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By Larry, February 4, 2016 11:49 am

The Common Pleas

Listen/Download – The Common Pleas – The Funky Judge MP3

Greetings all.

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

We close out the week with the funk side of one of my all-time favorite Philadelphia 45s, ‘Funky Judge’ by the Common Pleas.

Backed with the remarkable sweet soul of ‘I Wanted More’, this 45 has had a secure home in my crates for decades.
It was only recently (the record having been a complete mystery to me before that) that I learned that the Common Pleas were a bunch of white guys!

Getting their start with a Phily doo wop group called the Illusions, the Common Pleas (led by guitarist Fred Jones) recorded one 45 for Crimson (also home to the Soul Survivors and the Brothers Two) and were apparently a pretty big draw as a live band in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

‘Funky Judge’, released in 1968 is part of the who ‘Here Comes the Judge Craze’, which spawned a grip of funk and soul records, with no less than three (Common Pleas, Cliff Nobles and Co and the Magistrates) coming out of Philadelphia.

‘Funky Judge’ is what I like to call a “shout-out” record, with the band namechecking and in some instances imitating the stars of the day, including Arthur Conley, Sly and the Family Stone, Sam and Dave, James Brown, Wilson Pickett and others.

There’s lots of soul clapping as well as heavy drums, bass and guitar.

It is a killer, a big fave of mine, so I hope you dig it too.

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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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.

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By Larry, January 5, 2016 12:55 pm

The Mark Lewis Trio

Listen/Download – The Mark Lewis Trio – Funky Street MP3

Greetings all.

Here’s a wild one for you.

As an inveterate digger/collector, with big ears (literally and figuratively) and an insatiable curiosity, I’m always picking up weird stuff in the hope that I might have happened upon hiden treasure.

Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s not treasure, but garbage.

However, once in a blue moon, I turn up something groovy, like today’s selection.

I’ve had this record for so long, that I can’t remember exactly where I picked it up, other than it was out “in the wild” somewhere, and that it was cheap.

Back in the day – moreso in the 60s/70s than now – the hotel lounges of the world were staffed with entertainment, ranging from solo piano/singers (like my Pop, way back when) all the way up to full sized show bands, with horn sections, back up singers and the whole megillah.

The Mark Lewis Trio appear to have fallen somewhere in the middle, with an organ/sax/drums/vocals line up, playing a wide variety of pop/soul material.

As these kinds of records go, the song selection is fairly hip/young, though the delivery is decidedly middle of the road, except – of course – for their version of Arthur Conley’s 1968 ‘Funky Street’.

Now, looking at the picture of the group from the album cover, you’d never expect to hear anything remotely soulful (or even energetic) yet against all odds, the Mark Lewis Trio delivers.

The overall effect is somewhere in the neighborhood of “soulful garage band”, but they hit the tune with gusto, and the sax/organ/drums interplay is pretty tasty.

It’s not the heaviest thing ever, but when you take the look of the group, and the rest of the album, and do the math, it’s a lot cooler than you’d expect.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, December 31, 2015 11:06 am

Kool and the Gang

Listen/Download – Kool and the Gang – Jungle Jazz MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is near, and so I will encourage you to partake in the soulful smorgasmord that is the weekly Funky16Corners Radio Show, in which I endeavor to bring you the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. The show drops every week (the first show of every month at SoulGuyRadio.com) and you can subscribe to it as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

We close out the week (and the year, Happy New Year!) with something deeply funky, designed (and guaranteed) to get your ass up out of the chair and onto the dance floor.

I have sung the praises of New Jersey’s own Kool and the Gang a number of times over the years, telling the story of how it was their music, way back in the 5th grade at Milford Brook School that truly introduced me to the funk.

Today’s selection will sound instantly familiar, as it is the 1975 reworking of their 1973 hit ‘Jungle Boogie’, offered here as ‘Jungle Jazz’.

While ‘Jungle Boogie’ is itself a hot piece of work, ‘Jungle Jazz’ sounds like Kool et al weren’t satisfied with the overall funk quotient of the OG, so they went back into the lab and Frankensteined that shit right up, with a mess of drums and some very tasty flute.

