The Olympics – Mine Exclusively

By , July 8, 2014 1:19 pm

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The Olympics

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Listen/Download The Olympics – Mine Exclusively

Greetings all

The mid-week doldrums were creeping up on me, so I felt the need for some hard-charging Northern Soul.

The mighty Olympics were one of those lucky groups to straddle the eras of 50s R&B and 60s soul.

They had their first string of hits from 1958 to 1960 with tunes like ‘Western Movies’, ‘Big Boy Pete’ and ‘Baby (Hully Gully)’, all working a Coasters-type groove.

They continued to record for labels like Tri-Disc and Loma (where they waxed the original version of ‘Good Lovin’ in 1965) eventually landing at the storied LA soul label Mirwood.

It was with Mirwood that they would place two records in the R&B Top 30 in 1966, one of which is he record you see before you today, ‘Mine Exclusively’.

Co-written by Bob Relf and Sherlie Matthews, ‘Mine Exclusively’ is one of the finest soul dancers to come out of Los Angeles in the 60s.

Oddly enough, I first encountered the song in a long-lost 1988 film called ‘The In Crowd’.

The story of Philadelphia teens from opposite sides of the tracks meeting on a dance party show (with a host that bore an uncanny resemblance to Jerry ‘The Geator’ Blavat*).

The flick has lots of high energy dance scenes, and a surprisingly good soundtrack, featuring the Olympics, Tina Britt, the Marvelows, Five Du-Tones, Dobie Gray (of course), Wilson Pickett and more.

It’s a lot of fun, but doesn’t turn up much these days. It was never released on DVD and doesn’t make it onto TV too often.

That said, ‘Mine Exclusively’ opens with a powerful drum/handclaps combo and never lets up until the needle hits the run out groove. It’s a fine example of the kind of top notch records that Fred Smith and James Carmichael were making for Mirwood at the time.

I pick up Mirwood 45s wherever I find them, but if you’re not a wax-hound, you can grab the two excellent volumes of the The Mirwood Soul Story on CD or on iTunes. You will not be disappointed.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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*A resemblance so close that it was rumored to have resulted in legal action….

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

2 Responses to “The Olympics – Mine Exclusively”

  1. Frank says:

    I agree with you the Joe Paliantano (spelling???) did indeed resemble the Geator. So much so that Jerry B. successfully sued the film company. He not only looked like Jerry, sounded like Jerry, but also used some of Jerry’s quotes, etc. As I recall there was also something in the movie about having some handicapped kids on the show, somethingJerry did on his “Discaphonic Scene” in the late 60’s on TV. The movie character however did this to make himself look good. Jerry did it because he either had handicapped people in his own family or among his friends and believed that people like this should be able to have as much fun as anyone else. And, as for “Mine Exclusively”, it, thanks to Jerry, became a hit among the Philly kids, and one of their constant dance requests. Great website, keep up the good work. Frank.

  2. Larry says:

    Thanks Frank!

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