Stone Coal White – Hell Below / Free is a raw two-sided 7-inch blast of rare Ohio funk and psychedelic soul, drawn from the underground world surrounding the Dayton group in the early 1970s. Issued by Colemine Records, this release pairs a furious version of Curtis Mayfield’s “Hell Below” with the extraordinarily scarce “Free,” bringing two sought-after recordings together on one compact single.Stone Coal White emerged from a scene where heavy funk, soul and psychedelic rock overlapped in small clubs, private recordings and local pressings. The group’s sound is deliberately rough-edged and direct. On “Hell Below,” the band takes Mayfield’s composition and pushes it toward a faster, more aggressive feel, driven by hard drums and wah-wah guitar. The result is less polished than mainstream soul of the period and much closer to the kind of unhinged, basement-recorded funk that later became prized by collectors and DJs.The B-side, “Free,” adds another layer of rarity. The track previously appeared as a 45 on the private Ewing label in 1971 and became exceptionally difficult to find. Its appearance here makes this single more than a straightforward reissue: it is a practical way to hear material that has otherwise circulated through scarce original copies and specialist collector channels.Colemine presents the pairing in two editions: a standard black 7-inch and an Indies-only opaque red pressing. The music is the same on both, with the colour edition offering a limited alternative for collectors. The format suits the material perfectly, keeping the focus on two concise, high-impact performances built for loud playback.For fans of Funkadelic, Curtis Mayfield, Betty Davis and raw regional funk, Hell Below / Free captures the energy of early-1970s Ohio soul at its most direct. It is a small-format release with a big historical footprint, restoring two hard-to-find cuts to circulation without smoothing away their primitive force.
