o jays road manager, don king prison chauffeur, window washer, house painter, ink spot, domino, producer, engineer, label owner, guitorgan technician, and one-time steward of a coveted jet magazine delivery route, lou ragland is cleveland s eastside success story. though suffocated by lake eries nitrate rich waters and the burning oil from a cuyahoga river fire, between 1967-1977 lou ragland produced the most thoughtful, hopeful, and downright soulful work to come out of the forest city. bookended by his dynamic albums hot chocolate and understand each other, i travel alone gathers period singles, collaborations, and an unreleased live album cut in 1973, revealing a cleveland genius in a musical microcosm of fearless and confident creation.

2011 three cd collection that contains the very best northern soul masters from the vaults of atlantic, atco, loma, reprise and warner bros records from 1965-74. this ultimate best of spans the legendary after hours series, picking the best, most funky, soulful and rare tracks to give the listener a truly authentic northern soul experience.