Ervin Rucker -- "So Good"

This time around I decided to go with a project that's a bit more obscure than others I've done.

Ervin Rucker cut six singles for tiny Duplex Records between 1958 and 1960. Duplex, run by R&B band leader Jimmy Liggins, never released any albums. But Rucker was the most prolific in the label's short existence. Gathering the dozen songs together we can create an album that never existed but was worthy of being.

SIDE A
1. Baby, You Were Meant for Me
2. I Want to Do It
3. Two People in Love
4. If You Have It
5. Hideout
6. Ada from Decatur

SIDE B
1. Searching for Love
2. Done Done the Slop
3. So Good
4. No More Rivers to Cross
5. Blues for Love
6. If You Really, Really Love Me

I placed the A-side of Rucker's last Duplex single as the lead track. On the label of the original single for "I Want to Do It," Mattie Jackson is incorrectly listed as the lead vocalist. But one listen will convince you it's a man singing and that the man is Ervin. Mattie is likely the backup singer on the song.

The rest of the tracks are presented basically chronologically. These songs are good examples of West Coast R&B, the music that was permeating from the clubs along L.A.'s Central Avenue in the 1940s and '50s.

Ten of the tracks are available on the CD Jimmy Liggins Presents the Best of Duplex Records. The two that are missing ("Two People in Love" and "Ada from Decatur") you'll likely have to rip from vinyl singles or from YouTube.

For a cover, I figured a small label like Duplex wouldn't be able to afford anything fancy so I went with something simple. This is the only photo of Ervin from this era I could find and I tinted it blue. I titled the album So Good after one of the tracks.