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By Larry, June 22, 2014 1:49 pm

Funky16Corners: The New Breed
Homer Banks – A Lot of Love (Minit)
Robert Parker – Secret Service (Makes Me Nervous) (Nola)
Clyde McPhatter – A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Amy)
Delores Hall – Good Lovin’ Man (Keymen)
Dusty Springfield – Can I Get a Witness (Philips)
Fabulous Emotions – Number One Fool (Tamboo)
JJ Barnes – Real Humdinger (Ric Tic)
Jackie Wilson – I’ve Lost You (Brunswick)
Linda Jones – You Can’t Take It (Loma)
Marvelettes – Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead (Tamla)
Madeline Bell – Picture Me Gone (Philips)
Ron Moody and the Centaurs – The New Breed (Columbia)
Al Greene and the Soul Mates – Don’t Leave Me (Hot Line Music Journal)
Betty Harris – Mean Man (Sansu)
Theresa Lindsey – I’ll Bet You (Golden World)
Vibrations – Soul a Go Go (Okeh)
Bobby Sockers – Sock It To Me Bobby (RCA)
Jimmy Holiday – Love Me One More Time (Diplomacy)
The Soul Finders – Sweet Soul Music (Camden)
The Monitors – Number One In Your Heart (VIP)
Glories – (I Love You Babe But) Give Me My Freedom (Date)
Mamie Galore – It Ain’t Necessary (St Lawrence)
ZZ Hill – Don’t Make Promises (Kent)
Soul Brothers Six – Thank You Baby For Loving Me (Atlantic)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: Funky16Corners: The New Breed!

NOTE: Today’s mix is the final entry in the Funky16Corners 2014 Allnighter/Pledge Drive, and as is always the case, it’s yours truly, the proprietor batting clean-up.

Funky16Corners: The New Breed represents the best dance floor soul that has dropped into my record box in the last several months.

There are some real killers here, and you will certainly see many of them (and their stories) featured on the blog in the coming year.

Once again, I’d like to thank all the selectors for their mixes, and all of you readers/listeners for coming by to check it out, and helping to keep Funky16Corners up and running!

I’ll be back on Wednesday with the regular stuff, so stay tuned!

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Contest!

Anyone that donates today to the Allnighter/Pledge Drive will (in addition to getting the badge and stickers) be entered into a random drawing for a copy of the Fantastic Voyage 2-CD collection ‘Soul City Los Angeles’, a compilation of West Coast soul from labels like Arvee, Alladin, Liberty, Imperial, Ebb and SAR!
This is the final drawing for the Funky16Corners 2014 Allnighter/Pledge Drive!

___________________________________________________________________________

The winner of the Fantastic Voyage ‘Youths Boogie’ 2-CD comp is Rebecca Pang!
___________________________________________________________________________

Greetings all

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

This is the ninth annual Pledge Drive, and the fifth Allnighter.

If you haven’t experienced the Allnighter/Pledge Drive, it can be explained as thus: once a year, the Funky16Corners Blog, your home for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove vinyl for almost 10 years comes to you with hand outstretched, asking for donations to offset the operating expenses of the web site.

The Funky16Corners ‘operation’ (as it is) included the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg blogs, the mix archives for both (containing well over 200 mixes), and the Funky16Corners Radio Show/Podcast (another 200+ files available for download, or through subscription in iTunes).

The money raised during the pledge drive goes to pay for the server space and fees associated with hosting the whole megillah.

As has been attested to many times in the past, Funky16Corners has humble beginnings, starting out on the old (free) Blogger service, moving to WordPress, and then to self-hosted WordPress. The move to paid hosting was necessitated by increased bandwidth usage, as well as the need for a place to store all the mixes (and eventually the radio show episodes).

The Allnighter/Pledge Drive is a once-yearly occurrence, in which yours truly, and some of the finest selectors out there whip up new mixes for your delectation.

In past years, I have posted all of the mixes in a single post, and left it up for a week.

This year, the quality and quantity of the mixes spurred me on to try something a little different, i.e. posting a new mix each weekday for a period of just over two weeks. This way, each selector gets their moment in the spotlight, and the mixes get spaced out so that the listeners don’t suffer from mix-fatigue.

Each day, you’ll get a fantastic mix (there really are some amazing ones this year) from one of my favorite DJs, many of whom have participated in the Allnighter before, as well as a couple of great new contributors.

So, if you dig what we do here at Funky16Corners, click on the Paypal link and toss some cash into the barrel.

