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By Larry, July 3, 2016 11:22 am

Sir Mack Rice

Listen/Download – Sir Mack Rice – Mustang Sally MP3

Listen/Download – Sir Mack Rice – I Gotta Have My Baby’s Love MP3

Listen/Download – Sir Mack Rice – Love Sickness MP3

Greetings all.

As I said on Friday (yes, we’re bookending the weekend with obits) the giants of classic soul are falling at an alarming rate, and we were reminded of this last week with the passing of the mighty Sir Mack Rice.

Born Bonny Rice in Mississippi in 1933, by the 1950s he had relocated to Detroit where he would join one of the most important early soul groups, the Falcons, which would be home to singers like Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, and Joe Stubbs (brother of Levi and an unsung hero of Motor City soul).

Rice is best remembered to the general public today as the author of ‘Mustang Sally’, one of the most ubiquitous of all classic 1960s soul tunes, via the hit by Wilson Pickett, and then its revival on the wedding circuit in the cover by the Commitments.

Rice was unusual in that the importance of his career is split pretty evenly between his work as a singer and songwriter.

He made a number of excellent 45s over the years for Blue Rock, Stax, Atco, Capitol and Truth, as well as writing songs for artists like the Staple Singers (Respect Yourself), Rufus Thomas (Breakdown, Funky Penguin) and others.

Rice had a smooth, tenor voice with a Southern twang, and considering the excellence of his songs, should have been a much bigger deal in his day. Sadly he only had two R&B hits in his career, Mustang Sally in 1965 and Coal Man in 1969.

The tracks I bring you today are my faves by Rice. I would have been remiss were I not to begin with the original (and little heard these days) version of Mustang Sally.

Produced by no less a light than Andre Williams, Rice’s version is very cool, yet it’s easy to see how Pickett’s incomparable, powerful voice grabbed the attention of the public.

The next two tracks are both sides of Rice’s second Stax 45 (and the last in his first stint with the label), ‘I Gotta Have My Baby’s Love’ and ‘Love Sickness’.

Yet another entry in the “how was this not a hit’ sweepstakes, I first encountered ‘I Gotta Have My Baby’s Love’ tucked away on an old Jerry Blavat comp from the 60s (the Geater had excellent taste). It’s a fast moving bit of classic Stax, co-written by Sir Mack and Booker T and the MGs. It features some blazing horns, remarkably heavy drums and great piano.

The flipside, ‘Love Sickness’ finds it self closer to mid-tempo, and features a very groovy chorus and some interesting chord changes.

Sir Mack Rice, despite that fact that his work is best known to soul collectors, was an important part of the machinery of 60s soul.

He will be missed.

See you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, June 19, 2016 11:25 am

Larry Grogan – Kings

Artistics – So Much Love In My Heart (Okeh)
Millionaires – A Rather Hip Shing (Philips)
Volcanos- You’re Number One (Arctic)
Sims Twins – A Losing Battle (Omen)
Spirit of St Louis – Wait Until Tomorrow (Philips)
Eddie Purrell – The Spoiler (Volt)
The Spellbinders – A Little On the Blue Side (Columbia)
Bobby Bland – Shoes (Duke)
Bull and the Matadors – Move With the Groove (Toddlin’ Town)
Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers – It’s Growing (Gordy)
Billy Leonard – Tell Me Do You Love Me (Fairmount)
George Guess – No Matter What (Pearl Harbor)
Olympics – Baby Do the Philly Dog (Mirwood)
Benny Gordon and the Soul Brothers – I’m Gonna Give Her All the Love I Got (Wand)
Marketts – Stirrin’ Up Some Soul (WB)
Trade Martin – Moanin’ (RCA)
Bobby Newton – Do the Whip (Mercury)
The Groovers – I Got To Go Now (Up On the Floor) (Groovy)

Listen/Download – Larry Grogan – Kings 103MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all 

Welcome back to the Funky16Corners 2016, Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

Today I give you the final mix of this year’s Allnighter, the complementary/second half of this years mix from yours truly, ‘Kings’.

This is an hour of the finest male soul 45s – all dancers – from the classic era. You get soul from Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Los Angeles, St Louis, Memphis and Houston, all with the sounds to put some pep in your step.

Make sure to spin this one with the ‘Queens’ mix posted on 6/5 for the full effect.

I want to thank all the selectors that participated this year for putting together these great mixes, as well as everyone that donated.

If you haven’t donated, please click on the Paypal link and drop something in the bucket to help cover the 2016 operating costs.

Don’t forget to click that Paypal button and donate, and we’ll be back later in the week with some more of the soul and funk goodness you’ve come to expect from Funky16Corners!

