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By Larry, March 22, 2011 11:10 am

Melvin Sparks 1946 – 2011

Listen/Download – Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt1

Listen/Download -Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt2

Greetings all.

I had an excellent time spinning soul 45s last night at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. Once again my man Perry Lane was the host with the most, and some cool people (including my brother) came by to join in the fun. I recorded my sets again, and will be posting one of them on Friday, so stay tuned for that.

Late last week I heard via the Facebook grapevine that the mighty Melvin Sparks had passed, just short of his 65th birthday. The news was confirmed later that day.

If you’re a hardcore soul jazz fiend (like me) especially someone who really digs Hammond sounds, then his name looms large.

Born and raised in Texas, Sparks went on to be the go-to guitarist on late 60s/early 70s Prestige (and Blue Note) dates, working with heavies like Leon Spencer, Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Reuben Wilson, Rusty Bryant, Lou Donaldson, Caesar Frazier, Jack McDuff, Charles Kynard and Sonny Phillips among many others.

If you recognize a lot of organists in that list, it’s a testament to the fact that Sparks was a treasured sideman for the Hammond set, laying his licks deep inside the groove in a career that lasted more than 40 years.

Sparks also recorded a number of sought after albums as a leader for labels like Prestige, Eastbound/Westbound and Muse.
The 45 I bring you today (both extremely tasty sides) is his reading of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ (truncated here to just ‘Thank You’). It was recorded in 1970 with a tight group that included Idris Muhammad on drums, Leon Spencer on the organ (you really get to hear him cut loose on Pt2) and Virgil Jones and John Manning on horns.

Sparks’ style was economical, soulful and right in the groove. Listen to his sustain at the end of the verse phrases, and the way he builds complexity gradually, never flashy, but always solid.

Part one sees Sparks soloing, with Spencer comping in the background, the two masters switching places in part two.

It’s a fantastic example of the Prestige jazz funk sound, and an all-around great 45 with which to groove.

Melvin Sparks was a giant and he will be missed.

See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

Comments (2)

By Larry, March 20, 2011 1:45 pm

The Velvelettes

Listen/Download -The Velvelettes – A Bird In the Hand (Is Worth Two In the Bush)

Greetings all,, and welcome to the working week.

Before I get started I want to remind you that I’ll be spinning 45s at Spindletop @ Botanic in NYC Monday night (3/21) starting at 10PM. If you’re within driving distance, try to fall by and say hello. It’s a very groovy scene that Perry Lane has going there, and you could spend your Monday night doing a lot less interesting things than getting down to rare soul with a delicious cocktail in your hand.

The tune I bring you today is one of my favorite 45s by my all-time favorite Motown group, the mighty Velvelettes.

Interestingly, though this is the very first thing I ever heard by the group (on a late 80s Motown Rarities comp) it’s the last 45 of theirs I found, picking it up on the cheap at one of the Asbury Lanes record shows.

Formed in the early 60s as the Barbees, then changing their name and releasing their first VIP 45 ‘Needle In a Haystack’ in 1964, the Velvelettes – working almost exclusively with the legendary Norman Whitfield – recorded only five 45s during their existence. That these are uniformly excellent, representing the best that the Motown girl groups had to offer explains why I dig them so much.

Though most civilians have probably heard a Velvelettes song or two (possibly via the wan Bananarama cover of ‘He Was Really Sayin’ Something’), their 45s are coveted by soul fans, who recognize a great record when they hear one.

Their material was written by a Who’s Who of Motown greats, including Whitfield, Eddie Holland, Mickey Stevenson, Sylvia Moy, Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua, and though the group only managed minor hits, as I said, the few records they made are unbeatable.

The tune I bring you today, 1965s ‘A Bird In the Hand (Is Worth Two In the Bush)’ is a storming dancer with a typically fantastic vocal by Cal Gill. It’s worth checking out for the bass line alone, which pretty much drives the record. I really dig the way the intro builds its power as well.

It’s always worth mentioning how good a singer Gill was, especially since when you ask most people, the female singer on Motown they remember is Diana Ross, probably the weakest vocalist in their stable, behind powerhouses like Martha Reeves, Brenda Holloway, the alternating leads of the Marvelettes, and ultimately the mighty Gladys Knight.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

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By Larry, March 17, 2011 1:11 pm

The Ohio Players

Listen/Download -Ohio Players – Find Someone To Love

Greetings all.