Contributors will receive a 2014 Allnighter badge, as well as some stickers from the archive (as long as they last).

This year I will also be drawing the names of contributors at random for groovy swag, including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul, and CDs from Light in the Attic and Secret Stash.

So, dig the sounds for the next couple of weeks, and make sure you stop back on a daily basis to pick up new mixes and contribute for a chance to win some cool stuff.

Thanks, and as always,

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, June 10, 2014 11:20 am

Tony C – On the Soul Side
Toussaint McCall Baby You Got it- Ronn
Cash McCall I’m In Danger Checker
Garnet Mimms Prove it– United Artists
Jackie Ross Dynamite Lovin’- Chess
Radiants Please Don’t leave me Chess
Mitty Collier Help Me- Chess
Patti Drew Sufferer- Capitol
Tina Britt Who Was That- Veep
Lord Luther Tough- Lusan
Billy Mack Too Much- Philips
Johnny Sayles The Concentration- Chi Town
Emanuel Lasky Don’t Lead Me On Baby- Thelma
The Sharpees Make Up Your Mind- One-derful
D C Ramblers Hangin’ In There- Keynote
Gunga Din Crabcakes- Valise
Sonny Shankle Just Enough- Watts Way
Thelma Jones Mr Fixit- Barry
Betty Everett Too Hot To Hold-Vee Jay
Danny White Miss Fine Fine Fine-Frisco
Willie Small How High Can You Fly-Jessica
Dee Dee Warwick House Of Gold-Mercury
Otis Clay Show Place-One-derful
Buddy Lamp My Tears-Double L
Jimmy Nelson Tell Me Who-Chess
Willie Mays If You Love Me- Duke
Harold Burrage I’ll Take One-M.Pac!
Big Jay Bush Dynamite-Redbug

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: Tony C – On the Soul Side

NOTE: Today’s mix is this year’s contribution from the fantastic Tony C.
Mr Crampton is – like every other selector participating in this year’s Allnighter a man of exquisite taste, and as a result, an influence on yours truly.
Tony always brings a solid selection of tracks to his Allnighter mixes, and as always, I come away with some additions to my want list.
‘On the Soul Side’ is a hard-hitting hour of classic-era soul that’ll have you out of your seat moving and grooving.
I hope you dig it as much as I do.
See you tomorrow,
Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

Contest!

Anyone that donates today to the Allnighter/Pledge Drive will (in addition to getting the badge and stickers) be entered into a random drawing for a copy of the fantastic new Lugnutbrand Records single ‘Number One’ b/w ‘Bikes’ by the M-Tet!

‘Number One’ brings to mind the sunny side of Booker T and the MGs with just a taste of UK Library-style goodness, brought to you by organist Gary Pitman. ‘Bikes’ digs in slow and funky, with some heavy guitar by Joe Magnant. The production by bassist Chris Lujan is spot on.

The M-Tet brings the old-school heat in a new-school package.

This is a very groovy 45 indeed (I got my own copy by contributing to the band’s Kickstarter) and you can expect to hear it on future episodes of the Funky16Corners Radio Show.

There will be more drawings over the next few weeks for CDs by Cultures of Soul, Light In the Attic and Secret Stash, and 45s from Cultures of Soul!

___________________________________________________________________________

The winner of yesterday’s drawing for the ‘DJ Andy Smith’s Jam Up Twist’ CD is David Wykoff!

____________________________________________________________________________

Greetings all

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

This is the ninth annual Pledge Drive, and the fifth Allnighter.

If you haven’t experienced the Allnighter/Pledge Drive, it can be explained as thus: once a year, the Funky16Corners Blog, your home for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove vinyl for almost 10 years comes to you with hand outstretched, asking for donations to offset the operating expenses of the web site.

The Funky16Corners ‘operation’ (as it is) included the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg blogs, the mix archives for both (containing well over 200 mixes), and the Funky16Corners Radio Show/Podcast (another 200+ files available for download, or through subscription in iTunes).

The money raised during the pledge drive goes to pay for the server space and fees associated with hosting the whole megillah.

As has been attested to many times in the past, Funky16Corners has humble beginnings, starting out on the old (free) Blogger service, moving to WordPress, and then to self-hosted WordPress. The move to paid hosting was necessitated by increased bandwidth usage, as well as the need for a place to store all the mixes (and eventually the radio show episodes).

The Allnighter/Pledge Drive is a once-yearly occurrence, in which yours truly, and some of the finest selectors out there whip up new mixes for your delectation.

