Comments (4)

By Larry, March 4, 2014 6:53 pm

Nolan Porter

Listen/Download NF Porter – Keep On Keeping On

Greetings all

If you – like moi – spends an inordinate amount of time listening to, thinking about, researching and digging for music, it is easy to become jaded, or at least top have your senses dulled to a certain degree.

As a result, it’s easy to miss some of the subtler wonders out there, which is why you have to engage in periodic reappraisal.

That said, the other side of the coin is that the truly remarkable records cut through that fog in remarkable ways.

I first heard NF Porter’s ‘Keep On Keeping On’ years ago when it was included on a comp of favorites from the storied Golden Torch soul club in the UK.

That collecting included a lot of amazing records, but none stood out more starkly than ‘Keep on Keeping On’.

It’sone of those records that I have often found myself spinning repeatedly, letting the vibe sink in a little more deeply with each play.

Recorded in 1971 by Nolan Porter (billed at different times as Nolan, NF Porter, and Frederick II), the record made it into the R&B Top 40 at the end of 1971, Porter’s second such hit that year.

Porter came up in Southern California, getting his start as a classical singer, before meeting producer Gabriel Mekler’s sister while in college.

Mekler signed him to his Lizard label, where he would record the ‘No Apologies’ LP in 1971*.

Porter was backed in the studio by various and sundry members of the Mothers of Invention and Little Feat (Lowell George, Jimmy Carl Black and Roy Estrada) as well as Johnny Guitar Watson.

‘Keep On Keeping On’ – co-written by Porter and Richie Flowers but originally only credited to the latter – is a record of unique power.

Though Porter’s delivery is purely soulful, there is an underlying foundation of rock and even psychedelia to the song (dig the backward guitar) that imbues it with a certain darkness.

The ominous, propulsive rhythm guitar and the tom-toms create a thick, often thunderous platform from which Porter launches his high tenor into the stratosphere.

Its strong beat has made is a perennial favorite with the Northern Soul crowd, as is his (much rarer/more expensive/excellent) 1972 ABC single ‘If I Could Only Be Sure’ (a US R&B Top 30 hit).

Porter recently ended a long, self-imposed retirement to return to the stage in the US and the UK, and recent video demonstrates that he is still in fine voice.

I hope you dig this amazing record, and I’ll see you all on Friday

Keep the faith

Larry

*Porter would also compose ‘Funky LA’ for labelmates Paul Humphrey and the Cool Aid Chemists

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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, March 2, 2014 1:18 pm

Roger and the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
Professor Longhair – Big Chief Pt2 (Watch)
Bobby Marchan – Shake Your Tambourine (Cameo/Parkway)
Diamond Joe – Gossip Gossip (Sansu)
Eddie Bo – Hook and Sling Pt1 (Scram)
Lee Dorsey – Four Corners Pt1 (Amy)
Dixie Cups – Two Way Poc A Way (ABC)
Earl King – Street Parade (Kansu)
Meters – Cardova (Josie)
David Batiste and the Gladiators – Funky Soul Pt2 (Instant)
Bobby Williams – Boogaloo Mardi Gras Pt2 (Capitol)
Curly Moore – Sophisticated Cissy (Instant)
Ernie K Doe – Here Come the Girls (Janus)
Larry Darnell – Son of a Son of a Slave (Instant)
Explosions – Hip Drop Pt1 (Gold Cup)
Rubaiyats – Omar Khayyam (Sansu)
Warren Lee – Funky Belly (Wand)
Willie Tee – Sweet Thing (Gatur)
Danny White – Natural Soul Brother (SSS Intl)
Lee Dorsey – Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further (Polydor)
Oliver Morgan – Roll Call (Seven B)
Eddie Bo – Can You Handle It (Bo Sound)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents Boogaloo Mardi Gras! – 85MB Mixed Mp3/192K

Greetings all.

Hey everybody!

Guess who paid attention to the calendar and was prepared for Mardi Gras this year?

That’s right, ME!