___________________________

Your donations help to keep Funky16Corners up and running, with the blog, Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast and hundreds of hours of archived mixes.

Everyone that donates will get the new 2016 Funky16Corners badge and bumpersticker, with which you can adorn the garment and flat surface of your choosing.

Also, everyone that donates will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of the new 45 by the M-Tet!

So pull down the ones and zeros, dig deep and Keep the Faith!

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Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, June 5, 2016 11:33 am

Funky16Corners Presents: Queens
Vicki Gomez – Boys Are a Dime a Dozen (ABC/Paramount)
Rita and the Tiaras – Gone With the Wind Is My Love (Dore)
Apollas – Mr Creator (WB)
Clara Ward – The Right Track (Verve)
Gloria Jones – Heartbeat Pt1 (Uptown)
Sandy Wynns – Love Belongs To Everyone (Champion)
Tina Britt – The Real Thing (Eastern)
Brenda Lee – Dancing In the Street (Decca)
Candy and the Kisses – Keep On Searching (Scepter)
Dorothy Berry – Shindig City (Planetary)
Marie Queenie Lyons – Drown In My Own Tears (Deluxe)
Mirettes – Now That I Found You Baby (Mirwood)
Bobbettes – Tighten Up Your Own Home (Mayhew)
Funky Sisters – Soul Woman (Aurora)
Ella Fitzgerald – These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ (Salle)
Sari and the Shalimars – No Reason To Doubt My Love (Veep)
Judy Clay – Sister Pitiful (Atlantic)
Lesley Gore – Take Good Care (Of My Heart) (Mercury)
Barry St John – Cry Like a Baby (GRT)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Queens 86MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all and welcome to the 2016 Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive!

This is the time of year where I and some of the finest selectors I know create some brand new mixes and post them here in the hope that you will all show your appreciation by clicking on the Paypal link and tossing something into the hat to help cover our yearly operating budget. This is the 10th Anniversary of the Pledge Drive and the 6th year of the Allnighter format.

This year’s line-up includes mixes from Asbury Park 45 sessions alums DJ Prestige, DJ Prime Mundo, DJ Bluewater, Vincent the Soul Chef, my man in the UK Ben Gibson, Tarik Thornton, HeavySoulBrutha Dave B, Chris Lujan of the M-Tet and the Dirty Dirty Podcast, DJ RP of Funkdefy Ohio and yours truly book-ending the whole thing.

The mixes this year are uniformly excellent, with sounds ranging from funk 45s, to Northern Soul, sweet soul, reggae, modern funk instros, soul jazz and everything in between.

We’ll be posting a mix each weekday for the next few weeks.

___________________________

Your donations help to keep Funky16Corners up and running, with the blog, Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast and hundreds of hours of archived mixes.

Everyone that donates will get the new 2016 Funky16Corners badge and bumper sticker, with which you can adorn the garment and flat surface of your choosing.

So pull down the ones and zeros, dig deep and Keep the Faith!

__________________________________________________________________

We’re going to get things started (and eventually finished) with a two-part mix by yours truly, entitled Queens & Kings. These are each an hour long and feature an hour of danceable soul, first by the ladies, and then by the fellas.
I’ve picked up a lot of outstanding stuff in the past year, including some of my personal Northern Soul grails, a couple of unexpected things (from people you wouldn’t expect, naturally) and lots of other groovy sounds!

So dig it, and we’ll be back tomorrow with DJ Prime Mundo!

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Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 10, 2016 11:18 am

Travis Wammack

Listen/Download – Travis Wammack – Night Train MP3

Greetings all.

It behooves me to warn you that listening to the 45 you see before you may cause heart palpitations, nervous collapse or both, depending on how much coffee and or sugar you have ingested.

Travis Wammack is one of those names that keeps popping up on compilations of instrumental hits, due to his 1964 hit ‘Scratchy’.

Wammack was born in Mississippi but made his name playing in Memphis as a leader, sideman and working as a hired gun for giants like Little Richard (he was Mr Penniman’s bandleader for a decade).

Today’s selection, a cover of the strip club perennial ‘Night Train’. Written and performed by Jimmy Forrest in 1951, ‘Night Train’ was covered countless times by R&B, soul, jazz and rock performers, including the mighty James Brown.

Wammack’s version of the song is one of those instances of source material taken out back, draped over a pile of hand grenades, soaked in nitroglycerine and then blowed up (real good).