In past years, I have posted all of the mixes in a single post, and left it up for a week.

This year, the quality and quantity of the mixes spurred me on to try something a little different, i.e. posting a new mix each weekday for a period of just over two weeks. This way, each selector gets their moment in the spotlight, and the mixes get spaced out so that the listeners don’t suffer from mix-fatigue.

Each day, you’ll get a fantastic mix (there really are some amazing ones this year) from one of my favorite DJs, many of whom have participated in the Allnighter before, as well as a couple of great new contributors.

So, if you dig what we do here at Funky16Corners, click on the Paypal link and toss some cash into the barrel.

Contributors will receive a 2014 Allnighter badge, as well as some stickers from the archive (as long as they last).

This year I will also be drawing the names of contributors at random for groovy swag, including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul, and CDs from Light in the Attic and Secret Stash.

So, dig the sounds for the next couple of weeks, and make sure you stop back on a daily basis to pick up new mixes and contribute for a chance to win some cool stuff.

Thanks, and as always,

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 6, 2014 10:46 am

Spanish Picture Sleeve and 45

Listen/Download Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor

Greetings all

The new week is here, and as I am feeling (temporarily) invigorated, I thought it wise to whip something especially heavy on you all to make sure you all are as well.

Ray Charles needs no introduction, but for those of you that have been asleep at the wheel (or too young to know better), Brother Ray was one of the giants of 20th century music.

He was one of the (if not THE) most important transitional figures in the birth of soul music, building bridges from jazz, to R&B and on into soul (and beyond).

Ray Charles’s catalog was the famous Walt Whitman quote ‘I am large, I contain multitudes’ taken musical form.

While his almost half-century long discography touches on a wide variety of sounds, the effect is less like genre-hopping than it is the history of music being refracted through the prism of Ray Charles.

The tune I bring you today is what any sane observer would rate a stone classic, and is perhaps the finest, pure soul record that Brother Ray ever laid down.

This has a lot to do with the song’s authors, Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson and Jo Armstead, the trio that had penned his #1 R&B hit ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’.

‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’, which grazed the R&B Top 40 in December of 1966 is as hard-hitting a number as he laid down in the 60s.

Opening with a wild bass note, and then exploding into a thundering piano/bass/drums trio, the song builds subtly, adding percussion, horns (dig the competing horn lines later on in the song) and finally the Raelettes until it’s a veritable juggernaut.

The centerpiece is – of course – the voice of Ray Charles, one of the great, elemental sounds ever associated with the making of music.

That ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ wasn’t a bigger hit kind of boggles the mind (at least my mind) today, but a look back at the charts from the end of 1966 proves once again that the mid-60s was a remarkable time for music. Charles was competing for airtime/chart space with Wilson Pickett, the Supremes, Bobby Darin, Question Mark and the Mysterians, The Four Tops, the Yardbirds, the Hollies and dozens of others*. Listening to airchecks from 1966 and 1967 is a remarkable experience, making me wish I’d been beyond old enough (I was four years old) to soak it all in.

That said, you and I can take all the time we want to dig it now.

See you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Himself included. Charles had no less than eight hits in the R&B Top 40 in 1966 and 1967!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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, March 20, 2014 12:31 pm

The Nilsmen, smoking them, cuz they got ’em…

Listen/Download The Nilsmen – Le Winston

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us so I will remind you once again to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also keep up with the show by subscribing as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

The other day I was rummaging through my crates (edging up to, but not quite crossing over into a frenzy of reorganization) and I happened upon the disc you see before you.

Long (long) time a favorite of mine, ‘Le Winston’  is one of those records that has been banging around my subconscious for so long that I was convinced that I had already written it up.

Turns out that – no, I hadn’t – though it had appeared in a mix or two, and made a few appearances on the Funky16Corners Radio Show over the years.

Recorded some time in the late 60s by a Swedish group called the Nilsmen, ‘Le Winston’ (and it’s funky flip ‘The Sandstep’) was issued by the RJ Reynolds tobacco company (thus the RJR label) a few times (with a few different picture sleeves) over the years to promote different brands of cigarettes.

‘Le Winston’ is a fine, hard-charging Hammond instro, guaranteed to light up the dance floor.

While I may not be digging for organ 45s as diligently as I was a few years back, I still love the sound and pick up new (to me) groovers whenever I find them.

This record is a testament to the value of keeping your ears open.

Despite what the occasional inflated ego will tell you, there isn’t a crate digger in the world who is 100% responsible for their collection.

