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By Larry, May 29, 2014 11:18 am

Listen/Download The Other Brothers – It’s Been a Long Time Baby

Greetings all

The Funky16Corners 2014 Allnighter and Pledge Drive is arriving Friday, June 6th!

We have a stellar line up of selectors contributing mixes this year, and the mixes are killer.

The format will be slightly different this year, with a new mix being added each weekday from June 6 to June 20.

All donors this year will receive the new 2014 Funky16Corners badge (see the left side of the banner, above), as well as stickers from the archive (while they last). There will also be prizes every day (drawn at random) including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul, CDs from Light in the Attic and more!

It’s sure to be a gas, so stay tuned for more details in the coming week.

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As the weekend is approaching rapidly, I should take a moment to remind you to lend an ear 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 or grab yourselves an MP3 here at the blog.

The record I bring you today was one of those happy little b-side discoveries.

I originally picked up this 45 for the very cool vocal version of ‘Hole In the Wall’ by the Other Brothers.

Released in 1966 – covering the Packers OG from 1965 – the Other Brothers take on the tune was groovy indeed (and covered in this space backin 2009).

Fortunately, I remembered to flip the record over when I was recording it, and discovered much to my delight that the b-side was also quite good, in an entirely different bag.

‘It’s Been a Long Time Baby’ is one of those melodic, hard charging tunes that should have found its way onto the radio, or at the very least, onto a Northern Soul playlist or two.

I’ve never been able to nail down any information on the Other Brothers.

There appears to have been a few different groups operating under than name during the 1960s, and the names on the 45 have not provided any leads.

That said, if your intention is to acquire 45s with the maximum amount of heat for dollar value, you could do a lot worse than adding this one to your record box.

I hope you dig it, 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.

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By Larry, May 27, 2014 12:08 pm

Jimmy Wisner, tickling the ivories

Listen/Download Mr. Jim and the Rhythm Machine – Mrs. Robinson

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is a very groovy bit of swinging soul jazz, with an interesting pedigree.

If you are a casual music fan, I wouldn’t expect the name Jimmy Wisner to raise any eyebrows.

However, if – like me – you are one of those obsessives that peruse the label of every record that comes into your possession, then Wisner’s name should be a familiar one indeed.

Based out of Philadelpia – thus his presence on so many local records – Wisner was a pianist, composer, arranger and producer for a very wide variety of artists during the 1960s and 1970s.

He was also a successful recording artist, though he rarely used his own name.

His first success came with the reworked version of Edvard Grieg’s ‘Piano Concerto in A Minor’, released as ‘Asia Minor’ under the artist name of ‘Kokomo’, which was a hit in 1961. Wisner released the record under a pseudonym so as not to compromise his career as a jazz pianist.

He also recorded the Northern Soul sleeper ‘Choppin’ Around’ (itself another classical adaptation, this time of a Chopin piece, thus the pun in the title) under his own name in 1966.

When I first happened upon the version of ‘Mrs. Robinson’ you see before you today, recorded as Mr. Jim and the Rhythm Machine, my first impression was that it was a successful attempt at hopping onto the Ramsey Lewis train and taking it for a ride.

Basically a piano trio record, with some very tasteful strings added in the background, the Mr. Jim version of the Simon and Garfunkel tune is a solid swinger, which I wouldn’t hesitate to whip on the dancers.

Interestingly, this predates the version by Booker T and the MGs (a Top 40 R&B hit) by a year and was competing for airtime with covers by Chet Atkins and bandleader Don Costa.

As far as I can tell it didn’t chart anywhere, which is a shame because it’s quite good, but Wisner had so much on his plate (he was just about to take over A&R at Columbia Records) I think he probably just kept on rolling.

I hope you dig the cut, 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 (1)

By Larry, May 25, 2014 11:33 am

Miss Dorothy Moore

Listen/Download Dorothy Moore – Here It Is

Greetings all

I hope the new week finds you all well.

Before we get started, hop on over to the Peace & Rhythm blog and check out the interview I did with DJ Andujar.

I thought we’d get the week started with something funky, along with a reminder on the benefits of cooperative digging.

Following the old axiom of giving credit where credit is due, I try to give props to my musical influences whenever appropriate.

I have been very luck to have friends over the years that have been generous with their taste, time and knowledge, especially in regard to records.

There is nothing quite like digging alongside someone with complementary tastes, sharing finds and turning each other on to new sounds.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the record ‘game’, collectors and dealers who subscribe to some variety of the old alpha male secret squirrel bullshit, wherein they share nothing, lest they miss an opportunity to profit, in cash, knowledge or both.

I have always taken the zen approach, in which knowledge given out always finds its way back in some form, building up my vinyl karma whenever possible.

This includes giving up spots (where one might procure said records) as well as facts, so that one’s friends might take off on musical tangents of their own.

It was in that spirit that my man DJ Prestige handed me the record you see before you today, suggesting that I look past the hit ballad on the top-side, and dig the funky goodness on the flip.

