Comments (4)

By Larry, November 11, 2014 2:01 pm

The Tams

Listen/Download The Tams – Trouble Maker

Greetings all

How about we cross the great divide here in the middle of the week with some tasty, uptempo southern soul?

The mighty Tams are one of those groups that I knew about long before I heard a note of their music.

It was only in the last five or six years that I started to pick up their records, around the same time that I began to dig into the Joe South (whose songs the Tams recorded) discography.

The song I bring you today is a great 1968 track that was released as a single, and also included on their 1969 LP ‘Portrait of the Tams’.

‘Trouble Maker’ was written, like many of the Tams’ biggest hits – like ‘What Kind of Fool’, ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’ and ‘Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy’ – by Ray Whitley.

Whitley was part of a group of Atlanta-area songwriters associated with publisher Bill Lowery, like the aforementioned South, and JR Cobb who had their songs taken into the charts by artists like the Tams, Billy Joe Royal, Tommy Roe and others.

Whitely  wrote seven of the twelve songs on ‘Portrait of the Tams’, with one each by South,Cobb and Ralph Flynn, and a cover of ‘Hey Jude’.

‘Trouble Maker’ is a fast moving tune with great lead guitar (maybe Joe South?), a typically wonderful lead vocal by Joe Pope and a flashy horn section.

If you haven’t investigated the sounds of the Tams, you really ought to do so. They recorded a lot of amazing music during their career, and none of it is going to make you dig too deep into your wallet, so get to steppin’.

Sadly, Whitley fell into hard times later in his life, living for a time in a homeless shelter, before passing away in 2013.

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 (2)

By Larry, November 9, 2014 3:45 pm

The Brothers/Silvetti

Listen/Download The Brothers – Are You Ready For This

Listen/Download Silvetti – Spring Rain

Greetings all

I hope you’re ready to get your groove on this week.

Having done a lot of reading about (and an exponential amount of listening to) the Northern Soul phenomenon over the last decade or so, something that I discovered – along with a grip of amazing music – is that the musical essence of that scene is not at as monolithic as you might think.

Surely there is a “Northern” sound, but if you dig into the annals, especially in the 1970s explosion in the UK, you discover that some of the DJs and the dancers had open minds (and ears).

Here in the US, where exposure to ‘Northern Soul’ is often tied directly to the mod/60s bag (hewing closer to the Manchester-based 60s scene at the Twisted Wheel, which was instrumental in the development of a rare soul scene in the UK), the idea of hearing a Philadelphia International side, or any other disco-identified sound, is all but blasphemous.

However, take a look at the playlists of many of the biggest Northern clubs in the 70s, and you alongside the ultra-rare Motown-influenced ish, you will also see records – then new – that many soul fans today would file off to the side as ‘disco’.

What a lot of people ignore (to their own peril) is that a much of the music associated with early disco culture is by any other name, soul music. Your anoraks/trainspotters/”experts”/killjoys will try to convince you that little after the end of the 60s is worth listening to, but like everyone else, they are wrong from time to time.

When they do that, they forget that Northern Soul was once a vibrant, living, breathing scene, and above all a dancer’s scene and if a record brought people out onto the floor, that’s all that mattered.

Today I bring you two examples of records that were created for disco dance floors and were absorbed into the Northern Soul scene.

The first, ‘Are You Ready For This’ by the Brothers is a solid, four on the floor dancer with the kind of sweeping, melodic string flourished that the soulies really dug.

The Brothers were a New York based studio creation, built around producer Warren Schatz and pianist Bhen Lanzaroni. Their 1975 LP ‘Disco-Soul’ was composed almost entirely of new versions of disco standards by groups like the Ohio Players (the LP features a very cool Hammond driven cover of ‘Fire’), Barry White, Disco Tex, Carol Douglas, and Gloria Gaynor, interspersed with originals by Lanzaroni and Schatz.

‘Are You Ready For This’ was released as a single in the US and the UK, and was picked up by UK DJs where it became a staple at clubs like the Blackpool Mecca (it also seems to have been a minor hit in New York City discos).

