Comments (1)

By Larry, June 12, 2012 1:04 pm

Esther Phillips

Listen/Download Esther Phillips – Use Me

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is here and with all the details in place, must inform you that the Funky16Corners 2012 Pledge Drive/Allnighter is a go!

We have eight new mixes from all of your Funky16Corners faves, including Tony C, DJ Prestige, Tarik Thornton, DJ Bluewater, M-Fasis, DJ Prime Mundo and yours truly.

Things will get going this coming Monday, so get your ears and your hard drives humming because you’re in for a treat.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The tune I bring you today is a groovy cover of a groovy original, which in the end is (very) groovy.

Redundancy aside, if you’re not hip to Esther Phillips, may I suggest you get so.

I remember first hearing (seeing) her as a musical guest in the early days of Saturday Night Live (actually the fourth episode of the first season) performing her then Top 20 hit of the old standard ‘What a Diff’rence a Day Makes’.

Years later, when I started digging for soul 45s I was surprised to see her name pop up in an earlier context with one of her 60s-era Lenox 45s with Big Al Downing.

It was only (much) later that I discovered that by the time she hit SNL she had been recording (and hitting the charts) for a quarter of a century.

Discovered by none other than Johnny Otis, Phillips had her first R&B hit in 1950 with ‘Double Crossing Blues’.

She had a run on the charts that lasted until 1952, then disappeared for nearly a decade, charting again (sporadically) during the 60s.

One of the reasons Phillips’ career contained those gaps was her long-term battle with drug addiction.

She recorded through the 60s for Atlantic and Roulette, before landing at Kudu in 1972 (which is where we pick up the story).

Phillips recorded her cover of Bill Withers’ hit ‘Use Me’ on her 1972 album ‘Alone Again, Naturally’.

I picked up the album because I always grab Kudu stuff whenever I find it, but I was unprepared for how cool her version of ‘Use Me’ was.

The understated drums (Billy Cobham) and electric piano (Richard Tee), in contrast with her distinctive voice and the interjections of the horn section make for an extremely cool interpretation of the tune.

The arrangement, by Pee Wee Ellis is spot on.

As far as I can tell, though Phillips hit the R&B Top 40 a few times around this period, this particular cut, despite its obvious quality, did not.

Phillips’ struggles with drugs continued for the rest of her life and she passed away, not yet 50 in 1984.

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

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.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, June 7, 2012 11:34 am

Dyke and the Blazers

Listen/Download Dyke and the Blazers – Funky Broadway Pt1

Greetings all.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime you can always come by the blog and grab yourself a downloadable MP3 of the show (and more than 100 archived episodes) over the weekend.

Also, it’s looking like the 2012 Funky16Corners Pledge Drive/Allnighter will lift off on 6/18, so get your ears all oiled up and ready!

I was rooting around in the crates a while back in search of delicious, musical truffles when what should I happen upon but the record you see before you today.

It was one of those occasions when I look at what most would consider a very basic, meat and potatoes funk/soul 45 and marvel at the fact that in more than seven years of blogging in this space, that it has never been featured.

Whether this is due more to the fact that it is so common, i.e. ignored passively, or because the innate record snob in me thought it beneath me (or the blog, or whatever) and thus taken for granted, I cannot say.

It is a fact that I own ever single 45 ever recorded by Dyke and the Blazers (excepting of course the ultra-rare original issue of this very song on the Artco label).

It is also a fact that from the release of that 45 in 1967, Arlester ‘Dyke’ Christian and band recorded several great 45s all of a remarkably consistent quality.

That ‘Funky Broadway’ was hugely influential – even if the Wicked Pickett eclipsed Dyke et al, riding the song all the way to Number One where the Blazers stalled in the midst of the Top 20 – bears mentioning, since it was recorded over and over (and over) again by singers, instrumentalists (especially organists) and was one of (if not THE) first ‘Funky’ tunes (in name) to hit the charts in a big way.