‘Here It Is’, recorded in 1975 by Dorothy Moore (and written by none other than King Floyd) appeared on the b-side of her massive hit ‘Misty Blue’, a Top 5 R&B and Pop hit in 1976.

Moore had herself a fairly substantial career before her breakthrough, having recorded as part of the Poppies (who recorded several 45s for Epic in 1966) as well as waxing a couple of excellent and sought after singles (including ‘He’s About a Mover’) for MGM in 1967 and 1968 under the name Dottie Cambridge.

There were a couple of dry years in the late 60s and early 70s, before Moore returned to recording for Avco and then Malaco/Chimneyville.

Her first major hit was ‘Misty Blue’, followed by a string of hits that lasted from 1976 to 1982.

‘Here It Is’ is a great bit of mid-tempo, southern funk with a great horn section and clavinet chugging underneath.

Though she was largely absent from the charts, Moore continued to record LPs for Malaco, and then her own Farish Street label through the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

I hope you dig the tune, 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 (2)

By Larry, May 22, 2014 11:59 am

The Mighty Esquerita!

Listen/Download Eskew Reeder – Green Door

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us, so that means that it’s also Funky16Corners Radio Show time! You can pile it all into your ears each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, or you can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 at the Radio Show Archive here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very solid sender indeed, brought to you by the mighty Eskew Reeder (aka Esquerita, aka SQ Reeder).

I remember first hearing about Esquerita back in the 80s via the mighty Kicks magazine (the greatest zine that ever was and a HUGE influence on yours truly).

Esquerita was one of the legendary madmen of R&B and rock’n’roll, an influence on none other than Little Richard, and a cat who made some very groovy music of his own over the years.

The song ‘Green Door’ was first recorded in 1956 as a novelty tune by DJ Jim Lowe.

The Eskew Reeder version was waxed way down yonder in New Orleans with the assistance of none other than the mighty Allen Toussaint.

Reeder’s version is largely an organ instrumental. He was mainly a pianist but displays a solid facility on the organ, even if he appears to begin soloing with his elbows about halfway through the record.

You also get a couple of vocal interjections by Eskew along the way.

This version is (like the Wynder K Frog cover from a few years later that leans heavily on it for inspiration) a dance floor banger, and if this doesn’t get the folks twisting and shaking, you need to check them for a pulse.

Esquerita’s career and discography were pretty spotty after the mid-60s, and by the time he was rediscovered in NYC in the 80s he was parking cars and playing in dives.

Sadly, he passed away from AIDS complications in 1986.

His spirit is carried on by the folks at Norton (it’s Esquerita’s mug that greets you when you hit their website) in the form of much music and ephemera.

I hope you dig the sounds, 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, May 18, 2014 1:00 pm

Miss Helene Smith

Listen/Download Helene Smith – Like a Baby

Greetings all

Welcome to a new week from my outpost in the rapidly warming Northeast.

The record I bring you today was the first indicator I had – back in the day – that not everything on the Phil LA of Soul imprint was from Philadelphia.

I first heard of Helene Smith because of her heavily sweated ‘You Got To Be a Man’,which a certain Mr Prince Rogers Nelson borrowed from to create the song ‘Kiss’.

Smith was a Florida-based singer who worked with Willie Clarke and Clarence Reid and got her start recording as a backing vocalist for Betty Wright (in the early days of that singer’s career).

She originally recorded the tune ‘Like a Baby’ as her first 45 for the Miami label Deep City in 1966.

The song was licensed by Phil LA of Soul and released there in 1967.

‘Like a Baby’ is a superb bit of sweet soul. Taken at a slow pace, with relatively spare bass, piano, guitar and drums, the coed backup vocals provide contrast to Smith’s high voice.

The song didn’t make a dent in the charts, though its flipside, the ballad ‘A Woman Will Do Wrong’ was an R&B Top 20 hit in 1967.

Smith went on to record a couple of 45s for Phil LA of Soul between 1967 and 1969, and then two more for the TK subsidiary Dash in 1971 and 1972.

After that the trail goes cold.

You can pick up a number of her tracks on the Numero Group’s comp Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label, available on iTunes or on CD.

I hope you dig the tune, 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 (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

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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, May 1, 2014 10:59 am

Say what,now?

Listen/Download Plookie McCline – Gorilla Walk

Greetings all

The week is nearing its inevitable conclusion, so that means it’s time to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will return once again to the airwaves of the interwebs this (and every) Friday night at 9Pm on Viva Radio. You can also keep up with things by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a slice of gritty, slightly deranged R&B from the streets of Chicago.

I picked up this 45 years ago during the early days of my Jerry-O obsession, when I cast my dragnet far and wide, picking up whatever I could find associated with the master.

Charles ‘Plookie’ McCline is something of a mystery (he doesn’t even get a mention in Robert Pruter’s comprehensive ‘Chicago Soul’). He appears to have recorded a handful of 45s for the Jerry-O/Larry-O labels around 1963, some of which were also issued under the name ‘Willie Logan and the Plaids’.

