If This World Were Mine...

Fifteen-year-old Bobby Nunn and sixteen-year-old Eugene Coplin recorded in the studio Nunn’s father ran out of the basement of their Buffalo home. Though the underage duo managed to release a few highly-coveted singles between 1967 and 1971, their album If This World Were Mine went unreleased for thirty years before being uncovered. Finally given issue by New York funk-revival label Daptone, Bob & Gene’s lone full-length stands as both a gorgeous collection of sweet homemade balladry, and an emblem for the thousands of small-town soul musicians whose musical voices are forever lost to time. Though it borrows liberally from Motown and Philly influences, If This World Were Mine has a personality all its own thanks to the rough-hewn playing and the wide-eyed sincerity of its two teenaged guides. In “Gotta Find A Way,” “I Can Be Cool,” and “You Don’t Need Me” one can relive the tender bruises of an adolescent’s lovelorn heart, and the feelings only get stronger when Bob & Gene slow the music to a crawl. “You Gave Me Love” is the highlight, a crystalline duet in which the purring organ moves at the pace of a passing cloud.