Frank Howard and the Continentals – Do What You Wanna Do Pts 1&2

By , September 15, 2013 11:11 am

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Frank Howard

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Listen/Download Frank Howard and the Continentals – Do What You Wanna Do Pt1

Listen/Download Frank Howard and the Continentals – Do What You Wanna Do Pt2

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is a later bit of funky work from a very interesting cat by the name of Frank Howard.

I first encountered Howard and his first group, the Commanders on one of the old Bear Family DVDs of the Nashville TV show ‘The Beat’.

The performance of their brilliant (and rare, and expensive…*) tune ‘I’m So Glad’ knocked me out.

It’s one of those records that you hear and absolutely cannot believe it was deprived a place of honor on the charts.

While I haven’t (yet) scored a copy of that particular 45, while I was out digging earlier this year I encountered a later, funkier 45 by Mr Howard, that being the disc you see before you this fine day.

Credited to Frank Howard and the Continentals, ‘Do What You Wanna Do Pts 1&2’ – which came out (I think) in 1969 on the DeLuxe label is a mid-tempo burner, with a largely spoken vocal by Howard.

The whole thing is driven by the guitar (the bass and drums are fairly low key) and the horns, which keep stabbing through the verse and the chorus. The sax solo bridges parts 1&2,and the lead guitar gets to work it out a little on the second half.

The tune was co-produced by Nashville DJ (and well-lubricated host of The Beat) Hoss Allen, and is credited to Jane Meredith (no idea whatsoever who that was…).

Over the years Howard recorded 45s for labels like Barry (‘I’m So Glad’), Excello, Hermitage and Dot.

I do not know at what point the Commanders morphed into the Continentals, but it would seem that this is the only record they made.

Frank Howard is still around and performing in the Nashville area.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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*In addition to the fact that it is in demand on the Northern soul scene, ‘I’m So Glad’ features the guitar playing of a young fellow by the name of Jimi Hendrix…
 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

3 Responses to “Frank Howard and the Continentals – Do What You Wanna Do Pts 1&2”

  1. Living music says:

    just listened to “I’m so glad”. It totally hit home. thanks for the post! Bless

  2. Jeff says:

    I’ve heard that bass line somewhere else. Wish I could remember where.

  3. Jeff says:

    OK, got it. I know that bass line from “I’m Shakin'” by the Blasters, from 1981. It’s a cover of a Little Willie John song from 1960. Sax rather than bass on both those versions.

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