I hope you’re all ready to shed the week and slip on into the weekend.

Before we wrap things up, I’d like to remind you that I’ll be back in NYC spinning the 45s with soul this coming Monday at Spindletop @ Botanica. It’s a very groovy scene and I assure that I only bring 100% USDA certified soul 45s, guaranteed to move your feet, and under the proper circumstances, strengthen your pimp hand.

You should also tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio, this Friday night at 9PM for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from vinyl sources. As always, if you are otherwise occupied at the time of broadcast, you can always fall by the blog over the weekend and pick up the show in convenient MP3 form.

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

Now, about the funk…

The tune I bring you today is a bit of instrumental genius from the early days of the mighty Ohio Players.

With a lineage that goes back to 1959 (when the group came together as the Ohio Untouchables), on into their mid-decade rebirth as the Ohio Players, after which they worked in New York as the house band for Compass Records (releasing two singles for the label in 1967 and 1968).

They were working with producer Johnny Brantley’s Vidalia productions when they hooked up (for one album) with Capitol Records.

The tune I bring you today comes from that partnership.

Interestingly, their recording from this period, for both Compass and Capitol had been recirculated on the exploit/ripoff label Trip/Upfront as the album ‘First Impressions’, which is where I first heard ‘Find Someone To Love’. Their Capitol LP, ‘Observations In Time’ isn’t incredibly rare, or expensive (copies go for between 40 and 100 bucks) but it doesn’t show up that often.

The group’s vocal material from this period has always reminded me of the Parliaments stuff from the mid-60s, with a slightly more raucous edge.

‘Find Someone To Love’ features Sugarfoot Bonner’s wobbly, deeply funky guitar prominently, as well as hard hitting drums, droning organ and the band’s horn section. It’s a much deeper, grittier groove than the flashy, fonky stuff they’d hit the charts with a few years later.

Not exactly the Love Rollercoaster, more like the funhouse on the way there.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do too.

See you on Monday (either here or in NYC).

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some insane surf instros.

Comments (3)

By Larry, March 15, 2011 10:15 am

Pat Rhoden

Listen/Download -Pat Rhoden – Boogie On Reggae Woman

Greetings all.

I hope all is groovy in your neck of the interwebs.

As I mentioned on Monday, my wife, the little Corners and I will be walking in the 2011 Monmouth/Ocean County POAC (Parents of Autistic Children) Walk for a Difference on April 2, 2011.

Thanks to those of you that have already donated.

I’ll be keeping the donation link in my posts (click on the logo below) until the date of the walk (4/2). If you can afford to toss a few bucks into the pot to advance a very important cause, please do so. It is greatly appreciated.

I should also mention today that I will be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica with DJ Perry Lane this coming Monday 3/21. I’ll be bringing a mixed bag of soulful sounds with me, including hard charging party soul, Northern, Hammond grooves and maybe even a little bit of early funk for your feet. Drop on by and say hi if you’re in Manhattan.

The tune I bring you today is something I happened upon a few years back.

I don’t know much about Pat Rhoden, other than that he seems to have been a journeyman ska/rock steady/reggae singer.

He recorded for a variety of labels, including Ska Beat, Trojan, Attack, Pama and Horse between the mid-60s and the early 80s as a solo, and also as part of the duo Winston and Pat (with Winston Groovy of ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’ fame) for Bullet.

He recorded his cover of Stevie Wonder’s big hit ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’ for the Trojan subsidiary Horse. The date on the label says 1974, but Stevie didn’t hit with it until the very end of ’74, so unless he was sending his demos over to Pat, I’m going to go with 1975.

I thought this was a groovy bit of circle-closing, that being a Jamaican cover of Mr. Wonder’s tribute to the sounds of the island.

Rhoden takes things at a mellow – ever so slightly funky – pace, and I really dig the drums at the beginning.

He also did a very cool cover of Stevie’s ‘Living For the City’ which I’ll have to post sometime in the future.

I hope you dig this one, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some insane surf instros.

Comments (5)

By Larry, March 10, 2011 11:12 am

The Eyes of Blue

Listen/Download – The Eyes of Blue

Greetings all.

The end of a very long week is here, and despite pounding out more than my quota of words and such, I’m still ready and raring to go.

But first this update from the Funky16Corners newsroom…

This Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns once again to Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all brought to you with the hot wax squeezed through the digital meat grinder and transplanted onto the throbbing airwaves of the interwebs. This week we have more of the groovy gravy you have come to know and love, including some cool new arrivals.

