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By Larry, February 15, 2011 3:15 pm

The Dixie Cups on TV = Groovy…

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

Greetings all.

I don’t know about you, but I unwisely spent my Sunday evening staring at the TV set while the ‘music industry’ took a hot steaming dump.

I understand that ranting about this brings with it the possibility of being branded as old and out of touch, but honest to god, what a lot of shit.

Oh, by the way, I’m talking about the Grammy Awards.

It’s not like this is a new development, because what manifested itself on the screen this week was only the latest incremental step in a decades-long slide to the bottom.

It has been years since popular music ceased worrying about sounding good and began obsessing with spectacle, i.e. how many pyrotechnics, backup dancers and how much postmodern filigree could be wrapped around a song (and I use the term loosely) to keep the saucer-eyed worker ants tossing their hard earned money into the wood chipper, but the blending of the tabloid sensibility with what passes for music these days is scraping the street like a damaged muffler, throwing up sparks and shrapnel while revealing the finely tuned engine of commerce for the loud, greasy beast that it really is.

The really revealing thing is how much of this can be laid at the feet of old-schoolers, who allow their egos to be over-inflated by essentially empty (publicist driven) idolatry from their descendants while phoning it in in the laziest possible way.

There, on the stage next to the current crop of freshly wrapped, forgettable crap (nothing new there, just the latest version of the oily film that has always floated atop the music industry) were folks like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger (who in paying “tribute” to Brother Solomon Burke, got the first line of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ WRONG), Aretha Franklin and Kris Kristofferson (among many others) who really ought to have known better, basically tossing dirt on top of their own caskets.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they were performing something new, of their own creation, but they allow themselves to be wrapped around all manner of contemporary awfulness, like juicy slices of bacon embracing a succession of turds (anti-Rumaki?) , while we all sit by like waterboarding subjects, gasping thankfully for that brief respite from a musical drowning like our torturers are doing us a favor.

Just awful on every conceivable level, ultimately more about the ‘red carpet’, the iconography of crass stupidity and commerce than anything that might be mistaken for art and soul.

Of course I sat there like Statler and/or Waldorf (OG Muppets represent), sneering at my TV set when the off-button was always in reach, which makes me a special brand of rube, but I was also e-commiserating with others of my ilk on the social network that will remain unnamed, so I guess it was a kind of digital anti-focus group, in which we all bonded together in hatred for those that would presume that we were stupid enough to find any of this appetizing, which is where things are in the 21st century (where’s my jet car and Martian vacation home???).

It’s the ultimate manifestation of everything bad about post-modernization (not the conceptual po-mo but what the powers of commerce have done with it).

What we need is something solid with a direct line to the soul, and what you get is Justin Beiber, dancing ninjas with fireworks shooting out of their asses and a “song of the year” (really? Bad year…) largely cribbed from a thirty year old pop song. It’s as if the recording industry, already choking to death on its own spew (and lack of foresight) decided that insulting the intelligence of its audience was a waste of time since there was no longer anything there to be insulted so why not serve up the contents of their dumpster and make believe it’s caviar and lobster?

That said, when I decided I was going to fill this space with gripe, I realized that I couldn’t very well do that without countering the suck with something especially good, representative of the kind of musical kick in the sack required to cleanse the palate in a case like this.

I have my man Dan at the Home of the Groove to thank for turning me on to today’s selection a few years back.

I – like anyone else with a radio or a seat at a wedding – was already aware of the Dixie Cups, with the ‘Chapel of Love’, and ‘People Say’ and that tip of the feathered headdress to their home in the Crescent City ‘Iko Iko’, but when I first heard ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ my hair (and my prominent ears) stood on end, as they should when presented with something so powerful.

Recorded in 1965 after they moved from Red Bird to ABC/Paramount, and produced by none other than Joe Jones, ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ is the Wild Indian chant of ‘Iko Iko’ taken to a whole ‘nother extreme, removed from the pop element and placed firmly in the Mardi Gras parade as if you were cakewalking alongside the Big Chief with a head full of spirits (liquid and deceased).