‘Funky Broadway’, in the fashion of so many great funk records – especially those by James Brown – was in essence a groove dug deep. What you get over the course of two and a half minutes (part one, only) is a greasy, lo-fi vamp with prominent organ comping, rudimentary(but heavy) bass and drums and horns that are right, tight and out of sight, all basically laying the foundation for Dyke and his raspy voice.

The history of the “band” is decidedly convoluted, but the capsule history is that Dyke came out of Buffalo, found his way to Phoenix, AZ with a touring band, where he recorded ‘Funky Broadway’ for Artco, which was then picked up by Original Sound. Over the course of the next few years Dyke and the Blazers ended up as Dyke and a Bunch of LA Studio Heads, with which he stayed in the R&B Top 40 (and hovered in and around the Pop Hot 100) well into 1970, his career eventually hitting a wall when he was shot dead on the streets of Phoenix in the Spring of 1971.

I don’t think I’d be telling tales out of school if I were to to state that Dyke and the Blazers are both underplayed (on what’s left of radio and on turntables in the clurrrrb) and underappreciated (everywhere else).

Their unfortunately brief catalog contains several prime examples of heat, including ‘Let a Woman Be a Woman Let a Man Be a Man’ and ‘We Got More Soul’ and despite the revolving cast of backing musicians, Dyke’s voice maintained a consistency over the few years they were recording.

‘Funky Broadway’ is among his best.

I hope you dig, and I’ll be back 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, June 5, 2012 5:13 pm

Johnny Williams

Listen/Download Johnny Williams – Slow Motion Pt1

Greetings all.

Now here’s an odd one (not the record, but the story).

A while back one of my Facebook friends posted a Soul Train clip to illustrate a dance step, and after that part of the clip, Don Cornelius introduced another song.

It’s a good thing I stuck around for the tune (and that Don mentioned the name of the singer) because it was very cool indeed.

The singer was Johnny Williams, and the song was the cut I bring you today, ‘Slow Motion’.

This is another great example of how a song can graze the R&B Top 10, but not really make any noise at all on the Pop side of things.

When ‘Slow Motion’ hit in 1972 I was listening to the radio – at least the AM side of the dial – quite a bit, but when I heard the song in the aforementioned clip, I had no recollection of it whatsoever.

My first instinct was that this funky gem was a southern soul cut, but the tiniest bit of research revealed that the song had been written and produced by Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia!

I haven’t been able to find much info on Johnny Williams, other than that he recorded for a couple of labels (Chess, Cub, Twinight) before making it to Philadelphia International.

The Billboard R&B chart book mentions that he moved from his native Alabama to Chicago in the mid-50s and sang gospel, but not much else.

‘Slow Motion’ opens with some heavy drums and a soulful grunt from Johnny, before the band kicks in. The smooth electric piano underpinning and the stylish horns are the only hints that this might be a Gamble/Huff jawn.

Though Williams recorded a few more sides for PI, he failed to hit the charts again, and passed away in 1986.

‘Slow Motion’ is included in the recent boxed set of Tom Moulton/Philadelphia International remixes.

I hope you dig the cut and I’ll see you on Friday.

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.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, June 3, 2012 11:50 am

Leroy Hutson and a ladyfriend in 1973

Listen/Download Sugar and Spice – Ah Hah Yeah

Greetings all.

The preparations for the Funky16Corners 2012 Pledge Drive/Allnighter are coming together nicely with some very groovy mixes on tap. Things should get rolling in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more details.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up on a hunch while out digging.

___________________________________________________________________________

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.

___________________________________________________________________________

I’d never heard of Sugar and Spice or the song ‘Ah Hah Yeah’, but a certain name on the label piqued my curiosity, so I grabbed it and took it home.

When I got to Googling it turned out that my hunch was correct, and the the arranger ‘L. Hutson’ was singer Leroy Hutson, who also happened to be a member of the group.

If the name Leroy Hutson is familiar to you, it may be because he was the man who replaced Curtis Mayfield in the Impressions in 1971.

He also went on to a solo career through the 70s and 80s, hitting the R&B charts a dozen times between 1973 and 1979 while on the Curtom label.

Hutson grew up in NJ, eventually attending Howard University in Washington, DC where he met (and roomed with) none other than Donny Hathaway.

He followed Hathaway to Chicago where they recorded as members of the Mayfield Singers.

Hutson was joined in Sugar and Spice by singer Deborah Rollins, with whom he recorded ‘Ah Hah Yeah’ in 1968 for the Kapp label.

The tune is a very tasty slice of funky soul, with a great opening bass line, some tight drums and great duet harmonies from Hutson and Rollins.

The producers credit for Guy Draper leads me to believe that this is a Chicago 45.

I haven’t heard any of the other Sugar and Spice 45s but I will be on the lookout for them.

I hope you dig the tune and I’ll be back later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, May 27, 2012 4:05 pm

Bobby Womack

Listen/Download Bobby Womack – Simple Man

Listen/Download Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

If you are a longtime follower of the Funky16Corners blog, you’ll already know that this time of year usually brings our Pledge Drive, complete with a grip of new mixes.

If you know that, you’re also probably familiar with the difficulties here at the Funky16Corners compound.

This has been an especially trying year, with all kinds of challenges related to my wife’s treatment, as well as all the logistical issues that come with it.

I’m here to tell you that things are on track, and summer is nigh, so the Funky16Corners Pledge Drive will be happening (if a bit later than usual)  this year.

The mix requests have been sent out (some positive replies have already arrived) and I have a very groovy premium in the works, so stay tuned over the next few weeks for updates in that regard.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The last few months have seen funk and soul fans on the edge of their seats waiting for news about the health of the mighty Bobby Womack.

The 68 year old singer/songwriter had been diagnosed with what was thought to be colon cancer.

This week he was operated on and the tumor they removed proved to be benign.

We have been best by a seemingly endless string of deaths of soul, funk and disco greats in the past year, and the idea that Bobby Womack might be next was indeed chilling.

This all made me think that instead of another in memorium, it would be nice to celebrate Mr Womack while he was still with us.

The two cuts I bring you today are both exceptionally cool.

The first, ‘Simple Man’ is one of my favorite cuts from his 1972 album ‘Understanding’, which also yielded his Number One R&B hit ‘Woman’s Gotta Have It’.

‘Simple Man’ is a great slice of funky soul with some fuzzed out guitar, pulsing bass, rolling electric piano (with just a touch of synthesizer) and a very nice vocal by Bobby. If you can get your hands on the album, do so since it is packed with great music.

The second cut – please forgive the scratchy nature of the 45 – is the title cut from the 1973 crime drama ‘Across 110th St’.

Credited to Bobby Womack and Peace, the song, which made it into the R&B Top 20 in 1973 transcends the generally accepted ‘blaxploitation’ sound. It has a funky underpinning and some judiciously applied string flourishes. The album (I don’t have a copy of the whole soundtrack…yet) is split between songs written and performed by Womack and instrumental tracks written by famed jazz trombonist JJ Johnson (both men are credited with this song).

I hope you dig the music, and keep Bobby Womack in your thoughts that he makes a complete recovery.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, May 22, 2012 3:02 pm

The Mighty Imperials LP

Listen/Download The Mighty Imperials – Thunder Chicken

Greetings all.

I am happy to pop back up here with an unexpected mid-week surprise post.

First off, I wanted to let you all know that there is a new, extra groovy Funky16Corners-related sticker on the way.

I’m not going to say what it is right now, but I assure you that you will dig it and want to use it to deface both your own, and other people’s personal property, marking your territory like any proper soul fan would.

I’ll be selling these stickers at a nominal cost. There are a few old Funky16Corners bumper sticker requests pending (thanks to the clusterfuck our lives have become around here) but if you good folks will hang tight I’ll toss one of the new stickers in the envelope and mail them out as soon as they get here.

That said, I have often used the term “slept on’ in this space to indicate when I (or anyone else) ought to have been aware of a particularly good piece of music (or artist) and was not.

Such is the case with the bone-rattling 45 I bring to you today.

While I would not describe myself as a rabid fan of a lot of modern soul and funk in the retro stylee, I do know what I like and when I hear it it goes into the rotation, both personally and on the Funky16Corners Radio Show (Friday nights at 9PM on Viva Radio, or whenever you feel like it on your iPod).