As always, if you are otherwise occupied during our normal time slot, you can always fall by the blog over the weekend to collect your very own MP3 copy of this week’s show that you may insert onto the pod-like thingy of your choice.

Oh, and this…

I mentioned that I’m all fired up, and the record I bring you today is the reason why.

I can say with some certainty that the Eyes of Blue version of ‘Heart Trouble’ made its way into my ears some time during the mighty mod days of the mid-80s, courtesy of the tape-making mania of my man Mr Luther. From that moment it was lodged in my brain like the thorn in the foot of Androcles lion, nagging at me for decades until the day when a copy this very 45 and yours truly finally intersected.

I had copies of the song on tape, and then CD, but as any DJ worth their wax will tell you, when a record really knocks you out, until you have a copy in your box to whip on the groovers (which I will be doing when I return to Spindletop on 3/21), nothing else matters.

As I said, the song blew my mind but got even better when I found out that the song in question had originally been recorded by the Parliaments.

In fact, the Parliaments version is the rarest of their 45s, pulling in a few hundred smackers when it shows up.

The original version by Mr. Clinton and his pals was released on Detroit’s storied Golden World imprint in 1966. Written by George Clinton and Sidney Barnes, the original version (which can be heard here) is not only one of the group’s finest songs, but a certified Motor City soul classic. The lyrics would resurface years later in the Funkadelic song “You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure”.

That said, the Parliaments never got its due, and remains as obscure as it is good.

Which begs the question where did the Eyes of Blue, the pride of Neath, Wales get their hands on it?

While Northern Soul hadn’t really happened yet, there was certainly a soul scene in the UK, and it seems entirely possible that the Eyes of Blue heard the song in any number of clubs, or even played on the radio.

Ultimately, what matters is that they not only met the Parliaments on their own musical turf, and I would go as far as to say bested them when they waxed the tune for Deram in 1967*.

How do I arrive at this somewhat controversial conclusion?

Well, there are a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that the Eyes of Blue (ironic name for what might be termed blue-eyed soul, a subgenre we will henceforth refer to as – in the words of reader George Macklin – “equal opportunity soul”) version of ‘Heart Trouble’ is without any question one of the two or three finest mod soul covers ever recorded, up there alongside numbers like the Action’s epic version of the Radiants ‘Baby You’ve Got It’ and the Artwoods take on Solomon Burke’s ‘Keep Looking’.

It has a sonic power that the original lacks, and a fantastic vocal by Gary Pickford Hopkins sounding like a rougher-edged Paul Jones.

The Eyes of Blue version record is every bit as danceable as the Parliaments and then some.

Where the original has a more complex vocal mix – with female backing singers and a powerful male bass vocal – as well as strings (a role taken in the Eyes of Blue version by piano), the cover builds its power in an entirely different way. The beat is constructed on powerful snare drum hits, which are the mimicked by the tambourine, piano chords and pumping bass guitar.

Whenever you run into a cover of a soul tune by a white band, there are always perceived issues of authenticity, with ‘perceived’ being the operative term.

Our friends in the UK had a serious jones for US soul and R&B, and there were tons of such covers recorded with widely varying levels of success. When I tell you that I first fell in love with the song ‘Our Love Is In the Pocket’ when I heard the version by Amen Corner, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you while it’s groovy in its own way it doesn’t really stack up favorably with the versions by Darrell Banks or JJ Barnes and the same could be said for the Alan Bown Set’s cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘Headline News’.

However, every once in a while you get the perfect pairing of band and song that manages to transcend a soul original, and this is one of those times.

Oddly, the Eyes of Blue, which got its start as an R&B/soul band, recorded one more 45 for Deram, the excellent ‘Supermarket Full of Cans’ before signing with Mercury and morphing into a much heavier, prog/psych concern, with members of the band ending up in groups like Man, Gentle Giant and Wild Turkey.

I hope you dig this one as much as I do, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*What you see before you is a US issue of the 45. Go to this 2004 article in the Funky16Corners web zine for a gander at the UK pressing.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

Comments (8)

By Larry, March 8, 2011 12:32 pm

Dixie Cups (above) and Billy Vera (below)

Listen/Download – Dixie Cups – Two-Way-Poc-A-Way

Listen/Download – Billy Vera – Big Chief (Tu-Way Poca-Way)

NOTE: After you’re done reading, make sure to check out the comments for additional information on the roots of these songs.

