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By Larry, March 15, 2016 11:46 am

Packed and ready to roll

In the midst of Set 1

Our Host Gene Meredith on the wheels of steel

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Larry Grogan Set 1 (Mixed Bag)
Falcons – I’m a Fool (I Must Love You) (Big Wheel)
Jewels – Opportunity (Dimension)
Vicki Gomez – Boys Are a Dime a Dozen (ABC/Paramount)
Eldridge Holmes – Emperor Jones (ALON)
Tangeers – This Empty Place (Scepter)
Mad Lads – No Time Is Better Than Right Now (Volt)
Spellbinders – A Little On the Blue Side (Columbia)
Sims Twins – A Losing Battle (Omen)
ZZ Hill – Don’t Make Promises (Kent)
JC Davis – Fezneckie (Chess)
Tommy Tucker – Long Tall Shorty (Checker)
Barbara Lynn – I’m a Good Woman (Tribe)
Gentleman June Gardner – It’s Gonna Rain (Emarcy)
Sam Cooke – Shake (RCA)
Billy Davis – Stanky Get Funky (Cobblestone)
Pop-Ups – Lurking (HBR)
Johnny Otis Show – Keep the Faith Pt1 (Eldo)
Supremes – Love Is Like an Itching In My Heart (Motown)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners SSSC Set 1 – 101MB Mixed Mp3/192K

Larry Grogan Set 2 (Dancers)
Precisions – If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely) (Drew)
Benny Gordon and the Soul Brothers – I’m Gonna Give Her All the Love I’ve Got (Wand)
Taj Mahal – A Lot of Love (Columbia)
Marketts – Stirring Up Some Soul (WB)
Corvairs – Ain’t No Soul Left In These Old Shoes (Columbia)
Theresa Lindsay – I’ll Bet You (Golden World)
Incredibles – I Can’t Get Over Losing Your Love (Audio Arts)
Dorothy Berry – Shindig City (Planetary)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Trade Martin – Moanin’ (RCA)
Soul City – Everybody Dance Now (Good Time)
Younghearts – A Little Togetherness (Soultown)
Eddie Floyd – Big Bird (Stax)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners SSSC Set 2 – 75MB Mixed Mp3/192K

Greetings all.

This past weekend I had the honor of guesting at the Steel Stax Soul Club at Porter’s Pub in Easton, PA.

It was  a little bit of a ride, so we packed up all the Corners in the van and headed West for a little soul spinning (me) and R&R (all of us).

Steel Stax Soul Club is the brainchild of longtime DJ/collector and scooter expert Gene Meredith, who I first met more than 30 years ago back in the mod/garage days of the Dive.

I am always game to get out there and lay down some Northern Soul heat on the decks, and SSSC gave me that opportunity in spades.

I was able to record almost all of the night (you can dig Gene’s sets on his Mixcloud page) including both of my sets. The first set is a mixed bag (including some sweet, and slightly slower stuff) and the second set is all high octane dancers.

It was a great time, with much good music, and a bunch of new additions to my want list. I hope to make it back there to spin again some time in the future.

I hope you dig it (make sure to check out Gene’s sets, too) , and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the Faith

Larry

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 23, 2016 1:07 pm

Lonette Mckee

Listen/Download – Lonette McKee – Do To Me MP3

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is something from the more ‘modern soul’ side of things, and has a very interesting pedigree.

If you are close to my age or older, you probably first knew of Lonette McKee as an actress, in films like ‘Sparkle’, ‘The Cotton Club’ and ‘Malcolm X’, as well as many TV shows.

It was only a few years ago that I discovered that the Detroit-born McKee had an earlier career as a singer, first recording in the ate 60s (when she was still a teenager) for Michigan labels like Dearborn and M-S, and then in the early 70s (as with today’s selection) for Sussex.

‘Do To Me’ (mis-titled on this UK pressing as ‘Do It To Me’) is a smooth, hook-laden dancer, written by McKee herself and produced by no less a team than Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey. The song has jazzy chord changes that remind me of a Becker/Fagen outtake (the opening bears some resemblance to Terry Callier’s ‘Ordinary Joe’).

McKee was a fine singer and the brisk arrangement made ‘Do To Me’ a favorite on UK dance floors in the 70s, and while it didn’t do much over here, its funky flipside ‘Save It (Don’t Give It Away)’ made it into the R&B Hot 100 (with McKee performing the song on Soul Train).