The second track I bring you today is ‘Spring Rain’ by Silvetti. Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno, aka Bebu Silvetti, or just Silvetti, was an Argentinian composer/arranger/producer who had his biggest hit with ‘Spring Rain’ in 1977.

The record was a big hit in US and European discos, but was also brought into the Northern scene (to the consternation of many) by disco-friendly DJs like Ian Levine. Like ‘Are You Ready For This’, ‘Spring Rain’ has a strong beat, and wave upon wave of strings.

As time wore on, and new sounds became popular, and the idea of ‘soul music’ became more expansive – I hesitate to say ‘inclusive’ since there were/are many who would just as soon strangle you than hear a disco record – new terminology was adopted that allowed collectors and DJs to compartmentalize these records into their own genres, like ‘modern soul’, ‘deep funk’, ‘rare groove’ and ‘crossover’. Often times you’ll see announcements for allnighters and weekends in the UK and Europe where these tangential sounds will have separate rooms/dance floors devoted to them.

If you have an open mind policy (like we do here) it’s not at all hard to see the threads that link all of these categories, and to find your way back through their roots, stopping to savor the vast array of records that resist classification (often my favorite kind).

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

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 (5)

By Larry, November 6, 2014 12:53 pm

Volcanos – Storm Warning (Arctic)
Homer Banks – A Lot of Love (Minit)
The Supremes – Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart (Motown)
The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Maurice and the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
OV Wright – Love the Way You Love (Back Beat)
The Spellbinders – Help Me (Get Myself Back Together Again) (Columbia)
Otis Clay – Got To Find a Way (One-Derful)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do (Imperial)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
The Marvelettes – I’ll Keep On Holding On (Tamla)
The Broadways – You Just Don’t Know How Good You Make Me Feel (MGM)
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket (Revilot)
The Facinations – Girls Are Out To Get You (Mayfield)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
The Cooperettes – Shingaling (Brunswick)
The Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
The Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle (Scepter)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Cameo/Parkway)
The Younghearts – A Little Togetherness (Soultown)
Jean Wells- With My Love and What You’ve Got (Calla)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (Laurie)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt5 – Northern Soul

Greetings all

The end of the week, and of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration are both at hand.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device on the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The mix I chose to close out the week is near and dear to my heart.

Over the course of my soul fandom, stretching back 30 years, no sound has hit me as deeply as Northern Soul.

I’m not going to go into the roots of the sound here (I have in the past, to be sure), or provide a definition, other than to say these are records that combine hard-charging tempos and great melodies in uniquely exhilarating ways.

One need only listen to the mix all the way through to get the picture, as it were, but I suspect that even then, there are those that might take issue with some of the selections.

Northern Soul is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I approach the sound as someone who genuinely loves it.

Some of my very favorite soul records – in any genre – are key to this mix. These are records that lift you in every way, some crossing over into what can safely be described as pure musical bliss.

This is my favorite genre to listen to, and by far my favorite to spin for dancers as a DJ.

I thought it fitting that this was the mix to cap off the anniversary week.

I hope you dig it, and I hope you keep listening/reading as long as I still have something meaningful to say.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

I’ll see you all next week.

And, as always…

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 (2)

By Larry, November 5, 2014 11:57 am

Charlie Earland Erector Set – Yes Suh! (Eldorado)
Chicago Cubs Clark Street Band – Slide (Chess)
RD Stokes – My Sandra’s Jump (II Bros)
Cocktail Cabinet – Breathalyser (Page One)
Perry and the Harmonics – Do the Monkey With James (Mercury)
Dave Baby Cortez – Getting To the Point (Chess)
Gene Ludwig – The Vamp (Travis)
Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)
Graham Bond Organisation – Wade In the Water (Ascot)
Hank Marr – White House Party (Wingate)
Georgie Fame – El Bandido (Imperial)
Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century Fox)
Louis Chachere – The Hen Pt1 (Paula)
The Mohawks – The Champ (Philips NE)
Art Butler – Soul Brother (Epic)
Billy Preston – Billy’s Bag (VeeJay)
Andre Brasseur –The Duck (Palette)
Memphis Black – Why Don’t You Play the Organ Man (Ascot)
Wynder K Frog – Dancing Frog (United Artists)
Brother Jack McDuff – Hunk of Funk (Blue Note)
David Rockingham Trio – Soulful Chant (Josie)
Dave Davani Four – The Jupe (Capitol)
The Turtles – Buzz Saw (White Whale)
Toussaint McCall- Shimmy (Ronn)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt4 – Organs

Greetings all

I hope you’re all digging the mixes this week.