Not much more than the Dixie Cups and a grip of percussion (more than enough if you ask me) ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ was – even for 1965 when things were really starting to change – an awfully strange record to toss at AM radio – but that’s one of the many reasons (maybe the main one) why it’s so cool.

I’ve dropped this one at funk 45 fests (and in a previous mix) but I figured that in a situation like this, it deserved to be put up where it might be savored on its own.

Real stuff for an increasingly unreal world.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 10, 2011 2:46 pm

Sam Dees, truly lonely…

Listen/Download – Sam Dees – Lonely For You Baby

Greetings all.

I’m gonna start things off  by telling you that you really should tune in to this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. I have concocted an hour’s worth of the hottest soul party 45s, so what you need to do is put on your dancing shoes, tuck into the intoxicant of your choice (if that’s how you roll, since these 45s are so powerful getting oiled up might be interpreted as overkill), roll up the carpet and grab yourself a partner. I guarantee a good time.

As is always the case, I have something of a story to tell, so I figured I’d close out the week with something interesting (which also happens to be a monumental soul 45).

Sometime last year a reader sent me a message that the old Funky16Corners organization had been getting props on Sean Rowley’s ‘Joy of Music’ show on the BBC.

I tracked that week’s show down, gave it a listen and was pleased when Mr. Rowley had some very kind things to say about the blog.

That, though, is neither here nor there, but it does get us to the point I’m trying to make.

When I clicked on the link and started to play the show in question, the very first song he played knocked me flat on my ass.

I gave it a second listen, and then decided that I really ought to keep listening to the show to find out what this record was.

When Mr. Rowley announced the name Sam Dees and the title ‘Lonely For You Baby’ I opened up another tab on the browser and set out into the wilds of the interwebs to see if I might procure a copy of this wonderful record for my own.

Unfortunately I discovered in rather short order that ‘Lonely For You Baby’ is as rare as it is kick-ass, ranging in price from three to five hundred dollars (sometimes more).

Now I have spent a great deal of money on records over the years, but never that kind of scratch on a single 45 (or dozen 45s for that matter). In fact, I question the sanity of anyone spending five hundred smackers on a single record. Even the most rarified items on my want list ( a couple of soul, funk and psyche 45s) couldn’t get me to pony up that kind of dough.

I have a wife, kids, and surprisingly enough a conscience, all of which prevent me from indulging in that particular variety of insanity.

This is not to say that there are people that would question my sanity in this regard (on both sides of the issue, i.e. some suggesting that my limits are too high, as well as those for whom expenditures in that league are common), but I have decided that no matter how much a 45 blows my mind, nothing so fleeting is worth that much, at least to me.

That said, thanks to a fair amount of record nerds who operate in the same way – whether by choice or necessity – there has been for decades a brisk market in vinyl reissues.

And I’m not talking about 180g audiophile nonsense for someone to unsleeve with kid gloves and place on their scientifically engineered, space age turntable in their gold lined listening cave, but rather records (mostly 45s) pressed up and sold to DJ types so that even though they have not been lucky (or rich) enough to find an original copy of a record like ‘Lonely For You Baby’, they still might have a copy of same in their record box that they can whip it on folks on the dance floor of their choice.

The really interesting thing (at least to me, once again record nerd related) is that some of these reissue 45s themselves become somewhat rare.

Nothing like several hundred dollars rare, but much more than the seven to ten dollars they initially sell for.
You tend to see a lot of this in the Northern Soul market, so much so that I have several UK-only repressings of records (some obviously so, others pressed to fool the less discriminating among us*) dating back to the very early 70s, a time when a number of 1960s soul records reentered the charts in England, thanks to the soulies.

The tune I bring you today only set me back around 20 bucks, but not only is it worth every copper penny and more, but it carries with it another interesting tidbit.

Back in the day (that being the 60s), a very tasteful and prescient chap named Dave Godin – verily the godfather of soul music in the UK (who would also go on to give name to the Northern Soul phenomenon) –  opened a record shop by the name of Soul City.

