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It was Gabe Roth (Daptone Records) who coined the term 'shitty is pretty' to describe his modus operandi for writing & recording genuine modern funk music. No frills, no fancy production methods, straight ahead in the pocket playing and arrangements - and looking back 10 or more years from today - that was certainly the message fully understood and endorsed by UK bands like The New Mastersounds, The Soul Destroyers, Speedometer and the collection of musicians who were briefly known as Reverend Cleatus & The Soul Saviours.
Keyboards, guitar, bass, sax and drums set up in one room - with a four track, cassette tape machine sitting in the middle of the floor - with microphones pointed roughly in the direction of the musicians playing them - that was as about as complicated as things got! Playing together live as a unit, with no chance for over dubs if one went wrong - which was fairly often - that was The Soul Saviours back to basics approach. (For the record there never was an actual Reverend Cleatus - a fact that confused many and even led one music reviewer to assume the Reverend was stuck, being ill in the toilet at a live Soul Saviours show!)
All the band wanted to try and achieve was get somewhere close to the vibe their old school heroes did - The Meters, Eddie Bo, the soul-jazz organists like Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff. Ska & reggae king Jackie Mittoo & British B3 legend Brian Auger had forged decades before. Cutting edge is certainly wasn't, to be ground breaking was never the aim - but to get onto tape the gritty, and rough sound of the bands live shows was the simple aim. And here - after all these years, and after a CD only release on Soul Cookers Records back in 2007 - it is finally on vinyl - where it belongs.
The Soul Saviours are:
Pete Collison - guitar
Raydn Hunter - bass
Greg Boraman - organ & electric piano
James Rule - drums
Mark Norton - saxophone, flute
Matt Wilding - percussion
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