Aficionados of “deep soul” (or, as those of us over 12 call it, “soul”) should flock to score these seminal, rare recordings from a criminally neglected pairing. Edgar Campbell and Ernest Johnson met in Phoenix, then throughout the ’60s made astonishingly emotive music for several labels, together and solo, their scorched, passionate vocals matched only by their unerring ability to avoid a hit. By 1970, after another bad-luck business balls-up, Eddie died of drink and Ernie sank into depression. The angst can be heard in their art: try “It’s A Weak Man That Cries” and “Outcast”. Tender, troubled, textbook torch songs.
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