If you have any interest at all in expanding your musical horizons, you keep your eyes and ears open.

I am always on the lookout for collectors and DJs with tastes complementary or at least tangential to my own. You can never know all the good records, and listening to other people’s mixes can really expose you to records you never would have found on your own.

I remember rapping with my man DJ Bluewater at one of the old Asbury Park 45 Sessions gigs, and marveling at how many amazing records I’d seen on another DJs playlist that were completely new/unknown to me.

He dropped a very solid bit of wisdom on me, that being ‘there’s probably a grip of things on your playlists that THEY haven’t seen or heard before either’.

I’ve been very lucky to spin beside folks with both excellent taste and very deep crates, and I hardly ever leave a gig without something new tacked on to my want list.

Now, take that concept and apply it to the internet, where you can connect and interact with DJs/diggers at a significant geographic remove, and the potential for new discoveries grows exponentially.

I can trace my knowledge of ‘Le Winston’ directly to a playlist (many, many years ago) by the great DJ Soulmarcosa, late of the Carolinas, presently burning up the decks in California.

His knowledge of US soul and funk is next level, but when it comes to international sounds, there’s no one better.

There are more than a few burners in my crates that I can trace directly back to one of his mixes/set lists.

So, props offered up, and if you’re out in LA, check him out in person.

As far as I can tell the Nilsmen never recorded anything else (at least under this name).

If you dig the sounds, it shouldn’t be hard to score your own copy, as Nilsmen 45s and plentiful and not terribly expensive.

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 (1)

By Larry, February 9, 2014 12:17 pm

Billy Lee Riley

Listen/Download Megatons – Shimmy Shimmy Walk Pt1

Greetings all

I thought we’d get the week rolling with something from the pride of Pocahontas, Arkansas, the great Billy Lee Riley.

If you have even a passing knowledge of classic rockabilly, the name Billy Lee Riley ought to be familiar.

Riley laid down legendary sides like ‘Flyin’ Saucers Rock and Roll’ and ‘Red Hot’ for Sun Records, both in 1957.

‘Red Hot’ would be revived in the late 70s by Robert Gordon and Link Wray (which is where I first heard it).

Riley and his band the Little Green Men also did a lot of work backing other artists.

In 1962, Riley and his new band (featuring several of the Little Green Men) went into the studio in Memphis, and as the Megatons recorded the record you see before you, ‘Shimmy Shimmy Walk’.

Initially released on the Dodge label, it was eventually picked up and reissued by Checker, where it made it into the Hot 100 later that year.

If the tune sounds familiar, it is because it is a reworking of the R&B standard ‘You Don’t Love Me’.

Originally recorded under that title in 1960 by Willie Cobbs for Mojo records (his version was basically a reworking of Bo Diddley’s 1955 ‘She’s Fine She’s Mine’), it was a local hit n Memphis and was picked up for national distribution by VeeJay.

The song went on to become a rock/blues standard in the 1960s, being recorded by a wide variety of artists, including the Kaleidoscope, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, The Al Kooper/Stephen Stills Super Session, Junior Wells and the Allman Brothers Band as well as the legendary 1967 Jamaican version by Dawn Penn.

The Megatons version features rolling guitar, a very nice reverbed harmonica solo and some groovy combo organ.

It was also released in the UK on Sue, where it became popular with the Mod/soul crowd.

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, January 28, 2014 1:44 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Boot-Leg

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, in which we endeavor to assist you in your journey over the hump.

The tune I bring you today is an old favorite of mine that I recently pulled from the crates, dropped into my playbox and reappraised, as it were.

I have always dug Booker T and the MGs ‘Boot-Leg’, but it was one of those sides that I never really listened to closely, or at least closely enough that I really ‘got’ it.

The tune, which made it into the R&B Top 10 in 1965, and was one of the 45s in John Lennon’s famed portable jukebox, is classic, down and dirty Stax groove.

Written by Packy Axton (of the Mar-Keys, Packers etc), Duck Dunn, Isaac Hayes and Al Jackson Jr., ‘Boot-Leg’ opens with some remarkably distorted guitar from Steve Cropper which then drops down into a positively booming guitar/bass tandem line. The bass sound is crazy deep.

Al Jackson is – as was the norm – screwed right down into the pocket, and there’s even a groovy sax solo (not sure if it’s Packy or Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns).

