Holy Moses - Force De La Vie / Force [7" Vinyl]

Cannonball Records

£19.78

Format: 7" Vinyl, 45rpm
Catalogue No.: CBLL041
Release Date: 16 Jul 2023
Genre: Soul/Funk

Holy Moses (French Unissued) b/w Holy Moses (Streaker Version)
In collaboration with Barcelona's Movin' On finest Edu Domingo
Label's illustration by Lidiuska
250 Limited Pressing

Super rare discs, acetates and reel-to-reel tapes travel the world, nobody knows that better than our little community of soul aficionados. Even more so when it comes to local private labels that, at some point, surged the interest of the Majors. This is the case of “Holy Moses” by Force, one of the most sought after rare soul recordings that worked its way to Europe through what we could easily call a proper odissey. It was initially due to release under their original band name Life Force whose members were Even Levee (bass), Frank Filipetti (songwriter, drums, lead vocals), Bart Zazzali (vocals), Tommy Mandel (keys) and Terry Alvarado (flute) on the three-state local private label Streaker Records out of Connecticut. The Streaker version was a promo to test the waters for a major american release that never came. What came in 1975 instead is a french release under the band name “Saratoga Trunk” for United Artists France. This was the same english song although in a little longer version than the one on Streaker, and a classic music industry shady operation of the times, where the original band name was changed into “Saratoga Trunk” and songwriter’s name Filipetti was crippled into “Siliketti” most probably to hide profits and getting around the royalties issue. Here’s where the plot thickens. A third version was commissioned to a french band to be sung in french language and cut at Imprimerie JAT, a long gone pressing facility in the outskirts of Paris. This acetate recently surfaced in Barcelona. God knows how it managed to end up in a basement of the city’s underground vinyl market. Here we present the recently discovered french version and the original Streaker recording for your pleasure. Eduardo Domingo rescued the matrix artifact from the subterranean vinyl world of Barça and the one and only Lidiuska crafted the beautiful illustration of the labels. Here’s how Don Eduardo reports about the find and completes the above narrative:

“We all love our secret spots. Nothing beats the excitement of a hurried call from the owner of one of them saying there's "stuff for you". Of course, ninety per cent of the times "stuff for you" means a handful of water damaged Dire Straits records. Or worse. And such was the case when i got to that shabby little warehouse. Just when i'm leaving with my meagre finds the owner says "Oh, hold on, i've got a weird one". In the little cave he goes and comes back with an unnamed acetate in his hand. After i explain him in so many words what an acetate is he says "I've listened to it, it's not bad, sounds like David Bowie. But then i know fuck all about music, play it at home and if you like it you can keep it". Sure thing, thank you very much, until next time. So the Bowie thing goes around my head while i'm cycling back home, water damaged Dire Straits Lp's and that metal platter in my Technics bag. I mean, a Bowie acetate ain’t a bad find at all, is it? Home, glass of wine, switch on the Technics and...that bassline. Eeeeehm, not Bowie. Not by a long mile. My mind takes some seconds to put name to the song: it's -even- funkier, that exotica like intro....and BAM! here they come, totally different french lyrics.Secret spots, eventually, pay off.”