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By Larry, March 3, 2013 11:51 am

The Magnificent Men

Listen/Download The Magnificent Men – Peace of Mind

Listen/Download The Magnificent Men – Just Walk In My Shoes

Greetings all

The tracks I bring you today are a perfect example of how you can hear about a group, circle them warily for years – suspecting lameness – and then finally giving in and discovering how wrong you really were.

I do not recall when I first heard of the Magnificent Men, but I suspect that I saw one of their albums while digging in the NJ/PA area, where their vinyl is plentiful.

Back in the day, what I saw was a bunch of straight-looking white dudes recording soul music, something which set off my (poorly calibrated) bullshit detector, and in the absence of a portable turntable, remained dollar-bin flotsam and jetsam.

Then – as these things often go – a few years back someone whose taste I trust posted a track by the group, and my large ears finally unfurled to the goodness of the Magnificent Men.

Had I dug a little bit, I would have realized that the Magnificent Men, formed as the Del-Chords, hailed from the unlikely soul music hotbed of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (the Emperors, Intentions, the Soulville label).

Led by vocalist Dave Bupp, the Magnificent Men were a lot more than your run of the mill “R&B-influenced” white band of which there were so many at the time.

They were first and foremost self-contained, i.e. vocalists/musicians capable of writing and performing their own (excellent) material.

They played many of the best known black venues of the day (including the Uptown in Philly and the Apollo in NYC).

Between 1966 and 1970 (by which time their sound had changed considerably) the Magnificent Men recorded three albums for Capitol and one for Mercury.

The first two, ‘The Magnificent Men’ and ‘The Magnificent Men: Live’ are the ones to look out for.

The tracks I bring you today come from that first, self-titled LP.

The first track, the original ‘Peace of Mind’ is one of the great blue-eyed soul tracks of the 60s, a great harmony showcase for the group.

Dave Bupp has said that ‘Peace of Mind’ was written with Walter Jackson in mind. Considering how evocative the record is of the Carl Davis/Okeh sound, this makes a tremendous amount of sense.

Though ‘Peace of Mind’ wasn’t a hit, its high quality is testified to by the number of cover versions of the tune. There are versions by Skip Jackson (on Capitol), Jerry Butler (Mercury), The Players (Minit), and the Royal Five (Arctic) – all of which can be heard on Youtube.

The second song – ‘Just Walk In My Shoes’ – was a recorded by Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1966 and is rightly hailed as a classic of dance floor soul.

Written by sisters Kay and Helen Lewis – two jazz/pop singers who also wrote tunes for Marvin Gaye, the Miracles and Edwin Starr, as well as recording a pair of their own 45s for the VIP label – ‘Just Walk In My Shoes’ is delivered with a lot of verve by the Magnificent Men, and I think it stands up well next to the original.

Oddly enough, as well-remembered as the Magnificent Men are (especially amongst soul fans), they seem to have made their mark mostly as a live act. Their chart impact was minimal, and almost exclusively in the mid-Atlantic region. They never hit the R&B charts (at least nationally).

They had the good fortune to have had their album arranged/conducted by Horace Ott and Sonny Sanders, and I think their music holds up remarkably well.

All of the Magnificent Men albums can be picked up on iTunes, and – if you’re digging in the Northeast, anyway, most of their vinyl is fairly easy to come by.

I hope you dig the tunes 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 (1)

By Larry, February 28, 2013 12:46 pm

The Fantoms

Listen/Download The Fantoms – Junk

Greetings all

I hope everyone’s ready for the weekend.

Since it is almost Friday, I should remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show comes on this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio with the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on OG vinyl. If you can’t be there for the broadcast you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or you can grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The record I bring you today is an old fave of mine out of my NOLA crates, which would have been posted a long time ago if I hadn’t lost it.

The thing is, I didn’t know I’d lost it, until I had to move some old computer equipment in my record room and happened upon a handful of 45s that had apparently slipped down between an old CPU and the desk where my turntable coffin is perched.