Those of you that stop by here on the reg know that I am deep into the Hammond thing, with several boxes of 45s (and a grip of LPs) devoted to the sound.

I am a Hammond nut from way back, but got seriously into collecting the sound after Finewine and Pat James Longo put together the ‘Vital Organs’ comp back at the end of the 90s.

As has been recounted here before, my man Mr Luther dropped a copy of that very comp on me back in ’99, and it promptly blew my mind.

It was the collection that set me out in search of Hammond 45s (especially Toussaint McCall’s ‘Shimmy’ and Louis Chachere’s ‘The Hen’ which immediately became favorites), and the digging never stopped. Though I probably don’t search with the same vigor I did in the early days, there are a couple of 45s in this mix that I only managed to get my hands on in the last year.

That all said, this is a particularly groovy mix, which I have listened to all the way through a number of times since completing it.

If you dig yourself a nice, gritty organ 45, I think you’ll dig it too.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

Enjoy, and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final 10th Anniversary mix.

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 (0)

By Larry, November 4, 2014 1:24 pm

Howard Tate – Get It While You Can (Verve)
Diamond Joe – Fair Play (Minit)
Irma Thomas – I Wish Someone Would Care (Imperial)
Jackie Shane – Any Other Way (Cookin’)
Lee Dorsey and Betty Harris – Please Take Care of Our Love (Sansu)
Van Dykes – No Man Is An Island (Mala)
Otis Redding – Cigarettes and Coffee (Volt/Atco)
Little Buster – I’m So Lonely (Jubilee)
Mable John – Your Good Thing (Is About To End) (Stax)
Sweet Linda Divine – Same Time Same Place (Columbia)
OV Wright – I Want Everyone To Know I Love You (Backbeat)
Rubaiyats – Tomorrow (Sansu)
Eddie Holman – I’ll Cry 1,000 Tears (Bell)
Eldridge Holmes – If I Were a Carpenter (Deesu)
James Carr – The Dark End of the Street (Goldwax)
John Williams and the Tick Tocks – Blues Tears and Sorrows (Sansu)
Laura Lee – Hang It Up (Chess)
Otis Redding – I’ve Been Loving You Too Long To Stop Now (Volt)
Toussaint McCall – Nothing Takes the Place of You (Ronn)
Bobby Womack – Take Me (Minit)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt3 – Ballads

Greetings all

Welcome to day three of the 10th Anniversary thing.

While I know that you all dig your soul upbeat and danceable, I couldn’t very well put together collections of my favorite stuff without stopping to consider the ballads.

In fact, to try to illustrate the greatness of soul music without touching on the deep side of things would be a fool’s errand.

To many people, these are the kind of records that make for great soul music; big, dramatic performances, expressing love – sought out, or lost – tragedy, tribute and longing.

What I found interesting after putting this mix together, is how many of the performers included were truly versatile, able to deliver a deep ballad, yet also capable (as is illustrated by their appearances in other mixes in this week’s line-up) of working the upbeat (even funky) side of things as well.

There are a lot of heavy, heavy records in this mix, so turn the lights down low, cuddle up with someone you love (or the memory of someone you’ve lost) and feel the soul.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

See you tomorrow.

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 (4)

