Spontaneous Overthrow

Spontaneous Overthrow were an obscure New Jersey-based experimental R&B duo whose sole album, 1984's All About Money, became a highly sought-after collector's item several decades after its release. Next to nothing is known about Nathaniel Woolridge and Anthony Freeman. The two friends from Newark recorded All About Money, a very strange album of atmospheric Casio keyboards and spacy, off-key harmonies resembling a low-budget hybrid of Shuggie Otis, Sun Ra, and Curtis Mayfield. The album was self-issued via the duo's own New-Ark Records Inc. in 1984; barely anyone heard it at the time, and the duo were never heard from again. With the advent of filesharing and MP3 blog culture during the 2000s, record collectors began sharing tracks from the album, and the scant surviving copies of the record began trading hands for thousands of dollars. The album's title track was featured on Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984, Chocolate Industries' landmark 2012 compilation of private press abstract R&B. In 2018, Numero Group, home to countless reissues of unfindable rarities, gave All About Money its first official re-release.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo