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By Larry, November 4, 2014 1:24 pm

Howard Tate – Get It While You Can (Verve)
Diamond Joe – Fair Play (Minit)
Irma Thomas – I Wish Someone Would Care (Imperial)
Jackie Shane – Any Other Way (Cookin’)
Lee Dorsey and Betty Harris – Please Take Care of Our Love (Sansu)
Van Dykes – No Man Is An Island (Mala)
Otis Redding – Cigarettes and Coffee (Volt/Atco)
Little Buster – I’m So Lonely (Jubilee)
Mable John – Your Good Thing (Is About To End) (Stax)
Sweet Linda Divine – Same Time Same Place (Columbia)
OV Wright – I Want Everyone To Know I Love You (Backbeat)
Rubaiyats – Tomorrow (Sansu)
Eddie Holman – I’ll Cry 1,000 Tears (Bell)
Eldridge Holmes – If I Were a Carpenter (Deesu)
James Carr – The Dark End of the Street (Goldwax)
John Williams and the Tick Tocks – Blues Tears and Sorrows (Sansu)
Laura Lee – Hang It Up (Chess)
Otis Redding – I’ve Been Loving You Too Long To Stop Now (Volt)
Toussaint McCall – Nothing Takes the Place of You (Ronn)
Bobby Womack – Take Me (Minit)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt3 – Ballads

Greetings all

Welcome to day three of the 10th Anniversary thing.

While I know that you all dig your soul upbeat and danceable, I couldn’t very well put together collections of my favorite stuff without stopping to consider the ballads.

In fact, to try to illustrate the greatness of soul music without touching on the deep side of things would be a fool’s errand.

To many people, these are the kind of records that make for great soul music; big, dramatic performances, expressing love – sought out, or lost – tragedy, tribute and longing.

What I found interesting after putting this mix together, is how many of the performers included were truly versatile, able to deliver a deep ballad, yet also capable (as is illustrated by their appearances in other mixes in this week’s line-up) of working the upbeat (even funky) side of things as well.

There are a lot of heavy, heavy records in this mix, so turn the lights down low, cuddle up with someone you love (or the memory of someone you’ve lost) and feel the soul.

__________________________________________________________________________

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

__________________________________________________________________________

See you tomorrow.

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, November 3, 2014 12:27 pm

Bill Cosby – Hikky Burr (Uni)
Eddie Bo – Hook and Sling Pt1 (Scram)
The Meters – Cardova (Josie)
James Brown – Hot Pants Pt1 (People)
Mickey and the Soul Generation – Iron Leg (Maxwell)
Steve Colt – Dynamite (Big Beat)
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul (King)
Willis Wooten – Your Love is Indescribably Delicious (Virtue)
Village Callers – Hector (Rampart)
Lou Courtney – Hey Joyce (Popside)
Buena Vistas – Kick Back (Marquee)
Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers – Searching for Soul Pt1 (Mutt)
Lee Moses – Reach Out I’ll Be There (Musicor)
Laura Lee – Crumbs Off the Table (Hot Wax)
Lyn Collins (The Female Preacher) – Think (About It) (People)
BW Souls – Marvin’s Groove (Round)
Chuck Carbo – Can I Be Your Squeeze (Canyon)
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend (Capitol)
David Batiste and the Gladiators – Funky Soul Pt1 (Instant)
Lou Courtney – Hot Butter’n’All (Hurdy Gurdy)
Richards People – Yo Yo (Tuba)
Interpretations – Blow Your Mind (Jubilee)
Gene Chandler – In My Body’s House (Checker)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt2 – Funk

Greetings all

Welcome to day two of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration.

Today’s mix is composed of my favorite funk 45s from my crates.

Though the roots of my soul fandom lie in southern soul, it was the funk 45 boom that got me moving with the web zine and the blog.

There’s something about the heat and the syncopation that come with a really heavy funk 45 that always gets me moving.

Aside from the inventor, James Brown, the man whose music had a lot to do with my love of funk (and was my gateway into the sounds of New Orleans) was the late, great Eddie Bo.

There are no less than five New Orleans 45s in the mix – three of them Eddie Bo or Bo-adjacent– and one need only map out the records in this set to see where my passions were over the last 15 years or so.