My heart sank when I saw the 45s (especially when I saw which ones they were…there were a couple of valuable discs there), but fortunately they were sitting straight up and down, and nowhere near a heat vent, so they were for all intents and purposes, unscathed (no cracks either, Thank you vinyl Jeebus!).

The 45 in question, the Fantoms’ ‘Junk’ is something I picked up years ago, after their earlier disc, the completely mental ‘Mau Mau’ (which you can hear in Funky16Corners Radio v.10 – Funky Nawlins Vol. 2) flipped my wig.

‘Junk’ is a very groovy, is much more sedate affair, with the band settled into an early 70s groove, with the funky flute (a big fave of mine), the organ and percussion in a bag that reminds me a little of a more far out version of Traffic’s ‘Rock’n’Roll Stew’.

The Fantoms (originally the Fabulous Fantoms) were together from the late 60s into the late 70s, and were contemporaries of groups like the Meters and David Batiste and the Gladiators.

They recorded for Marty Lewis’s Big Deal label (also home to Anthony Butler and the Invaders and Jimmy Hicks) and released 45s on that label and Power Funksion.

The Fantoms apparently found a great deal of success on the local scene, but never broke through nationally.

It’s a groovy little disc, and I hope you dig it.

Have a great weekend 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 (1)

By Larry, February 26, 2013 1:06 pm

Cal Tjader

Listen/Download Cal Tjader – Evil Ways

Listen/Download Cal Tjader – You Keep Me Hangin’ On

Greetings all

Though you have most certainy seen his name and heard his music in this space many times before, like Jello, there is always room for Cal Tjader.

Tjader, master of the Latin vibes (does it get any better than ‘Soul Sauce’?) is one of those artists that is an automatic pick-up, as in I’m out in the field flipping through albums and I see see a Tjader LP that I don’t already have, it goes right onto the keeper stack.

At this point, there aren’t too many from his Verve era and after that I don’t have.

That said, a few years back I was down in DC and I managed to score two longtime Tjader wants, i.e. ‘Cal Tjader Plugs In’ (gotta have that groovy cover of the Banana Splits theme) and the disc you see before you today, entitled simply ‘Tjader’.

At first glance, Tjader’s Fantasy catalog can get a little confusing, since it bookends his time with Verve and the short-lived Skye era. You get all of the early, mambo grooves, and then some later, extremely rare groovy ish like his cover of ‘Gimme Shelter’ and the album from which we draw today’s selections.

The two cuts I bring you today are a very tasty version of the Willie Bobo (though known to most by Santana) tune ‘Evil Ways’ and a trippy excursion into the Supremes ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’.

‘Evil Ways’ is a smooth groover, with some organ and horns stating the theme, before Cal drops in with vibes, handclaps and timbales (a breakdown very much like the one in ‘Soul Sauce’) and goes to town. There’s also a nice organ solo.

‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ gets a pretty straight ahead dancefloor treatment, until about halfway in, when things suddenly fade out and then back in again with some far out synthesizer, back out again and then right back into the original groove. It’s an odd arrangement for Tjader, and a little late in the game in 1971 (as are some of the other covers on the album, including two Donovan songs), but I can’t complain.

It’s a strong album, and surprisingly hard to come by.

I hope you dig the sounds.