It is a particularly tasty Booker T and the MGs side, and worthy of your attention.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

NOTE: Reading Robert Gordon’s Stax history ‘Respect Yourself’ and discovered that this recording has Isaac Hayes replacing Booker T (who was away at college) on organ, and features the very first appearance by Duck Dunn (replacing Lewie Steinberg) on bass!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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 5, 2014 11:14 am

Rex Garvin

Listen/Download Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)

Greetings all

I hate to get the week started on a sad note, but hang tight and I promise that I’ll bring things around at the end.

I was chilling the other night, scrolling through Facebook when I spotted a post by my man Agent45, noting that the mighty Rex Garvin had died.

If you have been following my comings and goings (ranting and raving) here over the years you will already know that I hold the music of Rex Garvin (and his Mighty Cravers) in the highest possible esteem, especially the sounds of one very special record.

As I sit here tapping away at the keyboard in the middle of my record room I am surrounded by many thousands of records, tens of thousands of songs, and I love many of those songs deeply, but there are a select few that are genuinely important to me.

Some of these are Rosetta Stones of a sort in that they unlocked doors for me, whether in a purely sonic sense, or providing a gateway into a particular artist or style.

Others are important in that they represent that rare, perfect intersection of composition, production and above all performance.

I have posited here in the past that the best records (in any genre) contain a certain magic, and that a DJ, with the proper amount of taste and practice understands how to release that power properly, mixing the right records together in such a way as to lift the feeling in a room. You release the joy, energy and rhythmic drive in a record and if things are just right and the people are feeling it you achieve, whether for a minute, or an hour, a kind of ecstasy.

There is joy in music, amplified by movement (not just dance) that is ancient and essential and resides in the spirit of every man, woman and child and one of the great tragedies is that we do not release ourselves into that state and partake in its elevating, restorative nature often enough.

When I pack my record box for a particular night, I select things according to the proscribed style and tempo (usually varying), sometimes adding in a “wild card” or two that can be inserted into the mix should the opportunity arise.

What I also include nestled securely in the deep end of the box, usually handled with protective equipment, are the killers.

These are the records that carry in their grooves that exceptional, often explosive power on which an entire set can pivot into another dimension.

A record like this must be used sparingly and with the utmost care.

Spun in the wrong place, at the wrong time – when the audience isn’t ready – its energy can be wasted, but released properly it can do remarkable things.

‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’ by Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers is one such record.

It needs to be stated at this point that Rex and the Cravers were no one-shot wonders. Their 1960s recordings for a variety of labels (Epic, Okeh, Like, Atlantic, Tower) are packed with winners like ‘Emulsified’, ‘Sock It To Em JB’, ‘Queen of the Go Go’ and ‘Raw Funky’, but ‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’ is in a class by itself.

Released in 1967, ‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’ did not – as far as I can tell – chart anywhere, at any level, which, once you listen to the record, seems inexplicable.

Co-written by Garvin, saxophonist Clayton Dunn and drummer Pete Holman, it has an unrelenting tempo, pushed forward by the drums, bass and rhythm guitar, along with the occasional soul clapping and the wailing of a combo organ in the background.

Where the record really takes off, though, is in the vocal performance by Rex Garvin.

The influence of gospel music on soul is incalculable, but it isn’t always this obvious.

Here, Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers have taked the sound of the amen corner, packed it with TNT and sent it over a cliff.

Garvin isn’t merely singing, he’s preaching the gospel of soul, in a song that is quite literally about being carried away by the power of music.

He’s telling you that through the music he is compelled to launch himself out onto the dance floor, feeling the music in his soul, rising from his seat, clapping his hands as hard as he can. He is filled with the spirit (holy or otherwise) and he has to move.

Listen to this record and imagine everyone in choir robes, bouncing the call and response back and forth between Rex and the band.

I GOTTA GO NOW!

(GO AHEAD!)

OUT ON THE FLOOR NOW!

(GO AHEAD!)

SAID I GOTTA GO NOW!

(GO AHEAD!)

OUT ON THE FLOOR NOW!

HIT IT!

(HIT IT!)

DON’T QUIT IT!

This is the ecstatic religious experience secularized (or not, depending on what music means to you) and moved out into the club.

If this record doesn’t send shivers up and down your spine and out into your limbs I don’t know what to tell you.

This is the kind of record that soul music is all about, and the kind of record that moves me to the bottom of my soul.

It is that powerful, and in the 20 or so years since I first heard it, over countless listens has never lost an iota of its power for me.

No matter how many times I listen to it, or pull it from my box and place it on the slipmat in a club, it is always as amazing as the last.

Oddly enough, after almost 30 years, Rex Garvin put music behind him, calling it quits in 1985.

