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By Larry, April 8, 2018 5:48 pm

Give Everybody Some
Mixed Live by Funky16Corners for This is Funkaholic
Intro
The Bar-kays – Give Everybody Some (Volt)
Artie Christopher – Stoned Soul (Atlantic)
Blue Mitchell – H.N.I.C. Pt1 (Blue Note)
Jomo – Uhuru (Checker)
Ernest Van Treose and the McDaniel Mary Street Band – Medicine Man (RCA)
Cliff Nobles & Co. – The Camel (Phil LA of Soul)
James Brown- Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (LP/Instrumental Mix) (King)
Detroit City Limits – 98 Cents Plus Tax (Okeh)
Ray Pereira – They Say (Columbia Fr.)
Soul Brothers – Horsing Around (Newmiss)
Inez & Charlie Foxx’s Swinging Mocking Band – Speed Ticket (Dynamo)

Listen/Download – F16C for This Is Funkaholic! – Give Everybody Some 67MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

This is a re-post of a mix I did for the This Is Funkaholic! Radio Show back in 2015.

‘Give Everybody Some’ is a half hour of tasty, mostly instrumental funk (you can listen to the entire show here) . There are a couple of old faves, some things that have appeared here recently, and some groovy new stuff that’ll make it here in the future.

I thought it’d be cool to post it here for those of you that weren’t able to catch it when it aired.
Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, April 1, 2018 11:25 am

Jimmy Preacher Ellis

Listen/Download – Jimmy Preacher Ellis – (C’Mon) Dance to the Drumbeat MP3

Greetings all.

The 45 I bring you today is a particularly groovy selection from the long and diverse discography of Jimmy Ellis.

Recording for a variety of labels between 1965 and well into the 2000s, Ellis, billed alternately as Jimmy/Jimmie Preacher Ellis/Ellie, Ellis got his start in Arkansas (on one of his records he gives himself a shout out as an ‘Arkansas Soul Brother!’) but seems to have done most of his recording in and around Los Angeles for labels like Kris and Round.

Most of his stuff has a bluesy edge to it, and he seems to have moved all the way over to the blues later on in his career.

Today’s selection, ‘(C’Mon) Dance to the Drumbeat’ is, thanks to the bizarre catalog numbers on the Kris label – impossible to date decisively, but my ears suggest that it is aof a late 60s vintage.

Ellis, who would go on to make some excellent, hard edged psych soul like ‘I Gotta See My Baby’, is in instrumental mode here, with (as advertised) the drummer stepping out in front.

The song opens as if it’s going into ‘Sock It To Em JB’ but gives way to a saxophone solo over a mildly funky beat. It’s only at the 2:00 mark that the drummer lets loose with a 15 second break, aided by some groovy soul clapping.

It’s not a terribly expensive 45 (I got mine on the cheap) so if you dig it, go and get yourself some.

Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, March 25, 2018 1:52 pm

Mason and Dixon

Listen/Download – Mason and Dixon – Soul Power MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up while I was out digging on the strength of the song, that being a cover of Derek Martin’s ‘Soul Power’.

I had never heard of Mason and Dixon before, and there’s precious little information out there about them.

Their names were Bobby Mason and Tony Dixon, and they appear to have fronted a showband that was based in and popular around New England from the late 60s into the late 70s.

The recorded an album for Tower in 1969 and then singles for Buttercup and Metronome in the early 70s.

The Buttercup connection is the most interesting.

The label was owned by Teddy Randazzo, and was relatively short-lived, releasing only five singles between 1970 and 1971, two by Mason and Dixon, one by Sheila Anthony, and two by Derek Martin.

Martin’s Buttercup 45, ‘The Moving Hands of Time’ is a fantastic, moody piece of psych/soul, which I will bring to you if I ever get my hands on a clean copy.

I’ll assume that Mason and Dixon got their hands on ‘Soul Power’ (also written by Randazzo) because of the label’s connection to Martin, who had recorded the song for the Detroit label Tuba, and then had it picked up by Volt in 1967.

The Mason and Dixon version is very cool indeed, with funky bass, horns and a great dual vocal by the singers.

