An early Soul label, based in Leicester; one of several from the Midlands which made and sold unofficial pressings of singles that were popular in the Soul clubs but were difficult to get hold of legitimately. Soul Sounds was run by Jeff King. It appears to have operated from the late '60s into the early '70s - opinions about the actual dates vary - and it issued some thirty singles, in small pressings. Material was sourced from records made by various American labels but was not licenced. 'Soul Sounds' was successful enough to come to the attention of the authorities, and it was mentioned in 'Billboard' of the 26th of June 1971 as causing concern by putting out 'a spate of pirated singles'. It was mentioned again in 'BB' of the 11th of August as a source of pirated singles, along with Green Light and BJD (q.v. both). Despite their bootleg status the singles have become collectable in their own right.
Catalogue numbers were in an SS-1000 series, and the label came in various colours including white, red and yellow. Many of the singles were pressed by British Homophone, who were presumably unaware of their illegality. According to the 'Soul Source' site, which seems pretty authoritative, King had an earlier label, 'Old Soul', which was in the same line of business. See also 'Magic (Bootleg)', 'Out Of The Past', 'Soul Fox' and 'Soul Galore'. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the scan.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.