I mean, hot damn if this isn’t two and a half minutes of pure, unadulterated insanity. Wammack’s guitar sounds as if it’s being pumped through a Leslie speaker, and the band (just guitar, bass and drums) is recorded in as raw a fashion as I have ever heard on a major-label 45.

Ostensibly a showcase for Wammack’s guitar bad-assery, it serves more as a vivid example of what will happen when intoxicated people are let loose on musical instruments and recording equipment.

The flipside, ‘Karate Time’ is infinitely more subdued, but also quite groovy.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 17, 2016 11:45 am

Isaac Hayes

Listen/Download – Isaac Hayes – Never Can Say Goodbye MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can dig the show as a podcast in iTunes (subscribe and rate, s’il vous plait), listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, listen on Mixcloud, or grab an MP3 right here at the blog.

We lose out the week with yet another version of one of my all-time favorite songs, Clifton Davis’s ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’.

It has always seemed odd to me, that such an amazing song, a veritable soul standard, was penned by a guy who is best known as an actor.

Between the hit versions by the Jackson Five (the biggest hit, and in my opinion, the gold standard), Gloria Gaynor (and the eight other versions in my iTunes library), I never tire of the song.

The rendition I bring you today comes courtesy of the mighty Isaac Hayes.

Hayes, who never met a song that he couldn’t give the “epic” treatment to, covered ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ on his 1971 Black Moses album (coming in one of the greatest LP packages ever made).

Hayes was fresh off the mega-success of ‘Shaft’ and returned to the studio with a collection composed almost entirely of covers, by the likes of the Carpenters, Toussaint McCall, the Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield, Kris Kristofferson and the Shirelles (among others).

Naturally, Ike takes the song at his patented slow and sexy pace, with some velvety vibes running underneath everything, and his own baritone on top.

Though it doesn’t stretch out to the 12 minute stratosphere of ‘Walk On By’, Hayes gives the song a respectful five-minute reading, and the all-male backing vocals are particularly interesting touch.

Whether you dig the song as much as I do, you really need to pick up as much Isaac Hayes as your record shelves will handle.

Dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 28, 2016 1:07 pm

Willie Mitchell

Listen/Download – Willie Mitchell – Pearl Time MP3

Greetings all.

The end of he week is upon us, and so I will remind you once again to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast, which drops every Friday, bringing you the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, groove to it on Mixcloud, or grab and MP3 right here at the blog.

We close out the week with one master of soul – Willie Mitchell – covering another – Andre Williams.

I picked up my copy of Mitchell’s 1968 ‘Soul Serenade’ LP years ago, but only recently realized that it included a cover of Andre Williams 1967 single ‘Pearl Time’.

My best guess is that I couldn’t imagine anyone outside of Detroit or Chicago covering an obscure Williams tune, but as it turns out, it wasn’t quite as obscure as I thought.

After doing a little research (or more than I had done before) I found out that though Williams original version of ‘Pearl Time’ didn’t hit the R&B charts, it was a minor pop hit, generating some heat in the Midwest and the Northeast.

Willie Mitchell recorded his version in 1968, alongside covers of tunes by James Brown, Otis Redding and Bobby Hebb among others.

Mitchell’s take includes a robust horn section and a slightly cheesy (in a good way, natch…) organ over some tight drums, with Mitchell just about speaking the lyrics.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do, too.

Have yourselves a great weekend,and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 10, 2016 2:47 pm

Chuck Brooks

Listen/Download – Chuck Brooks – Baa Baa Black Sheep MP3

Greetings all.

How about some nice, funky Memphis soul?

I forget where I first heard this 45 (I’m guessing on Facebook somewhere) but when I did, I knew I had to find myself a copy.

Chuck Brooks was a Memphis-based singer/songwriter who waxed 45s for AGP, Volt, Mercury, Chimneyville, and Malaco between 1969 and 1977.

Today’s selection, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ was recorded/released in 1969, recorded in Memphis and produced by Tommy Cogbill.

It was also released in the UK that year on Dave Godin’s Soul City imprint.

A tough, funky number with some hard-hitting guitar, and organ, as well as a strong vocal by Brooks, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ failed to hit the charts, though it certainly should have (his 1970 45 for Volt got some play in Philadelphia).

Interestingly enough, after his recording career, Brooks went into business with none other than Homer Banks, forming the Sound Town label, and co-writing, producing early 80s hits for J Blackfoot.