As a result I dipped back into the archives and resurrected one of my fave mixes, ‘Funky16Corners: Boogaloo Mardi Gras!’

This one is packed from start to finish with a grip of Crescent city killers, including a number of second line favorites. There is a LOT of heat in this one, and if you are inclined to crack open a brew or two  and get your New Orleans-style party on, this should provide a more than adequate soundtrack.

I hope you dig it, 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 (2)

By Larry, February 25, 2014 2:21 pm

Listen/Download Chet Poison Ivey and his Fabulous Avengers – The Poo Poo Man

UPDATE: DC Soul authority Kevin Coombe informs me that Bee & Cee was a Washington, DC label, and evidence points to Chet Ivey having operated out of the DC area during the 60s

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another soulful week.

The track I bring you today is not just very groovy, but part of a larger, as yet unsolved (at least to me) puzzle.

I first encountered the dulcet tones of Chet Poison Ivey and his Fabulous Avengers back in the early days of my funk 45 safari when I picked up a copy of their 1968 Tangerine 45, ‘Shake a Poo Poo’.

Now, you can be forgiven if the title of the song gave you pause (as it certainly has to many others over the years), but my mind finds its way to the gutter easily, so much so that a record with the phrase ‘poo poo’ is a good thing.

That the record was – a good thing, that is – is the truth.

Now, scatological assumptions aside, I am inclined to believe that the ‘poo poo’ in question has something to do with a dance, or at least the movement of a shapely posterior in the execution thereof.

I choose to believe this because I can’t imagine a legitimate record label (Tangerine was after all Ray Charles’s operation) releasing a record about actual ‘poo poo’, but then again it was the late 60s and everyone was getting freaky and letting it all hang out, so anything is possible.

On the other hand, I have evidence in hand – that being the record you see before you – that Chet was in fact trying to create a dance craze.

There’s not much information out there about Chet Ivey, aside from the obvious discographical stuff, indicating that he started recording R&B in the late 50s, jumping from label to label (ATCO, Arock, ABC/Paramount, Bee & Cee, Tangerine, Fretone and Sylvia) over the course of the next decade and a half.

Though I haven’t been able to date his Bee & Cee sides definitively, there are clues in ‘The Poo Poo Man’ to suggest that it was a follow up/continuation of ‘Shake a Poo Poo’, which would place it at the end of the 60s.

There is some evidence (that being Maurice McKinnies and the Champions ‘Sock a Poo Poo ‘69’) that Chet and the Avengers were not alone.

That said, the records I have (and have heard) indicate that Ivey was a more than capable soul singer/songwriter (the flipside of this 45, ‘Soul Is My Game’ is very groovy indeed) and the band was tight.

Like many journeyman artists, he seemed to have followed the artistic flow of the day, from R&B, to soul and on through funk, departing from the world of vinyl sometime in the mid 70s.

There are also some clues (label info and a recorded tribute to Jerry ‘The Geator’ Blavat) that old Chet may have been a Philly-area cat.*

So, dig the sounds, fire this up on your coffee break, and, you know, shake your poo poo.

See you 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, February 23, 2014 5:12 pm

Willie Bobo (3rd from the right, blue shirt) and the Bo Gents

Listen/Download Willie Bobo and the Bo Gents – Broasted or Fried

Greetings all

The new week is here, and coming off of all of the cold and wetness of the winter, I bring you something warm and funky in which to wrap yourselves.

The name Willie Bobo is surely a familiar one to those of you that dig boogaloo, Latin jazz and all things groovy.

Willie ‘Bobo’ Correa was one of the preeminent Latin percussionists of the 1960s and 70s, recording as a leader and a sideman for a variety of labels, but mostly Verve.

His discography is filled with classics like ‘Spanish Grease’ and ‘Fried Neckbones and Some Homefries’.

Like many boogalooers and soul jazzers of the day, Bobo followed the stylistic wave, and as the rest of the world got funky, so did he.

The track I bring you today hails from his 1971 LP for the Sussex label, ‘Do What You Want To Do’.

