Choice's Philly Groove material, somehow I doubt that's true. Given that it's Wikipedia, it's probably a user-submitted factual error. Even today, Philly Groove (or rather their copyright holders, Reid Whitelaw/Brookside Music) seem to have held on to the early First Choice material, licensing them to various labels (hence the many compilations with "Armed and Extremely Dangerous"), issuing remixes, and putting up digital copies on iTunes etc.. If any of that was issued under the Salsoul name, on a compilation or whatever, I'm pretty sure it was licensed from Philly Groove, not bought outright.

FYI: Best source for the first two First Choice albums is an OOP Japanese 2 CD compilation called "Love & Happiness - Greatest Hits" from the P-Vine label. The All Music Guide review says it's on Unidisc, but it's not. Very well compiled and great sound quality - remastered by Tom Moulton too, if I'm not mistaken. All the songs from the first two albums + more.

P-Vine also did a separate CD reissue of their Warner Brothers album, which I'm currently after (having lost a couple bids for it on eBay recently, grrr..). I posted a thread about it a little while back, apparently it's of excellent quality too.

[FunkyChris]

Originally Posted by neonlights

(How did you find out, FunkyChris?) Maybe I won't be getting the Deep Disco Culture CDs, after all.. (though I'll still be holding on to the excellent Walter Gibbons compilation )

I noticed that when opening some wavs in Goldwave of their First Choice Greatest Hits compilation and "Deep Disco Culture Vol. One". They were both made out of mp3s (frequencies are cut off @ ~17 kHz) "Deep Disco Culture Vol. Two" is lossless.

[Westwood]

Thank you guys.
I forgot to mention I know of the Deep Disco Culture issues, however it seems this is suss'd new venture and the Salsoul catalogue is no more?
At least one Salsoul song is on the first volume, Claudja Barry's 12" mix of Sweet Dynamite (although originally it was not Salsoul, ....).
I have to say I find the vol.2 of DDC atrocious. It's like being in a jungle nightmare! It's tribal beats non-stop for more than half of the playing time, definitely different than the first volume.

Funkychris, you mention a First Choice Greatest Hits cd. Would that be one of these issues I am enquiring about, like a 90s salsoul licensed compilation (I keep on reading the Salsoul catalogue was revived in the 90s too and I guess it's those not so great-looking cds like the non-latest issue of the 12" masters collection vol.1) or it meant the suss'd The Anthology?

[FunkyChris]

Originally Posted by Westwood

Funkychris, you mention a First Choice Greatest Hits cd. Would that be one of these issues I am enquiring about, like a 90s salsoul licensed compilation (I keep on reading the Salsoul catalogue was revived in the 90s too and I guess it's those not so great-looking cds like the non-latest issue of the 12" masters collection vol.1) or it meant the suss'd The Anthology?

I meant "The Anthology". I recommend the double cd album "First Choice - Greatest Hits" by Unidisc instead.

[Westwood]

Originally Posted by FunkyChris

I meant "The Anthology". I recommend the double cd album "First Choice - Greatest Hits" by Unidisc instead.

Thanks, I may get that if I can't get the Japanese one. I saw the Unidisc tracklisting on their site and it doesn't even include Armed And Extremely Dangerous, but includes several Salsoul era tracks which I don't need right now and I want to consolidate the material prior to those.

[Disco Funk]

I think the Suss'd label used previously CD sources. If they didn't have that, then they used a vinyl source and probably used some kind of software to clean it up, which cuts off higher frequencies, making it look like an mp3 rip.

Disco Funk

[DonaldCleveland]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

I think the Suss'd label used previously CD sources. If they didn't have that, then they used a vinyl source and probably used some kind of software to clean it up, which cuts off higher frequencies, making it look like an mp3 rip.

Disco Funk

DINGDINGDINGDINGDING~!! You win the AWARD~!!

The overwhelming majority of the CURRENT wave of Salsoul reissues from UNIDISC are worth buying. The initial tape transfers were done by Tom Moulton. Now a couple of them "may" have been re-eq'ed after the fact....but Moulton did indeed oversee the bulk of it.

[DonaldCleveland]

Originally Posted by Westwood

Thanks, I may get that if I can't get the Japanese one. I saw the Unidisc tracklisting on their site and it doesn't even include Armed And Extremely Dangerous, but includes several Salsoul era tracks which I don't need right now and I want to consolidate the material prior to those.

Moulton did the mastering on those Japanese Salsoul reissues of about 4-5 years ago. He did the first few Suss'd reissues and then no more.
I heard from the UK side that Salsoul was charging them TOO MUCH for the tape transfers (typical of Salsoul), and they were FORCED into making do with vinyl rips and existing CDS. Do not misinterpret this. Moulton was not overcharging- SALSOUL was.

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by DonaldCleveland

DINGDINGDINGDINGDING~!! You win the AWARD~!!

The overwhelming majority of the CURRENT wave of Salsoul reissues from UNIDISC are worth buying. The initial tape transfers were done by Tom Moulton. Now a couple of them "may" have been re-eq'ed after the fact....but Moulton did indeed oversee the bulk of it.

Ahh, so that might explain some rare mixes being included on some of the CDs that didn't previously appear on vinyl, like Sigler's By The Way You Dance.

Disco Funk

[FunkyChris]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

I think the Suss'd label used previously CD sources. If they didn't have that, then they used a vinyl source and probably used some kind of software to clean it up, which cuts off higher frequencies, making it look like an mp3 rip.

Disco Funk

No, they definitely used mp3s or other lossy sources. Cutting off frequencies over 17kHz is no adequate equalizing. That's very sad because the quality of the tracks is rather good. Perhaps even from tape.

[eddie]

Here's a compilation that I have of First Choice's pre-Salsoul releases. It's called The Best of and released on Southbound in the mid 1990's. Here's a link to allmusic.
allmusic ((( Best of First Choice [Southbound] > Overview )))

I also have an earlier pressing of So Let Us Entertain you and it wasn't issued by P-Vine but by Blues Interactions in the mid 90's and has some reference to "made in Japan". I got it on Amazon about a year ago for around $40.

[Westwood]

Yay I just got in the mail Love & Happiness - Greatest Hits, and I had a quick listen to the tracks and they sound fresh and crispy ;)
Also dig the cool early doulbe-cd casing from Japan.
I don't get the credits in the booklet though, it seems they are saying some songs are part of Salsoul albums, which they're not.

Also, Just saw a 4LP box set from Salsoul. Seems to be a mix of all their albums and some longer mixes.
Does anyone have more info on it?

[Westwood]

Ok I'm sure now, the "Disc 2" credits in the booklet for Love & Happiness - Greatest Hits are totally wrong. They are for maybe another Japanese release of First Choice, including the Salsoul albums including the whole medley for Hold Your Horses. Is mine the only one?