By Larry, November 3, 2014 12:27 pm

Bill Cosby – Hikky Burr (Uni)
Eddie Bo – Hook and Sling Pt1 (Scram)
The Meters – Cardova (Josie)
James Brown – Hot Pants Pt1 (People)
Mickey and the Soul Generation – Iron Leg (Maxwell)
Steve Colt – Dynamite (Big Beat)
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul (King)
Willis Wooten – Your Love is Indescribably Delicious (Virtue)
Village Callers – Hector (Rampart)
Lou Courtney – Hey Joyce (Popside)
Buena Vistas – Kick Back (Marquee)
Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers – Searching for Soul Pt1 (Mutt)
Lee Moses – Reach Out I’ll Be There (Musicor)
Laura Lee – Crumbs Off the Table (Hot Wax)
Lyn Collins (The Female Preacher) – Think (About It) (People)
BW Souls – Marvin’s Groove (Round)
Chuck Carbo – Can I Be Your Squeeze (Canyon)
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend (Capitol)
David Batiste and the Gladiators – Funky Soul Pt1 (Instant)
Lou Courtney – Hot Butter’n’All (Hurdy Gurdy)
Richards People – Yo Yo (Tuba)
Interpretations – Blow Your Mind (Jubilee)
Gene Chandler – In My Body’s House (Checker)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt2 – Funk

Greetings all

Welcome to day two of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration.

Today’s mix is composed of my favorite funk 45s from my crates.

Though the roots of my soul fandom lie in southern soul, it was the funk 45 boom that got me moving with the web zine and the blog.

There’s something about the heat and the syncopation that come with a really heavy funk 45 that always gets me moving.

Aside from the inventor, James Brown, the man whose music had a lot to do with my love of funk (and was my gateway into the sounds of New Orleans) was the late, great Eddie Bo.

There are no less than five New Orleans 45s in the mix – three of them Eddie Bo or Bo-adjacent– and one need only map out the records in this set to see where my passions were over the last 15 years or so.

New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, the sounds of America’s cities in the late 60s and early 70s, always stacked to the rafters with drums, drums and more drums.

There are some records in this mix (and in all of the mixes this week) that I would rank among the greatest funk of all time, including the Meters ‘Cardova’, Lou Courtney’s ‘Hot Butter’n’All’, James Brown’s ‘Hot Pants’ and Laura Lee’s “Crumbs Off the Table’ among them.

As I said in Monday’s post, you may not agree with all of my selections, and by no means are these mixes supposed to represent any definitive list of the ‘best’ that’s out there, but rather my personal favorites.

So put on your hot pants and slide out onto the dance floor.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

I’ll see you tomorrow.

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 (2)

By Larry, November 2, 2014 2:24 pm

Bob and Earl – Harlem Shuffle (Cheyne)
Don Covay and the Goodtimers – Sookie Sookie (Atlantic)
The Shells – Whiplash (Conlo)
Scatman Crothers – Golly Zonk! It’s Scatman! (HBR)
Rodge Martin – Lovin’ Machine (Bragg)
Roger and the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
The Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Shurfine)
Derek Martin – Daddy Rolling Stone (Crackerjack)
Chuck Berry – Club Nitty Gritty (Mercury)
Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step (V-Tone)
Chuck Edwards – Downtown Soulville (Punch)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling (Fairmount)
Etta James and Sugarpie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)
L’il Bob and the Lollipops – I Got Loaded (La Louisianne)
Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor (ABC/Paramount)
Danny White – Natural Soul Brother (SSS Intl)
Johnny Jones and the King Casuals – Soul Poppin’ (Brunswick)
Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)
The Rubaiyats – Omar Khayyam (Sansu)
Don Gardner – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (Tru-Glo-Town)
Larry Williams and Johnny Watson – Two For the Price of One (Okeh)
Wilson Pickett – Land of 1000 Dances (Atlantic)
Wayne Cochran – Going Back to Miami (Mercury)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Out On the Floor) (Like)

NOTE: Big thanks to Jeff Ash who noticed that I left two songs out of the set list right after Roy Lee Johnson!

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt1 – Soul Party

Greetings all

This week (11/4 to be exact) marks the 10th anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

Yeah…I can barely believe it myself.

Back in 2004, when I first started posting here (which was a slightly different “here” than it is now, but that’s not important) I had already been writing about music for nearly 20 years, first in a series of fanzines (my own and those of others), then from 2000 the Funky16Corners Web Zine (see the archive, above).

It was in 2004 that my wife and I welcomed our first son, and the long-term prep involved with the web zine wasn’t  looking sustainable, so I decided to switch over to the short form structure of the blog.

I had the good fortune to make that switch around the time that the blogging ‘wave’ was starting to build, and while there were music blogs out there, there weren’t  many using the kind of format that Funky16Corners was.