He eventually settled in Atlanta, where he passed away early in December at the age of 72.

I’ll be DJing this week, and I can assure you that I will have this record in my box, and I will spin in in the memory of the mighty Rex Garvin.

I’ll see you 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, November 2, 2013 4:09 pm

Bobby Parker

Listen/Download Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step

Greetings all

This is a previously unscheduled post, prompted when word came down the line that the mighty Bobby Parker, creator of the 45 you see before – only one of the greatest ever – had slipped the surly bonds of earth and passed on to his great reward at the age of 76.

I first posted ‘Watch Your Step’ no less than eight years ago (!?!) when Funky16Corners was in its early days.

I couldn’t let the man’s passing go without re-posting this remarkable 45.

I’ll see you on Monday.

Larry

Originally Posted 9/19/05

>>I hope you’ve had your coffee….

Because this record is a floor filling, foot stomping, ass kicking, brain melting slice of blues power from which the faint of heart will not soon recover….

No, really… it’s that good.

This is one of those records that I’d read about for years (having been a major Beatles fan as a kid), but never got to hear until a few years ago (I only scored the 45 in the last month).

Did you download the track yet?

Go ahead…I’ll wait…

There. Now listen to that opening riff – ring any bells???

Hmmmm…. How about ‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘Day Tripper’ by the Beatles (or dare I say ‘Moby Dick’ by Led Zeppelin)??? This is the “UR” riff, from whence those songs sprung (after being reprocessed by John Lennon and Jimmy Page respectively).

I have to tell you. When I was 12 years old I used to play ‘I Feel Fine’ two or three times a day (It’s still one of my fave Beatle tunes), mainly because of the guitar riff, and to be honest, Bobby Parker’s original carries the Beatles version out into the alley and kicks the crap out of it.

Back in 1961, when Parker first unleashed this beast on the world, it didn’t make much of a dent in the charts*. That didn’t stop it from becoming a favorite of those in the know, spawning covers by The John Barry Seven, Spencer Davis Group, Billy Harner, Adam Faith, Tony Jackson, Manfred Mann, The Undertakers and The Walker Brothers (on their Japanese live LP)**, and making a lasting impression on the Beatles, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana who reportedly decided to play the guitar after seeing Parker play.

That said, it would be unfair to end the story there, because no matter how many people stole the riff, no matter how many people cite Parker as a seminal influence (and he’s still playing today), to focus solely on the peripheral aspects of ‘Watch Your Step’ is to dance around the fact that it is an absolutely shit-hot record that in a just world would have been a huge hit.

Bobby Parker was born in Louisiana and raised in California (where he worked with Don & Dewey and Johnny Otis among others). He spent the 50’s touring with the likes of Bo Diddley, Jackie Wilson, and Paul ‘Hucklebuck’ Williams , and recorded his first record ‘Blues Get Off My Shoulder’ for VeeJay in 1958 (this is the record that Robert Plant has cited as the reason he started singing).

He relocated to Washington, DC in 1961, where he would build a rep playing local clubs. He waxed ‘Watch Your Step’ for Philadelphia’s V-Tone label (associated with the Len label) in 1961 (it was actually released twice in the UK, on London in 1961 and Sue in 1964).

The record opens with a fanfare (as any disc this mighty should), which is followed (after a short dramatic pause) by Parker’s smoking guitar, and the rolling, Latin-flavored drums (another part of ‘Watch Your Step’ that would end up in ‘I Feel Fine’).

Parker’s vocal – sounding like Ray Charles and Bobby Bland had a rocking baby – wails powerfully through the verses, being chased by the horn section. The tempo builds through the song as Parker is joined by backing vocals and a hot little sax solo. Parker has been described as a cross between Buddy Guy and James Brown, and it’s not hard to imagine him working up a sweat on stage with this one.

Parker would record sporadically through the 60’s, waxing a 45 (‘I Won’t Believe It Till I See It’ as Little Bobby Parker) for the ultra-rare DC soul label Shrine, where the Cautions would record a version of ‘Watch Your Step’.

He also toured in the UK where he would record for the Blue Horizon label in 1968 (the same label that released the earliest Fleetwood Mac albums).

Though he toured relentlessly (and was a major hit in DC area blues clubs), he wouldn’t record again until the early 90’s for the Blacktop label.

Keep an eye peeled for a PBS special called ‘John Lennon’s Jukebox’ which features a recent interview with Parker as part of a fascinating look into what Lennon was listening to during the Beatles peak years.