New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, the sounds of America’s cities in the late 60s and early 70s, always stacked to the rafters with drums, drums and more drums.

There are some records in this mix (and in all of the mixes this week) that I would rank among the greatest funk of all time, including the Meters ‘Cardova’, Lou Courtney’s ‘Hot Butter’n’All’, James Brown’s ‘Hot Pants’ and Laura Lee’s “Crumbs Off the Table’ among them.

As I said in Monday’s post, you may not agree with all of my selections, and by no means are these mixes supposed to represent any definitive list of the ‘best’ that’s out there, but rather my personal favorites.

So put on your hot pants and slide out onto the dance floor.

__________________________________________________________________________

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

__________________________________________________________________________

I’ll see you tomorrow.

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, 2014 2:24 pm

Bob and Earl – Harlem Shuffle (Cheyne)
Don Covay and the Goodtimers – Sookie Sookie (Atlantic)
The Shells – Whiplash (Conlo)
Scatman Crothers – Golly Zonk! It’s Scatman! (HBR)
Rodge Martin – Lovin’ Machine (Bragg)
Roger and the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
The Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Shurfine)
Derek Martin – Daddy Rolling Stone (Crackerjack)
Chuck Berry – Club Nitty Gritty (Mercury)
Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step (V-Tone)
Chuck Edwards – Downtown Soulville (Punch)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling (Fairmount)
Etta James and Sugarpie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)
L’il Bob and the Lollipops – I Got Loaded (La Louisianne)
Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor (ABC/Paramount)
Danny White – Natural Soul Brother (SSS Intl)
Johnny Jones and the King Casuals – Soul Poppin’ (Brunswick)
Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)
The Rubaiyats – Omar Khayyam (Sansu)
Don Gardner – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (Tru-Glo-Town)
Larry Williams and Johnny Watson – Two For the Price of One (Okeh)
Wilson Pickett – Land of 1000 Dances (Atlantic)
Wayne Cochran – Going Back to Miami (Mercury)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Out On the Floor) (Like)

NOTE: Big thanks to Jeff Ash who noticed that I left two songs out of the set list right after Roy Lee Johnson!

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt1 – Soul Party

Greetings all

This week (11/4 to be exact) marks the 10th anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

Yeah…I can barely believe it myself.

Back in 2004, when I first started posting here (which was a slightly different “here” than it is now, but that’s not important) I had already been writing about music for nearly 20 years, first in a series of fanzines (my own and those of others), then from 2000 the Funky16Corners Web Zine (see the archive, above).

It was in 2004 that my wife and I welcomed our first son, and the long-term prep involved with the web zine wasn’t  looking sustainable, so I decided to switch over to the short form structure of the blog.

I had the good fortune to make that switch around the time that the blogging ‘wave’ was starting to build, and while there were music blogs out there, there weren’t  many using the kind of format that Funky16Corners was.

When I started, the idea was to continue – as much as possible – the historical slant of the web zine, in single (usually) record form. I settled into the three-post-a-week format fairly quickly, and that’s the way it remained for a couple of years.

Then, in the Spring of 2005, thanks to a reference on BoingBoing.net, the blog was hit with a sudden burst of traffic that sucked up a month’s worth of bandwidth in a single day. It was at that point that I started paying for server space, and the following year, instituted the yearly Pledge Drive to assist with costs.

It was in May of 2006 that I posted the first of what ended up being well over 100 themed mixes (Funky Philadelphia was the first), all of which (including a number of mixes prepared for other sites) are still downloadable in the archive.

Things continued apace for a few more years until the Funky16Corners Radio Show started on Viva Radio. Beginning in 2010 I started recording/mixing the show as a podcast, and posting it here. There are now more than 200 episodes in the archive.

Today, the Funky16Corners blog is still up and running at full steam. I suspect that barring unforeseen circumstances, it will go on, and on, as long as my passion for the music lives.

It is important to stop here and to say thank you to all the people that have helped to make Funky16Corners a success.

First and foremost, I need to thank my wife Jen, who has supported my efforts over the years. Ours is – like the home I grew up in – a musical house, and we all listen, sing along with and sometimes even play the sounds we love.