As far as I can tell none of their stuff met with any national success, with the flipside of this 45 (a medley of MacArthur Park and I Don’t Want To Cry) charting at a single station in Missouri.

It’s a groovy 45, and if anyone has any more info about the band, please drop me aline in the comments.

Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, March 18, 2018 11:20 am

Listen/Download – Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics – Funky Shuffle MP3

Greetings all.

The 45 I bring you today started out as a mystery record.

A group that made only one single, on a label that only released one single, with no address on the label.

I cannot recall where I put my hands on Funky Shuffle by Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics, other than it came from a sales list (as opposed to a random dig in the field).

The record sounds like a white band with a soulful bent, with the flipside, ‘Breaktime’ leaning in a more garage-y direction.

‘Funky Shuffle’ quickly reveals itself to be a rewrite of ‘Harlem Shuffle’, with wild lead vocals, relentless combo organ, spooky background vocals and a solid drummer.

Though 45Cat suggests that this is a 1966 release (certainly not out of the question) I haven’t seen any other corroborating information to confirm that.

The single clue as to the origin of this record is the authorship of the flipside, attributed to Jules Kruspir.

Kruspir was a Pittsburgh, PA operator, managing the doowop group the Marcels, and running St Clair records, home to a wide variety of Western Pennsylvania acts including garage punk legends the Swamp Rats.

A Google search reveals a couple of local newspapers, in Pittsburgh and Morgantown from the late 60s with ads for performances by Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics (both, sadly hidden behind paywalls, so I was unable to see them in detail).

If anyone has any additional information on the band, please let me know.

Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, March 11, 2018 11:13 am

The Mothership,now boarding…

Parliament/Intro
Afro-Samurai
Dick Hyman – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose
Capt Sisko
Jimi Hendrix – 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
Morpheus/1
Scientist – The Dark Secret of the Box
Morpheus/2
Dorothy Ashby – Soul Vibrations
Gene Harris – Don’t Call Me Ni**er Whitey
The Brother From Another Planet
Phil Upchurch – Elektrik
Lando Calrissian
Electrostats – 21st Century Kenya
Mace Windu
Isaac Redd Holt Unlimited – Listen to the Drums
Darth Vader
Roots Radics Band – Son of Darth Vader
Mr Spock/Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Brother Jack McDuff – Moon Rappin’ (Edit)
Lt Uhura
Rotary Connection – Tales of Brave Ulysses
Danger Mouse/Murs/Free Design – To a Black Boy
Shuggie Otis – Pling!
EddieHarris feat Blind Willie Johnson – Dark Were the Silver Cycles (F16C Mash)
Sun Ra

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: The Mothership Mix

Note: What you see before you is a re-post of a mix I did (one of my faves) back in 2014 to accompany a literary anthology (see story below). It was (and remains) a bit of a departure for Funky16Corners, but I dig it and I think you will too. – Larry

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Greetings all

Welcome to the new week.

I have something very groovy for you today.

A while back, one of my favorite Facebook-made acquaintances, the author Bill Campbell told me that he was assembling an anthology of afrofuturistic stories, and was thinking about using a mix as part of the Indiegogo campaign.

That anthology, ‘Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond’ is very, very cool, and I would suggest you avail yourself of a copy either in paper, or digital form. Make sure to check out the Rosarium Publishing web site as well.

Always looking for an interesting challenge, I offered my services in furtherance of that goal, and Bill said yes.

The mix you see before you is one of those that I had rolling around the back alleys of my mind for a long time before I actually stated pulling out records, digging for drops etc.

The concept of afrofuturism is especially intriguing, and the thought of finding its application in musical form really got me thinking.

There are musicians included in this mix that worked the conceptual side of things rather directly, like Jimi Hendrix and George Clinton, and some that worked their way into the groove stylistically (Eddie Harris, Shuggie Otis) and others that just created a specific piece of music that seemed destined for inclusion in the mix (Dick Hyman’s epic reworking of JB for instance).

I was trying to create a vibe – which is what you ought to be doing with a mix, anyway – but in this instance, it was far removed from the dance floor and drilled deep inside the head (via the ears, naturally).

