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By Larry, May 11, 2014 10:42 am

Dave says, ‘Keep wearing sweaters like this and some day you’ll be funky, too!’

Listen/Download Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez – Twang Taang

Greetings all

Welcome to another week of musical stuff here at Rancho Del Funky16Corners.

The tune I bring you today is something from a little bit later in the discography of one David Clowney, better known to one and all as Dave ‘Baby Cortez’.

Cortez, who had his first hit in 1959 with ‘The Happy Organ’ was one of the most interesting performers associated with organ sounds in the classic era.

He was at ease working in the gray area between pop and soul, often bouncing between R&B (like the savage ‘Hurricane’ from 1960) to soul (like ‘Countdown’ from 1965) to funk (like ‘I Turned You On’ from 1970).

He was mainly an organist, but also recorded as a vocalist from time to time, having gotten his start singing doowop in the 50s.

Cortez spent the early part of his career recording for Clock Records, then spending most of the 1960s bouncing between Mercury, Chess, and Roulette before a short period working under the aegis of the Isley Brothers on T-Neck.

The tune I bring you today is from a brief, two-single run Cortez did with the Sound Pak label in 1971.

Sound Pak was, like Clock Records the brainchild of James J. Kriegsmann (who is listed on many Cortez tunes – perhaps dubiously – as co-writer). If that name is familiar it is because he is better known as one of the premier promo photographers of performing artists in the 50s, 60s and 70s, his famous logo appearing on countless glossy photos.

‘Twang Taang’ is a funky vocal, heavily influenced by his time in proximity to the Isley’s organization. The tune is marked by heavy bass, horns and a great vocal by Cortez. I also dig the guitar solo, with just the right amount of fuzz dialed up.

Cortez went on to record for All Platinum through the mid-70s,before going off the grid.

He returned in 2011 to record an LP for Norton, backed by none other than Lonnie Youngblood.

I hope you dig the track, and Ill 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 (2)

By Larry, May 8, 2014 12:08 pm

Lonnie Youngblood

Listen/Download Lonnie Youngblood – African Twist Pt1

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I must remind you to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can keep upby subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes or grabbing yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is an old favorite of mine.

The name Lonnie Youngblood should be a very familiar one to fans of funk and soul.

The vocalist/saxophonist recorded some excellent 45s under his own name – while working as a backing musician for many soul and blues artists – during the 1960s.

Some of these – in particular the 45s he recorded for Fairmount, ‘Go Go Shoes’ and ‘Soul Food’ – are, in addition to their own excellence, sweated by fans of the back up guitarist on the sessions, a certain James Marshall Hendrix.

Today’s selection, ‘African Twist Pt1’ was recorded for the Loma label in 1967. It was the first of Youngblood’s two 45s for the label (the second being 1968’s ‘Roll With the Punches’) and is a wild bit of funky soul.

Layered with fake crowd noises, ‘African Twist Pt1’ features a crazed lead vocal by Youngblood, some excellent guitar and percussion and a wailing horn section.

Youngblood went to to record several albums in the 1970s, and continues to perform today.

I hope you dig the track, 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, May 4, 2014 11:34 am

The Rimshots

Listen/Download The Rimshots – Save That Thing

Greetings all

In furtherance of commencing the week’s festivities on a funky note, I bring you the Rimshots.

The tune in question – ‘Save That Thing’ – rolled off the presses in 1972 and was a Top 40 R&B hit in December of that year.

The Rimshots were the de facto ‘house band’ at Sylvia Robinson’s family of labels, including Stang, A-I and All Platinum.

They recorded two LPs and a grip of singles (including their cover of the Ramrods ‘Soul Train’) for A-1, All Platinum, Stang and Astroscope between 1972 and 1977, as well as providing backing for artists like the Moments, Hank Ballard and the Whatnauts.

They are especially interesting – to me, anyway – in that they’re a prime example of a unit that straddled the funk and disco eras with success.

‘Save That Thing’ is a slow burner, with the electric piano and the bass pushing things along, with the occasional vocal interjection.

It is very groovy indeed.

I hope you dig it as much as I do.

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.

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By Larry, April 29, 2014 12:09 pm

Listen/Download The Moods – King Hustler

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week.

The tune I bring you today is a very funky number by some Volcanos in transition.

At some point after they recorded their Harthon 45s (the one with the funky b-sides), and the departure of Gene Faith to go solo, but before they would emerge as the Trammps, the gentlemen of the Volcanos would record two (and a half) 45s as the Moods.

What information I have been able to find seems to place the 45s in question around 1970.