Before long, Soul City also became a record label, founded with the express purpose of issuing hard to find US soul sides in the UK market. Between 1968 and 1970, Soul City issued a few dozen 45s in the UK (including Chuck Edwards ‘Downtown Soulville’, a Soul City issue of which holds a special place in my crates), at least one of which, Gene Chandler’s ‘Nothing Can Stop Me’ made it onto the UK charts.

It’s important to note that what labels like Soul City, Mojo and Action were doing wasn’t really “reissuing” records in the commonly understood sense, but rather pressing what were by and large contemporary (within a year or two) issues of records for the overseas market. Many US record companies either had their own UK/Euro subsidiaries or licensees, but sometimes it took folks like Dave Godin to see the value in (or at least the demand for) a more obscure US record.

At some point**, someone (I’m not sure who, since Godin passed away in 2004) reactivated the Soul City imprint, using the same basic logo and color scheme and started reissuing 45s, which is where this particular pressing of ‘Lonely For You Baby’ comes from.

Now,  the record itself is undeniably a wonder.

‘Lonely For You Baby’ was Sam Dees’ debut 45, recorded in 1968 for SSS Intl.

The record opens with a hypnotic drum and bass riff that lulls you into submission, and before you know it your feet start moving, your hips start swaying and then Dees’ vocal and the horns come in and the record (and the listener) really blasts off.

Dees’ vocal is incredible, and the arrangement is a marvel of powerful simplicity. Though you really only heard the bass, drums, piano and horns (and the barest bit of rhythm guitar) there’s a serious amount of rhythmic propulsion here, so much so that ‘Lonely For You Baby’ is a big fave with the dancers on the Northern scene.

Dees only recorded this one 45 for SSS Intl before leaving, going on to record for Lolo, Chess and eventually Atlantic. Dees eventually worked mainly as a producer and songwriter, penning hits for a number of other performers, the biggest being Larry Graham’s recording of ‘One In a Million You’.

I hope you dig the tune (I’m sure you will) and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*The John Manship record guide includes a marking indicating whether or not a record has been bootlegged. There are a LOT of them

** As far as I’ve been able to tell this pressing is between 10 and 15 years old.

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By Larry, February 8, 2011 3:28 pm

Listen/Download -Sebastian – Living In Depression

Greetings all.

I hope you are all well.

This has been a busy week, but what might be described as ‘good’ busy, as opposed to up to your ass in hungry, snapping alligators i.e. ‘bad’ busy. I have a lot on my plate but it’s the kind of stuff that keep things moving forward in a positive (if incremental) way, so I think I can dig it.

Everyone has their own pile of responsibilities, some more pressing than others, and naturally the quest is always to find a way to balance it all, keep your life in between the lines and maybe, just maybe squeeze a little enjoyment out of the process.

So far, so good.

The tune I bring you today is something that I happened upon (as is often the case) via another collectors ‘finds’s list. The collector in question was someone who’s taste I hold in very high regard, and his description of the disc was so intriguing I set out to find myself a copy.

The acquisition thereof was both rapid and financially painless, which is more than I can say for the quest for information that followed.

The groovy thing – once the record fell through the mail slot – was that it was immediately apparent that ‘Living In Depression’ was in fact a vocal laid over the top of Little Royal and the Swingmasters funk 45 classic ‘Razor Blade’.

I set off in search of info, and found almost nothing, except for an intriguing scrap of info that placed Sebastian in Virginia.

That was months ago, and I found nothing else, so I moved the track to the back of the line and went on about my bid’ness.

So, I was dipping back into the reservoir and decided that I’d make another run at this track, and lo and behold I discover that the fine folks at the Funky Virginia blog had laid out the whole story in detail, so allow me to direct you over there for all of the pertinent info.

The track does suffer a little bit from a bad mix (especially in the beginning), but if you dig ‘Razor Blade’ as much as I do, I think you’ll enjoy hearing it laid down as a vocal.

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

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 6, 2011 3:48 pm

Eddie Silvers

Listen/Download – Eddie and the De-Havelons – Baby Dumplins

Greetings all.

It’s time to get another week rolling here at the Funky16Corners blog, and what better way to do so than with a swinging, greasy organ instrumental?

The tune I bring you today is a little something I grabbed when I was down in DC last year.