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

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, November 1, 2015 1:50 pm

Listen/Download – Robert Walker and the Soul Strings – Stick To Me MP3

Greetings all.

How about we get the week started with some Detroit-manufactured Northern Soul?

If you checked out the ‘Funky16Corners: All Strung Out’ mix a few years back you may already be familiar with today’s selection.

Robert Walker and the Soul Strings made exactly one 45, ‘Stick to Me’ b/w ‘The Blizzard’ in 1967.

Though I have no definitive information, all available clues (especially the presence of arranger Ernie Wilkins) point to this being a Motor City 45.

I haven’t been able to track down any information on Robert Walker. He may very well be the guy that did some writing for Motown, and I’m guessing (due to the billing) that he may be the vocalist on ‘The Blizzard’.

‘Stick to Me’, co-written by Walker and Flery Bursey (who recorded for the Sidra label), is one of those instrumentals that sounds like it was engineered specifically for Northern Soul dance floors (even though there were none when it was made), from the dramatic, plucked bass (and periodic breaks throughout the record) and the storming, string-laden sections for the dancers.

The record did become a favorite at the Wigan Casino (among other NS venues) and is still in demand today. It can be kind of pricey, but I grabbed mine on the cheap a few years back, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, June 9, 2015 11:59 am

The Contours

Listen/Download – The Contours – Just a Little Misunderstanding

Greetings all.

Since the middle of the work week is approaching, I though it apt that I should smooth us all over the hump with one of my all-time favorite soul 45s.

The Contours, despite having made a grip of excellent records, and one of the biggest/best remembered soul hits of the 60s (‘Do You Love Me’) are something of an also-ran, which is in no way an artistic judgement, but rather the public perception.

Their work was of a consistently high quality, yet they labored in the shadow of the bigger Motown stars like the Temptations and the Four Tops.

They had eight R&B Top 40 hits between 1962 and 1967, with today’s selection, ‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ their second-to-last hit, making it into the R&B Top 20 in June of 1966.

Co-written by Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax and a youngster by the name of Stevie Wonder (who also plays drums on the record!), ‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ is both a guaranteed dance floor killer, but also has enough pop hooks to stick in your ears.

The stylish lead vocal is by Joe Stubbs (brother of Levi) who had done time in the Falcons and went on to join 100 Proof Aged In Soul.

This would be Stubbs’ only lead vocal with the Contours, and he was soon replaced by Dennis Edwards (who would later join the Temptations).

‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ re-entered the UK charts in 1970.

It is a very groovy record, and ought to have a place of honor in any soul DJ’s box.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 26, 2015 10:22 am

Listen/Download – Reggie Milner – Soul Machine

Listen/Download – Quickest Way Out – Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)

Greetings all.

The end of the week is approaching, and so I simply must remind you that come this and every Friday night at 9PM you should twist the knobs on your radiola and tune in the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you cannot be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at the blog.
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Before we get started, I would like to hep you to the groovy new 45 by the mighty M-Tet out of San Francisco, California.
The M-Tet lay down a tasty stew of classic, Booker T/Meters-style organ grooves, with an underpinning of funk, soul and jazz. Well played and produced, ‘Mike’s New Adidas’ b/w ‘All Growns Up’ is a must have. You can grab yourself a hard copy of the 45 at their site, or grab the new album ‘Finger Poppin’ Time’, which includes some very cool covers, too (or their first LP ‘Hot Buttered Rum’) in iTunes.
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Today’s selection is a prime example of why it pays to keep your ears open, and maintain avenues of communication with like-minded collector types.

Some years ago, I put my hands on a 45 by a group called the Quickest Way Out, doing a groovy little tune called ‘Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)’. While discussing this record with some on-line friends, someone brought it to my attention that the record in question shared a backing track with another 45, which not coincidentally is the record you see before you today, Reggie Milner’s ‘Soul Machine’.

‘Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)’ is a tasty side and all, but once I heard the Reggie Milner side, all bets – as they say – were off.

Released in 1970, and released on Memphis-based Volt (though recorded in Detroit by Ollie McLaughlin) ‘Soul Machine’ is a funky killer, driven by a thick, twangy guitar, aided by clavinet, thumping bass and pounding drums.