This is definitely one for the headphones, trippy, often deep, sometimes weird and in several spots traveling outside the known boundaries of the Funky16Corners universe.

I’m proud to have been given the opportunity to work with Bill, and very happy with the mix.

I hope you dig it too.

I’ll be back later in the week with another brand new mix.

Keep the faith

Larry

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, March 4, 2018 12:38 pm

The Salem Travelers

Listen/Download – The Salem Travelers – Wade In the Water MP3

Greetings all.

How about some deep, soulful gospel to get your week rolling?

The Salem Travelers were one of the more interesting Chicago-based gospel outfits.

Their mid-to-late 60s recordings are a great bridge between classic gospel and the sounds of soul and funk.

Though they’re best known for their string of albums or Checker in the late 60s and early 70s, they got their start recording for Halo, the gospel imprint of Chicago’s One-Der-Ful records.

Their recording of the spiritual classic (and one of my favorite songs) ‘Wade In the Water’ hails from 1966, and as soulful version of the song go, it’s one of my faves.

It has a slightly rough feel to it (the vaguely out of tune piano, possibly the very same one that appears on a number of One-Der-Ful/Mar-V-Lus 45s has something to do with that) but the group’s vocals are tight and take off into the stratosphere, especially after the introduction.

Sadly, I don’t think the Salem Travelers stuff has been comped, so your only way to pick it up is on the original pressings.

If you dig the tune, head on over to the archive for Testify!, my WFMU show and dig the long set of versions of ‘Wade In the Water’, many of them radically different.

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

Until next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, February 25, 2018 12:58 pm

Listen/Download – Hal Driggers and the Key Brothers – Brown Baggin’ MP3

Listen/Download – Hal Driggers and the Key Brothers – Black Pepper MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The track I bring you today dropped into my crates a few years back, solely on the strength of the sounds packed into the grooves.

I had no idea who Hal Driggers was/is (still don’t). It’s not an expensive record, but – and this is the important part – it cooks.

A cursory listen will reveal that ‘Brown Baggin’ is a very spare rewrite of Robert Parker’s ‘Barefootin’, with the gist moving away from dancing and going all the way over to the surreptitious consumption of alcohol, hidden inside the brown bag of the title.

“Brown Baggin’ is a mover, taking the foundation of the Parker classic and running with it.

The flipside, ‘Black Pepper’ is a wild slice of R&B with some hot rhythm guitar and organ.

The context clues on the label, and a Google-i-zation reveal that the 45 was originally released on the North Carolina Cheeco label as by Hal Driggers and the Six Key Brothers (with the descriptor ‘six’ removed for the Atlantic pressing).

My seasoned ears suggest to me that Mr Driggers is a white fella, which is neither here nor there, though along with the geographical location it suggests to me that he might have been part and parcel of the many white R&B bands working in the south (and on the Beach Music scene) at the time.

I have not been able to track down any information on the Key Brothers, either.

Driggers and the Key Brothers did one more 45, for the Philadelphia-based Star Time label.

If any of you fine folks have any info on Driggers or the Key Brothers, please drop me a line.
Until next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, February 18, 2018 12:00 pm

Walter Wanderley

Listen/Download – Walter Wanderley – Kee-Ka-Roo MP3

Greetings all.

Welcome back to the Funky16Corners thing for another week of musical wonderfulness.

The track I bring you today is a long (loooong) time fave, introduced (and initially gifted) to me by my buddy Haim.

Haim used to turn me on to all kinds of cool music, and one day he played Walter Wanderley’s ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ for me and just about blew my mind.

You all know that I’m a certified Hammond nut, and while I knew of Wanderley (already owning a couple of his boss nova LPs) I had no idea he had anything like this in his arsenal.

Wanderley was a Brazilian organist who had a significant recording/playing career in his native country before hitting the charts in 1967 with ‘Summer Samba’, which became one of the best known/most popular ‘easy’ instrumentals of the 1960s (which would gain ever more reknown via the vocal version he recorded with Astrud Gilberto under the title ‘So Nice’).

‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ originated on his 1967 album of the same name.