I hope you dig the 45, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, December 24, 2015 9:50 am

Funky16Corners Christmas Party!
Ike and Tina Turner – Merry Christmas Baby (WB)
Otis Redding – White Christmas (Atco)
Soulful Strings – Jingle Bells (Cadet)
Albert King – Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ (Stax)
Felice Taylor – It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It’s Spring) (Mustang)
Honey and the Bees – Jing Jing a Ling (Chess)
The Gems – Love For Christmas (Chess)
James Brown – Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto (King)
Charles Brown – Merry Christmas Baby (Jewel)
Count Sidney and the Dukes – Soul Christmas (Goldband)
Donny Hathaway – This Christmas (Atco)
Bobby Holloway – Funky Little Drummer Boy (Smash)
Clarence Carter – Backdoor Santa (Atlantic)
Harvey Averne Band – Let’s Get It Together This Christmas (Fania)
J Hines and the Boys – A Funky X-Mas To You (Nation-Wide)
Freddy King – I Hear Jingle Bells (Federal)
Dee Irwin and Mamie Galore – All I Want For Christmas Is Your Love (Imperial)
Johnny and Jon – Christmas in Viet Nam (Jewel)
John Lee Hooker – Blues For Christmas (Elmor)
George Conedy – El Nino Del Tambor (Kent Gospel)
Soulful Strings (feat Dorothy Ashby) – Merry Christmas Baby (Cadet)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Christmas Party 124MB MP3

Greetings all.

It is the end of the week, and so I will remind you to grab this week’s edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. This year, instead of a Christmas-themed show, you get the third and final part of the

History of Allen Toussaint. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile devicevia the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 at the blog.

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Since this week’s Friday post falls on Christmas Day, I thought I’d gather together a selection of favorites from Christmases past, and whip together a Funky16Corners holiday mix.

These should all be familiar, and there are a couple tunes that show up twice (vocal and instrumental), but they should provide a festive accompaniment  to the burning of the Yule log.

I hope you dig it, and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, that you have a fantastic day!

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 20, 2015 11:44 am

Homer Banks

Listen/Download – Homer Banks – A Lot of Love

Greetings all.

The track I bring to you today is like Monday’s tune, a precursor to (if not an outright OG) of one of the big tunes of the British Invasion.

Homer Banks was both a fine songwriter, and an excellent (if underappreciated) soul singer.

Banks recorded a string of brilliant Memphis-based 45s for Minit between 1966 and 1968, all the while writing for other artists, many in the Stax organization.

If you give a listen to any of the records that banks made under his own name, it leaves you shaking your head, wondering how he wasn’t a success on his own (and why Jim Stewart never signed him to his own deal at Stax).

Banks had a high, flexible tenor that reminds me of a lighter version of Sam Moore (which is interesting since Banks co-wrote ‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’ for Sam and Dave), able to soar on ballads but with enough grit to deliver harder edged material.

‘A Lot of Love’ (co-written with Deanie Parker) was the A-side of Banks’ first Minit 45 in 1966 (he had already recorded a pair of 45s for the small, Memphis-based Genie label) and while it wasn’t a hit, it did make it over to the UK where a young cat by the name of Steve Winwood heard it and lifted its basic riff, reworking it into ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, a huge hit in the US and the UK, and ultimately a much better-known record than Banks OG.

I’m here to tell you (though your ears ought to be able to figure it out on their own) that while ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ is a classic, ‘A Lot of Love’ is in the end a much better record, with an outstanding lead vocal by Banks, and a fine arrangement with enough kick for the dance floor.

Oddly enough, Banks would be ripped off (by proxy) again, when Flavor (who may or may not have been aware of ‘A Lot of Love’) re-ripped the tune as ‘Sally Had a Party’, which is also an amazing record.

Homer Banks went on to write/cowrite a number of hits, including Luther Ingram’s smash ‘If Loving You is Wrong (I Don’t Want To be Right)’, and would hit the charts himself in a duo with Carl Hampton in 1977 with ‘I’m Gonna Have To Tell Her’.

Banks passed away in 2001 from cancer.

All of Banks’ Minit 45s are excellent and worth picking up when you can find them.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’l see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, October 1, 2015 10:37 am

Wee Willie Walker, then and now

Listen/Download – Wee Willie Walker (feat Curtis Salgado) – Help!

Listen/Download – Wee Willie Walker – Ticket To Ride

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. 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 am going to break with tradition today and do something I don’t normally do, which is take the time to hype a new release.

What made me do this, is the release of an outstanding comeback album by Wee Willie Walker.

I first came upon Walker’s music back in the day when I unearthed his sole Goldwax 45, a blinding cover of the Beatles ‘Ticket To Ride’.

Having been in the habit of grabbing any and all Goldwax ish found in the field, I was thrilled times two, first by putting another notch in my Goldwax discography, and second (but really “first”) finding a killer soul 45 formy play box, where it has held a position of honor for years.