Greetings all.

Here’s yet another unscheduled post, brought on by some deep thinking, spawned by a lack of same on my part, but ultimately remedied (at least I think so, but you’ll have to decide for yourself).

When I posted Billy Vera’s ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’ yesterday, preceded by a few weeks by the Dixie Cups record of the almost identical title, ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’, it didn’t occur to me to think anything other than that both songs were drawing water from the same well, i.e. Mardi Gras Indian tradition.

The Indian Tribes are a New Orleans-based African American tradition that goes back to the mid-19th century, likely born out of the shared minority experience of blacks and native Americans.

The celebrations by these tribes are centered around several holidays climaxing with Mardi Gras, the final day of celebration prior to the Christian feast of Lent (which itself ends with Easter).

The tribes dress in fantastically ornate feathered costumes and parade through the city, doing symbolic battle for primacy.
If you are a big fan of New Orleans music, you have certainly heard, through countless versions of ‘Iko Iko’ (itself based on Sugarboy Crawford’s ‘Jock-A-Mo’, a situation that led to legal action which saw Crawford leave without gaining authorship of the later record, yet being given monetary rights to the Dixie Cups recording), as well as tunes like Professor Longhair’s ‘Big Chief’ words and phrases with a direct connection to the Wild Indian tribes, like ‘big chief’ ‘spy boy’ and ‘flag boy’, as well as a wide variety of seemingly meaningless, rhythmic phrases (check out Professor Longhair’s ‘Tipitina’ for a master class in same*).

When the Dixie Cups recorded ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ for ABC in 1965 (following their success with ‘Iko Iko’ on Leiber and Stoller’s Red Bird label) they were working with the same basic material, albeit in a much rawer way.

Billy Vera recorded ‘Big Chief (Tu-Way-Poca-Way)’ in 1974, creating his own bit of Mardi Gras funk, borrowing the main phrase from the Dixie Cups record or, and this is entirely likely considering the obscurity of the Dixie Cups recording, from a separate ‘third party’, i.e. Mardi Gras Indian tradition, or earlier R&B source itself.

When I posted the Vera 45 yesterday, a commenter stated that although he liked the record, it was merely an imitation of the Dixie Cups recording. I also had a brief exchange of e-mails on the subject with the mighty Dan Phillips of  Home of the Groove.

I rolled this around in my head for a little while, and since I was out running errands when the comment came in, bounced back and forth between the two songs on the iPod, which in the car is a huge (and potentially dangerous) pain in the ass.

When I got home, I decided that the only way to get to the bottom (or at least close to the bottom of the situation) was to do my best to transcribe both songs and compare.

I’m not qualified to do this on a melodic level, but I do have enough of an ear to see that the Dixie Cups record is almost melody-free, more of a chant than a song. It has a sui generis feel that is both mysterious and extraordinary, where Vera’s record is straight ahead funk.

Lyrically, my assumption was that any similarities I was hearing were likely the result of, as I said before, both artists pulling phrases from the same tradition, which predated both recordings.

When I finally got both sets of lyrics typed out – and I hope you’ll forgive me if some of the words are incorrect – it would appear that aside from the title (which I can’t trace beyond the Dixie Cups record, which may in itself be a problem with countless spelling and punctuation variables) and a pair of common two-line phrases (placed in italics below), the songs are not the same.

There are certainly several common motifs, i.e. the Big Chief, spyboy (or spy), the second line and the battle fire (all of which appear in Professor Longhair’s ‘Big Chief’, which was itself written by Earl King) , but what you end up with is two songs about the same basic set of events (the meeting of the Indian tribes), which include many similar details.

Whether Vera lifted the repeated phrases (rhyming ‘on the bayou’ and ‘world on fire’ and then ‘tambourines ringing’ and ‘second line singing’) directly from the Dixie Cups record, or if they also arise from a third source that I am unaware of (which is also possible) I do not know.

If any of you do, please let me know and I will make note of it in this piece.

That said, there’s also the question of whether or not Vera, a California native, was engaging in a form of stylistic carpetbagging by drawing so heavily from these sources. If he’d recorded his record in 1966, I might say so, but ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’ was recorded in 1974.

Vera was an R&B/soul vet by this point, already familiar with the sounds of the Crescent City. As I mentioned in the previous piece, he is not only a musician with an almost 50 year long career, but also a historian.

