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By Larry, January 15, 2013 11:15 am

OV Wright

Listen/Download OV Wright – Working Your Game

Greetings all

I hope the middle of the week finds you all well.

The record you see before you today, all hot and ready to shovel into your ears, is yet another one that holds a place of honor in my crates, thanks 100% to my man Tony C.

Some time ago, he recommended ‘Working Your Game’ by the mighty OV Wright, which I dug, but for some odd reason was unable to lay my hands on a reasonably priced copy until recently.

Though Wright is by any measure among the first rank of southern soul singers of the classic era, ‘Working Your Game’ is especially interesting, on account of the drums.

Now when I say ‘on account of the drums’ you know that it must be something out of the ordinary, and it surely is.

Whoever is beating (and I do not use that word lightly) the skins on this record seems to be doing what Hunter S Thompson quoted the Oakland Hell’s Angels describing as  “trying to show some class”, translated as going that extra mile (and then some) to prove one’s worth in a particular situation, though since we’re transporting the phrase from the world of outlaw bikers to that of soul records, the percussionist is beating the shit out of his drum set in a studio, instead of clobbering some poor slob in a gas station toilet.

If you know what I mean (dot dot dot)…

I have no idea who the drummer is, but he is going nuts, adding a certain je ne sais quoi to an already hot record, with ringing piano, sassy backing singers and of course Mr. Wright at the helm.

Were the rest of the record even a scintilla weaker, one might think the drums a bit of overkill, but they fit nicely here and the only drag is wondering why the mystery man wasn’t wrecking drum sets for the Backbeat label on a full time basis.

The flip (‘Baby Mine’ which hit the R&B Top 40 in 1968) is also quite good, so head out and grab yourself a copy of this one for your record box.

You can thank Tony.

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.

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By Larry, January 10, 2013 12:05 pm

Bill Deal and the Rhondels

Listen/Download Bill Deal and the Rhondels – Tuck’s Theme

Greetings all

I hope that the end of another week finds you well.

As Friday is upon us, I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today has been languishing in my crates for a long ass time, mainly because of a bad case of lost-in-the-shuffle-it is.

I picked up my 45 of Bill Deal and the Rhondels ‘Tuck’s Theme’ years ago and for no good reason at all, forgot all about it.

I say for no good reason because once you hear ‘Tuck’s Theme’ you will – as would any sane person – realize that it is a superb bit of funk with a big, fat, swaggering drum break.

The name Bill Deal may be a familiar one, especially if you have access to oldies radio here on the East Coast, the further south the better.

Deal was a keyboardist and bandleader out of the Tidewater area of Virginia who – along with the Rhondels – hit the charts a number of times in the late 60s with their rollicking brand of brass-inflected, blue-eyed soul (covering cuts by artists like Maurice Williams and the Tams).

The band recorded half a dozen 45s (and an LP) for the Heritage label (also home to the Show Stoppers), of which ‘Swingin’ Tight’ b/w ‘Tuck’s Theme’ (released in 1969) was the fourth, it’s A-side grazing the Top 40 in a number of regional markets.

The cut features Deal working it out on some kind of clavinet-like electric keyboard, backed by the brass section, with a fuzzed out guitar eventually chiming in.

Things really get cracking when drummer Ammon Tharp lays down that big, swinging break.

It’s really is a killer, one of those that’ll have your head nodding as you get into the groove.

The record has ben sampled a few times, by groups like Jurassic 5 and People Under the Stairs.

Bill Deal and the Rhondels became an institution on the Beach Music scene, carrying on in one form or another until Deal’s passing in 2003 (though a version of the group, billed as Bill Deal’s Band still tours today).

I hope you dig the cut, 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.

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By Larry, December 4, 2012 3:48 pm

Drummers Jim Gordon (left) and King Errison (right)

Listen/Download Incredible Bongo Band – Let There Be Drums

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another spectacularly crisp, post-Thanksgiving, pre-Yule day.

The tune I bring you today is a little something I grabbed on a recent dig, and on object lesson in how sometimes you really don’t need to hear a record to know it’s going to be good.

Any beat fiend worth their wax is already hip to the sounds of the Incredible Bongo Band, especially their version of Jerry Lordan’s oft-recorded ‘Apache’, one of the ur documents of hip hop.

The IBB’s first LP ‘Bongo Rock’ is fairly rare and sought after, mainly for ‘Apache’.

However, there is much to dig on ‘Bongo Rock’, up to and including the album’s opening track (and one of its singles), which you see before you presently, ‘Let There Be Drums’.

Like many of the tunes on ‘Bongo Rock’, ‘Let There Be Drums’ is a cover, in this case of Sandy Nelson’s 1961 hit.

Written by Nelson and producer/writer/guitarist Richie Podolor, ‘Let There Be Drums’ was, like so much of Nelson’s catalog, a percussion feature meant to highlight his skill on the skins.

Since the IBB was a similar showcase (created by producer Michael Viner), this time for drummer Jim Gordon and percussionist King Errison, the recordings were aimed in the same general direction.

‘Let There Be Drums’ may lack the crisp breakbeats of ‘Apache’ there are still plenty of slamming drums (do you ever really ever get sick of walls of well recorded drums?) and some cool guitar.

As far as I can tell ‘Let There Be Drums’ was only sampled in 2007 by Buck 65 on the track ‘Dang’.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.