Sure, you get the gong at the beginning, but when those drums drop in…holy shit. George ‘Funky’ Brown beats that bass drum like it stole his lunch money, and then the various and sundry percussion accents (cowbells, conga, wood blocks etc) come in and all of a sudden you’re out on the floor shaking like a man (or woman) possessed.

That drum opening is a funky-ass miracle, which is why it was sampled so often.*

Despite the fact that what you’re getting here is a reengineered ‘Jungle Boogie’, the band really work hard to add to the cut. The flute, by Dennis Thomas is some next-level, overblowing ish in a Jeremy Steig stylee, and the horn section is really working it out, too.

This is the kind of record that funk nights were designed for, and if you cannot (or will not) dance to it (even in your seat) your shocking lack of soul will be duly noted.

So pull down the ones and zeros, and whip this on some squares.

Have a great weekend, Happy New Year and see you in 2016!

Keep the faith

Larry

* Records sampling – “Jungle Jazz”
2 Live Crew’s “Hangin Out”
3rd Bass’s “Brooklyn-Queens”
Biz Markie’s “I’m the Biz Markie”
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.’s “Rated R”
Brand Nubian’s “Drop the Bomb”
Gus Gus’s “Believe”
Hi-C’s “Leave My Curl Alone”
Incognito’s “Roots (Back to a Way of Life)”
Jade’s “Don’t Walk Away”
MARRS’s “Pump up the Volume”
Public Enemy’s “Anti-Ni**er Machine”
Stetsasonic’s “So Let the Fun Begin”

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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, December 27, 2015 11:22 am

King Solomon

Listen/Download – King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band – Louisiana Groove MP3

Listen/Download – King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band – My Dream MP3

Greetings all.

I wouldn’t normally whip something this heavy on you at the beginning of the week (being that most of us need a little bit of lead time to get the gears turning) but I figured if I held onto it any longer I might get burned, so…

I have to shout out to my man Kris Holmes how turned me on to this 45 a while back. It was one of those instances where I was blown away from the first listen, and set out immediately to find my self a copy for my play box.

It took a little while, but I finally landed a nice, clean copy of King Solomon’s ‘Louisiana Groove’, and I pass it on to you today.

Billed as ‘King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band’, ‘Louisiana Groove’ is an explosive slab of soul-on-the-way-to-funk, propelled by a churning, relentless rhythm guitar and a cascading horn line that pushes the tune to another level..

There appear to have been (at least) a couple of musicians operating with the ‘King Solomon’ handle during the 60s. The one on this record recorded for a number of labels during the decade, including Checker, Don J, and Cadillac.

The common thread on all of these 45s seems to be a writer/producer named Frank Wedlaw.

King Solomon appears to have been a cat named King Sylvester Lee Melicious Solomon, who got his start in Louisiana, moved to Chicago and ended up out west in LA.

I haven’t been able to nail the date on ‘Louisiana Groove’ but it sounds like 67/68-ish to me.

This Cadillac Records (another instance of multiple labels with the same name) seems to have been a Los Angeles imprint, with its only other release being a 45 by the Lad Teens (no apparent relation to the NY boogaloo group, the Lat-Teens on Cotique).

All of that taken into consideration, ‘Louisiana Groove’ is a uniquely powerful disc, guaranteed to light up the dance floor, and your ears (of course).

I’m also posting the flipside, ‘My Dream’ only because it’s really weird and a severe contrast to ‘Louisiana Groove’.

Tuff City’s Night Train label issued a King Solomon comp back in 2005 (though neither of these songs was included).

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.

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, 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 (3)

By Larry, December 10, 2015 11:57 am

Milt Matthews

Listen/Download – Milt Matthews Inc – It Ain’t Your Fault MP3

Listen/Download – Milt Matthews Inc – Little Green Apples MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, and so then in this week’s episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast. We come to you every week here at Funky16Corners.com and once a month at SoulGuyRadio.com with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl.