When I happened upon ‘Baby Dumplins’ by Eddie and the De-Havelons, the name(s) rang a distant bell, but I couldn’t possibly pass up a 45 with names like that on the label.

When I got the record home and gave it a spin I was happy to discover a hot, fast moving organ instro with wailing sax, i.e. a solid party record.

When I sat down to try and track down some info on the record, it was a little harder than I anticipated.
Certainly a unique name like ‘Eddie and the De-Havelons’ narrowed down the search results, but I don’t think I was prepared for the remaining info to be quite so narrow.

It was only after I started to search using the name of the song’s author, ‘Eddie Silvers’ that I had a breakthrough.

Eddie Silvers was a Chicago-based saxophonist and arranger who was the musical director at the storied One-Derful label during the mid 60s. He had previously worked with the likes of Fats Domino and Bill Doggett before being hired by the notorious Don Robey to work as an A&R man for the Duke/Peacock organization.

During the 60s, Silvers recorded with a few different groups, including the Five G’s (for UA) and the Soul Merchants (for the Stax subsidiary Weis records), and I going to take an educated guess that it’s him playing sax on ‘Baby Dumplins’ by Eddie and the Dehavelons.

The tune – which was released in 1963 – featured some burning organ, hot sax solos and something that I first thought was a fuzz guitar, but is probably a baritone sax dropping bombs all the way through the record.

‘Baby Dumplins’ is one of those organ instros that manages to have quite a bit of soul, while keeping enough of a crossover feel to appeal to the twisters feeding nickels into the jukeboxes of America.

As far as I can tell this is the only 45 recorded under this name (certainly the only one they did for Peacock).

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 3, 2011 2:52 pm

Gene Ammons

Listen/Download – Gene Ammons – Son of a Preacher Man

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so I must pause here to share a few important programming notes.

First, I was supposed to do a guest spot at the After the Laughter Soul Club at Lulu’s in Greenpoint this Friday night, but received word on Wednesday that the gig was cancelled. I was really looking forward to this one (had some especially hot 45s ready to go) but sometimes these things happen.

I’ll make sure to let you all know when it gets rescheduled.

Of course, you can always tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva radio, this Friday at 9PM, where I will be spinning lots of great sounds, including some cool new acquisitions and some old favorites, followed of course by the posting of the show in MP3/Podcast form at the blog over the weekend.

That all said, how about some jazz funk?

I grabbed this 45 as part of a two-fer deal with a buddy of mine, and ended up getting them both for nothing in return for a previous, record related good deed on my part. I hadn’t heard this particular 45 before, but since I knew Gene Ammons, and am constitutionally incapable of passing by a cover of ‘Son of a Preacher Man’, I grabbed it.

Good thing too.

The other 45 (the one I knew) is a groover, and will be featured in this space soon enough, but this is one I needed to share with you as soon as possible.

There is, at least in the world of jazz and jazz-related, a long tradition of covering songs in what we shall call a unique manner. This often has something to do with advanced concepts of harmony and music theory, since we’re dealing not with back alley guitar smashers, but rather a somewhat more elevated class of instrument wranglers who made their mark applying sophisticated musical concepts to the popular song.

This is sometimes displayed in subtle shifts in key where a song is rebuilt on a new frame and is still kind of floating in the background for those with more sophisticated (or receptive) ears (any of the headier bop or post bop sounds) , and other times shows up as the end result of free-wheeling jamming, wherein the musicians allow themselves to be swept up in and carried away by the creative currents.

I would suggest that Gene Ammons version of ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ is a little bit of both.

Recorded in 1970 for his Prestige LP ‘Brother Jug’ (his first after a long stretch in prison), with support from organist Sonny Phillips, guitarist Billy Butler and drummer Bernard Purdie (among others), Ammon’s take on ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ is, until late in the side, barely recognizable as said song.

It is undeniably funky, with the tight drums, and the wah wah, and the overall groove, but if you showed up expecting any taste of the famous Dusty Springfield hit, you would have to listen long and hard, with exceptionally wide open ears, and it’s not until almost two minutes into the song that Ammons states the familiar theme, and even then it’s a little bit off the track.