The group released three 45s.

The first – ‘Rainmaker’ b/w ‘Lady Rain’ came out on Wand in 1970.

The one you see before you today, ‘King Hustler’ b/w ‘Hustling’ was released on the local Philly label (maybe one-off) Reddog that same year.

The third – on Scepter – re-used ‘King Hustler’ on the a-side, placing it with a new flipside, ‘With a Woman’.

‘King Hustler’ is a great, hard-edged, Blaxploitation groover that is reminiscent of some of the heavier things the Temptations were laying down around the same time.

The song – co-written by Sherman Marshall and Len Barry – features lyrics that reference Philadelphia’s famous South Street, and going to see ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ at the movies (!?).

The group would reconvene as the Trammps two years later.

I hope you dig the track, 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.

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By Larry, April 24, 2014 1:14 pm

Toby Lark

Listen/Download Toby Lark – Shake a Hand

Greetings all

The end of the week is near, so I will take a moment to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there to dig it at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcst in iTunes, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very groovy, very funky number by a singer you probably know under another name.

I can’t remember exactly when or where I picked up the 45 you see before you today, but I probably grabbed it because the name of the singer rang a bell.

As it turns out, when I saw the name Toby Lark, I was probably thinking of the name Tobi Legend, which is a good thing, since as it turns out, they are both the same person.

Bessie Grace Gupton was born in Alabama but grew up in Detroit.

She spent most of her early years performing gospel, before going to work as a backing singer for BB King.

She first recorded for Jay Pee records in the early 60s as Bessie Watson, changing her name to Tobi Lark in 1964.

She would record for the Palmer, Topper and USD labels under that name before signing with Mala in 1968 and recording under the name Tobi Legend.

It was under that name that she waxed the Northern Soul classic (one of the famous ‘Three Before Eight’) ‘Time Will Pass You By’.

The following year found her recording under the name on today’s selection, Toby Lark.

‘Shake a Hand’ is a funky number, with Lark dipping back into her gospel roots, singing in a deeper, throatier style. The song, written by Joe Morris and first recorded in 1953 by Faye Adams (much slower, and a huge R&B hit), and covered over the years by everyone from Little Richard, to Magic Sam, to Elvis Presley.

She recorded two more 45s for Cotillion, and eventually settled in Canada, where she continues to perform.

I hope you dig the track,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 (3)

By Larry, April 20, 2014 11:21 am

The good stuff…

Roger & the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend (Capitol)
Eddie Bo – Hook and Sling Pt1 (Scram)
Chuck Carbo – Can I Be Your Squeeze (Canyon)

Listen/Download Dust & Grooves Party Set: A Taste of the Bo-Sound

The listening party (Eilon Paz on the floor, DJ Bongohead on the right)

The massive sound system brought in for the occasion

DJ Pat James Longo bringing the heat

The assembled multitudes soaking in the sounds

Yours truly behind the decks
(thanks to Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus for snapping the pic)

Eddie and Inez under the needle

DJ Rebecca Birmingham

All photos by Larry Grogan/Funky16Corners

Greetings all

I hope the new week and the onset of spring (at last) finds you all well.

This Saturday I was very proud to participate in the opening party for the Dust & Grooves book (which I just happen to appear in, alongside over one hundred other wax wranglers).

The work of photographer Eilon Paz (with production coordination by may man Jamison Harvey, aka DJ Prestige of Fleamarket Funk), Dust & Grooves started out as a photo site, and over the years evolved into a book project that encompassed a world tour.

The party was held at the Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn, NY, right underneath the Manhattan Bridge.

There was a listening party (Quincy Jones‘ ‘Walking In Space’), sets by 20 of the NY area’s finest DJs and even some live music.

If you haven’t seen the book, it is truly a thing to behold. A huge, beautifully designed and printed collection of photographs and interviews with people deep inside the vinyl culture, including DJs, collectors, historian/archivists, and label owners.

This post includes my set from the show (we were each allotted 10 minute sets, so I devoted mine to the sounds of Eddie Bo, just like my original photo set/interview on the Dust & Grooves site).

I’m also including some pics from the event (above).

I got to meet some Facebook friends in person, and made some new friends as well.

It was a real gas, and something I was very happy to be a part of.

Dig it all, and 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 (3)

By Larry, April 13, 2014 3:41 pm

The Mothership,now boarding…

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

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: The Mothership Mix

Greetings all

Welcome to the new week.