Keep the faith

Larry

*I was stunned to discover that ‘Watch Your Step’ did not hit the national R&B charts at all, hitting the pop charts regionally, almost exclusively on the west coast

*’Watch Your Step’ was also covered in the 70’s by Dr. Feelgood, in the 80’s by Santana, and in the 90’s by the Kaisers

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 24, 2013 9:18 am

Funky16Corners Presents:It’s Gonna Be Good!

Johnny Jones and the King Casuals – It’s Gonna Be Good (Brunswick)
Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century Fox)
Chuck Berry – Club Nitty Gritty (Mercury)
Atlantics – Beaver Shot (Rampart)
Little Richard – Soul Train (Brunswick)
Bobby Hollaway – Corn Bread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins (Smash)
The Turtles – Buzz Saw (White Whale)
The Vibrations – Soul a Go Go (Okeh)
Benny Scott – Soul Beat (Brunswick)
Junior and the Classics – Mix Up a Go Go (Magic Touch)
Jon Lee Group – Pork Chops (Sparton)
Ricky Allen – Cut You a Loose (AGE)
El Dorados – The New Breed (Port)
Danny White – Cracked Up Over You (Decca)
Louis Chachere – A Soulful Bag (Forte)
Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)
Toussaint McCall – Shimmy (Ronn)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor) (Like)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents: It’s Gonna Be Good – 75MB Mixed MP3/256K

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your side of the universe, and that you’re all ready for the weekend.

Don’t forget that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 (or two, or 100) out of the archive here at the blog.

A while back my man DJ Trick over in St. Petersburg, RU asked if I would be amenable to doing an interview and whipping up a mix that they could post in their ‘Grooves’ project*.

As someone who is always down with the cause of spreading the sounds of soul and funk all over the globe, I agreed and set to work.

As you will hear as soon as you pull the trigger on this one, I was in a particularly raucous mood that day, packing just about 40 minutes worth of sonic nitroglycerin into mix form and setting the fuse.

What you get here, is some of my favorite, high-octane soul shouters, organ burners, hardcore R&B and dance party starters, stitched together so that the assembled multitudes might cut themselves a slice of rug (and maybe spill a little beer, too).

If you haven’t sussed it out over the long haul, this is a pretty good approximation of the kind of set I’d throw down were I spinning in a live setting.

That said, this is perfect weekend stuff, so get your download on, and have yourself a party, Artie.

Have a great weekend, and i’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

PS They’re posting the interview over there, but it’s in Russian…
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 22, 2013 11:52 am

Hank Marr

Listen/Download Hank Marr – White House Party

Greetings all

What say we all get over the hump with a certified, Hammond organ swinger?

Hank Marr was one of the great, exalted past masters of the greasy R&B/soul jazz organ 45.

He recorded a grip of sides (45s and lps) for Federal in early to mid 60s for Federal and King, before landing at Detroit’s storied Wingate label for one and a half 45s in 1966.

I remember the first time I was exposed to this little stick of dynamite, courtesy of my old friend Haim.

It took me a while to score myself a copy of this banger, but it has held a place of honor in my record box ever since.

Released in 1966, ‘White House Party’ (and its most excellent flip, ‘The Out Crowd’) is without question one of the finest, swingingest, slabs of Mod soul ever committed to vinyl.

While I have never been able to track down any detailed session information, my assumption has always been – spurred on by the sounds in the grooves – that this was a Detroit session (there are no production credits on the 45).

‘White House Party’ is especially groovy for all of the vocal interjections on the record, which (for the younger folks out there) are references to the presidency of Texan Lyndon Johnson, thus the ‘meanwhile, back at the ranch’ and ‘champagne and barbecued ribs’ shout outs.

It is a dance floor killer of the first order, with an aggressive arrangement (dig the way the bass and the horns push the record along behind Marr’s Hammond).

Marr also split a 45 with Sonny Stitt (Marr’s Groove b/w Stitt’s Groove, which has the catalog number just before ‘White House Party’) but as far as I can tell never had the opportunity to expand (at the time) on the remarkable sounds on these 45s.

Marr continued to perform (as well as teach) and recorded through the 80s and 90s, passing away in 2004 at the age of 77.

‘White House Party’ is the rarest of Marr’s 45s (it’s also, at least in my opinion, his best) and seems to be trading hands for around a C-note these days.

