Capsoul, short for Capital City Soul, released in its five short years only a dozen 45's and one highly-sought-after LP but managed to score several regional smashes and one national hit before collapsing under the weight of its own debt and hubris. The catalog languished afterward in a sort of limbo, too obscure to find new life on oldies and dusties stations or on Time-Life collections, but too common to attract serious interest from collectors of rare soul. But 30 years after it ceased to exist, the Capsoul label would rediscover its original audience, lying in wait somewhere between the mainstream and the underground.
The roots of Capsoul sprouted in 1966, during Bill Moss’s tenure as a popular DJ at WVKO Columbus. Moss pooled the resources of a few low rollers around town to launch the short-lived Nassau label, a tribute to his native Bahamas. Right out of the gates, “Ooo-Poo-Pa-Doo” b/w “East 24th Ave” by Billy Graham and the Escalators was picked up by Atlantic Records, where it promptly fizzled. The second release on the starkly pink label would yield better results. Moss met a young singer named Ronnie Taylor who’d had recording success already as a member of the Four Pharaohs, themselves hit makers for Cincinnati’s King label and the local Ransom imprint. Taylor recorded a dazzling double-sider, “Without Love” backed with “I Can’t Take It,” which soon attracted interest outside the capital, this time with Lebaron Taylor’s Revilot label, who was currently hitting with The Parliaments, Darrell Banks, and The Holidays. Taylor’s record managed to chart with this higher profile release, but neither Moss nor Taylor ever saw any money from the release, which would begin an unfortunate trend for Moss’s productions. Before folding the label, Moss would take a last crack with “Memories Are Made Of This,” his debut as an artist, but an unfortunate and mediocre crooner.
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