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Posted: 08 Jul 2013 02:59 PM PDT
Before the release of his seminal, socially-conscious, 1972 soul album, Hang On In There, a young Mike James Kirkland released a number of singles as Mike and The Censations. Despite being offered a record deal by Curtis Mayfield, eventually making a deal with MCA, and selling in excess of 50,000+ singles, Mike and the Censations never released an album and never fully realized their potential. Here for the first time are all of his early-releases, along with some unreleased gems discovered on tapes as this project was being researched. Pigeon-holed as a doo-wop group by one of their early labels, Mike and The Censations fought to battle that image. In doing so they made a unique blend of soul, funk, and even jazz-influenced tunes, occasionally sneaking in an up-tempo number on a B-side. Their doo-wop tunes were pretty damn amazing too, dripping in soul and becoming big favorites of the low-rider scene.
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