As has been displayed in the space for the last six years (and in the web zine before that) the music and culture of New Orleans is brilliant, very deep, and very, very contagious.

My only visit there was as a teenager almost 35 years ago, but every time I put on a record by Professor Longhair, Eddie Bo, Dr John, the Meters, Huey Piano Smith and the Clowns, Irma Thomas, Eldridge Holmes, Roger and the Gypsies or any of the other NOLA artists that I hold so dear, I feel New Orleans in the room, and I can’t really think of any other American music that transports the listener to a region with as much ease.

I’d like to think that Billy Vera was trying to recreate that feeling when he wrote and recorded ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’.

Either way, he created a great 45.

The Lyrics: Note – I omitted repeated uses of the title since I’m not much of a typist, and I fear I may be approaching my lifetime quota on hyphens.

______________________________________________

Dixie Cups – Two-Way-Poc-A-Way
Early in the morning
Indians coming
Go and get the Big Chief
Big Chief ready
Down on the bayou
World on fire
Lord ain’t he pretty
Talkin’ bout big chief
Talkin’ bout big chief

Spy met a gang now
Spy went the signal
Big chief holla
Spy boy walla
Straight on to me

Go up fast now
Tell everybody
Goin on down
Down town

Spy boy leaving
Big chief holla
Second line follow
Tambourines ringing
Second line singing

Sun goin down
Sun going down
Jump all around now
All fall down
Goin’ on in now
Goin’ on in now

______________________________________________

Billy Vera – Big Chief (Tu-Way-Poca-Way)
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day

Big Chief march out to the bayou
Dance around the battle fire
Say at night it can’t be done
Won’t come back ‘til battle is done

Goin on in now
Big chief leaders
Across the river

Where my spyboy Big Chief holla
Goes behind the second line follow
Enemy see your see turn tail
Tribes is fighting tooth and nail

Keep on fighting
Big chief leaders
On the bayou
World on fire

Battle is won we go downtown
Big parade when the sun go down
I want to paint my face turn green
Try to find my voodoo queen

Bayou bayou
World on fire
Big Chief holla
Second line follow
Tambourine ringing
Second line singing
See my queen now
Yours is green

Peace

Larry

*Much of this language has roots in Creole and what is referred to as Mobilian jargon

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Comments (2)

By Larry, March 7, 2011 3:29 pm

The mighty Billy Vera

Listen/Download – Billy Vera – Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today – in a very special early mid-week post – is something very cool that I picked up last year.

I’m not sure I recall exactly how I came upon this one, but I suspect I was digging through the wilds of the intertubes for vinyl by one of my all-time favorite  soul men, the mighty Billy Vera.

Though folks of a certain vintage may only be familiar with Vera’s huge 1987 #1 Pop hit ‘At This Moment’, he had a long history before that. I’m a big fan of his 1960s duet work with Judy Clay (Storybook Children, Country Girl City Man etc) as well as one of my all-time favorite 45s (billed as a Billy & Judy duet but actually just Vera and his band) ‘Really Together’.

He worked through the 60s and 70s as a songwriter and performer, recording for Cameo and Atlantic, as well as a number of smaller labels.

He’s also an actor, and most importantly (at least to me) a serious record collector who has annotated several reissue projects.

Up until I scored this killer, I had no familiarity at all with his 70s stuff, and no idea that he had ever worked in Memphis with the legendary Steve Cropper.

The real reason for whipping ‘Big Chief (Tu- Way Poca-Way)’ on you is that this Tuesday is Mardi Gras.

A while back, when I dropped the Dixie Cups’ ‘Two Way Poca Way’ (no relation, or is there?? See my 3/8 post above), I mentioned that I had another interesting side in the to-be-blogged file that was both funky, and filled with Mardi Gras Indian lingo.

This is that very record, and a funky one it is.

What you’re getting is Mr. Vera leading a very tasty band (dig the guitar and keyboards) with the Mardi Gras chants. The atmosphere within the grooves is clearly aimed at a partying crowd and the dancers in the room.

The cool thing is that Billy namechecks the Wild Magnolias indian tribe the same year (1974) that the band of the same name hit (featuring members of the tribe along with a NOLA all star band with the Turbinton brothers of the Gaturs and Snooks Eaglin) with ‘Smoke My Peace Pipe’*.

