Light: On The South Side - Various Artists 2-LP+Buch new

Between 1975-77, Chicago’s southside nightclubs were experiencing dark times. The after-hours routine may have been on the up, but the sound of urban blues was on its way down, getting funkier, heavier, picking up a Zeppelin echo from the British rock scene that had raided its larder. Thankfully, lightening came by way of a lanky white guy skulking from club to club with a camera and strobe light. Chicago photographer Michael Abramson hit Perv’s House, Pepper’s Hideout, The High Chaparral, The Patio Lounge, and The Showcase Lounge nightly, not to capture the artists on stage but instead popping off a half-dozen rolls every night exclusively on the seldom photographed crowd.

Light: On The South Side gathers more than 100 beautiful black and white Abramson images, as Numero shines its own light on yet another dark corner of the musical past. The 132-page hardback book features not just these photos, but an extended and wildly colorful ephemera section, plus an essay by British novelist and Numero fan Nick Hornby. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 monograph is the 2LP set Pepper’s Jukebox, a 17-track compilation of Chicago blues in transition, as heard from both the stage and the Wurlitzer.

• Arlean Brown - I'm A Streaker Baby

• Bobby Rush - Bowlegged Woman

• Ricky Allen - No Better Time Than Now

• Little Mac Simmons - The Same One

• Lady Margo - This Is My Prayer

• Andrew Brown - You Made Me Suffer

• Artie White - Gimmie Some Of Yours

• Lucille Spann - Women's Lib

• Hugh Hawkins - Bring It Down Front

• Slim Willis Band - I Sayed That

• Little Ed & the Soundmasters - It's A Dream

• Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black (Inst.)

• Walter Butterball David – Baby Watcha Doing

• Willie Williams - Detroit Blues

• Little Mac Simmons - Goose Walk

• Detroit Jr. - Young Blood

• Willie Davis I Learned My Lesson

• James Kind California Lady

"Numero Group create their most lavish package yet-- a look at the 1970s Chicago soul scene, complete with a book full of Michael Abramson photography.

A camera is a window through which a photographer interacts with the world, and it's up to the operator to decide whether his camera will be a barrier or a mirror between he and his subjects. In the 1970s, Michael Abramson chose the latter path when he brought his camera to Pepper's Hideout on Chicago's South Side. Following in the footsteps of his acknowledged influence Gyula Halász, a Hungarian photographer better known as Brassaï who became the pre-eminent chronicler of the Paris nightlife he loved so much, Abramson insinuated himself into the nightlife of Chicago's predominantly black neighborhoods. He was very much a part of the scene he documented on film, drinking, laughing, and dancing with his subjects into small hours and becoming as much a part of the atmosphere as the locals who frequented the same nightspots he did.

Numero Group has done a fair amount of work to preserve and document the South Chicago music scene of the 60s and 70s, releasing Eccentric Soul volumes on the Twinight and Bandit labels, reissuing Boscoe's phenomenal self-titled LP, and now giving us this set, which pairs a huge book of Abramson's striking photographs from Pepper's Hideout and its more risque counterpart, Perv's House, with a disc of music that mirrors the photos' sexuality and good humor. Abramson contributes a very short explanatory essay, but his black-and-whites are presented on their own, without captions, which is the best way to present them in this context. The intent of the project isn't journalistic after all. The whole package is built to include you in a party you likely never got to go to.

The accompanying disc of music is aptly subtitled Pepper's Jukebox, and though it lacks the archival and informational thoroughness that's become Numero's hallmark, it does provide a perfect soundtrack for the images. These are the songs they danced and laughed to, and the emphasis is one gritty, funky blues tunes. There's plenty of wailing harmonica and scratchy guitar, a hefty dose of double entendre and lots of plain great songs. Bobby Rush's classic "Bowlegged Women, Knock-Kneed Man" is a roaring and not really veiled tribute to the joys of doing it, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Arelean Brown's "I Am a Streaker" works in similar territory, and she's not afraid to talk up her attributes: I'm built like an outhouse/ With not a brick out of place.../ Chest like headlights on a pimp's car..."

There are cool oddities, like the instrumental version of Syl Johnson's epochal soul cut "Is It Because I'm Black", and a bit of social commentary on Lucille Spann's gravel-voiced "Women's Lib", but the best songs get right to the heart of the blues. Willie Davis' "I Learned My Lesson" is flat-out powerful, with deep, dark verses and a ragged, finger-blistering guitar solo; it's a masterclass of smoky Chicago blues. On "You Made Me Suffer", Andrew Brown brings his blues noir into the funky 70s, mixing his lead guitar with heavy soul vocals and a popping drumbeat.

Taken together, the photo book and the disc offer a taste of what it might have been like inside Pepper's Hideout on a good night, and it seems like most nights at Pepper's were good nights. That scene is long gone today, so the opportunity to get an outsider's peek in is appreciated. It's also a rarity in the mp3 era to make such a complete experience out of music and packaging, and the package here is outstanding. Come for the sights, stay for the sounds. And don't be afraid to have a good time." (Pitchfork)