When I started, the idea was to continue – as much as possible – the historical slant of the web zine, in single (usually) record form. I settled into the three-post-a-week format fairly quickly, and that’s the way it remained for a couple of years.

Then, in the Spring of 2005, thanks to a reference on BoingBoing.net, the blog was hit with a sudden burst of traffic that sucked up a month’s worth of bandwidth in a single day. It was at that point that I started paying for server space, and the following year, instituted the yearly Pledge Drive to assist with costs.

It was in May of 2006 that I posted the first of what ended up being well over 100 themed mixes (Funky Philadelphia was the first), all of which (including a number of mixes prepared for other sites) are still downloadable in the archive.

Things continued apace for a few more years until the Funky16Corners Radio Show started on Viva Radio. Beginning in 2010 I started recording/mixing the show as a podcast, and posting it here. There are now more than 200 episodes in the archive.

Today, the Funky16Corners blog is still up and running at full steam. I suspect that barring unforeseen circumstances, it will go on, and on, as long as my passion for the music lives.

It is important to stop here and to say thank you to all the people that have helped to make Funky16Corners a success.

First and foremost, I need to thank my wife Jen, who has supported my efforts over the years. Ours is – like the home I grew up in – a musical house, and we all listen, sing along with and sometimes even play the sounds we love.

I’d also like to thank my friends who have shared their musical passions with me over the years, among them fellow bloggers/writers, DJs, collectors and fans, with which I’ve shared music, ideas and good times.

The roots of Funky16Corners run deep, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the fanzine writers/makers that influenced me back in the 80s, especially Billy and Miriam at Kicks and Jim Testa at Jersey Beat, and from the interwebs days, the crew at Soulstrut and the guys who put together the late, lamented Rehash site, which was a big influence in the early days.

Big ups as well to folks like Mr Luther, my man Haim, DJ Prestige, DJ Birdman, Tony C, Tarik Thornton, Agent 45, Kris Holmes, Jeff Ash at AM Then FM, Vincent the Soul Chef, Derek See, Heavysoulbrutha Dave B, Red Kelly, Dan at Home of the Groove, all of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew (Connie T Empress, Devil Dick, Prime Mundo, M-Fasis, Jack the Ripper, DJ Bluewater), Mr Finewine, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and everybody else that has been kind enough to bring me in to spin my records over the years.

I gave a lot of thought about how I wanted to mark this anniversary. I eventually decided that what I would do, was create a series of mixes in five categories (Ballads, Northern Soul, Soul Party, Organs and Funk), selecting an hour’s worth of my very favorite records in each category.

This was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, with the decisions about which records to include coming down to which discs really meant the most to me. As is the case in any genre, there are ‘important’ records, and there are rare records, and then there are just good records. These are not always the same ones, either.

There are a lot of big Northern Soul (or funk) 45s that demand serious coin, but for any number of reasons just don’t do it for me. By the same token, there are a grip of two-dollar records that I think are just brilliant. The driving force behind the Funky16Corners blog is my own need to figure out why the great ones are great, sharing the stories behind them and attempting to articulate what it is about these records that move me.

If there’s anything in any of these playlists that strikes you as odd, or out of place, take the time to search the archives of the blog to find the original posts (though some of them haven’t been written about yet) and you’ll probably find the key there.
Some of these records have been wedged in my brain for decades, others are more recent discoveries, and there is no doubt in my mind that there are many still out there that I have yet to fall in love with.

You can never know all the great music there is, and anyone that says that they do, is full of shit.

The first mix this week (there will be a new one posted every day, Monday through Friday) is the Soul Party mix.

Though I’m sure there’s someone out there trying to sell records using ‘soul party’ as a designator, I don’t mean it to suggest a genre per se, but rather a mood/atmosphere that these records bring. These are fun, exciting, energetic records with which to get down. Party starters, each and every one.

The records in this mix are some of my very favorites, and I’d go to the mat defending any one of them. They are all essential.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

So dig in, get your download on, and above all, enjoy.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more goodness.

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 (0)

By Larry, October 30, 2014 12:49 pm

Johnny Sayles and Clea Bradford

Listen/Download – Johnny Sayles – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

Listen/Download – Clea Bradford – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

_____________________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

Time to close out the week.