Today’s selection, which was released late in 1963 was the flipside of ‘Uncle Willy’, a tune no doubt meant to tie in to the local dance craze of the same name.

As fine as that side is, you simply must flip it over to wrap your ears around one of the roughest, craziest bits of Chicago madness ever pressed into wax.

There are points where ‘Gorilla Walk’ sounds like it was lifted from the soundtrack of one of those old Bela Lugosi tropical zombie movies.

To describe the proceedings as ‘lo-fi’ would be both accurate and charitable.

It sounds like the band and the singers were crammed into a broom closet with equipment from the early days of sound recording*.

The backing vocals are – not to put too fine a point on it – wailed, and the saxophone sounds like it and its player had only a passing acquaintance.

The lead vocal by Mr McCline is pretty straight ahead, and the guitar is pretty groovy too.

Make sure to slap this one on the next time you’re in the midst of a drunken mob.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 *Interestingly enough, the production is credited to Jerry-O and the arrangment to Milt Bland aka Monk Higgins!

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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, 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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 27, 2014 12:53 pm

Baby Face Willette

Listen/Download Baby Face Willette – Amen

Greetings all

How about we get the week started fine and mellow with a little slice of Hammond heaven.

Roosevelt ‘Baby Face’ Willette is one of those players that was always kind of floating on the periphery for me.

While I saw his name pop up here and there, and saw pictures of his albums on inner sleeves, it was a long time before his actual playing entered my ears or his records found their way into my crates.

Willette was the son of a minister and a missionary, and when he started tickling the ivories, he did in service to the lord.

He ended up playing piano as a sideman in a number of R&B and jazz groups, eventually switching to the Hammond organ.

Willette recorded a few sessions as a sideman on Blue Note before waxing his own LPs as a leader in 1961.

He moved from Blue Note to the Chess subsidiary Argo, recording two LPs and a number of 45s for the label.

The disc you see before you today was released in 1965 and also appeared on his LP ‘Behind the 8 Ball’ that year.

The song ‘Amen’ often credited to Jester Hairston but almost as often listed as ‘traditional’ was a hit for the Impressions in 1960 and covered by the Winstons in 1969 (the one with the famous break).

Here Willette takes things slow and easy, swinging the choir loft as it were, with able assistance from guitarist Ben White and drummer Jerold Donavon.

It is a very groovy disc indeed, and a fine example of the kind of thing you might hear pumping out of a tavern jukebox back in the day.

Baby Face Willette passed away a few months before his 37th birthday in 1971.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you 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 (0)

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

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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 (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

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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, April 10, 2014 1:34 pm

The Mighty Harvey Fuqua

Listen/Download Harvey – Any Way You Wanta

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which lights up the wireless each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you aren’t able to dig it at airtime, you can always keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

I thought I’d end the week with something very groovy.

The first time I heard ‘Any Way You Wanta’ by Harvey (courtesy of my man Michael Newman) I pretty much flipped my wig.

There’s a Latin term (dropped here from time to time), ‘sui generis’ meaning ‘in a class or group of its own’ or ‘not like anything else’.

If ever there was a 45 for which this term was seemingly invented, ‘Any Way You Wanta’ is it, brother.

It pays to start by mentioning that Harvey, was in fact Harvey Fuqua, late of the Moonglows (they even take the time to mention that fact on the label). Fuqua had had a solid and very interesting career prior to this record, recording with the Moonglows, and duetting with Etta James on Chess.

He eventually found his way to Detroit, where he fell in with the various and sundry figures that would eventually give birth to the Motown organization.

Fuqua worked with Anna Gordy (sister of Berry), married Gwen Gordy (their other sister, who co-wrote this 45) and in addition to work on the Anna label (home to Barrett Strong’s ‘Money’) started his own Tri-Phi and Harvey labels where he would record a number of artists that would end up on Motown, like the Spinners, Junior Walker and Shorty Long.

‘Any Way You Wanta’ was recorded in 1962, but sounds like it could have come from anytime in the previous five years, or from Mars or some other crazy place.

The musical backing is fairly simple and straight ahead, but the vocals are – in the words of the kids – cray cray.

Ho-lee-shizzle, there’s a reason this record is sweated bigtime (and pulls in serious coin), and that is because it is possessed of a kind of odd magic that sounds like a mixture of pure enthusiasm, Tarzan, glue-sniffing and that wolf from the old Tex Avery cartoons.

Harvey spends the better part of two minutes and forty five seconds singing, howling, stuttering, calling out dance steps and occasionally throwing in whatever he can pull from his grab bag.

It’s really something else, though perhaps too much so, since I can only find one instance of ‘Any Way You Wanta’ charting anywhere, and not very high or for very long.

That said, since its inception, ‘Any Way You Wanta’ has become a big favorite of soul/R&B fans, even finding its way onto Northern Soul playlists.

Harvey Fuqua went on to be an important figure in the history of soul, as a songwriter, producer, performer and discoverer of artists like Marvin Gaye, New Birth and Sylvester.

He was a very serious cat indeed, passing away in 2010 at the age of 80.

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.