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 24, 2013 2:55 pm

Funky16Corners Presents: No Bad Trip – Black Wah-Wah 1969-1974

Magictones – Good Old Music (Westbound)
Doug Anderson – Hey Mama Here Comes the Preacher (Janus)
Earth Wind and Fire – Bad Tune (WB)
Bloodstone – Bo Diddley (London)
Bo Diddley – Pollution (Chess)
Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers – Searching for Soul Pt2 (Mutt)
Nat Turner Rebellion – Plastic People (DelValiant)
Fantastic Epics – Fun and Funk Pts 1&2 (Tories)
Jackson 5 – I’ll Bet You (Motown)
Eddie Bo and the Soul Finders – The Rubber Band Pt1 (Knight)
Young-Holt Unlimited – The Devil Made Me Do Dat (Cotillion)
Joe Simon Band – Oon-Guela Pt2 (SS7)
Jimmie Preacher Ellis – I Gotta See My Baby (Round)
The Eight Minutes – Here’s Some Dances (Jay Pee)
Fugi – Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip Pts1&2 (Cadet)
E. Rodney Jones, Larry and the Hippies Band – Right On Right On (Sex machine) (Westbound)
Brothers of Hope – Nickol Nickol (Gamble)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents No Bad Trip – 109MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

The mix you see before you is another one of those jams that I previewed on Mixcloud for a while before whipping it on you here at the Corners.

Though you may recognize a couple of the tracks as things you’ve seen here in the past, No Bad Trip is one of those things that was bouncing around in my head for a good long time, taking form gradually,adding tracks here and there as I remembered something groovy that fit just right. It was revised and reworked a few times until I thought I had happened upon the perfect admixture.

The overall feel – as it were – is one of the time after psychedelia and all of its practical trappings – wah wah pedals, echoplex and freak flags of all varieties hoisted high – began to make their way into black music.

Though there were other people of color getting heavy at the time, much of this can be traced directly to the dayglo doorstep of Jimi Hendrix – with the Experience and Band of Gypsys – as well as Sly Stone,  Funkadelic, Norman Whitfield and any other artist during that time period liberally mixing psychedelics into their funk and vice versa.

This is really a story of “gates swinging both ways”, with all manner of “you got your funk in my rock”, “but you got your rock in my funk” going on, as well as an expression of the general eclecticism of the time, with African sounds making themselves heard with Joe Simon and Earth Wind and Fire, the evolution of Bo Diddley from old-school charger into fairly convincing new-style far outness and the explicit psyche out of Fugi.

As your physician I strongly recommend that you ingest this mix through headphones of some kind, so that you don’t miss any of the sonic goodness.

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 21, 2013 11:07 am

Lou Bond

Listen/Download Lou Bond – That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be

Listen/Download Lou Bond – To the Establishment

Greetings all

This is the end of another week, so it is – as always – time to remind you to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show. It airs this and every Friday night at 9pm on Viva Radio, and can be subscribed to as a podcast in iTunes or picked up as an MP3 here at the blog.

I was saddened the other day when word came down the line that Lou Bond had passed away.

Bond (born Ronald Edward Lewis) , who in his short career laid down just two 45s and one amazing LP is less a “cult” artist than an unjustly/tragically forgotten one.

Bond recorded two very cool 45s in 1966 and 1967 while in Chicago (rooming with none other than Sidney Barnes!), the groovy midtempo ‘What Have I Done’ for Fontana and the uptempo Northern flavored ‘You Shake Me Up’ for Brainstorm.

He recorded his only LP, the self-titled ‘Lou Bond’ for the short-lived Stax subsidiary We Produce in 1974.

‘Lou Bond’, which was reissued by Light In the Attic in 2010 (there was a brief digital reissued by Stax prior to that) is a truly remarkable piece of work.

Record collectors/music hounds are constantly bombarded with “lost” albums and rediscoveries that – following the flavor of the month pattern – are often less interesting than they first appear.

‘Lou Bond’ is a rare and powerful exception to that rule.

I first heard about the record years ago when it was popping up with regularity in ‘finds’ lists on a message board I used to frequent.

I finally got my hands on a copy of the album back in 2007 and had my mind blown.

Though he was unmistakably a soul singer, one need only look at the pictures of Bond on his album cover to get the message that he was in other bags as well.

Bond was starting off in a soul groove, but also mixing jazz, folk and contemporary pop into his sound.

‘Lou Bond’ draws from a wide range of influences, most notably Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes, but also a variety of early 70s singer songwriters (soul and non).