The energy is taken up a few notches during the chorus, and there’s a great drum breakdown midway through the song.

The Quickest Way Out 45 is a slightly less banging affair, with a high, female lead vocal, though the drum break is a little more open. Both 45s (released in 1970) include a cover version of Barbara Mason’s ‘Hello Stranger’ on the flip.

Milner had two 45s on Volt (and one earlier single for the Ron’s label), with his first ‘Habit Forming Love’ b/w ‘And I Love Her’ from 1969 getting some airplay in Detroit.

According to Keith Rylatt’s excellent ‘Groovesville USA’ book, Milner was hit by a train and killed in 1980.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 1, 2015 12:00 pm

Mr A. DeWalt Mixon Esq.

Greetings all.

I come before you today to attest personally to the value of big (literal and figurative) ears.

The wife and I were early adaptors in the satellite radio thing, and though we have decreased that tech footprint over the years, we still rock the Sirius/XM in the main family car. As a result, it is through that portal that we do much of our listening on long car trips (usually driver’s choice).

It was on such a lengthy journey while attempting to keep myself from drifting off the New York Thruway, I pointed the dial at Soultown, and encountered (for the very first time) the tasty little disc you see before you today.

Like most folks for whom soul music is more than a passing fancy, I have often taken the Motown giants for granted(usually unfairly) due to their omnipresence on oldies radio when I was a kid, and the limited scope thereof, i.e. there’e nothing like hearing the same 25 Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations etc songs over and over again until your eyes and ears glaze over and you’re tempted to move on to something more exciting.

As has been recounted here in the past, I eventually managed to force myself through that swamp and discovered how much greatness was really out there.

Junior Walker and the All Stars were definitely part of that pantheon, racking up dozens of hits between 1965 and 1979, some of which are as shit hot today as the day they rolled off the presses in Detroit 50 years ago.

I have a bunch of the essential Junior 45s in my crates, and I grab the LPs whenever I find them, but as I found out, there were still some cool things I hadn’t yet heard.

When ‘Gimme That Beat Pt1’ came on the radio my ears perked right up, and since the satellite has a display, I didn’t have to wait but a second or two to find out that what I was digging was a new (to me) Junior Walker and the All Stars track.

‘Gimme That Beat’ is one of those records that still carries with it the heat of ‘classic’ funk, yet is also starting to reveal some of the fancier, streamlined options of the newer models, with just the faintest suggestion of the gathering heat of the disco dance floor.

You get some very groovy bass, nice vocals and sax by Junior and percolating guitar that attests to the fact James Brown’s juggernaut was still kicking up dust in the zeitgeist.

This was one of Junior’s last hits (Top 50, 1973) but demonstrated that he could still work it out.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, January 6, 2015 1:05 pm

Richard ‘Popcorn’ Wylie

Greetings all.

The record I bring to you this fine day is one of those elusive 45s that I knew about and dug long before I was ever able to lay my hands on a copy.

‘Maybe So, Maybe No’ by the New Holidays was the fifth of six 45s (seven but one was issued twice) on Tony Hester and Richard ‘Popcorn’ Wylie’s Soulhawk imprint.

Released in 1969, it was the first of two 45s (the second issued on Westbound in 1970) by the New Holidays, James and Jack Holland, Maurice Wise and (at least on this track) ex-Contour Joe Billingslea.

Almost all of the tracks recorded on the label were Wylie/Hester compositions, with artists like Jimmy ‘Soul’ Clark, Eric and the Vikings, The Mighty Lovers and Third Party.

Wylie had gotten his start at Motown, as part of Popcorn and the Mohawks, also working as a songwriter and session musician. After parting with Motown, he went on to found his own labels, one of which was Soulhawk.

‘Maybe So, Maybe No’ is one of records that immediately seems like it must have been a hit, yet the luminous, imaginatively arranged slice of sweet soul made no noticeable impact outside of Detroit where it was a minor local hit in late 1969/early 1970.

The song makes an impact from the very start, opening with piano glissandos, and heavily reverbed (and slightly off-key) wordless vocals. The band, featuring bright rhythm guitar accents and a tastefully restrained horn section lays down a solid foundation under wave after wave of group harmony.

I especially dig when the group starts chiming like a bell, before returning to the verse.