I have a very special episode for you this week (and for the next two weeks as well) first of a three-part look at the History of Allen Toussaint, covering everything from his earliest solo recordings, through the early days on New Orleans R&B, the Sansu years and on into the funky sounds of the late 60s and early 70s. All told it comes to over four hours of the finest sounds that Allen Toussaint was associated with as artist, composer, producer and/or arranger. I think you’ll dig it!

You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 right here in the archive.

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The tunes I bring you today are a couple of my favorite songs from an overall excellent album by Milt Matthews Inc.

Milt Matthews was born in North Carolina, but relocated to Washington, DC in the mid-60s, where he worked as a session guitarist and songwriter.

His 1970 debut LP – from which this tune hails – is an outstanding example of the intersection of soul, folk and funk, which was bubbling up into the zeitgeist at the time.

Matthews spends the album working out all manner of mellow grooves, sounding like a soulful singer-songwriter in the Bill Withers/Lou Bond tradition, but with a solid, funky underpinning.

‘It Ain’t Your Fault’ is one of the more upbeat tunes on the album, mixing jazzy lead guitar with organ and nice, solid rhythm section locked into the groove.

Matthews talent as a vocalist is well-displayed in his version of the O.C. Smith ‘Little Green Apples’. Here we have a song that I thought I never needed to hear again, yet Matthews takes it and really digs in, playing with the tempo and delivering an epic reading of the song that clocks in at over eight minutes. It’s rare to hear someone get their hands on a ‘standard’ and really do something interesting and new with it, and Matthews really makes the song his own.

If you dig these tracks, try and get your hands on a copy of the album, which is excellent from start to finish.

Oddly enough, Matthews second LP ‘For the People’ moves in a more psych-rock direction and is sought out by collectors of the genre.

Matthews went on to later record disco and gospel.

I hope you dig the tunes, 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.

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, December 6, 2015 10:41 am

Bobby Keys

Listen/Download – Bobby Keys – Gimmie The Key MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is a record that I was after for a long time, and as is often the case, it kept slipping from my grasp until recently.

The rockers among you will likely be familiar with Bobby Keys as the sax player with the Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen (among many others).

The Texas-born Keys was a prolific sideman and studio head (check out his Wiki for an idea of the depth of his discography), and a frequent presence until his death last year at the age of 71.

In 1975 keys went into the studio and recorded a one-off 45 for Ringo Starr’s short-lived custom label, Ring’O records.

‘Gimme the Key’ is a testament to the popularity and influence of the Average White Band’s 1974 ‘Pick Up the Pieces’, to which this song is a not too distant cousin (keeping in mind that no less than James Brown felt the need to crank out an answer record with the JBs in disguise as the Above Average Black Band).

The tune opens with funky guitar and clavinet, chants of ‘Gimme the Key!’ followed of course by Keys’ instantly recognizable tenor saxophone.

It’s slick – but not too slick – funky, and danceable enough that one might suspect that it had its share of spins in the discotheques of the time.

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

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.

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, December 3, 2015 12:55 pm

Duke and the Drivers

Listen/Download – Duke and the Drivers – Check Your Bucket MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so I will suggest again that you point your interwebs connection toward your favored podcast source (iTunes, etc), or your mobile device at the TuneIn app, to SoulGuyRadio.com or even (dare I say it??) right here at Funky16Corners to get your weekly does of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. I whip a new episode on you each and every Friday, filled with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl.

We close out the week with something unusual.

Back in the day, when I was scouring the record bins of the universe in search of anything and everything Eddie Bo-related, someone (I forget who, but thanks…) pointed me in the direction of a 1976 LP by a Boston group called Duke and the Drivers.

Duke and the Drivers were an R&B-based bar and club band out of Boston (not unlike their compadres the J. Geils Band) who recorded two albums and a couple of singles for ABC records in the mid 70s.

How they got their hands on Eddie Bo’s ‘Check Your Bucket’ (released in 1970 and an obscurity pretty much everywhere outside of the New Orleans city limits) I do not know. That said, they do a nice, mellow version of the song, and it’s easy to imagine this being a highlight of their live set. The song is apparently a signature number of theirs, and they re-recorded it on a 2003 live album.