I’d also like to thank my friends who have shared their musical passions with me over the years, among them fellow bloggers/writers, DJs, collectors and fans, with which I’ve shared music, ideas and good times.

The roots of Funky16Corners run deep, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the fanzine writers/makers that influenced me back in the 80s, especially Billy and Miriam at Kicks and Jim Testa at Jersey Beat, and from the interwebs days, the crew at Soulstrut and the guys who put together the late, lamented Rehash site, which was a big influence in the early days.

Big ups as well to folks like Mr Luther, my man Haim, DJ Prestige, DJ Birdman, Tony C, Tarik Thornton, Agent 45, Kris Holmes, Jeff Ash at AM Then FM, Vincent the Soul Chef, Derek See, Heavysoulbrutha Dave B, Red Kelly, Dan at Home of the Groove, all of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew (Connie T Empress, Devil Dick, Prime Mundo, M-Fasis, Jack the Ripper, DJ Bluewater), Mr Finewine, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and everybody else that has been kind enough to bring me in to spin my records over the years.

I gave a lot of thought about how I wanted to mark this anniversary. I eventually decided that what I would do, was create a series of mixes in five categories (Ballads, Northern Soul, Soul Party, Organs and Funk), selecting an hour’s worth of my very favorite records in each category.

This was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, with the decisions about which records to include coming down to which discs really meant the most to me. As is the case in any genre, there are ‘important’ records, and there are rare records, and then there are just good records. These are not always the same ones, either.

There are a lot of big Northern Soul (or funk) 45s that demand serious coin, but for any number of reasons just don’t do it for me. By the same token, there are a grip of two-dollar records that I think are just brilliant. The driving force behind the Funky16Corners blog is my own need to figure out why the great ones are great, sharing the stories behind them and attempting to articulate what it is about these records that move me.

If there’s anything in any of these playlists that strikes you as odd, or out of place, take the time to search the archives of the blog to find the original posts (though some of them haven’t been written about yet) and you’ll probably find the key there.
Some of these records have been wedged in my brain for decades, others are more recent discoveries, and there is no doubt in my mind that there are many still out there that I have yet to fall in love with.

You can never know all the great music there is, and anyone that says that they do, is full of shit.

The first mix this week (there will be a new one posted every day, Monday through Friday) is the Soul Party mix.

Though I’m sure there’s someone out there trying to sell records using ‘soul party’ as a designator, I don’t mean it to suggest a genre per se, but rather a mood/atmosphere that these records bring. These are fun, exciting, energetic records with which to get down. Party starters, each and every one.

The records in this mix are some of my very favorites, and I’d go to the mat defending any one of them. They are all essential.

__________________________________________________________________________

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

__________________________________________________________________________

So dig in, get your download on, and above all, enjoy.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more goodness.

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, October 30, 2014 12:49 pm

Johnny Sayles and Clea Bradford

Listen/Download – Johnny Sayles – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

Listen/Download – Clea Bradford – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

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Greetings all.

Time to close out the week.

First, I’d like to suggest that since this Friday is Halloween, you all huddle around the wireless set with your cider and popcorn balls and dig this years Funky16Corners Radio Show Halloween Special, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs at 9PM on Viva Radio. There’ll be lots of groovy, spooky things to hear. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, check it out on your mobile device in the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here in the archive.

I’m digging into the archive for today’s tracks, both of which have appeared in this space before (2006/2009).

What you’re getting is two very groovy, completely different songs that share the same title: ‘My Love’s a Monster’. Both of them hail from Chicago, with the Johnny Sayles number (arranged by Monk Higgins) coming from 1965, and the Clea Bradford (produced, arranged and co-written by no less a light than Richard Evans) in 1968.

They are both outstanding in their own way, with Johnny Sayles getting a touch more Halloween-y with his intro, but Miss Bradford getting a little funkier in her outing, which reminds me a lot of Marlena Shaw’s work with Mr Evans.

Both are yet more evidence that when it came to making soul 45s, the great city of Chicago was near the top of the list.

I hope you dig the sounds and get a chance to check out the Halloween show.

See you 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, October 28, 2014 12:26 pm

Andre Williams

Listen/Download Andre Williams – It’s Gonna Be Fine In ’69

Greetings all

Stand up, take Andre Williams’ hand, and let him help you over the hump.