Where ‘Summer Samba’ was all smooth bossa jazz, ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ is a swinging slice of Brazil-au-go-go, mixing sharp, hard-hitting drums with cuica, and guitar.

It sounds like it was custom made for a discotheque scene in a period film.

The band on ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ is amix of Brazilian and American players (including Bobby Rosengarden who laid down some similarly cool drums on a number of Enoch Light-related things).

It makes me wish that Wanderley had done some more music in this vein.

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

Until next time,

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, February 14, 2018 12:15 pm

F16 Presents: Super Duper Love
Soul Brothers Six – Some Kind of Wonderful (Atlantic)
Marvelows – Talkin’ Bout You Baby (ABC)
Pat Lewis – Look At What I Almost Missed (Solid Hit)
Platters – I Get the Sweetest Feeling (Musicor)
Etta James – I’m So Glad (Cadet)
Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers – It’s Growing (Gordy)
Eddie Holman – Stay Mine For Heaven’s Sake (Parkway)
Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
Intruders – Every Day Is Like a Holiday (Gamble)
Johnny Nash – Ooh Baby You’ve Been Good To Me (Epic)
Mad Lads – No Time Is Better Than Right Now (Volt)
Aubrey Twins – Love Without End Amen (Epic)
Benny Spellman – I Feel Good (Atlantic)
Sam and Dave – You Don’t Know What You Mean To Me (Atlantic)
Felice Taylor – I’m Under The Influence of Love (Mustang)
Foundations – Baby Now That I’ve Found You (UNI)
Bettye Lavette – I Feel Good All Over (Calla)
Marva Whitney – This Girl’s In Love With You (King)
Contributors of Soul – Look What You Done For Me (New Miss)
Darrell Banks – Open the Door To Your Heart (Revilot)
Four Tops – Something About You (Motown)
Sugar Billy – Super Duper Love (Are You Digging On Me) (Fast Track)
Willis Wooten – Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious (Virtue)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Super Duper Love 108MB Mixed MP3
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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
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Greetings all.

Just a quick, mid-week re-post of the two previous Funky16Corners Valentine’s Day mixes if you are (like so many) in both a soulful and romantic mood, pull down the ones and zeroes and get to lovin’!

Until next time,

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, February 11, 2018 11:52 am

Warren Lee – Star Revue (Deesu)
Mac Rebennack and the Soul Orchestra – The Point (AFO)
Candy Phillips – Timber Pt1 (Atlantic)
Tommy Ridgley – In the Same Old Way (Ronn)
Eddie Lang – Something Within Me (Seven B)
Aubrey Twins – Love Without End Amen (Epic)
Bates Sisters – So Broken Hearted (Nola)
Benny Spellman – I Feel Good (Atlantic)
Chitlins – Sugar Woman (Pala)
Curley Moore – Soul Train (Hot Line)
Danny White – Cracked Up Over You (Decca)
Eldridge Holmes – Emperor Jones (ALON)
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do (Imperial)
Lee Dorsey – Do Re Mi (Fury)
Robert Parker – Secret Service (Nola)
Zodiacs – Surely (Deesu)
Betty Harris – Trouble With My Lover (Sansu)
Eddie Bo – Fence of Love (Seven B)
Jesse Hill – My Children My Children (Chess)
John Williams and the Tick Tocks – Do Me Like You Do Me (Sansu)
Lee Calvin – You Got Me (Sansu)
Mary Jane Hooper – That’s How Strong My Love Is (World Pacific)
Aaron Neville – A Hard Nut To Crack (Parlo)
Skip Easterling – Keep the Fire Burning (ALON)
Alvin Robinson – Seaching (Tiger)
Dr John – Big Chief (Atco)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Keep the Fire Burning MP3

Greetings all.

What you see before you is a special, all-new (all New Orleans!) mix for Mardi Gras 2018.

Funky16Corners Boogaloo Mardi Gras, first posted in 2012 has rerun in this space every year since then.

As I have procured lots of excellent New Orleans vinyl in the interim, I thought that it behooved me to dig back into the crates and whip something new on y’all.

F16C: Keep the Fire Burning is just a hair over an hour of high quality New Orleans soul 45s, all of which are suitable for rug-cutting, second lining and however you are moved when the music comes on.