I hope you dig the track, 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.

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 (2)

By Larry, November 29, 2015 11:17 am

Skip Easterling

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling= I’m Your Hoochie Koochie Man MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – Ooh Poo Pah Do MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – Too Weak To Break the Chains MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – I’m Your Man MP3

Greetings all.

Late last week, while I was checking an old e-mail account and found a notification of a comment on the oldest version of the blog.

The comment itself was semi-cryptic, but when I followed it to the original post I realized that the commenter was telling me that James ‘Skip’ Easterling, one of the great blue-eyed soul singers out of New Orleans had passed away.

Oddly enough, initial searches turned up a death notice, but no mention in any of the local New Orleans papers (since remedied).

Easterling, long a favorite of mine had a recording career that lasted from 1961 into the mid 70s, making a string of 45s for New Orleans labels like Ron, Alon and Instant (he also had at least one self-released 45 that I’ve never heard).

Easterling got his start wavering between R&B and pop sounds, but by the time he went into the studio with Eddie Bo in 1967, he was firmly in the soul camp.

The record he made with Bo, ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ b/w ‘The Grass Is Greener’ is one of the finest mid-decade 45s to come out of the Crescent City, with a smoking dancer on one side and a heartfelt ballad on the flip.

Easterling’s sojourn with Bo was brief, and by 1970, he was in the studio with Huey Piano Smith, recording for Instant.

Smith’s late-period work for Instant is consistently good, and largely unheralded since so many of the post-3300 (catalog numbers, when Smith was doing most of his work for the label) 45s are very scarce (there are a bunch I’m still looking for).

Easterling’s first two 45s for Instant are his best, and oddly enough still fairly easy to track down.

His version of the old Willie Dixon standard ‘I’m Your Hoochie Koochie Man’ is a wild, smoothly funky reworking of the song that owes a debt to King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’. The arrangement, with electric piano and tastefully applied horns (and flute!) is a subtle masterpiece.

The record was a hit in New Orleans and some other southern markets, but was sadly the high water mark of Easterling’s chart success.

The flip is a very nice version of Jesse Hill’s ‘Ooh Poo Pah Do’, which features a great vocal by Easterling and great playing by the band (listen to the electric piano ooze up through the mix).

His next 45 is one of those records that is painfully obscure, but ought to be regarded as one of the finest records to come out of New Orleans in the early 70s.

‘To Weak to Break the Chains’ (written by Huey Smith) combines, R&B, soul, funk and even a touch of timely psychedelia (dig that backwards guitar!), all wrapped in a stellar vocal performance by Easterling. The tune has an off-kilter, purely New Orleans rhythm to it, with some remarkable interplay between the drums, horns and rhythm guitar.

That record’s flipside, ‘I’m Your Man’ rolls in a slower groove, with some nice flute and vibes accents.

All told, Easterling laid down 15 (maybe 16) 45s in his career, and like so many great singers in New Orleans never really broke through outside the city limits despite the quality of his catalog.

He did continue to perform, appearing at at least one of the Ponderosa Stomp shows.

There was a UK compilation of his recordings that came out in the late 80s on the Charly label, but as far as I can tell, aside from some shady looking comps in iTunes, his work is almost completely out of print.

So dig these tunes, watch for a tribute on the Funky16Corners Radio Show in the new year, and raise a glass to a really groovy singer.

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, November 25, 2015 4:02 pm

Mmmmmmmm!

Greetings all!

This collection of food-related mixes first dropped here on Thanksgiving 2011.

I’m going to get in some intensive family time this weekend, so I’ll offer these sounds to hold you over until Monday.

There’s even a turkey song!

