The Younghearts

Listen/Download – New Young Hearts – A Little Togetherness MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t be there at airtime you can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app or grab yourself an MP3 right here at the blog.

I wanted to close out the week with a bang, so I dipped into my Northern box and pulled out one of my all-time favorites.

The Young Hearts (Younghearts, New Young Hearts) were together for about a decade, releasing records from 1967 to 1977 for a variety of labels like Canterbury, Pick A Hit, Minit, Zea and 20th Century.

The LA-based group, which recorded under the aegis of songwriter/producer Bobby Sanders, hit the R&B charts a number of times between 1968 and 1975, but they are best remembered for their 1967 record, ‘A Little Togetherness’ which became a Northern Soul classic.

The song/record has an interesting history. It was originally recorded and released on the Canterbury label in 1967. The Younghearts went on to record several singles and an album for Minit in 1968, which included a re-recorded, slowed down version of ‘A Little Togetherness’ (as well as a new version of the other big Northern 45 on Canterbury, the Tempos ‘Countdown (Here I Come)’).

Sometime after the Minit recordings, Sanders and the original Younghearts split, with the producer putting together a new group, the New Young Hearts. It was under this name that the 45 you see before you today was released, the catch being, that even though Sanders was using a new name, the version of ‘A Little Togetherness’ was the exact same version that was released on Canterbury three years before!

There’s even another New Young Hearts 45 of ‘A Little Togetherness’, released on the Zea label in 1971, but I can’t say for sure if it’s the same track or a rerecording.

That said, one listen to ‘A Little Togetherness’ will instantly reveal why it became an anthem on the Northern scene.

Opening with chiming guitar and piano, the song soon takes off into the stratosphere with soaring lead and backing vocals and a relentless four-on-the-floor dance beat. The falsetto lead vocal floats along on a brilliant, hook-filled melody, and the when the chorus hits the record shoots to another level entirely.

Like the best Northern Soul, ‘A Little Togetherness’ is packed with drama and dynamic tension that lifts the dancers.

It’s one of those records that I want to play over and over again.

As it is, if you want to get yourself a copy of this work of soulful genius, the Soultown version of ‘A Little Togetherness’ isn’t cheap, but it is usually cheaper than the Canterbury issue, which can go for a couple of hundred dollars.

Until you get that lucky, you can grab yourself this recording and put it on repeat.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

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).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.