First, I’d like to suggest that since this Friday is Halloween, you all huddle around the wireless set with your cider and popcorn balls and dig this years Funky16Corners Radio Show Halloween Special, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs at 9PM on Viva Radio. There’ll be lots of groovy, spooky things to hear. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, check it out on your mobile device in the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here in the archive.

I’m digging into the archive for today’s tracks, both of which have appeared in this space before (2006/2009).

What you’re getting is two very groovy, completely different songs that share the same title: ‘My Love’s a Monster’. Both of them hail from Chicago, with the Johnny Sayles number (arranged by Monk Higgins) coming from 1965, and the Clea Bradford (produced, arranged and co-written by no less a light than Richard Evans) in 1968.

They are both outstanding in their own way, with Johnny Sayles getting a touch more Halloween-y with his intro, but Miss Bradford getting a little funkier in her outing, which reminds me a lot of Marlena Shaw’s work with Mr Evans.

Both are yet more evidence that when it came to making soul 45s, the great city of Chicago was near the top of the list.

I hope you dig the sounds and get a chance to check out the Halloween show.

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 (1)

By Larry, October 28, 2014 12:26 pm

Andre Williams

Listen/Download Andre Williams – It’s Gonna Be Fine In ’69

Greetings all

Stand up, take Andre Williams’ hand, and let him help you over the hump.

Mr Williams still walks the earth like an R&B colossus, well into his eighth decade, a bad-ass through and through.

He was responsible for all manner of R&B, soul and funk heat in Detroit and Chicago during the 50s, 60s and 70s, fell on hard times, and then got it back together again in the 90s.

The song I bring you today was released in 1969 (naturally the last of a string of funky 45s he waxed for Checker between 1967 and that year.

‘It’s Gonna Be Fine in ‘69’ opens with a sharp snare shot,and some wah wah lead guitar, before Andre drops in and starts rapping about slick threads, and sitting himself down to a plate of chitlins and some buttermilk (?!?).

His list of suits and jewelry is reminiscent of Willie Tomlin’s ‘Check Me Baby’ (featured here a while back), and if anyone is copping anyone’s groove, Willie was lifting from Andre, who had had some chart action the previous year with ‘Cadillac Jack’, though there is a long tradition of such shopping lists/boasts.

That said, not many could compete with Andre Williams’ Mack-tastic bad-assery.

Though he didn’t make it back on to the charts under his own name, he spent the 70s working for Ike Turner, and P-Funk, as well as writing and producing for groups like Velvet Hammer.

The cool thing is, if you’re down with vinyl, most of Mr Williams soul and funk outing under his own name are pretty affordable, and all worth picking up.

So get out there, start digging and I’ll 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 (1)

By Larry, October 26, 2014 11:07 am

Marvin Gaye

Listen/Download Marvin Gaye – Baby Don’t You Do It

Greetings all

Allow me to usher you all in to the new week, with some of the old time soul music.

But first, I have to let you know that next week (Tuesday, to be exact) marks the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have put together five mixes containing my favorite sides in separate categories.

I’ve put a lot of work (and thought) in these playlists, and I think you’ll dig them. So stay tuned, stop by and get your download on.

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I was digging in my record room the other day, looking for something else (found it quick, too!) and in my travels I pulled the record you see before you from the box.

Marvin Gaye is unquestionably one of the greatest soul singers of the classic era, though there are many for whom his early (non-duet) works are largely unheard.

This is due to the fact that over the years the moody, worldy Marvin of ‘What’s Going On’ and beyond has become in many ways THE Marvin Gaye.

But die-hard soulies, who like to hit the dance floor and groove on that sweet Tamla/Motown ish, know that Marvin had many years of great work behind him before that landmark album.

Looking back, I’m still not sure if I initially heard today’s selection via Mr Gaye or by the Small Faces.

I do remember buying a copy of the old ‘Marvin Gaye Super Hits’ LP, the one with the Marvin-as-Superman cartoon cover, in the city, but I suspect that the Small Faces ripping take on the song made it into my ears first via a mix tape.