Recorded with his band the Bo-Gents,’Do What You Want To Do’ is a killer collection of funky grooves, including the title track, a cool cover of the Beatles ‘Come Together’, and the track I bring you today, ‘Broasted or Fried’.

If the tune sounds familiar, it may be because I included it in a mix some years ago in a version by Clarence Wheeler and the Enforcers.

As it turns out, the song originated in Bobo’s band, written by his keyboardist Reggie Andrew, and then covered by Wheeler et al later in 1971.

The Bo-Gents version is taken at a slightly slower, yet still funky pace, with some groovy Latin percussion (naturally…) pulsing bass and electric piano.

It has enough push for the dance floor (Now Again reissued the track as a 45 in 2004), as well as plenty to dig while grooving between the ears.

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

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 (2)

By Larry, February 18, 2014 12:30 pm

Jackie Wilson

Listen/Download Jackie Wilson – Whispers (Gettin’ Louder)

Greetings all

How about something a little sweet for the middle of the week?

Jackie Wilson is high on the list of major soul figures that I took for granted for far too long.

He was a consistent hitmaker, placing dozens of records in the charts between 1958 and 1975.

Though a fair amount of those hits crossed over into the pop charts, Wilson was (at least to my ears) damned by the tight programming of oldies radio. Until I started collecting soul 45s, if you’d asked me about Jackie Wilson, I would have known ‘Higher and Higher’ and ‘Lonely Teardrops’, and little else.

Fortunately, over the years I have kept up the search for new sounds, and more and more Jackie Wilson records have found their way into my crates.

The tune I bring you today represented a “comeback’ of sorts for Wilson, making his first trip into the R&B Top 10 since ‘Baby Workout’ in 1963.

Written by Barbara Acklin (then a secretary at Brunswick Records) and David Scott, ‘Whispers (Getting’ Louder)’ is a prime example of the classy sounds that producer Carl Davis was the master of in the 1960s.

It is a particularly interesting record (aside from its obvious quality) because it features both the Funk Brothers and the Andantes, making it a perfect intersection of (moonlighting) Detroit and Chicago sounds.

The arrangement is perfection, with guitar and vibes pushed along by comparatively raw sounding drums, all juxtaposed with sweeping strings and horns.

It is one of Wilson’s finest sides, and went into the R&B Top 5 (grazing the Pop Top 10) in October of 1966.

‘Whispers (Getting’ Louder)’ was covered by Erma Franklin in 1970 (with another Jackie Wilson cover, ‘(I Get the) Sweetest Feeling’ on the flipside).

It is a groovy record indeed, and I hope you dig it.

See you 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 (1)

By Larry, February 13, 2014 12:09 pm

Miss Yvonne Fair

Listen/Download Yvonne Fair – Say Yeah Yeah

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon is, so it is once again time to run the flag up the pole and send out the soul signal to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be taking to the airwaves of the interwebs this (and every) Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there at airtime you can always keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes.

I thought I’d end the week with a bang.

The 45 you see before you is one that I picked up many (many) years ago, out in the field for a pittance. If memory serves, I wasn’t even able to give it a listen at the time, having to wait until I got home.

When I did, I could scarcely believe my ears.

The record in question, ‘Say Yeah Yeah’ by Yvonne Fair was a funky, ever so slightly lo-fi banger, and if that was as far as things got, then I’d still be a happy boy.

But wait, there’s more…

When I started to dig around a little, I discovered, much to my surprise that ‘Say Yeah Yeah’ was not only a James Brown production, but it was recorded and released in 1963!?!

You read it right, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty Three, the very same year that the Godfather hit with ‘Prisoner of Love’.

Not even James Brown was this funky that early.

The safe assessment is that ‘Say Yeah Yeah’ was an outlier, a freak occurrence if you will.

Yvonne Fair’s vocal wasn’t in and of itself that odd, even though it was admirably heavy and raw.

Where things get crazy is the drums.

KA-BOOM.

Whoever was playing the drums was beating them like they stole his lunch money, and syncopating the bejeebus out of them as well.

Only the slightly old-timey organ, and the smoother, R&B horn section anchor it in 1963 at all.