It’s important to note that among the album’s six tracks, three of them were written or co-written by Bond, the other three being covers of songs by Bill Withers, Carly Simon and Jimmy Webb.

The album moves effortlessly between intimate moments and lush orchestration, with Bond touching on love, the environment and politics.

The two tracks I bring you today are my favorites from the album.

I’ve always found Carly Simon’s ‘That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be’ to be one of the most haunting and uniquely dark singles of the early 70s. Bond’s take on it rinses out some of the darkness, replacing it with a hopeful tone (due in large part to a short, spoken prelude).

The eleven-minute-plus ‘To the Establishment’ bears the influence of Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, with Bond taking things in a looser, free-form direction that might almost be described as a hippie vibe.

Both tracks are solid stylistic indicators of the sounds that can be found on the rest of the album.

The big mystery in relation to Bond has always been two-fold.

First, how did Stax/We Produce decide to let an unknown commodity like Bond stretch out like he did, with the backing of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra?

Second, why didn’t an album this good make a bigger impression?

The answer to the first question may very well be that this was 1974, and record companies were still taking chances like that all the time. Bond was prodigiously talented, and it’s not hard to imagine someone hearing Bond singing his (and others) songs and handing him a blank check.

The answer to the second question probably has something to do with the impending collapse of Stax.

Bond was already on one of the most sparsely populated Stax sub-labels. We Produce only released albums by three artists – the Temprees, Ernie Hines and Bond, releasing a 45 by one additional artist – Lee Sain (who brought Bond to the attention of Stax), at a time when when the mothership was spreading itself mighty thin.

As far as I can tell ‘Lou Bond’ was poorly promoted/distributed, and Bond himself had to contend with the fact that the concept of a black singer/songwriter (outside of the accepted funk/soul mold) was not an easy fit in the musical landscape of the time.

The sad fact is that after his one LP, Bond never recorded again.

His music was sampled a number of times (by Outkast and Prodigy among others), and the Light In the Attic reissue brought his amazing talent back into the light of day.

If you get the chance, check out the nearly hour-long interview (audio) with Bond posted at the Light In the Attic web site.

You can still get the Light In the Attic reissue (with bonus tracks) on iTunes. If you dig what you’re hearing here today, I assure you that you’ll like the rest just as much.

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 (0)

By Larry, February 17, 2013 1:17 pm

Dig the groovy promo shot of Louis Chachere that I picked up a few years ago!

Listen/Download Louis Chachere – A Soulful Bag

Greetings all

I hope the day finds you well, and ready for some solid Hammond grooves.

Regular visitors to Funky16Corners as well as Hammond aficionados will already be familiar with the name Louis Chachere via his mighty slice of funky jazz, ‘The Hen’.

That 45 is just this side of brutal and unrelenting, packed not only with Chachere’s blazing organ, but also the guitar and drums, both of which (though the players are unknown to me) brilliant.

‘The Hen’ is both danceable and satisfying on a purely musical level, which is why it is sought after by DJs the world over.

I though for many years (erroneously as it turns out) that ‘The Hen’ was a one-off bit of genius, and that Chachere, having made his mark, vanished into the ether.

The fact is, that while his discography cannot in any way be described as extensive, what he did put his hands on was first rate.

In addition to his own recordings (which you see before you today), Chachere also produced the legendary ‘Remember Me’ b/w ‘Black Is Beautiful’ 45 by the Trinikas.

I first found out about ‘Soulful Bag’ b/w ‘Shout Down’ when it popped up in an auction years ago.

The thought of a Louis Chachere 45 that was not already inside my Hammond crates drove me nuts, so I followed the auction, tossed a little long green in that direction and within a week that very record was mine.

As far as I can tell, ‘Soulful Bag’ predates ‘The Hen’ (1968/1969) by a year or two. The only other 45 I’ve been able to track down on this label is a rockabilly 45 (Max Brown) from 1964 with a lower catalog number.

