Poor Richard's Almanac (Music from the Assassination of a President)
Cadence, 1974

Extremeley obscure custom LP recorded in Houston, Texas back in 1974 and created by a group of young high school or college kids. This is a fictional story of the induction of a first black president told through songs, spoken word readings, sound effects and musical backgrounds. Kind of a cross between Roach Om's 1st high school record and the Chicago Boy's Club "Black Fairy" LP. Three or four pieces stand out, especially the intro cut "Victory Chant" [click for MP3 excerpt] with Tamla out front on vocals and spoken word backed by mournful choir and conga drums. This piece is very deep and moving. Their "Mad, Mad Richard" [click for full MP3] is to my ears, a pretty much top shelf, street level homemade folk art trip w/ electronic effects. Couple other scattered, primitive conceptual/spoken and soul tunes and then "Exie's Blues Song" [click for MP3 excerpt] album closer - a fantastic female vocal, conga, rhodes soul/funk tune. A very cool and completely undocumented LP but also very lo-fi. For me, message and music come through loud & clear but if you're after studio slick pro soul, stay away. Should charm the pants off of any adventurous, open-minded soul/funk or real people/outsider collector however, especially those open to street level expression from this time and era. See back cover pic here.