Allen Toussaint and Eddie Bo are both heavily represented as songwriters, producers, arrangers and in Eddie’s case, performer, and there are lots of other Crescent City masters (and mistresses) getting down in the grooves.

So pull down the ones and zeroes, get out your um-ba-rella and Mardi Gras!

See you next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, February 4, 2018 11:51 am

Precisions – If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely) (Drew)
The Soul City – Everybody Dance Now (Goodtime)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Dorothy Berry – Shindig City (Planetary)
Incredibles – I Can’t Get Over Losing Your Love (Audio Arts)
Theresa Lindsey – I’ll Bet You (Golden World)
Corvairs – Ain’t No Sole In These Old Shoes (Columbia)
Marketts – Stirrin’ Up Some Soul (WB)
Taj Mahal – A Lot of Love (Columbia)
Producers – Love Is Amazing (Huff Puff)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Parkway)
Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Betty Lavette – I Feel Good (All Over) (Calla)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
Chuck Wood – Seven Days Is Too Long (Roulette)
Mary Wells – Can’t You See (You’re Losing Me) (Atco)
Marvelettes – I’ll Keep Holding On (Tamla)
Mickey Lee Lane – Hey Sah Lo Ney (Swan)
R Dean Taylor – There’s a Ghost In My House (VIP)
Ike and Tina Turner – Somebody Needs You (Loma)
Marvin Gaye – One More Heartache (Tamla)
Edwin Starr – Back Street (Instrumental) (Ric-Tic)
Sugar Pie DeSanto – Go Go Power (Checker)
Monitors – Number One In Your Heart (VIP)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor) (Like)

Listen/Download – So Much Soul F16C Live at Reggae Got Soul 1/21/18 MP3

Greetings all.

What you see before you is a live set that I recorded a few weeks back at Reggae Got Soul, a very groovy recurring night at the Asbury Park Cigar and Tobacco Co in (you guessed it) Asbury Park, NJ.

The night is run by my man Jay Boxcar, who you may remember as a charter member of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew.

I hadn’t been out DJing live in a long, long time, so the opportunity to do so, especially in a chill setting right around the corner (OK, not literally, but less than 30 minutes away) was irresistible.

Since it had been so long, I decided to whip together a box full of Northern Soul faves. Nothing beats hearing some of these records played on a nice, loud sound system.

The evening started with Jay whipping a little reggae and ska on the room, after which I hit the decks, and then DJ Scott Boyko opened up his 45 box and closed things out in style.

I’ll be returning to RGS on February 10th with a box full of New Orleans funk and soul to help celebrate Mardi Gras, so if you’re in the area, tip on in.

See you next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, January 28, 2018 12:07 pm

Listen/Download – The Shells – When I’m Blue MP3

Greetings all.

The record I bring you today is the b-side of one of my al time favorite 45s.

I wrote up the a-side ‘Whiplash’ thirteen years ago in the earliest days of the Funky16Corners blog.

I was hepped to the 45 way back in the day by my buddy Haim and it quickly moved into a permanent place in my Top 10.

Though the record was produced by Jerry Butler, when I managed to ask him about it years ago he absolutely to recollection of the session.

The group – brothers Charles and James Calvin,Willie Exon, and Billy Harper (not the same Shells that recorded doowop out of NYC) – went on to record one other 45, ‘Hot Dog’ for Volt, but it’s their debut effort that ought to cement them a spot in the soul hall of fame.

While both sides of the 45 manage to keep a foot in an earlier vocal group harmony style there is no mistaking that they are pure 1965 soul.

Though ‘Whiplash’ is the unmistakable dancer, ‘When I’m Blue’ has always held a special place in my heart. It combines unusual production and arrangement (the band almost sounds like a rock/garage outfit) with a haunting melody, with the Shells sounding like their being piped in from another dimension.

Both sides combined make this one of the most unusual and unique 45s to come out of Chicago in the 1960s.

It appears to have garnered some regional airplay (‘Whiplash’ was an R&B Top 20 hit in St Louis and ‘Hot Dog’ was popular in NY and Philadelphia) , but nothing significant.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________