It was released on the Kansas City, MO label Central (two of the three 45 issues of ‘The Hen’ came out on other KC labels, MJC and Forte) and has an earlier, soulful but not yet funky sound.

There’s a definite groove going on, and while I haven’t been able to date it, my educated guess is that it sounds like a mid-60s release (and if anyone knows for sure, please do not hesitate to let me know).

Chachere opens strong, playing in unison with a sax, repeating the theme until he gets to open up a little on the organ. The sax player takes his turn, then the guitarist, then Chachere gets to solo extensively (at least as extensively as you can on a 45).

It’s got enough get up and go for the dancefloor, so if you’re lucky enough to find yourself a copy, don’t hesitate to whip it out at your next shindig.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you soon.

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 14, 2013 12:14 pm

Nathaniel Mayer (and his hay-er…)

Listen/Download Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights – Village Of Love

Greetings all

The close of another week is at hand, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio.

If you cannot join us at airtime, you can always keep up with the soul by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

I know I already posted the Valentines Day mix, but when I sat down to hammer out a few future blog posts, I happened upon something in the on deck circle that I knew I had to post, even if some of you will be getting it the day after the holiday.

I spend a lot of time working my way through the old Billboard R&B charts, and always make my way into the right margin to see if a given record ever made its way into the pop charts. This is always an interesting indicator of how much an artist managed to crossover (if at all). The absence of a pop chart position – especially in the listing for an artist that was very popular in the R&B charts – is also important evidence of the divide that often existed between black and white audiences.

I’m always surprised to find out that artists that I would have assumed were one-hit wonders had substantial chart runs on the R&B side of things.

As someone who spent a lot of time as a kid listening to oldies radio, I am shocked by how many times I find a record that did crossover into the Pop Top 40 that never made it onto oldies playlists.

Such is the case with ‘Village of Love’* by Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights, which was an R&B Top 20 hit (grazing the Pop Top 20) in 1962.

Mayer’s music didn’t pop up on my radar until he made a comeback in the early 2000s on labels like Fat Possum (where he recorded and toured with the Black Keys) and Norton.

The Detroit-born Mayer recorded for the legendary Fortune label from 1961 to 1966 (hitting only once with ‘Village of Love’) and then all but disappeared (with the exception of one 45 in the early 80s) until 2004. His Fortune sides – like ‘I Had a Dream’ and ‘From Now On’ – are as raw and dynamic as they are rare and expensive (very…).

‘Village of Love’ is one of those great records that bridge the gap between R&B/doowop vocal harmony and the early years of soul. The instrumental and vocal backing have a foot planted firmly in the 1950s, but Mayer’s wailing pulls the whole thing into the 60s. I especially dig the part at about 55 seconds in where the guitar starts to solo and the drums and handclaps are bouncing around in the reverb.

It’s the kind of record that played at the appropriate volume verily compels you to get off your ass and move out onto the dance floor.

Sadly, Nathaniel Mayer only managed to squeeze in a few comeback years before being felled by a series of strokes in 2008.

You can find his best stuff, old and newer on iTunes.

I hope you all dig the record, and I’ll see you 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 (1)

By Larry, February 12, 2013 3:38 pm

Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Charlie Rich – Dance Of Love
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket
Jackie Wilson – I Get the Sweetest Feeling
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend
Charlie Earlands Erector Set – Cherie Amour
JJ Barnes – Hold On To It
Spinners – Sweet Thing
Sand Pebbles – Love Power
Platters – Sweet Sweet Loving
Lee Dorsey and Betty Harris – Love Lots of Lovin’
Len Barry – I Struck It Rich
Producers – Love Is Amazing
Lee Williams and the Cymbals – It’s Everything About You That I Love
Broadways – You Just Don’t Know Good You Make Me Feel
Velvelettes – Since You’ve Been Loving Me
Soul Brothers Six – Your Love Is Such a Wonderful Love
Wilson Pickett – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Valentine’s Mix: Dance of Love – 86MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

What you see before you is a mix i put together last year at this time in celebration of love, especially mine for my wife, who was going through an especially rough time in regard to her health.