Don’t forget to dig into the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast, dropping this Friday (subscribe in iTunes, listen on TuneIn) , and then keep your ears open for the first Funky16Corners Radio Show on SoulGuyRadio.com coming next week!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, have a great weekend with your friends and family, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 
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Funky16Corners Radio v.3 – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) Pt1

Track listing

Brother Jack McDuff – Hot Barbecue (Prestige)

 Soul Runners – Chittlin’ Salad Pt1 (MoSoul)

Lionel Hampton – Greasy Greens (GladHamp)

Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century)

Andre Williams – Rib Tips (Avin)

Maurice Simon & The Pie Men – Sweet Potato Gravy (Carnival)

Mel Brown – Chicken Fat (Impulse)

Lonnie Youngblood – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) (Fairmount)

Prime Mates – Hot Tamales (Sansu)

Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes (Music Merchant)

Leon Haywood – Cornbread and Buttermilk (Decca)

Bobby Rush – Chicken Heads (Galaxy)

Booker T & The MGs – Jelly Bread (Stax)

Gentleman June Gardner – Mustard Greens (Blue Rock)

West Siders – Candy Yams (Infinity)

Hank Jacobs – Monkey Hips and Rice (Sue)

George Semper – Collard Greens (Imperial)

Billy Clark & His Orchestra – Hot Gravy (Dynamo)

Listen Download Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.9 – Soul Food Pt2

Playlist

1. Simtec Simmons – Tea Box (Maurci)

2. Johnny Barfield & The Men of S.O.U.L. – Soul Butter (SSS Intl)

3. Ronnie Woods – Sugar Pt2 (Everest)

4. Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune – Corn Flakes (Prestige)

5. Fabulous Counts – Scrambled Eggs (Moira)

6. Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band – Spreadin Honey (Keymen)

7. Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

8. Albert Collins – Sno Cone Pt1 (TCF Hall)

9. Chuck Edwards – Chuck Roast (Rene)

10. Willie Mitchell – Mashed Potatoes (Hi)

11. Booker T & The MGs – Red Beans & Rice (Atlantic)

12. Righteous Brothers Band – Green Onions (Verve)

13. George Semper – Hog Maws & Collard Greens (Imperial)

14. Lee Dorsey – Candy Yam (Amy)

15. Roosevelt Fountain & his Pens of Rhythm – Red Pepper Pt1 (Prince Adams)

16. Bad Boys – Black Olives (Paula)

17. Willie Bobo – Spanish Grease (Verve)

18. American Group – Enchilada Soul (AGP)

DOWNLOAD – 39.3 MB Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Playlist

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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 (2)

By Larry, November 24, 2015 12:13 pm

Sylvester and Cynthia, side by side

Listen/Download – Sly and the Family Stone – Dance to the Medley MP3

Listen/Download – Sly and the Family Stone – Sing a Simple Song MP3

Greetings all.

This morning saw the sad news that the mighty Cynthia Robinson, trumpeter and hype lady for Sly and the Family Stone had passed away at the age of 69.

Cynthia was there at the very beginning and played with Sly almost to the end of the Family Stone (long after many of the founders had jumped ship).

Sly and the Family Stone were by any measure one of the truly great soul bands of the 1960s.

They were racially, sexually and sonically integrated, mixing black and white, male and female and soul and rock (and funk) and were the very definition of the word ‘badass’.

The Family Stone were super-tight on stage (there are plenty of clips on YouTube for those that need proof), and I included them in my list of great soul performances last year.

Cynthia and Rose Stone were no mere window dressing either, holding their own as serious, solid musicians, helping Sly shape and deliver the group’s amazing music.

The two tracks i’m posting are personal favorites, both of which show Cynthia at her very best.

‘Dance to the Medley (Music Is Alive/Dance In/Music Lover)’ fills most of the first side of 1968’s ‘Dance to the Music’ LP. It’s a performance tour de force, and gives you an idea of the raw power of the band. It also includes one of my all time fave Sly tunes ‘Music Lover’, which appeared over the years as a component of a few different Sly and the Family Stone medleys (but never recorded on its own).

‘Sing a Simple Song’ needs no introduction, other than to mention that it is one of the UR documents of funk. Just brilliant.

So take some time out of your day to pull some Family Stone out of your crates (real or digital) and raise a glass to a pioneer, Miss Cynthia Robinson.

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.