I have something very groovy for you today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope you dig it too.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, 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, April 3, 2014 12:28 pm

Euro P/S for ‘Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree’

Listen/Download George Tindley – Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree

Greetings all

The end of the week is rolling in, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, coming to you this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airti,e you can always stay abreast of the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove (all on original vinyl) by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selection is one of those records that I scooped up in an early Philly soul dragnet.

If you take one look at the label for George Tindley’s ‘Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree’ it sends up a variety of Philadelphia-identifying red flags, most especially the names of Bobby Eli, Len Barry and John Madara.

When I first picked up the 45, I had no idea who George Tindley was.

As it turns out, he had a long and interesting performing history, which ended in 1970 with the release of this 45.

Tindley was a Philadelphia-area singer who got his start in the early 50s with the Dreams, a group that recorded several sides for the Savoy label in 1954.

He eventually joined Steve Gibson and the Red Caps, with whom he recorded a number of well-remembered doowop 45s in 1959 and 1960, before Tindley took over leadership duties (changing the group name to the Modern Red Caps), continuing on into 1966.

He eventually recorded three solo 45s for Wand in 1969 and 1970, all with Madara. One of them, ‘So Help Me Woman’ co-written by a young Daryl Hall.

His excellent cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ made it into the R&B Top 40 in  the summer of 1969, with this record just missing that mark  in the Spring of the following year.

‘Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree’  – the title of which is a corruption of the Zulu phrase for ‘good people’ – sounds a lot like the kind of thing the Temptations were recording at Motown around the same time, but the backing track is 100% Philadelphia (listen for those Vince Montana vibes).

The record, which has a funky, upbeat rhythm with a pop edge, ought to have been a hit, but only managed minor regional airplay in and around Philadelphia.

It does not appear that Tindley worked as a performer after that, though he does have a number of production and arranging credits (C and the Shells, Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, Evelyn Champagne King) in the 1970s.

I have seen a reference that indicates that Tindley passed away in the 1990s, but aside from that the trail goes cold.

I hope you dig the track, 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 (2)

By Larry, April 1, 2014 10:58 am

Euro P/S for ‘Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys’

Listen/Download Equals – Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

Greetings all

The middle of the week is nigh and I for one feel like I need to be shook/shaken from my quasi-hibernation.

The calendar says that winter is over, but my own two eyes (and the rest of my senses) say “Not so fast, brother.”, so in my cave I remain (for now) with my records.

The record I have selected for your enjoyment this fine day is a long time fave that eluded me for some time.

While the Equals’ ‘Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys’ is not a particularly rare or expensive record, neither is it plentiful or obvious.

It’s just that me and this 45 were both out there but kept passing like two ships in the night.

Until last year, that is, when I finally scooped it up.

The Equals are one of my favorite UK bands of the 60s (and early 70s) because they are as hard to nail down (stylistically) as they were groovy.

Formed in the mid 60s by two Jamaican emigres (brothers Lincoln and Derv Gordon), a guitar slinger from Guyana (Mr Eddy Grant) and two Brits(John Hall and Pat Lloyd) on a council estate in London, the Equals – always more successful in the UK and Europe than they were here – were one of the more interesting groups of the era.

While they were ostensibly a ‘rock’ band, they moved freely between rock, soul, psychedelia, R&B, pop and West Indian influences during their (1966-1973) career.

The tune I bring you today hails from the waning days of their chart success, being their last UK Top 10 hit (barely charting at all in the US) in 1970.

‘Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys’ is a hard hitting, funky protest number, touching on race relations and war, both hot-button issues at the time.

Written by Grant and sung in a typically forceful manner by Derv Gordon, ‘Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys’ was covered in the US by the group ST-4, and had a second, underground life as a popular tune in US dance clubs during the early days of disco culture.

It is a groover indeed.

I hope you dig it, 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 (2)

By Larry, March 25, 2014 3:19 pm

The Chevelles in their later incarnation as the Mighty Chevelles

Listen/Download The Chevelles – The Gallop

Greetings all

Welcome once again to the Funky16Corners hump day experience.

Back in nineteen and sixty eight, when a cat by the name of Cliff Nobles and his group laid down a little number called ‘The Horse’which was a HUGE (YOOOOOOOOOOGE) hit in the summer of that year.

‘The Horse’ wrecked the R&B and Pop charts, was by far the biggest hit that the storied Phil-LA of Soul label ever had and, as was often the case with successful dance craze records, spawned a veritable cottage industry of Horse-and horse-related rip-offs, tributes and homages.

If you get a sec, drop by the Funky16Corners mix archive to dig Funky16Corners Radio v.22 – Horse Power, which is a survey of the Horse explosion.

