Is the Achterhoek the True Center of the Universe? Ruurlo Soul City!
Sometimes I think so. Whether AC/DC’s Angus Young lives there or a member of Smokie, that’s beside the point.
How did I end up from a South African band exiled due to apartheid, via London, in Amsterdam, then Germany, and finally in Ruurlo? And how did Otis Redding’s protégé, Stax legend, Sam & Dave Show star, and southern soul pioneer Arthur Conley end up in Ruurlo after stints in Brussels and Amsterdam?
The answer is simple: There was an incredibly cool boogie single to be recorded, only to be buried under dust for decades. Then, it re-emerged into the world and finally saw the light of day in the collection of, you guessed it... Vinyleers!
After a hard reset from the macho music culture he was part of, Arthur Conley reinvented himself as Lee Roberts (his middle name combined with his mother’s maiden name) and retreated to the Achterhoek. Rumor has it that until his death in 2003, he’d occasionally blast his hit single Sweet Soul Music at full volume. And what did he do there? He designed carpets, no joke!
Now, the other half of the story: Glenn Helstone. Glenn, who was the bassist for the originally South African band Jabula starting in the 1980s, recorded a single somewhere amid the backstage chaos and fireworks with Lee under the name Langa Langa (a word meaning "the sun" in the South African Bantu language Xhosa).
It’s All Right on the A-side, Freedom Is The Thing on the B-side. Two cosmic funk gems from the most unexpected corner, with a beautiful story to boot.
Judge for yourself and claim a copy, collector’s boogie from the archive!
