Now I Can Hold My Head Up High b/w If You're Looking For Love

After some bloody conflict around the office concerning which side of The Triads’ superb but solitary single was going to be included on our Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul compilation, an accord was finally achieved. And, yep, you guessed it, both sides see the light of day on this red-labelled slab of wax, emblazoned with the original GIMP logo. “Now I Can Hold My Head Up High” moves at something of a mid-tempo pace, but it’s just as irresistible as harder-edged flip.

All the way down in Tampa, Studio 70 and Gimp label proprietor Blair Mooney was chasing kid soul aspirations of his own. Backed by a hard funk ensemble, the Triads “If You’re Looking For Love” b/w “Now I Can Hold My Head Up High” put the Jackson 5’s pop-soul on notice, but not outside of Hillsborough County. The 1975 single’s lack of national distribution crippled the Triads’ ability to grow, but regardless, the group were still a few lucky breaks away from challenging even the second tier. Mooney remembers nothing about the group, making this single the only public evidence of their existence.