A while back I was tuned into my friend Michael Newman’s Hinky Dinky Time Radio Show and he dropped a bomb that grabbed me by the ears and shook hard.

Michael does not focus solely on soul and funk, but has impeccable taste in pop, soul and rock, so what he does choose to air is outstanding, and today’s selection is no exception.

While I had heard of the Mighty Imperials – they are after all a part of the consistently remarkable Daptone organization – I had not heard any of their stuff.

When Michael dropped ‘Thunder Chicken’ into his playlist I was all like ‘What the hey?’ (in a good way) and all “I got to get me some of this!’

As soon as I discovered that this was in fact a new(ish) record I was even more pleased.

I have a fair amount of modern soul/funk/afrobeat on the Funky16Corners Radio Show, but there’s a lot more that I do not spin, because – as was the case 25 years ago in the retro garage/mod scene – sometimes, despite the best intentions, people end up sounding like they’re trying too hard, by which I mean the music ends up (for a variety of reasons) lacking a certain organic quality.

Nothing sucks more than soul or funk without one or the other (or both) and because I endeavor to provide the folks that come here (and to the radio show) with a certain level of quality, when I am served weak sauce, I send it back to the kitchen.

This, however, is not one of those times.

‘Thunder Chicken’ is, in a word, slamming.

As far as I can tell it is close to (or a little bit more than) a decade old, and I am embarrassed to admit to having missed the boat in the first place on account of I would have been spinning this one out in funk sets if I had it, which I didn’t, but I will now, ‘cuz I can, so there.

The whole band is cooking but extra special big ups go out to drummer Homer Steinweiss who comes correct.

So dig the mighty Imperials, and if you do, head on over to Daptone (or Amazon, or Ebay where their stuff is plentiful) and grab yourself some.

I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (7)

By Larry, May 20, 2012 1:27 pm

Freddie Scott

Listen/Download Freddie Scott – (You) Got What I Need

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your corner of the universe.

I thought  – after what turned out to be an entire week of obituaries – we’d get the new week off to a killer start with a record that I chased for a long time.

There can hardly be a person left on the face of the earth who hears the opening bars of ‘(You) Got What I Need’ and doesn’t immediately think ‘Biz Markie!’

However, there are without a doubt a large portion therein who cannot follow that thought with the name of the original recording artist,  Freddie Scott.

I love playing this record for people whose eyes light up with the opening, and then get even wider when they hear an unfamiliar voice and song follow.

When Biz Markie hit in 1989 with ‘Just a Friend’ it’s hard to imagine that many of his contemporaries (other than the DJs) had any idea at all about the sample source.

Though Freddie Scott had a Top 40 R&B hit with ‘You Got What I Need’ in 1968 (the second to last hit in a chart run that started in 1963 with ‘Hey Girl’), the record did not subsequently find a spot in the rotation of oldies radio. His music was strictly the purvey of soul collectors and members of an older generation when the Diabolical Biz Markie slapped on a powdered wig and let loose.

As groovy as the Biz was (is) the really cool thing is, when you sit down and give the Freddie Scott OG a good listen and realize what a fantastic record it is.

Then you take a look at the label and get your second surprise, that being that ‘You Got What I Need’ was written and produced by none other than the mighty Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff!

Though Gamble and Huff had written and produced a grip of amazing local Philly stuff, when Bert Berns handed Scott over to them they had only had one national hit, 1967’s ‘Expressway To Your Heart’ by the Soul Survivors (the Intruders ‘Cowboys to Girls’ would hit the charts only a few months before ‘You Got What I Need’).

Scott had hit the R&B and Pop charts more than half a dozen times in five years. He had moved from Colpix/Columbia to Shout in 1966.

‘You Got What I Need’ manages to be both tuneful and funky (dig those drums), and a great showcase for both Scott’s voice and Gamble and Huff’s producing/arranging talents.

I’m surprised that the record didn’t make a bigger dent in the charts, but following Bert Berns’ death in late 1967, Freddie Scott would only record one more 45 for the label.