How Billy Vera ended up in Memphis with Steve Cropper at the board, I do not know, nor am I familiar with the Orange label. This appears to be the only record he recorded for the label.

If any of you good folks know anything more, please drop me a line in the comments.

That said, this is a great, great record, and certainly fitting for any Mardi Gras celebration you might have planned.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

*There is also a local 1970 recording/issue of ‘Smoke My Peace Pipe’ (the flipside of ‘Handa Wanda’) on the Crescent City label

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

Comments (4)

By Larry, March 6, 2011 3:01 pm

My copy of the 45 (above) and two more variations (below)

Listen/Download – The Touch – Pick and Shovel

Listen/Download – The Touch – Blue On Green

Greetings all.

I hope everyone had themselves an exceptionally groovy weekend.

I just want to take a second to mention that I took some time this weekend to clean up the blogroll. There were a number of blogs that had either gone dark (for a variety of reasons), including a few faves, as well as a number of others that hadn’t had a new post in six months or more. There was also one that appeared to have been compromised with malware, so that got the axe too.

If your blog was taken off in error, i.e. I caught you during a temporary break (I don’t get to go through the whole list all that often), please let me know.

I figured I’d get things started this week with something funky, that’s also a bit of an intriguing mystery record.

I grabbed ‘Pick and Shovel’ by the Touch off of a set sale list a while back, mainly because it’s one of those meat and potatoes funk 45s that always seems to turn up on DJ playlists as well as the various and sundry places where groovy labels get posted for perusal on the interwebs.

Unfortunately the copy I got had the exceptionally dull-looking Atlantic-distributed version of the 45. The original local issue on the Lecasver label is very cool (seen above).

I mentioned intrigue because, though it is omitted on my version of the 45, the OG indicates that LeCasVer (an amalgam of the label owners names, Leanzo, Castellano and Verrico) bears an address in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

There’s also the matter of the creativity-associated names on the labels (the flip is a cover of Booker T and the MGs ‘Blue On Green’), including John Frangipane and Vinnie Corrao.

Both of those gentlemen were NY-area session players, Frangipane on keyboards, and Corrao on guitar.

The tune itself is a wild, off kilter Meters-esque affair with lots of wailing organ, choppy guitar, unusually animated bass and hard hitting drums.

The flip, ‘Blue On Green’ is very faithful to its source material, with Frangipane approximating the Booker T organ sound very well. I actually dig the Touch’s version more than I do the original. It has a warmer, more relaxed feel.

As far as I can tell ‘The Touch’ wasn’t a measurable hit anywhere, but I do know for a fact that there are at least three different pressings of this 45, i.e. the one I have, the one with the groovy lettering, and another one with a dark blue label and very simple lettering, so it was clearly getting around.

I wish I knew more about the band, especially if they (like the label) were NJ-based, and whether or not they were merely a studio project or actually played out.

The world may never know.

However, there’s a fair amount of funk packed into the grooves, so I hope you dig it.

I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

Comments (3)

By Larry, February 25, 2011 11:02 am

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt4

Jackie Lee – The Shotgun and the Duck (Mirwood)
Judy Street – What (Grapevine)
Rodge Martin – Loving Machine (Bragg)
Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
JJ Barnes – Day Tripper (Ric Tic)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
Marvin Gaye – Baby Don’t Do It (Tamla)
Pieces of Eight – Come Back Baby (A&M)
Liberty Belles – Shing A Ling Time (Shout)
Tommy & Cleve – Boogaloo Baby (Checker)
Guitar Ray – Patty Cake Shake (Hot Line)
Gloria Jones – Tainted Love (Champion)
Jean Wells – With My Love and What You Got (Calla)

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt4 – 59MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

The week is coming to a close, and so is our little experiment.

I behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns tonight at 9PM at Viva Radio. Make sure you tune in for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove. If you can’t, make sure to stop by the blog over the weekend to  pick up the MP3 version of the show.

When you whip four separate Northern Soul mixes* on the blog on four consecutive days, you risk being accused of overkill.

That my friends is a risk I am ready and willing to take.

You see – and I don’t think I’ve discussed this before, at least in this way – Northern Soul, or at least much of the music that meets the sonic criteria to be considered part of the genre, is some of the most dynamic, exciting and above all accessible ‘soul’ music.

Though there are the occasional fringe records that fall inside the Northern bailiwick that manage to be danceable yet ultimately soul-less, they are the exception to the rule.