The flipside, ‘If I Only Knew’ is pretty cool as well, on a more upbeat tip, though it doesn’t approach the trtranscendent nature of the A-side.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, December 30, 2014 11:23 am

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is another lesson from the chapter where the old sage tells you to remember to flip over those 45s.

If memory serves, I first encountered the Magictones via Odub’s Soul Sides, where I was knocked on my ass by the epic breakbeat that opens their 1970 cover of the Parliament’s ‘Good Old Music’.

Naturally, I set out in search of my own copy. It took me a little while to file it, bit when I did I w as happy as the old record collecting clam, because there was almost as much heat on the b-side as there was on the top.

There, opposite ‘Good Old Music’ was a fantabulous, funky bit of sweet soul. ‘I’ll Make It Up To You’, opens with psychedelic sounding guitar, which is soon joined by electric sitar, and some tight drums. The Magictones themselves soon follow with some delicious harmony singing.

The group, Virginia McDonald, Tyrone Douglas, Tyrone Berkeley and Calvin Stephenson (and several other members over the course of their career) recorded just over a dozen 45s for six different Detroit labels between 1965 and 1972.

“I’ll Make It Up To You’ was recorded and released in 1969, and was a regional hit in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

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

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, November 6, 2014 12:53 pm

Volcanos – Storm Warning (Arctic)
Homer Banks – A Lot of Love (Minit)
The Supremes – Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart (Motown)
The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Maurice and the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
OV Wright – Love the Way You Love (Back Beat)
The Spellbinders – Help Me (Get Myself Back Together Again) (Columbia)
Otis Clay – Got To Find a Way (One-Derful)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do (Imperial)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
The Marvelettes – I’ll Keep On Holding On (Tamla)
The Broadways – You Just Don’t Know How Good You Make Me Feel (MGM)
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket (Revilot)
The Facinations – Girls Are Out To Get You (Mayfield)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
The Cooperettes – Shingaling (Brunswick)
The Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
The Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle (Scepter)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Cameo/Parkway)
The Younghearts – A Little Togetherness (Soultown)
Jean Wells- With My Love and What You’ve Got (Calla)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (Laurie)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt5 – Northern Soul

Greetings all

The end of the week, and of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration are both at hand.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device on the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The mix I chose to close out the week is near and dear to my heart.

Over the course of my soul fandom, stretching back 30 years, no sound has hit me as deeply as Northern Soul.

I’m not going to go into the roots of the sound here (I have in the past, to be sure), or provide a definition, other than to say these are records that combine hard-charging tempos and great melodies in uniquely exhilarating ways.

One need only listen to the mix all the way through to get the picture, as it were, but I suspect that even then, there are those that might take issue with some of the selections.

Northern Soul is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I approach the sound as someone who genuinely loves it.

Some of my very favorite soul records – in any genre – are key to this mix. These are records that lift you in every way, some crossing over into what can safely be described as pure musical bliss.

This is my favorite genre to listen to, and by far my favorite to spin for dancers as a DJ.

I thought it fitting that this was the mix to cap off the anniversary week.

I hope you dig it, and I hope you keep listening/reading as long as I still have something meaningful to say.

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Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

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I’ll see you all next week.

And, as always…

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, October 26, 2014 11:07 am

Marvin Gaye

Listen/Download Marvin Gaye – Baby Don’t You Do It

Greetings all

Allow me to usher you all in to the new week, with some of the old time soul music.

But first, I have to let you know that next week (Tuesday, to be exact) marks the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have put together five mixes containing my favorite sides in separate categories.

I’ve put a lot of work (and thought) in these playlists, and I think you’ll dig them. So stay tuned, stop by and get your download on.

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I was digging in my record room the other day, looking for something else (found it quick, too!) and in my travels I pulled the record you see before you from the box.

Marvin Gaye is unquestionably one of the greatest soul singers of the classic era, though there are many for whom his early (non-duet) works are largely unheard.

This is due to the fact that over the years the moody, worldy Marvin of ‘What’s Going On’ and beyond has become in many ways THE Marvin Gaye.

But die-hard soulies, who like to hit the dance floor and groove on that sweet Tamla/Motown ish, know that Marvin had many years of great work behind him before that landmark album.

Looking back, I’m still not sure if I initially heard today’s selection via Mr Gaye or by the Small Faces.