Walker got his start singing gospel with the Redemption Harmonizers (alongside songwriter Roosevelt Jamison*), he relocated from his home base in Minnesota to Memphis, where he hooked up with the Goldwax label.

Quinton Claunch recorded a bunch of sides on Walker, but only one ever came out on Goldwax, a few others being leased to Checker in the 60s. Walker went on to record for a variety of labels in the 70s.

His new album, ‘If Nothing Ever Changes’ is an outstanding mix of new songs and well chosen covers (including numbers by Eddie Hinton, the Southside Movement and Calvin Arnold, as well as a wonderful reworking of John Conlee’s old country hit ‘I Don’t Remember Loving You’), with Walker, still in fine voice and backed by an excellent band.

The overall feel is less retro-soul, than a modern offering by a singer with deep roots in the classic era.

The playing and production are first rate, and while the album is filed under ‘blues’, this is a soul outing through and through, with Walker able to wail like back in the day, as well as deliver depth in the quieter moments.

I first posted Walker’s version of ‘Ticket to Ride’ back in 2008, and I’m reposting it today alongside another Beatles cover from the new album, a take on ‘Help!’ in a duet with Curtis Salgado.

Walker and Salgado take the song at a slower pace, stirring in bits of gospel and deep southern soul.

‘If Nothing Ever Changes’ was released by the non-profit Little Village Foundation, and you can pick it up in iTunes, or at Amazon.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do too.

See you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Composer of ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’

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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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 15, 2015 1:26 pm

Ollie and the Nightingales

Listen/Download – Ollie and the Nightingales – Girl You Have My Heart Singing MP3

Greetings all.

I have to shout out to my man Kris Holmes, who hipped me to today’s selection when he fell by on his grand tour of the states.

There’s really nothing better than a vinyl session with someone who has excellent taste, and Kris has that in spades.

Ollie and the Nightingales got their start as the gospel group the Dixie Nightingales, and recorded under that name in the late 50s/early 60s for Pepper, Nashboro and Chalice.

They made the transition to secular music with Stax in 1968, providing backing vocals for Sam and Dave and Eddie Floyd, and laying down their own stuff on a handful of singles and an LP between 1968 and 1970 (when lead singer Ollie Hoskins would leave the group and begin recording as ‘Ollie Nightingale’).

‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ was the flipside of their first Stax 45, ‘I Got a Sure Thing’ which was a Top 20 R&B hit in April of 1968.

While I dig the A-side, ‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ is an absolute killer.

Co-written by Booker T Jones (who also produced the record) and William Bell, the song features deep, rich harmonies and a great lead by Hoskins.

The thing that popped into my mind the very first time I heard this record was that it ‘rocked’. It has a great propulsive feel, driven by the drums, organ, bass and guitar, making it great for the dance floor and catchy as hell.

The short guitar solo at 1:03 is fantastic, and the breakdown at 1:45 makes me wonder if a young Michael McDonald was listening to it when he wrote ‘Taking It To the Streets’.

The group had two more Top 50 R&B hits in 1968 and 1969 before Hoskins left and was replaced by Sir Mack Rice, with the group continuing as the Nightingales.

Ollie Nightingale had a fairly long solo career before passing away in 1997.

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

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.

Comments (3)

By Larry, August 23, 2015 1:30 pm

The Bar-Kays

Listen/Download – The Bar-Kays – A Hard Day’s Night MP3

Greetings all.

Join me as we welcome the new week with some of that tasty, Memphis goodness.

The Bar-Kays were a group of young Memphis players that were recruited by Stax, and ended up (fatefully) backing Otis Redding on his final tour (most of them perishing in the same plane crash that took Otis).

The track I bring you today is the Bar-Kays 1968 version of the Beatles’ ‘A Hard Days Night’.

I hadn’t heard the track when I found this single, but since it was cheap, a Fabs cover, and on Volt, I couldn’t very well leave it behind.

Good thing I didn’t, because it’s an interesting reworking of the Beatles original, packed with Memphis soul flavor.

Opening with the organ, and twangy guitar, the band build upward from a hard-hitting riff that allows them to deliver the Beatles’ melody in a manner that is 100% McLemore Ave.

Interestingly enough , the single was produced by MGs drummer Al Jackson, Jr., which I initially found surprising. Then I did some digging and discovered that producing was a nice sideline for Jackson, with credits on records by Johnny Taylor, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Mable John, the Mad Lads and others.

As far as I can tell ‘A Hard Days Night’ is a 45-only track, so if you want it, that’s how to get it.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.