That said, ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’, written and produced by Holland/Dozier/Holland is prime 1964 Motor City soul clapping beauty, with a machine gun snare drum opening, and dueling piano and guitar.

The tune is a dance floor mover, which is something that coverers, from the Small Faces, to the Who, to the Band, (who turn the fast-forward soul into rolling funk) recognized and capitalized on.

As groovy as ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’ is, wasn’t a huge hit, grazing the R&B Top 30 in September of 1964.

Of course, knowledgeable tastemakers such as yourselves don’t need a chart to prove how solid a record this is, right?

Dig it,and I’ll will return on Wednesday with some more stuff.

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 23, 2014 12:49 pm

Jeff Afdem

Listen/Download Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute – Watermelon Man

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I will take this opportunity to invite you all to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen in on the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 download here at the blog.

I should also let you know that  the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners blog is coming up in two weeks. That’s right, ten years in, so I’m working on some special mixes to mark the occasion, so keep you eyes and ears peeled for those.

Today’s selection is a very groovy cover of a very familiar song from a very unusual place.

If you follow the comings and goings over at my other blog, Iron Leg, where I travel the roads of (mostly) 60s pop, psych and garage sounds, you may have noticed that I have a special place in my heart (and my crates) for the Pacific Northwest Sound (PNW).

This includes all kinds of stuff, but especially bands like the Sonics, Wailers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Don and the Goodtimes, and the Springfield Rifle.

Jeff Afdem was a flute and sax player in a number of PNW bands, including Jimmy Hanna and the Dynamics (who did a killer version of ‘Leaving Here’), and the last band on the list above, the Springfield Rifle.

I happened upon Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ quite by accident, which searching for 45s on the storied Jerden label.

I spotted the cover, figured it was worth a try, and was not disappointed.

The song was a non-LP 45* released around the same time as Afdem’s 1969 LP ‘Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute’ which included a number of pop covers, as well as a couple of soul jazz groovers like ‘Florence of Arabia’ (also covered by Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band).

Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ gets off to a great start with booming bass, latin percussion and piano, before the flute comes in to solo. He takes the tune at a brisk tempo making this one great for the dance floor.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though it looks like it was included on a 1977 re-issue of the album 

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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 21, 2014 12:05 pm

Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland

Listen/Download Bobby Bland – Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, and brace yourselves for something heavy.

A few years back, I was tuned in to my man Kris Holmes’ radio show, and he dropped a record that I’d never heard before, that absolutely blew me away.

While I knew I was hearing the unmistakable sound of Bobby Bland’s voice, it was coming over the airwaves inside of a really weird record.

The tune, was ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’.

The record, which grazed the R&B Top 10 in 1968 (hanging just outside the Pop Top 50) is one of the freakiest (and I mean that in the best way possible) juxtapositions of a singer and a style.

Bland, one of the greatest blues/R&B vocalists of the 50s and 60s, is heard here in the midst of an arrangement that is plainly psychedelic.

Drenched in echo, and taken at a slow, almost spooky pace, ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ sees our hero bringing his “A” game to a far out place.

The overall style of the record isn’t weird or out of place for 1968, since pretty much the entire musical landscape had gotten a little wilder and more experimental, but the thought that someone thought to take the mighty voice of Bobby ‘Blue’ Band and wrap it up in a trippy package like this, still boggles the mind.

The way the echoed saxophone winds its way in and out of the arrangement, abetted by tasteful lead guitar on a platform of thick, plodding bass and nearly non-existent drumming is a thing of beauty.

What’s spectacularly weird (to me, anyway) is the “kind” of psychedelic this song is. This is no flower power, candy coated, Technicolor dream. ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ is two bottles of codeine cough syrup and a heavy four way hit of acid, with Bobby sounding like he’s pleading for release from some kind of psychic dungeon.

The record takes the hint of darkness present in a record like Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ and dials it all the way up.

This is especially strange considering the fact that if you listen to the lyrics, the song seems to have a happy ending.

It’s just one of those records that I can listen to over and over again, if only to sample the vibe. You don’t just listen to a record like this, you feel it.

As far as I know, the mighty Mr Bland never did anything like this again.

That’s probably because he didn’t have to.

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.