He went on to record briefly for Probe, and then Mainstream, but my the mid-70s had moved on to writing advertising jingles.

He passed on in 2004.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, May 16, 2012 4:20 pm

Chuck Brown

Listen/Download Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers – Bustin’ Loose Pt1

Greetings all.

Well….

A crappy week just got even worse with word coming down that the mighty Chuck Brown, longtime DC fixture and the Godfather of Go Go had passed away at the age of 75.

Though he is known to most for heat like the Soul Searchers’ uber-break/mega-sample ‘Ashley’s Roachclip’  (featured here back in 2008, I just reactivated the link) Brown was bringing the funk from the 1960s (the early Soul Searchers recorded a fantastic, and rare cover of James Brown’s ‘There Was a Time’) , first backing other artists before forming the Soul Searchers.

It was with that band that he recorded a couple of outstanding albums for Sussex, ‘We the People’ (1972) and ‘Salt of the Earth’ (1974).

The Soul Searchers hit the R&B Hot 100 five times (many of those in the Top 40) between 1972 and 1975, and then again in 1978 with the hot biscuit I bring you today, ‘Bustin Loose Pt1’ which made it all the way to Number One (hitting the outer edges of the Pop Top 40 as well).

The cut is a burner from start to finish, and might be familiar to some of the younger heads from its recent appearance in a commercial for chocolate chip cookies.

Chuck Brown was a master, and he will be missed.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (9)

By Larry, May 13, 2012 2:44 pm

The Mighty Duck

The Law Firm of Jones, Dunn, Cropper and Jackson Esqs

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Sing a Simple Song

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Chicken Pox

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Melting Pot

Greetings all.

I had other plans to start the week (how many times have I typed those words in the last year?) but when I woke up this morning and turned on my phone, the very first thing I saw, while I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes was news of the passing of the mighty Duck Dunn.

Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, the longtime bassist for the legendary Booker T and the MGs died in his sleep while on tour in Japan.

He was 70 years old.

It is at this point that I make a somewhat embarrassing confession (at least as far as soul is considered) that being that the first time Duck Dunn really came onto my radar was as a member of the Blues Brothers.

I was 16 years old when ‘Briefcase Full of Blues’ came out, and like zillions of others my age (and otherwise) I bought the album.

Though I knew who Booker T and the MGs were – ‘Green Onions’ was then, and still is an elemental part of my musical foundation – I had never heard the names of Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper before the Blues Brothers came onto the scene.

That album was the first place my fragile young mind touched base with the sounds (once removed) of Junior Wells, King Floyd, the Chips and a few others. As odd as it may seem, that first Blues Brothers album (I never bought another) was a serious jumping off point for me (as many other unlikely records would also be in the following decades).

What I didn’t know at the time, was that I was already deeply in love with the sound of Booker T and the MGs, via their role as Otis Redding’s band on the Monterey Pop recording.

I didn’t start buying soul 45s until I was in my mid-20s, but when I did I grabbed each and every Stax 45 that popped up in front of me, whether at record shows or at dusty flea markets (there twarn’t no interwebs back then, kids…), and many of them were either by Booker T and the MGs, or featured some or all of them as the backing band.

The decades that followed saw me – like any other self respecting soul fan – picking up Booker T albums wherever I found them.

While their oeuvre was, like every other instrumental band of the era, seasoned liberally with filler, they had more high points (and quite a few Everests) in their catalog than just about any other similar outfit.

The MGs were as tight as they came, with Dunn and uber-drummer Al Jackson creating as deep a pocket as has ever been heard.

The selection of songs I bring you today is by no means comprehensive, but I think you’ll find it quite groovy nonetheless.

There will be no Green Onions served, since Dunn wasn’t yet a member of the group* when it was recorded.

I have included a very tight Sly and the Family Stone cover, and two brilliant tracks from the last album the band did together.

Their cover of Sly’s ‘Sing a Simple Song’ comes from their 1969 LP ‘The Booker T Set’ and opens with a bit of a drum break from Jackson, soaked thoroughly in reverb, before the band kicks in. It sees the heavy kick of Jackson’s bass drum move into a more explicitly funky place, and while it never really moves into Sly-esque overdrive, it is tasty indeed.