Mr Williams still walks the earth like an R&B colossus, well into his eighth decade, a bad-ass through and through.

He was responsible for all manner of R&B, soul and funk heat in Detroit and Chicago during the 50s, 60s and 70s, fell on hard times, and then got it back together again in the 90s.

The song I bring you today was released in 1969 (naturally the last of a string of funky 45s he waxed for Checker between 1967 and that year.

‘It’s Gonna Be Fine in ‘69’ opens with a sharp snare shot,and some wah wah lead guitar, before Andre drops in and starts rapping about slick threads, and sitting himself down to a plate of chitlins and some buttermilk (?!?).

His list of suits and jewelry is reminiscent of Willie Tomlin’s ‘Check Me Baby’ (featured here a while back), and if anyone is copping anyone’s groove, Willie was lifting from Andre, who had had some chart action the previous year with ‘Cadillac Jack’, though there is a long tradition of such shopping lists/boasts.

That said, not many could compete with Andre Williams’ Mack-tastic bad-assery.

Though he didn’t make it back on to the charts under his own name, he spent the 70s working for Ike Turner, and P-Funk, as well as writing and producing for groups like Velvet Hammer.

The cool thing is, if you’re down with vinyl, most of Mr Williams soul and funk outing under his own name are pretty affordable, and all worth picking up.

So get out there, start digging 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 (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 (0)

By Larry, October 23, 2014 12:49 pm

Jeff Afdem

Listen/Download Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute – Watermelon Man

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I will take this opportunity to invite you all to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which hits 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, listen in on the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 download here at the blog.

I should also let you know that  the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners blog is coming up in two weeks. That’s right, ten years in, so I’m working on some special mixes to mark the occasion, so keep you eyes and ears peeled for those.

Today’s selection is a very groovy cover of a very familiar song from a very unusual place.

If you follow the comings and goings over at my other blog, Iron Leg, where I travel the roads of (mostly) 60s pop, psych and garage sounds, you may have noticed that I have a special place in my heart (and my crates) for the Pacific Northwest Sound (PNW).

This includes all kinds of stuff, but especially bands like the Sonics, Wailers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Don and the Goodtimes, and the Springfield Rifle.

Jeff Afdem was a flute and sax player in a number of PNW bands, including Jimmy Hanna and the Dynamics (who did a killer version of ‘Leaving Here’), and the last band on the list above, the Springfield Rifle.

I happened upon Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ quite by accident, which searching for 45s on the storied Jerden label.

I spotted the cover, figured it was worth a try, and was not disappointed.

The song was a non-LP 45* released around the same time as Afdem’s 1969 LP ‘Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute’ which included a number of pop covers, as well as a couple of soul jazz groovers like ‘Florence of Arabia’ (also covered by Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band).

Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ gets off to a great start with booming bass, latin percussion and piano, before the flute comes in to solo. He takes the tune at a brisk tempo making this one great for the dance floor.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though it looks like it was included on a 1977 re-issue of the album 

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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, October 21, 2014 12:05 pm

Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland

Listen/Download Bobby Bland – Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, and brace yourselves for something heavy.

A few years back, I was tuned in to my man Kris Holmes’ radio show, and he dropped a record that I’d never heard before, that absolutely blew me away.

While I knew I was hearing the unmistakable sound of Bobby Bland’s voice, it was coming over the airwaves inside of a really weird record.

The tune, was ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’.

The record, which grazed the R&B Top 10 in 1968 (hanging just outside the Pop Top 50) is one of the freakiest (and I mean that in the best way possible) juxtapositions of a singer and a style.

Bland, one of the greatest blues/R&B vocalists of the 50s and 60s, is heard here in the midst of an arrangement that is plainly psychedelic.

Drenched in echo, and taken at a slow, almost spooky pace, ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ sees our hero bringing his “A” game to a far out place.

The overall style of the record isn’t weird or out of place for 1968, since pretty much the entire musical landscape had gotten a little wilder and more experimental, but the thought that someone thought to take the mighty voice of Bobby ‘Blue’ Band and wrap it up in a trippy package like this, still boggles the mind.