I am very happy to say that this Valentine’s Day her health has improved dramatically, thanks to a stem cell transplant she received last Spring (make sure to click on the Be The Match link at the end of any F16C post for more information about how you can help).

This mix is filled with dynamite soul including a couple of huge faves of mine (and yours, I hope).

Give it a spin and tell someone you love them.

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 (0)

By Larry, February 10, 2013 1:20 pm

Miss Amanda Ambrose

Listen/Download Amanda Ambrose – Gimme Shelter

Greetings all

Welcome to another week in the land of vinyl.

I drop those three genres because they all have a hand in the tune I bring you today.

Anyone fairly deep (or maybe not so deep) into the soul/funk record collecting ‘thing’ will have crossed paths with singers who (like Amanda Ambrose) made their bread and butter in the world of jazz, but crossed over (for whatever reason) into a grittier sound.

Here at Funky16Corners I’ve featured music by artists like Nina Simone, Irene Reid, Gloria Lynne, and others who felt the need – whether artistically, commercially or both – at some point in their career to step outside of the world of jazz (or bring it with them into another context).

More often than not – as long as the material and delivery were on point – the results ended up being quite groovy.

This is not suggest that singing jazz and soul are interchangeable disciplines (they are not) but rather that one would expect a jazz singer to at the very least bring a level of technical facility to the table.

Whether or not they were able to deliver the goods once they got there was another question entirely.

Someone like Nina Simone – though often thought of as a jazz singer – spent her entire career moving fluidly between genres.

Others – like Amanda Ambrose – had common gospel roots with most soul singers of the classic era, and that tied things together on another level.

Born in St Louis in 1925, Ambrose spent the early part of her career recording jazz for small labels (though she did an album for Dunwich in the mid-60s).

Her storming take on the Rolling Stones ‘Gimme Shelter’ was recorded for Bee Gee records in 1973.

I know little about the label, other than that it seemed to specialize in funk and soul.

Where Merry Clayton’s better known cover of the song remains in the stylistic orbit of the original, Ambrose’s take on the tune has the feel of a Leon Russell session, with a pounding rhythm section (especially the piano) and powerful horns.

Ambrose’s vocals are equally powerful and it’s a shame that this record didn’t catch on with a wider audience, though by 1973 this sound was on its way out.

She passed away in 2007 at the age of 82.

I hope you dig the track 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 (1)

By Larry, February 7, 2013 1:00 pm

Cat suits and Go-Go boots! The mighty Shangri-Las! (Mary Weiss at right)

Listen/Download The Shangri-Las – Right Now and Not Later

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, and so it’s time for the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Coming to you every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, the Funky16Corners Radio “thang” brings with it the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on vinyl. If you are unable to join me at airtime, you can always keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or you can come here to the blog and  pick yourself up an MP3 in the archive.

The record I bring to you today might at first glance (with the eyes, see…) seem an unusual selection for Funky16Corners, but once you let the music flow, and bring your ears into the equation I think your doubts will be assuaged.

I think it was a friend’s Facebook post of a Shangri-Las appearance on the old LA dance party show Shivaree that first turned me on to this amazing record.

Not ever having been a fan or collector of ‘girl group’ sounds (something I’ve been working to remedy these last few years) – excepting where they intersect with the sounds of soul – I don’t recall what made me click on the video, but it wasn’t long before I was glad that I did.

The Shangri-Las had a string of hits starting with ‘Leader of the Pack’ in 1964 that epitomized a heavy, East Coast alternative to the kinds of records Phil Spector was crafting in the West.

Guided by writers and producers like George ‘Shadow’ Morton and Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Shangri-Las – composed of various and sundry combinations of two sets of sisters from Queens, NY, Mary and Betty Weiss and Marge and Mary Anne Ganser – the Shangri-Las made some of the most undeniably powerful (and successful) records of the era.