‘Chicken Pox’ the first track from the group’s 1971 LP “Melting Pot’ (the last by the classic line-up) is the sound of the Meters breathing down the MG’s collective neck. The band is moving into a funkier place, and doing so with style, but the spectre of their Crescent City competition always seems to be there. Oh, how I wish this one was on a 45…

The last cut I bring you today is the title cut from ‘Melting Pot’, and by far one of the most interesting things they ever did.

Lasting in excess of eight minutes, ‘Melting Pot’ is important not only because it shows signs of the MGs stretching out into more progressive directions, but also because it became one of David Mancuso’s deeply influential Loft parties in New York City.

I’ll spare you an excess of words here, but if you have any interest in digging a little deeper, you can refer back to the piece I wrote on the record in early 2010.

Suffice to say, if all you ever knew was ‘Green Onions’, ‘Melting Pot’ will be a revelation.

Duck Dunn was – in addition to his better known gigs – a prolific session musician, both during and after the Stax era.

He was a legend, and he will be missed.

See you later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though Dunn was a longtime part of the Stax/Memphis crew, being a boyhood friend of cats like Cropper and Packy Axton (Dunn was in the Mar-Keys) he didn’t join the MGs until he replaced Lewis Steinberg in 1965

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, May 6, 2012 4:17 pm

The Samplers – Beastie Boys

The Sampled – clockwise from top left – Johnny Hammond Smith, Norman Whitfield,
Jimmy Smith, The Commodores, Jeremy Steig

Listen/Download Johnny Hammond Smith – Big Sur Suite

Original release – Higher Ground LP (Kudu 1974) – Sampled on Pass the Mic (Check Your Head LP 1992)

___________________________________________________________________

Listen/Download Commodores – Machine Gun

Original Release – Machine Gun LP (Motown 1974) – Sampled on Hey Ladies (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

___________________________________________________________________

Listen/Download Jeremy Steig – Howling For Judy

Original Release – Legwork LP (Solid State 1969) – Sampled on Sure Shot (Ill Communication LP 1994)

___________________________________________________________________

Listen/Download Jimmy Smith – I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Babe

Original Release – Blacksmith LP (Pride 1974) – Sampled on Professor Booty (Check Your Head LP 1992)

___________________________________________________________________

Listen/Download Norman Whitfield/Rose Royce – Yo Yo

Original Release – Car Wash OST (MCA 1976) – Sampled On Shake Your Rump (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

___________________________________________________________________

Listen/Download Afrique – Kissing My Love

Original Release – Soul Makossa LP (Mainstream 1973) – Sampled on Bodhisattva Vow (Ill Communication LP 1994)

___________________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the Corners du Fonque…

As has been mentioned several times recently most of what you’ve been reading here in the last few weeks was – due to necessity – prepared a few weeks in advance so as to facilitate the massive amount of commuting and other life-disrupting activities involved in my wife’s treatment (which, now that I mention it seems to be going well, so let’s keep those fingers crossed).

This weekend has been especially tiring, but the news of the passing of the mighty MCA, Adam Yauch could not be ignored, so as soon as we got home and rolled out of the Funky16Corners-mobile, I rolled into the record vault and got to work.

I have listened to hip hop, first passively (way back in the day) and then as a lightweight consumer with a focus therein on what I would consider dynamic use of sampled material.

You can’t really talk about that aspect of the game without giving props to the Beastie Boys.

Over the years the Beasties have played a big part in piqueing my interest in samples and by association the sounds sampled (why else would I have owned a copy of Alphonse Mouzon’s ‘Funky Snakefoot’) long before I was spinning (or writing about) funk, soul, jazz and rare groove.

Sampling/cut and paste is an art in which it’s not terribly difficult to separate the lazy slobs from the masters, i.e. being able to differentiate from someone who can lift a song wholesale and slap something new on it and someone who can hear a really interesting sound within another piece of music and re-purpose it in a way that makes your ears (and brain) perk up in admiration.

One of the dangers of trainspotting is that the listener runs the risk of getting lost in the component parts, losing sight of the forest for the digitally borrowed trees.