To lay it out in the simplest way possible, Northern Soul was mostly (important word, that) imitation Motown, or at least music that strove to imitate those labels that arose alongside of Motown in the world of stylish urban soul. By this I mean labels like Okeh, Brunswick, Mirwood, Harthon, Fairmount, Chess, Calla and any number of smaller Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles labels (or points anywhere else on the musical map) where records with pounding beats, pop hooks and soulful vocals were being made.

When I was rapping with my man Perry Lane, I mentioned that my wife, a woman of exceptional taste but who would not normally be described as a soul fan, really digs the Northern sound. This is relevant because I’d say that most hardcore soul fans approach records with an agenda, whether it’s because a given 45 is cemented in a stylistic canon, coveted because of its rarity, or connected to a label, artist or other focal point.

When someone who is not a record collector finds themselves drawn to a genre that they wouldn’t identify, the chances are that they do so simply because they like the way it sounds. The music rises up from the grooves, through the stylus and the speakers and finds its way into the pleasure centers of their brain, and whatever part of the central nervous system that causes involuntary movement in the feet (tapping), hips (swaying) and head (nodding).

A lot of the Northern Soul records that I have either hit me retroactively (i.e. I grabbed them because I was collecting a certain group, label or region) or because I heard them first (by the original artist on a comp) or second (via a cover by groups like the Action, Artwoods, Timebox etc) hand but as I became acquainted with the genre and found my way into the canon I began to seek out records because of that and the new stuff coalesced with the things I already had and I discovered a sound or genre rising from the depths of my crates.

I realize that my attachment to this music comes at some distance, and that much of what made the movement exciting – the whole of Northern Soul culture in the UK – is part of the past, there’s something rewarding (as there is when you spin any collection of music that ought to be better known than it is for people eager to listen, and dance) about gathering these sounds and whipping them on people.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, any DJ worth their salt carries with them the power packed in the grooves of records, and when you spin the right records at the right time, in the right sequence you release that power and pass it on to the people listening, and all that matters then is that good music that they may not have heard before is hitting those pleasure centers I mentioned a few graphs ago, and it is translated into smiles and movement and if you’re lucky someone picks up on it and wants to seek it out on their own and an obscure, 45 year old record, filled with talent and passion lives another day.

Because keeping the sound alive – keeping the faith – is what it (and this blog) is all about.

I hope you dig it, pull down the ones and zeros on this fourth installment and move, groove and feel it.

I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

* All recorded live on 2/21/11 at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 24, 2011 10:24 am

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt3

Intruders – All the Time
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do
Sugarpie DeSanto – Go Go Power
Vontastics – Never Let Your Love Grow Cold
Little Carl Carleton – Competition Ain’t Nothing
Luther Ingram – If It’s All the Same To You Baby
Volcanos – Storm Warning
Mary Wells – Can’t You See You’re Losing Me
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket
Clydie King – ‘Bout Love
Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go
Persionettes – It Happens Every Day
Cooperettes – Shingaling

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt3 – 59MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Not a whole lot to add with today’s post, aside from the fact that Part three of the mix includes some real winners from Philadelphia, including an early 45 by the Intruders that hasn’t appeared in this space before in any form.

I should mention that I will be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica for some more record spinning on Monday March 21st, so if you’re in the area, stop by.

I also have a grip of groovy stuff all teed up for next week, and of course there’s the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday night at 9PM, so you might want to pencil that in as well.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the fourth and final installment of this live mix.

See you then.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 22, 2011 4:35 pm

One of my fave sides of the evening…

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt1
Dolly Parton – Busy Signal (Monument)
Maurice & the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
Butlers – Laugh Laugh Laugh (Phila)
O’Jays – I Dig Your Act (Bell)
Chuck Jackson – Good Things Come To Those Who Wait (Wand)
Pat Lewis – Look at What I Almost Missed (Solid Hit)
Producers – Love is Amazing (Huff Puff)
Supremes – Love Is Like and Itching In My Heart (Motown)
Jimmy Ruffin – 96 Tears (Soul)
Platters – With This Ring (Musicor)
Players – Get Right (Minit)
Chris Clark – Love’s Gone Bad (Motown)
Betty Everett – Getting Mighty Crowded (VeeJay)

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt1 – 58MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

I hope you’re all well.

I’m ready for a nap, on account of I didn’t get home until 2:30 last night after having a fantastic evening spinning Northern Soul 45s at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC.