I do remember buying a copy of the old ‘Marvin Gaye Super Hits’ LP, the one with the Marvin-as-Superman cartoon cover, in the city, but I suspect that the Small Faces ripping take on the song made it into my ears first via a mix tape.

That said, ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’, written and produced by Holland/Dozier/Holland is prime 1964 Motor City soul clapping beauty, with a machine gun snare drum opening, and dueling piano and guitar.

The tune is a dance floor mover, which is something that coverers, from the Small Faces, to the Who, to the Band, (who turn the fast-forward soul into rolling funk) recognized and capitalized on.

As groovy as ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’ is, wasn’t a huge hit, grazing the R&B Top 30 in September of 1964.

Of course, knowledgeable tastemakers such as yourselves don’t need a chart to prove how solid a record this is, right?

Dig it,and I’ll will return on Wednesday with some more stuff.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, October 7, 2014 11:45 am

Johnny Griffith

Listen/Download Detroit City Limits – 98 Cents Plus Tax

Greetings all

The middle of the week is upon us, and in furtherance of our collective Sisyphean journey, I thought we might endeavor to roll that rock up the hill with style.

We do so with a very tasty bit of Motor City instrumental groove, courtesy of Detroit City Limits.

Though I haven’t seen a definitive listing for who played on the album (released by Okeh in 1968), it is certainly the work of various and sundry Funk Brothers, some of whom (Messrs Johnny Griffith, Jack Ashford and Mighty Mike Terry) are credited directly.

The album is a collection of mostly contemporary cover material (Marvin and Tammi, Intruders, Delfonics, Martha and the Vandellas, Sly and the Family Stone), but there are a couple of extremely nice originals as well.

One of those is the track we gather to groove on today, ’98 Cents Plus Tax’ (composed by Johnny Griffith).

If memory serves, I was hipped to this cut originally on a mix tape passed on to me some years ago, failed in my initial attempts to track down the record, and filed it in the dusty back rooms of my memory.

That was until the LP popped up in a friend’s sales list, the old memory was jogged and for the low, low price of a single ten-dollar bill, the record she was mine.

The 45 of ’98 Cents…’ trades hands for heavy money, but as always (almost always, anyway) I’m happier with the LP since I get all of that extra music.

The tune is a hard-charging, organ driven burner with some heavy drums as well. Dig the way the tremeloed guitar plays in synch with the organ, It makes for a very meaty sound indeed!

Use this one to light up the dance floor of your choice, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 22, 2014 12:50 pm

Ike and Tina Turner

Listen/Download Ike and Tina Turner – Somebody Needs You

Greetings all

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

The song I bring you today is one of those anomalies that piques my curiosity and sends me off on a search.

A while back I was listening to the two volumes of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue recorded live, released in 1965 on Loma and Warner Brothers.

If you get a chance to pick up either volume, they are both outstanding, presenting the group in fine form delivering a wide variety of material, including great covers of songs by the Impressions, Etta James, the Soul Sisters, the Five Dutones and more.

The one track (on Volume 2) that stuck out like a sore thumb was ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’.

Clearly a studio track with audience overdubs (where every other track was live), the song was also a stylistic departure.

Whereas Ike and Tina and the Ikettes always had a harder, R&B inflected edge to their recordings, ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’ was stylish, Detroit-style Northern Soul.

I hit the reference books and discovered that the song had been released as a single in 1965, and that it was fairly scarce, and a little bit expensive.

It took me a little while, but I finally tracked down a copy.

Even a single listen should be enough to convince you that ‘Somebody Needs You’ (as the track is listed on the Loma 45) is unlike anything else in the Ike and Tina discography.

As it turns out, the song has an interesting history.

Written by Frank Wilson (the man that brought you ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’), ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’ was also recorded by Darrell Banks (Revilot 1966).

The backing track from the Ike and Tina version was recycled several times.

First as Larry Laster’s ‘Go For Yourself’ (with new lyrics by, and credited to Leon Sylvers) on Loma in 1966, a year later by Herb and Doris on the HIP label, as ‘Lighten Up’ by Larry Atkins on the Highland label, and by Ty Karim as ‘Lighten Up Baby’ on Car-A-Mel!

Interestingly enough, the Darrell Banks recording uses a completely different track/arrangement.

It’s an amazing record, and a real departure for Ike and Tina. It leaves me wishing that they’d done more like it.

I hope you dig it too, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.