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Warrior horse-woman of myth or chimerical beast of late 1970s funk? It is simply Centaura, available here for what amounts to the first time. For Atlanta hillbilly impresario Bob Riley, the 12" Spiral Series was part put-on, part hustlebut for Birmingham, Alabamas Centaura, that spiral-in logo appeared as a long-shot leg up. Their records two-color, one-idea cover was mass-produced for Rileys envisioned run of potential releasesthough nothing but the enigmatic Centaura ever filled the jacketand them just barely. Recorded in 1978, Lawdy, Lawdy, Lawd is a long-playing Golden Fleece of funk, disco, boogie, and deep post-Muscle Shoals balladry that wouldve surely failed to exist without Rileys extreme penny-pinching tactics in service of a failed marketing ploy so ludicrous, it kept the LP out of stores, relegated to extreme scarcity forever. On Side One, Jesse Daniel and Cedrich Rutledge trade energized beats and freaks, before the synth-washed slowdown of One of a Kind. Side Two features Rileys two textbook funk cuts and album-ender Just Dont Love Youa mysterious tack-on of the Carbon Copies Git Down Inc.-issued 45, plus a heaving Distant Lover that sexes Marvin Gayes original into softcore porn territory.