If you’re in the area and haven’t checked out one of DJ Perry Lane’s Monday night fiestas, you’re really missing something. In addition to his own excellent taste in sounds he brings in a wide variety of guest DJs to whip their wax on the assemble multitudes.

I find it to be an especially groovy experience because I get to play whatever I want for an extended period of time, which is exactly how I like it.

I’m all for dropping a tight half an hour to forty-five minute set, but nothing beats being able to settle in with a box full of hot 45s for the long haul, building a wave and riding the crest for as long as the 45s and the vibe holds out.

Thus is the bag that I’m in when I hit the decks at Botanica.

Last night was an especially groovy experience for a few reasons.

First, I brought my favorite Northern Soul sides, a genre I don’t really get the opportunity to spin that often, especially over a period of a couple of hours.

Yours truly (right) and the legend, Matt Weingarden aka Mr Finewine

Second, none other than the mighty Mr. Finewine fell by and he brought Andy Noble of Kings Go Forth with him. Nothing like having a little funk and soul royalty in the house to get things going.

I was also able to record most of my set this time. Aside from some early technical glitches, I walked out of Spindletop last night with over two hours of soul grooves packed tightly onto the SD card of my digital recorder.

In spite of the fact that I was running on about three hours sleep today, I managed to finish up next weeks Funky16Corners Radio Show, and edited down the raw files from last night.

When I was done, I had broken it down into four sets, all around a half hour in length.

It took me a while to decide what to do with all this goodness, but in the end I figured I’d try something new.
So, what you’re going to get is a new half hour mix every day for the next four days in nice, manageably sized chunks.

When they’ve all been posted, you can string a few or all of them together in a playlist, flip your wig and cut yourself a nice piece of rug.

I’ll be returning to Spindletop on March 21st, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements in this space when that date gets closer. Of course you don’t have to wait until then to head down to Botanica. DJ Perry Lane does his thing every Monday night.

That said, I’m going to go pass out somewhere.

See you tomorrow with Part Two.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 17, 2011 4:04 pm

Tony Clarke

Listen/Download – Tony Clarke – The Entertainer

Greetings all.

I sit here tapping away on the laptop at the end of yet another busy week (I suppose I should get suspicious when things aren’t busy).

I figured since the previous post was so heated, it behooved me to cool things down.

But first, the bid-ness must be taken care of.

I should remind you that I’ll be returning to Spindletop at Botanica this coming Monday evening (2/21) , at 10PM for an evening of soul on 45. I’m thinking of taking a Northern Soul tack this time, so if stylish 60s dancers are a bag you’re in, fall by, grab yourself a cocktail and groove to the sounds.

Speaking of groovy sounds, this Friday night at 9PM I’ll be doing me regular thing, that being the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio. Tune in for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all on vinyl, and all engineered to please the ear. If you can’t be there at 9PM, you can always come by the blog over the weekend and pick up the show as a downloadable MP3 which you can stuff into the iPod or iPod-esque device of your choice.

Now, as I mentioned, the tune I bring you today is something a little smoother, a tiny bit mellower and of course, soulful to ease you into the weekend.

Though I knew the name Tony Clarke, I didn’t actually hear (or own) any of his records until I picked up today’s selection in a huge lot of 45s (which I bought to get something else, making this one what the hipsters of yore would refer to as ‘gravy’).

When I pulled ‘The Entertainer’ out of the box, I took one look and didn’t have much hope that it would be playable, since a cursory glance would indicate that at some time it had duct tape attached to it (I can’t imagine why).

Fortunately, as you’ll hear, it cleaned up pretty well.

Clarke was a NY born, Detroit raised singer who recorded a number of 45s for Chess between 1964 and 1968.

Among these was ‘The Entertainer’, a Top 40 hit in 1965, and  1967 ‘s ‘Landslide’ which would become a Northern Soul classic.

Though it’s not the stormer that ‘Landslide’ is, ‘The Entertainer’ has a certain laid-back, Chicago sound to it that is smooth yet still danceable.

It opens with drums and organ, and a riff inspired by George Gershwin’s ‘I Got Plenty O’Nothin’ (from ‘Porgy and Bess’) as well as some classy guitar work. The arrangement by Phil Wright, including some tasteful horns, is especially nice.

Sadly, Clarke would be killed in a domestic incident in 1970. He was only 26.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some prime UK psyche/prog.