I hope you dig the sounds, 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 (3)

By Larry, October 8, 2013 1:22 pm

Listen/Download Al Brisco Clark – Soul Food Pt1

Listen/Download Al Brisco Clark – Soul Food Pt2

Greetings all

Here’s a little riddle for you…

Q: When is a James Brown record not a James Brown record?

A: Probably when the Godfather is trying to hide from lawyers and/or accountants.

The record you see before you today is one of (many of) those.

I had heard of Al Brisco Clark’s ‘Soul Food’ long before I actually heard it, mainly because I am always on the lookout for “soul food”-related discs.

I finally grabbed a copy earlier this year, and after a little bit of emergency skip-removal surgery, in which me and my tone arm worked a little magic, I recorded it and bring it to you this fine day.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the old ‘James Brown Production’ logo on the label.

This led to some info-digging, after which I discovered that Al, who was a baritone saxophonist in James’s early-to-mid 60s band (and is probably the “vocalist” on the record) was merely a figurehead, and that the organist on the track, the one who sounds like he’s playing with his elbows, is none other than James himself.

The “James Brown Productions” logo dates from Brown’s Smash years (Fontana was, like Smash a Mercury subsidiary), when he was betwixt and between with the King organization, and mainly releasing instrumental recordings (see Funky16Corners Radio v.17 James Brown – SMASHing Time).

‘Soul Food Pts 1&2’ is, like many “soul food” records, a recitation of delectables on top of an instrumental groove.

Here you get candied yams (always a fave), black eyed peas (the edible kind…) and mashed potatoes, among others.

Released in 1964, even the writing credit – ‘Ted Wright’ – is another James Brown pseudonym.

All in all, a groovy little biscuit, worthy of your sonic dinner (turn)table.

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 (4)

By Larry, September 1, 2013 10:53 am

John Bishop and his guitar, looking badass.

Listen/Download John Bishop Trio – Wade In the Water

Greetings all

I hope the new week finds you well.

The summer is finally at and end, at least the part of the summer marked by the invasion of the great horde, which tends to recede right around Labor Day, leaving the beaches to us locals for a few precious weeks.

The fam and I had the opportunity to vacate in the latter half of August, during which the wife and I had our own little getaway.

Naturally, that included a little bit of record digging (doesn’t it always) which resulted in a nice fat stack of new additions to my crates, here and over at Iron Leg.

I always enjoy stepping out of my own little vinyl ecosystem and into a new one, where the ebb and flow of wax is different, the stock is new (at least to me) and not quite as picked over as what I’m used to.

There aren’t too many opportunities of that nature where I live, so it’s a gas when I get my mitts on some stuff that I haven’t seen/heard before.

Keep your eyes peeled for the results of said excavations in these pages.

The tune I bring you today is one of those great intersections of a song I love and a particularly hot performance.

‘Wade In the Water’ is a spiritual that goes back well over a century, which is why the writing credits on this version – to Sam Cooke and JW Alexander – are odd, but that is neither here nor there, especially when you consider how often people were slapping their names on public domain compositions in order to pick up a little scratch.

It has long been one of my favorite songs and I’ve gotten into the habit of picking up records with versions of it (like I do with ’Soul Makossa’) wherever I find them.

I had been on the lookout for the record you see before you today – ‘Bishop’s Whirl’ by the John Bishop Trio – for years. While it’s not particularly scarce, it eluded me nonetheless so I was happy to score a copy at a nice price.

John Bishop (born Gregory Ceurvorst) was a Chicago-based guitarist who ended up touring with Ray Charles (thus the Tangerine label) in the late 60s. He also played with Donny Hathaway, Ramsey Lewis and the Staple Singers among others.

His version of ‘Wade In the Water’ – the full album edit is included here, there is a much shorter version on 45 – is smoking, with exceptional work by Bishop on guitar and organist Newell Burton, Jr. Bishop goes into a blazing solo around the three-minute mark that explodes around 4:15.

It is an exceptional bit of hard-charging soul jazz, generating enough heat for the dancers (the 45 has a minor following with the Northern Soul crowd).

I haven’t been able to nail down whether or not this was Bishop’s touring band, or a group put together for the date. Burton was a Sacramento-based organist, and the bassist on the record, Jerry Scheff is a renowned session player who started a long stint touring with Elvis Presley around the time that this album was recorded.

That said, the rest of the album – with the exception of the soulful ‘Way Out Back’ – is fairly straight ahead jazz.

Bishop settled in Chicago, where he played with his wife in the Georgia Frances Orchestra, until his passing in 2011 at the age of 65.

I hope you dig the tune, 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.