Singles like ‘Remember (Walkin’ In the Sand)’ and ‘Give Him a Great Big Kiss’ and ‘Out In the Streets’ had a big (BIG) sound, often comparable to a group like the Ronettes but with a rougher, tougher edge to it.

I won’t belabor the point, but I would suggest that if you dig 60s pop and haven’t yet gotten hip to the Shangri-Las, you should pick up the nearest ‘Best Of’, slap on some headphones (or find an AM radio) and turn it up.

Of course, if the story was strictly 60s pop, you’d be reading this over at Iron Leg.

We’re here to talk about the time the Shangri-Las got some soul.

Now, when I clicked on the YouTube link – and got past the rush I always get when I see what a party Shivaree was – I realized I was hearing something unexpected.

That song was ‘Right Now and Not Later’. As is often the case with a record like this, the second thing I thought (after “where can I get myself a copy”) was “How groovy would it be to spin this at a soul night?”

When I finally got the copy you see before you – which took a surprisingly long time – and had a chance to scan the label, most (if not all) of my questions were answered.

Where I expected to see the names Shadow Morton or Barry/Greenwich, instead I saw another very familiar name, Robert Bateman.

Bateman was best known to me as one of Lou Courtney’s frequent writing/producing partners, as well as a journeyman soul songwriter who had co-written tunes like ‘Please Mr Postman’ for the Marvelettes, ‘If You Need Me’ for Solomon Burke, ‘Soul Is Taking Over’ for Henry Lumpkin** and ‘Mama’s Got a Bag of Her Own’ for Anna King.

‘Right Now and Not Later’ was written by Bateman, Ronald Mosely and Kenny Hollon and produced by Bateman and Mosely and is a fairly stark departure for the Shangri-Las.

Though the group had R&B flowing through much of their catalog and had covered tunes like the Chantels ‘Maybe’, the Isley Brothers ‘Shout’ and the Ikettes ‘I’m Blue’, ‘Right Now and Not Later’ is an unmistakable attempt to recreate the Motown sound (something Bateman and Mosely were very familiar with).

The arrangement – by Bateman – sounds straight outta Detroit, from the opening tom toms, to the vibes, the baritone sax and the soaring chorus to the backing vocals.

I haven’t been able to track down any firm info as to why Bateman and Mosely were brought in to work on the track (they did work with other Red Bird acts like the Bouquets), and my assumption is that the label was basically trying something different (though the flip was a Barry/Greenwich tune ‘Train From Kansas City’, produced by Morton and Barry).

While there wasn’t a tremendous amount of time between their previous and subsequent hits, in the mid-60s Top 40 world, forward momentum was everything and label owners and producers were throwing everything they could at the charts to see what would stick.

The real tragedy in this situation is that ‘Right Now Or Not Later’ was not a success. While it got some traction in the Northeast (it reached #99 in the Hot 100) it faded quickly.

The song and arrangement were a perfect vehicle for Mary Weiss’s rich, powerful voice and as imitation-Motown goes, it doesn’t get much better than this.

The Shangri-Las’ short history ended when the group broke up in 1968.

Tragically, Mary Ann Ganser died at the age of 22 in 1970,  followed by her sister Marge in 1996.

Fortunately Mary Weiss has returned to recording (for the mighty Norton label) and performing.

I hope you dig this record as much as I do, and I’ll see you all soon.

Keep the faith

Larry

*It’s fortunate that the Shangri-Las’ peak success intersected with the era of the great televised dance party shows. There are clips of them performing on a number of shows including Shivaree, Shindig, and a pre-catsuit era shot on I’ve Got a Secret, with Robert Goulet standing in for the ‘Leader of the Pack’

**the flip of the Lumpkin 45 was another Bateman/Mosely/Hollon tune ‘If I Could Make Magic’
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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, February 5, 2013 3:23 pm

Franki Valli being held aloft by the Four Seasons (and himself, oddly enough)

Listen/Download Frankie Valli – (You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself

Greetings all

If you were surprised when you showed up at Funky16Corners and saw Frankie Valli’s mug staring back at you, you really oughtn’t to have, since he popped up here with the Four Seasons and the mighty ‘Beggin’ a few years back.