Fair recorded with the James Brown organization (recording for King, Dade and Smash) until the mid-60s, after which she resurfaces at Motown in 1969.

She would record with Motown (working with Norman Whitfield for a time) through the 70s, having a string of R&B hits in 1974 and 1975.

She passed away in 1994, only 51 years of age.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 11, 2014 2:18 pm

Eddy G Giles

Listen/Download Eddy G Giles – Eddy’s Go Go Train

Greetings all

Hows about getting your heart started like a gallon of espresso?

I have no earthly idea where I first heard/heard of Eddy G Giles ‘Eddy’s Go Go Train’, but I am more than positive that when I did, my wig was good and flipped.

This, my friends is the good stuff.

Eddy Giles was a Louisiana cat who did most of his recording for the Shreveport, LA-based Murco concern between 1966 and 1969.

He recorded in the standard variety of styles (deep ballads, uptempo soul and proto-funk) from the classic era, and while there is a lot to like in his catalog (see Sir Shambling’s overview) there is nothing quite as explosive as ‘Go Go Train’.

Now, I have to start by saying that this song was recorded elsewhere (slightly differently, see Jackie Paine’s ‘Go Go Train’ on Jetstream and Little Royal’s ‘Soul Train’ on Trius), and it would seem to trace back to James Brown and the Famous Flames mighty take on ‘Night Train’.

I am not sure of the date order of the ‘Go Go Train’ variations, but I have seen references that place Jackie Paine’s version in 1965, and Eddy G Giles in 1967.

The Eddy G Giles take (backed by the Jive 5, clearly not THE Jive Five…) is a hot little stick of dynamite. You have to slap on the headphones (or crank up the volume) and listen to the guitar and (especially) bass winding in and out of each other’s path, along with the drums and organ, and of course Eddy wailing on top of the show.

It is one of those truly great 45s that manages to carry with it the obvious influence of the mighty JB without passing over into mimicry.

Very solid, indeed.

Following his time with Murco, Eddy went on to record a couple of sides for Silver Fox, Stax, Alarm and Custom, with the last one coming out in 1977. He returned to his gospel roots, working as a pastor and gospel DJ in Louisiana.

I hope you dig the sounds and I’ll see you 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 (0)

By Larry, February 6, 2014 12:47 pm

Dee Irwin

Listen/Download Dee Irwin – I Can’t Stand the Pain

Greetings all

The end of the week is fast approaching, so it’s time to remind you to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you ca keep up with the show by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

The tune I bring you today is something I picked up a few years back, and promptly fell in love with.

Big Dee Irwin (aka Erwin, Ervin, full name DiFosco Ervin) recorded for a variety of labels, under a variety of names (or at least spellings) between 1959 and 1978.

He got his start as a member of the Pastels, before starting his solo career for the Hull label in 1959.

Irwin had his only hit in a duet with Little Eva on the old standard ‘Swinging On a Star’, which made it into the Pop Top 40 in 1963 (it was a Top 10 hit in the UK).

He continued to record for Dimension, 20th Century Fox, Roulette, Fairmount and others before hooking up with Imperial in 1968.

Irwin recorded two solo 45s for the label, as well as three duet 45s (all very cool) with Mamie Galore in 1968 and 1969.

Today’s selection was his second solo outing for Imperial, coming out in 1968. ‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’, written by Maurice Dollison (aka Cash McCall) and Monk Higgins, arranged by Higgins and co-produced by Higgins and Irwin (credited on the label as Ervin), is one of those records that really ought to have been a much bigger deal that it was.

‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’, pushed along by an insistent bass (I’d love to know who the bassist is), combines a great vocal by Irwin (nice female backing singers, too) and a fantastic arrangement by Higgins, featuring flute, strings and a powerful rhythm section.

Despite its obvious quality, this seems to be one of those records that just slipped through the cracks, failing to chart anywhere, never gathering the kind of following inclusion on a Top DJs set list can inspire (though it does seem to have gotten a UK release on Minit).

‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’ is – like much of Irwin’s catalog – unjustly forgotten, but that’s why Funky16Corners is here, slipping it into your ears so that it might find a home in your heart.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 4, 2014 1:01 pm

Promo badge for Duke Williams and the Extremes

Listen/Download Duke Williams and the Extremes – Chinese Chicken

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is one of those 45s that – in a manner of speaking – unfolds like the petals of the storied lotus.

I was familiar with Duke Williams and the Extremes’ ‘Chinese Chicken’ as a breakbeat/sample favorite from its inclusion on the ‘Ultimate Breaks and Beats’ series.

When I finally got my hands on the 45, I assumed (remember what Felix Unger said about assuming?) that they were part of the Southern Rock scene, due to their presence on Phil Walden’s Capricorn label, home to the Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Captain Beyond and others.

It was only when I started digging for information that I discovered that Duke Williams and the Extremes were not Macon, GA homeboys of Gregg and Duane, but rather originated in that funky burgh, Trenton, NJ!

Duke Williams (born Chris Holmes) had been a member of NJ garage faves the Galaxies IV (‘Let Me Hear You Say Yeah’, ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind’) back in the 60s, and had been working in and around Trenton and Philadelphia for years when he put together the Extremes.

The group recorded two albums for Capricorn, ‘A Monkey In a Silk Suit Is Still a Monkey’ (1973) and ‘Fantastic Fedora’ (1974).

‘Chinese Chicken’ appeared on the first LP as well as being issued as a (now sought after) 45.

The Extremes played a funk/rock hybrid, mixing their originals with a fair amount of soul cover material (‘Funky Broadway’, ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now’) with the group being joined in the studio by a who’s who of Philly sessions heads.

‘Chinese Chicken’ opens with a funky guitar before the band (with a wailing organ) drops in. The tune is funky enough, but turns a corner at 1:39 when that drum beat drops.

Do yourself a favor and slap on the headphones for this one and listen to the way that kick drums hits.

Very groovy, indeed.

Though the Extremes didn’t record after 1974, they continued to play into the early 80s, at one time including a young, pre-Bon Jovi Richie Sambora in their ranks.

I hope you dig it, 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, January 31, 2014 12:10 pm

Listen/Download The Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Special Tribute)*

Greetings all

The word came down yesterday that James Shaw, better known as the Mighty Hannibal had passed away at the age of 74.

Hannibal was a master (as well as a charter member of the Turban Hall of Fame!), recording some remarkable soul and funk 45s in a career that lasted – with some detours along the way – more than 50 years.

His 1965 opus ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ has a secure place in my Top 5 soul 45s of all time.

It is – much like Rex Garvin (eulogized in this space less than a month ago) and the Mighty Cravers ‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’ – a killer diller and a floor filler. A 45 so powerful that it held a place of honor in my play box, where it would be held in reserve for just the right moment, when it would be whipped on the crowd, taking them and leading them to the promised land.

It is far from the only incredible tune that the Mighty one laid down, but it is the one against which all others must be judged.

The record opens with his voice:

And then immediately drops into the hypnotic chank of the rhythm guitar which forces even the most stolid members of the audience to start moving, from their heads to their feet.

Then Hannibal stops things again and asks:

After which everyone in the room that knows what’s good for them (and hasn’t already collapsed) starts stomping, because when the Mighty Hannibal suggests (nay, demands) that you do something on the dance floor you put your drink down (or not) and do it.

There’s an incredible video of Hannibal performing ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ on ‘The Beat!!!’ that has to be seen to be believed.

There stands Hannibal clad in a white silk tunic, bell bottoms, silver Beatle boots and a gold turban, with two go-go dancers behind him, surrounded by brightly colored giant plywood exclamation points, ampersands and asterisks, calling the shots, doing the jerk, walking the dog and just generally being bad-ass.

There are some crazy video artifacts out there, but this is like a transmission from another galaxy, where Hannibal is just now returning to his throne after dropping a lifetime of cool onto the earth.

The Mighty Hannibal did not have an easy life, and never really got the kind of shine that the creator of such amazing music deserved.