The way the echoed saxophone winds its way in and out of the arrangement, abetted by tasteful lead guitar on a platform of thick, plodding bass and nearly non-existent drumming is a thing of beauty.

What’s spectacularly weird (to me, anyway) is the “kind” of psychedelic this song is. This is no flower power, candy coated, Technicolor dream. ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ is two bottles of codeine cough syrup and a heavy four way hit of acid, with Bobby sounding like he’s pleading for release from some kind of psychic dungeon.

The record takes the hint of darkness present in a record like Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ and dials it all the way up.

This is especially strange considering the fact that if you listen to the lyrics, the song seems to have a happy ending.

It’s just one of those records that I can listen to over and over again, if only to sample the vibe. You don’t just listen to a record like this, you feel it.

As far as I know, the mighty Mr Bland never did anything like this again.

That’s probably because he didn’t have to.

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, October 19, 2014 11:09 am

Lena Horne

Listen/Download Lena Horne – Mother Time

Listen/Download Lena Horne – Nature’s Baby

Greetings all

As I was wandering through the dark, dusty back alleys of the Funky16Corners sounds warehouse, I took the time to stop and leaf through the ‘special’ file.

This is where I keep especially intriguing stuff, perhaps outside the direct/mainstream funk/soul ‘thing’, yet of particular interest to those with a more open mindset (and ears).

One of my specific areas of interest, is the intersection of performers from areas other than funk and soul with those sounds.

This includes all kinds of jazz and pop performers associated with an earlier era, making their bid for contemporary success.

My crates are peppered liberally with big band cats like Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and Stan Kenton walking the funky side of the street.

Less prominent, but just as groovy, are vocalists attempting to make the same leap.

Today’s selections come from that latter camp, brought to you by the silky pipes of the legendary Lena Horne.

Horne, who’s career stretched from the 30s to the 90s, was mainly a jazz leaning nightclub singer, but worked in many settings, from big bands to Broadway.

I had no idea she had ever wandered into a funkier landscape until a few years back when someone posted the 45 of the song ‘Feels So Good’.

Coming from her 1971 LP ‘Nature’s Baby’, the tune is smooth and funky.

I tried to cop the 45, but when I was unable to track down a copy, I grabbed the LP (much cheaper).

I’m glad I did, because when it fell through the mail slot, I discovered that it included a pair of very cool Gene McDaniels covers, which as far as I can tell were never recorded elsewhere.

The first of these is the fantastic ‘Mother Time’. This is the kind of deep, slyly funky stuff that McDaniels was so good at, and Horne sounds at home with the material. The band, mostly NY session heavyweights lays down a tasty groove.

The second track, ‘Nature’s Baby’ isn’t quite as funky, but features a great lyric and a sublime backing track (I really dig the strings).

The rest of the album, composed almost entirely of contemporary cover material (Leon Russell, Nilsson, Elton John, Paul McCartney) is worth hearing as an example of a great singer putting her stamp on a younger generation’s sounds.

I hope you dig the tunes, 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, October 16, 2014 12:37 pm

Merit Hemmingson at the Hammond

Listen/Download Merit Hemmingson – Pata Pata

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I will take this opportunity to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot join me at airtime, there are a variety of ways to keep yourself apprised of the soulful goodness, including subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes (or any other podcast handling program), in the TuneIn app, or as an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selection is one from the Hammond Internationale file.

You all know how much I dig the Hammond organ, and that I’m always in search of new (to me) organ 45s and LPs for the crates.

I knew of Merit Hemmingson for years before I was able to put my hands on one of her records.

She was a Swedish pianist who switched to Hammond in the 1960s, and recorded a couple of albums of soul jazzy grooves before switching over to new agey treatments of Swedish folk songs (no, really.).

I dig both of the albums that I have, but the track I bring you today stands out above all others.

‘Pata Pata’ was originally a hit for Miriam Makeba in 1967 (Top 10 Pop and R&B), and was covered by many jazz and pop artists over the next couple of years.

The version you’re hearing today was recorded by Hemmingson in 1968 on the ‘Merit Hemmingson Plays..’ LP.

Including a variety of pop and jazz covers, the LP features an all-Swedish band, with the exception of American conguero Sabu Martinez.