This is not meant as a criticism of Ammons or the 45, since he was one of the great tenor players of his day, and the 45 is certainly tasty, but rather a caveat for those expecting something a little bit closer to the original source.

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

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, January 30, 2011 2:33 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.92 – Regular Funk

Playlist

Listen/Download 115MB/256kb Mixed MP3

Download 93MB Zip File

I hope you’re all ready to step into a week.

I should let you know that this coming Friday (2/4) I’ll be guesting at the After the Laughter Soul Club at Lulu’s, 113 Franklin St., Greenpoint, NY. I’ll be joining DJ Hambone and Ben Carey for a night of funk, soul and R&B, all on 45. Things get going at 10PM and go into the wee hours of the morning, so make sure you fall by for some beer, pizza and hot wax.

That said, who wants to pull down the ones and zeros for some of what we record collectors refer to as ‘the funk’?

This is not to say that Funky16Corners Radio v.92 – Regular Funk is all one kind of thing, since it was assembled and mixed under a somewhat larger umbrella than some of you might be accustomed to.

You get some funky soul, some in the regular funk 45 stylee, and some jazz funk as well. I think it all fits together nicely, and hopefully once you stuff it into your ears, you will too.

Things get started with a little taste of Memphis groove, with the Bar-Kays and ‘Don’t Do That’. The flipside of 1967’s ‘Give Everybody Some’, ‘Don’t Do That’ is positively dripping with that Stax/Volt sound, including some very twangy gitbox, which comes to the fore when the horns aren’t blazing.

Buddy Miles is one of those groovy artists who kind of dwell in a gray area between soul and rock, working ably on both sides of the line, and mixing the two together whenever he got the opportunity. ‘Easy Greasy’ is an instrumental from his 1970 ‘We Got to Live Together’ album, and it carries with it much of the horn heavy vibe of the time, with the BST’s and the Chicago’s and naturally the Electric Flag’s, and Buddy manages to whip it all into a nice swaggering groove, that when you least expect it drops in a little bit of a quote (today’s kids might think of it as a sample) from Led Zeppelin’s ‘Bring It On Home’. Things even manage to get a tiny bit psychedelic – which was the style of the time – so settle in and dig it.

The mighty Syl Johnson appeared in this very spot but a few short weeks ago. He was – as has been stated previously – 100% badass – and his take on the Temptation’s ‘Get Ready’ has a lot of grit in its groove.

Despite a bit of searching, I haven’t been able to nail down Nate Turner, but Venetta Fields (big time backup singer of the day) and the Mirettes were familiar. The tune ‘Rap, Run It On Down’ is a cut from the soundtrack to the 1969 Sidney Poitier vehicle ‘The Lost Man’. I dig the vibe on this one (co-written by Quincy Jones, Dick Cooper and Ernie Shelby*), and the flip side (on which Venetta sits out), ‘Sweet Soul Sister’ is also cool, in a more downtempo way.

I always assumed that the Toddlin’ Town Sounds were an anonymous amalgamation of Chitown sessioners, or perhaps an instro track that someone leased to the label. Either way, their funky stomper ‘The Dud’ (flip of their better known cover of the Isleys ‘It’s Your Thing’) is a killer (dig that chopping rhythm guitar).

‘Funky Tambourine’ by C and the Shells has always been a fave of mine, simply because it defies narrow categorization. It is funky, but it also has an odd, fast moving time signature, as well as some stinging fuzz guitar. There might even be a little bit of gospel flavor weaving in and out of this one as well.

The Crusaders, once a tight soul jazz outfit (as the Jazz Crusaders) evolved into the funky R&B band that hit the charts in the 70s. Led by keyboardist Joe Sample (lots of tasty electric piano here), drummer Stix Hooper and saxophonist Wilton Felder (all three of whom did a lot of work on other people’s records in the 60s and 70s) lay down a very tasty groove indeed on 1973s ‘Gotta Get It On’.

‘Sams Funck’ is blues legend Magic Sam’s entry into the blues guys get funky sweepstakes. Based loosely on the ‘It’s Your Thing’ template, recorded in the lowest of fi’s (as it were) you still get to hear some of the guitar action that made the man a legend. If you find yourself a copy of this one, flip it over, since the vocal version ‘I’ll Pay You Back’ is quite nice indeed.