The tune I bring you today is for a variety of reasons a big favorite of mine, but mainly because it was hiding in my crates for years before I discovered it.

Way, waayyy back, many a year ago, I picked up the 45 containing this gem because I had been informed that it had an organ instrumental on it called ‘Night Hawk’, credited to the Valli Boys.

As organ instrumentals go, it was kind of uninspiring (groovy, but light years outside of the ‘hammond burner’ belt), which is why it went into the crates and gathered dust for a few years.

So, as I entered one of those stretches where outside record digging is precluded due to lack of funds or free time, I pulled out a bunch of record boxes and started doing a little bit of internal re-digging, i.e. looking for things unjustly ignored the first time around, a method by which many, many interesting records have made their way onto the blog.

I pulled out a stack of 45s, went through them, and managed to harvest a grip of excellent stuff, including some instrumentals, ballads, and a couple of stellar examples of Northern Soul, of which today’s selection was one.

‘(You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself’ was released in 1966, and eventually included on the LP “The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo” which compiled many of his previous solo 45s (including the original version of ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’) as well as new material like the huge hit ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’.

Ironically, ‘(You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself’ isn’t even considered the big Northern Soul cut off of that album, that honor being reserved for ‘You’re Ready Now’ which is at #96 in Kev Roberts’ ‘Northern Soul Top 500’ and actually charted in the UK in 1970 due to its popularity on the dance floors over there.

It is my humble opinion that ‘(You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself’ is the superior record.

Written by Bob Crewe and Charlie Calello, ‘(You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself’ features plenty of hooks, a stylish arrangement (listen closely for the electric piano bubbling under everything) and a great beat for the dance floor.

Valli’s vocal is excellent, staying away from his famous falsetto and settling into a style no doubt engineered to separate his solo work from the Four Season’s records.

I whipped this one on the folks at Subway Soul a few years back, and it was met with great pleasure by the dancers there.

It’s a great record and as our friends on the other side of the Atlantic say, ought to be cheap as chips.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back 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 3, 2013 1:56 pm

Ace Cannon and his sax-o-ma-phone

Listen/Download Ace Cannon – Drunk

Greetings all

Welcome to another week here at the Corners.

I do not recall where I first heard today’s selection, but I do remember my surprise when I heard it.

The name Ace Cannon was already a very familiar one.

Cannon had a string of saxophone instrumental hits beginning in 1961 with ‘Tuff’ (#3 R&B #17 Pop) and continuing through the 60s and 70s. he recorded more than three dozen singles and several albums for the Hi label.

Though his best known numbers were in a blues/R&B vein, he recorded a wide variety of pop material through his career, but as far as I can tell, nothing else like ‘Drunk’.

Released as a single in 1971 (it also appeared on the ‘Blowing Wild’ LP that same year) ‘Drunk’ is an outlier in the Cannon oeuvre.

I would not hesitate for a second to classify ‘Drunk’ as funk, with the drums, bass, the chanky guitar and the organ, and of course Ace, “singing” the song and chanting the title over and over again.

A cover (and radical reworking) of Jimmy Liggins 1953 jump blues tune, ‘Drunk’ is the kind of record that ought to be better known, not only as an anomaly in the catalog of an otherwise well known performer, but also as a solid funk outing.

I have no idea who’s backing Ace on this one, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the Hodges brothers were in the house.

That said, as far as I can tell, ‘Drunk’ made no impact whatsoever (I can’t find any evidence of Cannon charting after the mid-60s).

I hope you dig the tune, and maybe find one for your own record box.

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.