It is Martinez’ percussion and vocals that make Hemmingson’s version of ‘Pata Pata’ so groovy.

Opening with a lazy sounding organ, the peace is interrupted by Martinez and the band chanting, followed by his congas, and then the drums.

Then the guitarist comes in with a riff that sounds like it was lifted from the Spencer Davis Group’s ‘I’m a Man’.

Once Hemmingson’s organ comes in the song regains some of it’s bright, poppy feel, but thanks to the percussion a sharper edge remains through the arrangement.

It’s really unusual, and unlike pretty much everything else on the album.

If you’re a Hammond (or au-go-go) fan, Hemmingson’s first two LPs, ‘Plays…’ and ‘Discotheque Dance a Go Go’ are definitely worth picking up.

I hope you dig the tune, 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 (0)

By Larry, October 14, 2014 10:59 am

Listen/Download Al Capps Band – Sissy Strut

Greetings all

The great existential question for today is: When is the right time for a groovy Meters cover?

The answer, as delivered by the oracle on the mountain is: All the time.

Though I had never heard of Al Capps (though I assumed – correctly – that it wasn’t the old-timey cartoonist), my Spidey sense always tingles in the presence of a Meters cover.

‘Cissy Strut’ was a Top5 R&B hit (grazing the Pop Top 20) for the Meters in 1969.

It has for years been the go-to cover, being waxed by Johnny Lewis, Earl Van Dyke, Hoctor, LaBert Ellis and many others, thanks to its deeply wired funk and infectious melody.

Al Capps was an arranger for many big, mainstream pop artists (Andy Williams big)  in the 60s and 70s, laying down the occasional 45 of his own along the way.

He waxed ‘Sissy Strut’ – not sure why the spelling was changed*, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t know that ‘the cissy’ was a dance – in 1970.

Opening with electric piano and deep, deep brass, the melody is played on flutes and trumpets, with some nicely recorded drums pumping things up from underneath.

The whole thing is over before you know it, clocking in at under two minutes!

I won’t force it on you, but if you ever grab a copy of this 45, flip it over for an insane medley of the theme from 2001 and MacArthur Park (seriously).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 *They also managed to change the spelling of Nocentelli and Modeliste on the label…

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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, October 12, 2014 1:21 pm

Timmy Thomas

Listen/Download Timmy Thomas – It’s My Life

Greetings all

Longtime listeners (first time callers?) will have read the saga of how I chased (and eventually harpooned) Timmy Thomas’s ‘Have Some Boogaloo’.

It was a long-time white whale/grail of mine, and one of those records I really had to put up a fight for.

Sometimes they fall in your lap.

Sometimes you have to strap on your pith helmet and elephant gun and set off into the bush.

This is often the case with the 45s that Thomas recorded for Memphis-based Goldwax records in 1967.

Though he would become world famous years later when he and his beatbox hit with ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’, his earlier sides were elusive.

Compared to his later hits, Thomas’s work for Goldwax was something else entirely, taking a much harder, organ-heavy tack than the mellow grooves of the 70s.

The record you see before you today was the second, and last 45 he would record for Goldwax.

Though his take on Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On’ is hard charging and excellent, it is the record’s other side that we gather to speak of this fine day.

Were you to take a look at the song title,and writing credits on the label – without listening to the record – you might never discover that what you had was one of the cooler,and more obscure Animals covers ever laid down.

Why the song ‘It’s My Life’ is credited to Thomas, Quinton Claunch and Rudolph Russell, which is odd, since the song was written by Roger Atkins and Carl D’Errico, and first recorded by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965.

Timmy Thomas’s version departs from the original melody in places, but you need only listen for a few seconds before you realize what song it is you’re hearing.

The arrangement reminds me somewhat of another Goldwax 45 cover tune, Ben Atkins and the Nomads version of the Young Rascals ‘Love Is a Beautiful Thing’, which reworks its source material in a similar way.

The end result is actually pretty cool (how cool depending how attached you are to the Animals version). Timmy’s vocal is excellent, and the arrangement is interesting.

After parting ways with Goldwax, Thomas would record one 45 for the Climax label in 1970, before finally hooking up with Glades and having a string of hits in the 70s.

I hope you dig the track, 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.