The Backyard Heavies got their start as a North Carolina show band called the Tempests. ‘Expo 83’, one of the funkiest piano driven 45s in my crates was sampled by Pete Rock for ‘The Basement Intro’.

Does Bobby Byrd need and introduction to the likes of you? Since you’re one of the fine folks that falls by Funky16Corners I’d say no. Mr. Byrd was for years James Brown’s on-stage wing man, but also stepped out to make some hot as hell 45s under his own name. ‘Back From the Dead’ is from a period when Byrd had separated from the Brown organization and found his way to Henry Stone’s Florida-based TK label subsidiary International Brothers. Bobby is in fine form, and lays down a solid bit of dance floor funk.

Eddie Harris has appeared in this space many times. He was one of the true giants of soul jazz, and as 1974’s ‘Get On Down’ illustrates, he could also be quite funky. The cool thing is that you get to hear Eddie double on keys and sax (which he also did on earlier albums like ‘Mean Greens’).

The Fame Gang was the house band at the storied Alabama studio of the same name. Their cover of the Isley Brothers ‘It’s Your Thing’ is another groovy cover of that funky classic. Much like Archie Bell and the Drells ‘Tighten Up’, ‘It’s Your Thing’ is one of those records that was not only had scores of straightforward covers, but was also (see Magic Sam above) ripped off, reprocessed and renamed countless times.

From the funk 45 column comes Pt2 of the Showmen Inc.’s ’Tramp (from Funky Broadway)’, working one of my favorite vibes, that being an intertwining of two separate dance crazes in the same record. The famed break is on the other side, but I’ll make sure to get that one up onto the blog sometime soon.

Jr. Walker and the All Stars are one of those Motown groups that had a huge, omnipresent radio hit in the 60s (Shotgun) that is so much a standard on oldies radio that it tends to make you take them for granted. Well, get yourself out and grab some of their records, because they’re filled with solid, hard hitting gems like ‘Baby You Ain’t Right’.

Now Andre Williams is a dude that has yet to get his props. Williams, acting as performer, writer and producer had his hand in some incredibly good records out of Chicago and Detroit in the 60s. He was an OG badass, with that gangsta lean, lots of greasy soul and attitude for weeks. ‘It’s Gonna Be Fine in ‘69’ is another one of his masterpieces for the Chess/Checker/Cadet family of labels. It features some wild guitar, snapping drums, and of course Mr Williams on the vocal.

Wilbur Bascomb and the Zodiact recorded under their own name, as well as backing other artists. ‘Just a Groove in G’ features a classic drum break, some wailing organ, and some imspired if spasmodic guitar action.

Billy Cobham is one of the great drummers of the jazz fusion era. His 1974 ‘Crosswind’ (also covered, very nicely by Woody Herman!) is a funky killer, with tight drumming by Billy, grooving electric piano and tasty horns. Sampled by Gang Starr among others.

Another jazz hero with funky tendencies was the mighty Grant Green. A seriously talented hard bopper who contributed to countless classic Blue Note sessions as a sideman, also had quite the discography under his own name. As the 60s rolled to a close, he got progressively more funky, so much so that his albums from that period are crate digger faves and his 1971 set ‘Shades of Green’ is no exception. His ‘James Brown Medley’ is a laid back, funky, extended take on the Godfather.

This edition of Funky16Corners Radio closes out with a cool bit of Motor City funk, ‘Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter To Love)’ by the Quickest Way Out. Groovy because it shares a backing track with Reggie Milner’s raging ‘Soul Machine’. The Quickest Way Out take on the tune is a little more laid back, and the break is open, so what’s not to like.

I hope you dig the mix, and I’ll be back later in the week with something cool.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, January 27, 2011 2:42 pm

Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto

Listen/Download – Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here, and in one of the great feats of meteorologic redundancy, we are once again buried in snow.

Were I a resident of the Arctic I would have nothing to complain about, but this is New Jersey, where we are supposedly exempt from this kind of foolishness.