Included in that mix (back in 2007) was the track you see before you today, ‘The Gallop’ by the Chevelles.

Originally appearing on the flip side of Gloria Walker’s 1968 hit ‘Talking About My Baby’ (R&B Top 10, Pop Hot 100), ‘The Gallop’ is Horse-like in word and deed, emulating the vibe of the OG as well as attaching themselves by association with the title of the song.

The Chevelles – sometimes billed as the Mighty Chevelles – recorded a number of 45 for Eugene Davis’s Flaming Arrow imprint, as both headliners and backing singers like Walker and Angela Davis.

Based in Detroit, the Flaming Arrow label lasted for almost a decade, with the Mighty Chevelles eventually recording and releasing an LP on the label in 1977.

It is a funky, fast moving (it seems to pick up speed as it goes along) 45 and an excellent entry in the horse sweepstakes.

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 (0)

By Larry, March 13, 2014 11:34 am

The Jon-Lee Group (aka Jon – Lee and the Checkmates

Listen/Download TheJon-Lee Group – Pork Chops

Greetings all

The end of the week is approaching so it’s time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show sends its sounds out into the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes or by grabbing an MP3 download here at the blog.

The jam I bring you today is one of my favorite discoveries of the last year, and the way I found it is, as the kids say, cray-cray.

Some of you may know that I also write about 60s pop/garage etc over at my other blog, Iron Leg. It was in my capacity as an Iron Legger that I was involved in doing some research related to 60s sunshine poppers the Cowsills.

I was chasing down a lead about a band called Bodine (that recorded an LP in 1969, produced by Billy Cowsill) when I discovered a fantastic site devoted to the band Rhinoceros, which shared some members with Bodine as well as the Daily Flash (great, mid-60s folk rock group) and a group I’d never heard of called Jon-Lee and the Checkmates.

As it turns out, some of the Rhinoceros guys got their start in Jon-Lee and the Checkmates (later the Jon-Lee Group), a mid-60s white R&B/soul band from Toronto.

Though they performed widely and recorded a number of tracks, only one single was ever released, ‘Bring It Down Front’ b/w ‘Pork Chops’ (on ABC in the US and Sparton in Canada.

The a-side is a mid-tempo, Stax-ish soul harmony number, but it is the flipside that really blew my mind.

‘Pork Chops’ (written by Duke Edwards, later of Duke Edwards and the Young Ones on Prestige) is a mind-blowing, wig-flipping ass-kicker of a Hammond instrumental.

It’s not hard to hear the roots of Rhinoceros’ hit ‘Apricot Brandy’ (which featured Jon-Lee organist Michael Fonfara as well as Duke Edwards) in ‘Pork Chops’, but the earlier record is about ten times as manic.

Taken at breakneck speed, ‘Pork Chops’ features wailing organ, pounding bass and drums and just enough fuzz guitar to let you know that it was 1967.

The Jon-Lee Group wouldn’t last much longer, with Fonfara and singer John Finley (the Jon in Jon-Lee) leaving to join Rhinoceros at the end of 1967.

This is a blazing track, and I hope you like it as much as I do.

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 PS There’s some great video of Jon-Lee and the Checkmates performing live!

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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 11, 2014 11:04 am

Hank Ballard

Listen/Download Hank Ballard – Blackenized

Greetings all

One of the great things that James Brown was responsible for (in addition to the one, true, superheavy funk) was the rebirth of Hank Ballard’s career.

Ballard, an R&B pioneer who had a string of hits that stretched from 1953 (‘Get It’ with the Royals) to 1961 (several classics as the leader of the Midnighters) was an major influence on JB.

By the time he started recording with Brown in the late 60s, Ballard had been away from the charts for half a decade.

Working with Brown, he had his comeback hit in 1968 with ‘How you Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven’t Cut Your Process Yet)’ which made it into the R&B Top 20.

He recorded a string of excellent 45s (and an LP) over the course of the next few years.

Today’s selection ‘Blackenized’ (written by Brown) was released in 1969.

Like his previous hit, ‘Blackenized’ works the same black empowerment angle, with a funky band (dig that flute) and a great vocal/recitation by Ballard.

There are times where Hank crosses the line from the sublime into the ridiculous – such as his exhortation ‘You don’t have to be like an Oreo cookie, Brother. Black on the outside and white on the inside’, but it’s such a groovy track you kind of roll with it.

The flip side ‘Come On Wit It’ (co-written by Ballard, Brown and Bud Hobgood) is a more conventional JB/’69 funk outing.

I hope you dig the track, 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.