This is a weird one.

Held up by collectors for its scarcity and uniform approach to funk and soul music, Cleveland’s Hot Chocolate didn’t make it big. And neither did its front-man and guitarist, Lou Ragland – although he did tour with the Ink Spots for a short time during the eighties.

Hearing the self titled album – its only one – from Hot Chocoloate its curious that the same landscape gave birth to S.O.U.L. as well as a handful of relatively important punk groups. None of these acts share a tremendously apparent sound. But an artist, and we’ll assume that musicians count as artists, is charged with rendering his or her time and place in whatever medium is chosen. The difference between Hot Chocolate and S.O.U.L. is minimal – but those punk bands?

Why did Cleveland make these folks spit out an aural representation of a once thriving town in such drastically different terms? I dunno.

Either way, since this disc was released in 1971 it wouldn’t be a huge guess to figure Hot Chocolate would mine the funk cum psych thing George Clinton and Sly Stone had made a mint with. That’s not the case, though.

In similar style to S.O.U.L., there’s a light soul music thing washing over all of these songs – even the most rhythmic. An overwhelming part of the disc comprises instruments, but tracks like “What Should I Do?” are all sappy soul with Ragland singing to his lover – or his lost love. Either way, there’s not too much use for this kind of thing unless you’re playing records for folks that don’t appreciate hard funk.

The band’s ability to move back and forth between the cheese ball love song and funky instrumentals, though, accounts for Hot Chocolate being relatively widely appreciated. “So Dam Funky” doesn’t hurt the band’s legacy counting as the first instrumental on the disc. Working in a trio, though, doesn’t allow for too much to occur. Ragland gets jazzy for a bit during the bridge and runs back to funky fills. It’s not a minimal take on funk so much as the group limiting its main melodic voice from stretching out.

That being said, the rhythm section isn’t anything short of on point. If it was, the scant solo time Ragland takes wouldn’t have come off so well. All that means is that a horn section would have done a great deal for the group. As it is, though, Cleveland’s spit out worse records. And a few better ones too.