The Tabu Records Box Set (6xCD) (2014)

In 1975, Clarence Avant hit rock bottom. Or so it seemed. The North Carolina music entrepreneur’s record company, Sussex – launched in 1969 and whose roster included hit-making soul troubadour Bill Withers – was closed down and sold off by the IRS for alleged non-payment of taxes. But Avant hadn’t lost everything – he still retained the fierce drive and burning ambition that had seen his inexorable rise from being a Macy’s store clerk to become a pioneering African-American music executive with valuable experience in artist management (he had looked after the affairs of R&B star Little Willie John and jazz diva Sarah Vaughan in the early 60s). Less than two years after Sussex closed its doors, Avant bounced back and started a new label, Tabu, with distribution from RCA. In terms of the hits that it generated, Tabu became the most successful of Avant’s musical ventures. Its story is chronicled by a tremendous new 6CD box set that comprises 93 tracks plus a bonus DVD and a 7” (with soul singer Sharon Ridley’s Paradise Garage anthem Changin’ adorning the A-side).

Initially, though, Tabu didn’t take the music world by storm. The label’s formative years are detailed on Disc One, Introducing Tabu. Avant’s first signing was Detroit disco-funk and soul aggregation Brainstorm. Though they enjoyed modest success – and cut some pretty decent records, such as Journey To The Light – they’d disbanded by 1979. Other signings included leftfield soul chanteuse Ms (Sharon) Ridley, Argentine jazz man and movie composer Lalo Schifrin, plus blind Brazilian bossa nova pianist Manfredo Est (whose sexed-up jazz-disco romp Jungle Kitten appears on the flipside of the set’s bonus 45).

Tabu’s fortunes changed dramatically with the acquisition of Atlanta’s SOS Band, a self-contained soul and funk unit that scored a US R&B chart-topper with their disco-fuelled 1980 debut 45 Take Your Time (Do It Right). The band then plunged into a creative dip but were revived in 1983 by ex-Time duo Jimmy ‘Jam’ Harris and Terry Lewis, who masterminded a string of memorable global smashes including the synth-driven electro-soul groundbreaker Just Be Good To Me. Such was the production duo’s impact with Tabu’s small roster (they also helmed hits for smooth soul crooner Alexander O’Neal and his duetting partner Cherrelle) that the whole of Disc Four is devoted to their work. They also feature strongly on the fifth CD but, by that time (the late 80s through to the early 90s), they were beginning to farm out some Tabu acts to their understudies, which yielded less successful results. Come 1993, the label’s output dwindled to almost nothing as Avant pursued other interests in the music business. But by then, Tabu, had written itself into the R&B annals.

This six-disc trawl through the archives is a rewarding experience for soul connoisseurs. The addition of a DVD featuring 80s promotional videos from Tabu’s hit-making Holy Trinity (SOS Band, Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle), plus filmed interviews with Clarence Avant and the men who helped make the label’s fortune, Jam and Lewis, makes the package even more desirable.