However, secure in the knowledge that good taste is sometimes its own reward, the best samples sound as good (or better) in their original form as they do when placed as a cog in another ‘machine’. Often (not always, obviously) groovy bits of sound are not sui generis, and are traceable back to an equally groovy “whole”, which is the case in the music I bring you today.

I like to think that the first time I had my mind blown by ‘Paul’s Boutique’ or ‘Check Your Head’ my crates (and ears) were deep enough that I recognized some of the coolest stuff, but at the same time I’m honest enough to admit that the ensuing years witnessed my recognition of some of that music for the first time (like the time my man Marshall down in DC dropped Jimmy Smith’s previously unknown – to me – version of ‘I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More Babe’ and the light bulb went off over my head).

It was in those moments of recognition that new digging targets were registered and I followed them into flea markets, record stores on onto the interwebs.

The cuts I bring you today are examples of some of my favorite Beastie Boys samples (drums, bass and guitar) out of my crates.

Some of them were things I already had, others, like the bass in ‘Big Sur Suite’ and ‘Yo Yo’ or the guitar in ‘Machine Gun’, I picked up first and discovered/recognized the sample(s) after the fact.

What all of them have in common, aside from the fact that they appealed to the Beasties, is that they are all worth listening to in their entirety.

Maybe some of you will be hearing the complete songs for the first time.

I hope you dig them all, and I’ll see you later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, May 4, 2012 1:21 pm

Adam Yauch 1964 – 2012

Listen/Download Beastie Boys – Jimmy James (12″ Instro Mix)
Listen/Download Beastie Boys – Jimmy James (LP Mix)

NOTE: Files fixed…
Greetings all.

Well, isn’t this a drag of monumental proportions?

I was just surfing the web this morning when I saw the news that the mighty MCA, Adam Yauch had succumbed to cancer at the age of 47.

Though I reference the world of hip hop in this space often, I have never posted any here, until today.

I own a grip of Beastie Boys stuff on CD but the only vinyl record of theirs is the one you see before you today.

I’m a big fan of sample-based music/turntablism/remix culture, but I really (REALLY) dig it when it’s funky (Jungle Brothers, ATCQ etc) , and it doesn’t get much funkier than ‘Jimmy James’.

With the (multiple) Jimi Hendrix samples (and those Turtles drums) and the various and sundry vinyl manipulations ‘Jimmy James’ rocks the house in a big way.

I’m including the 12″ mix and the LP mix both.

MCA was a righteous dude, musician, humanitarian, husband and father.

He will be missed.

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

PS Fuck cancer…

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 26, 2012 11:54 am

Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen

Listen/Download Fried Chicken – Funky DJ

Greetings all.

The end of another week is upon us, and it behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and very Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed the next day, posted in MP3 form right here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today may (should) sound familiar.

A few years back I posted Earnest Jackson’s 1974 45 ‘Funky Black Man’.

It was in that post that I mentioned that the song had been remade a few years later as ‘Funky DJ’ by a group calling themselves Fried Chicken (who were in fact a pseudonymous Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen).

Both records were used by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist in their landmark mixes, ‘Funky Black Man’ in ‘Product Placement’ and ‘Funky DJ’ in ‘Brainfreeze’.

Drummer Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen (also billed as the Lightmen Plus One) hailed from Houston, TX.

Thomas had studied under Conrad Johnson (later director of the legendary Kashmere Stage Band) and with the Lightmen released two albums ‘Energy Control Center’ in 1972 (the track ‘The Phantom’ was included on the Stones Throw ‘Funky 16 Corners’ compilation) and ‘Country Fried Chicken’.

I’m not sure how Thomas and his band came to cover Jackson’s record, but the results were certainly interesting (especially to anyone interested in sampling the phrase ‘funky dj’).

It was also co-produced by 60s pop star John Fred!

I stand by my initial appraisal, in which I stated that Jackson’s vocals are superior, but both records are certainly cool and worth hearing.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Monday with something groovy.

Keep the faith

Larry

PS This one goes out to all the funky DJs, you know who you are.

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.