Fortunately, late in his life, thanks to devoted friends, fans and record hounds, he was able to return to the stage where he would bask in the adoration of the faithful once again.

He was a master.

He will be missed.

Rest in peace Mr. Shaw.

Keep the faith

Larry

* The file above includes an unexpected namecheck for the Mighty Hannibal that blew my mind the first time I heard it.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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, January 30, 2014 12:24 pm

Listen/Download Lee Calvin – You Got Me

Greetings all

The weekend is almost here, and so is this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show, which fires up at 9PM each and every Friday on Viva Radio. If you are unable to join me at airtime, you can keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

A while back I was digging through my crates looking for something groovy to whip on you when I happened on a grip of New Orleans 45s that hadn’t yet been featured at Funky16Corners.

You all know that I’m a huge fan of soul music from the Crescent City, with an extra special place in my heart for the sounds associated with the mighty Allen Toussaint.

My favorites in his oeuvre all hail from the catalog of Sansu records.

Active in its first (and best) incarnation from 1965 to 1968, Sansu released some of the most amazing music ever to come out of the south, let alone New Orleans.

The brainchild of Allen Toussaint, the Sansu label features his production, arrangements and many of his finest songs, brought to life by some of the Big Easy’s finest singers (native and adopted).

Lee Calvin is one of the lesser known artists on the label.

Thanks (once again) to Sir Shambling’s Deep Soul Heaven, I now know that Lee Calvin was one of a couple of stage names used by a singer named Calvin LeBlanc.

LeBlanc, who also performed as a member of a group called the DelRoyals, recorded four 45s for Minit, Sansu and Josie between 1962 and 1969.

The credits on his 45s all seem to suggest that he operated out of New Orleans exclusively.

‘You Got Me’, a Toussaint-penned number is a fast moving number featuring prominent horns, a pulsing bass and some nice ivory-tickling by Toussaint himself.

Calvin had a high tenor voice with a slightly scratchy feel to it that comes through nicely on ‘You Got Me.

I haven’t heard any of his ‘Calvin Lee’ 45s, but I will certainly be on the lookout for them.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 26, 2014 11:08 am

Al Green(e) at the wheel!

Listen/Download Al Greene and the Soul Mates – Don’t Leave Me

Greetings all

I’d like to get the new week started with another one of those great – had it for years but never really listened to it – bangers.

I picked up the ‘Back Up Train’ 45 – Al Green’s debut (when he was still ‘Al Greene’) from 1967, years ago, and apparently – as was often the case – never flipped it over.

So, a few weeks back, I was pulling 45s for my DJ set at the David Porter tribute, looking for Memphis stuff, and I pulled the disc you see before you out of the crates.

I dropped the needle on ‘Back Up Train’, which is a very tasty ballad, but a little on the slow side, so I flipped it over to check out the b-side, which I was admittedly unfamiliar with.

Whoa, dad…

There, on the flip was a very nice, very upbeat, very Norther Soul-ish bit of gravy called ‘Don’t Leave Me’.

Where had this killer been all my life? Why, right there in the crates, waiting for me to do the right thing and listen to both sides of the record.

Written by Palmer James, who had sung with Green in the Creations with Curtis Rogers, ‘Don’t Leave Me’ (produced by Rogers and James) opens with a tasteful duet of strings and vibes.

The band lays down a pulsing beat, and the backing singers come in before Al starts the verse.

Green’s voice is recognizable, but instead of the slow, love man styling of his big hits, you get a more straight ahead delivery in a record that should have been a hit, instead of a neglected b-side.

The topside of the disc, ‘Back Up Train’ was an R&B Top 5 hit (skirting the outer limits of the Pop Top 40) in December of 1967.

Green would not return to the charts for a little over two years, returning with ‘You Say It’ on Hi in February of 1970.

‘Don’t Leave Me’ has a bit of a following with the Northern Soul crowd (for obvious reasons), with the Hot Line and Stateside issues of the 45 going for around 40 or 50 dollars.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.