There’s not a damn thing we can do about it either, which is why I’m bitching.

This is the part of the week-ending post where I remind you all to fall by this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio, where I’ll be whipping Part 2 of the Northern Soul Dance Party on your ears. Remember, if you can’t listen Friday at 9PM, you can always stop by the blog over the weekend and pick up the show in MP3 form.

However, like the postal service, neither rain, nor sleet, snow, ice globs the size of baseballs or falling space junk can keep me from my appointed rounds, so here I am.

In the spirit of priming the engine for the weekend, so that the festivities can get off on the good foot, I dug down into the crates and pulled out a certified soul party burner.

We recently heard the sad news that the mighty (and I mean that in every sense of the word) Miss Etta James is ailing once again. Hers has been a long, troubled but musically amazing life, straddling the eras of R&B, soul and funk.

She had the skills to sing (now) standards like ‘At Last’, dance floor killers like ‘Something’s Got a Hold On Me’ and ‘Payback’ , the Muscle Shoals heat of ‘Tell Mama’ right on through solid funk like ‘Tighten Up Your Own Thing’.

The tune I bring you today is what is considered to be a genuinely legendary Mod soul side, and has the extra added power of a dynamite duet partner, Miss Sugar Pie DeSanto.

Released on Cadet in 1966, ‘In the Basement’ is just under two and a half minutes of white hot, hand clapping, foot sliding, hip swinging soul power with two truly great voices trading lines.

What you have here – in a sane world – would be elevated to the level of National Soul Anthem, on account of this is really what it’s all about. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of spinning hot 45s for a groovy crowd, or cut a rug to some laying it down, you have some of the musical DNA of this record running through your veins.

Ohh, now tell me where can you party, child, all night long?
In the basement, down in the basement, yeah.
Oh where can you go when your money gets low?
In the basement, whoa down in the basement
And if a storm is taking place, you can jam and still be safe
In the basement, down in the basement, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Where can you dance to any music you choose?
In the basement, whoa down in the basement
Oh, you got the comforts of home, a nightclub too.
In the basement, whoa down in the basement.
There’s no cover charge or fee and the food and drinks are free,
In the basement, down in the basement

This is, as they say, the shit, and then some. What Friday nights are all about.

As a matter of fact, I can guarantee you that when I take to the decks next week at the After the Laughter Soul Club at Lulus in Greenpoint, I will have this 45 in my box, and when the moment is right, when the crowd has consumed just the right combination of greasy soul, cold beer and good times, I will whip this onto the decks and push the whole affair to the next level.

Solid.

Have yourselves a great weekend, and I’ll be back on Monday with a funky mix.

Peace

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some classic 1965 LA garage folk.

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By Larry, January 25, 2011 3:50 pm

Chic

Listen/Download – Chic – Dance Dance Dance (Savarese 45 Edit)

Greetings all.

Here’s hoping you’re all warm, dry and happy.

As has been discussed here several times, I am in the midst of a decades long effort to wrap my ears around disco.
Like any music, but especially music that has at times been reviled by a large segment of the population, disco has been misunderstood, if not totally written off by many. This happened for lots of reasons including race, musical subculture, homophobia, and as is also often the case, poor musical quality.

This is by no means an indictment of disco, but rather an acknowledgment of the fact that when any kind of music becomes hugely popular, it is often the worst of it, i.e. the most homogeneous, with the widest possible appeal to the lowest common denominator, that makes the most lasting mark.

There are of course always exceptions to the rule. But 30 years on, it’s not subtleties that get remembered.
It’s also important to note that by the time disco emerged from the nightlife underground and burst onto the national consciousness, much of the finest music that had gotten people out onto the dance floors had been supplanted by horrible, poorly constructed knock-offs, and all of the ephemera of disco culture.

Ask people old enough to remember the denouement of the disco era and you’re likely to get a word stew, equal parts Studio 54, cocaine, pre-AIDS sexual abandon and plodding, awful music.

However – there’s always one of those, isn’t there??? – do some digging (and as today’s records illustrate, you don’t have to go very deep) and there are lots of great sounds to be heard.

The real story of disco, a sound that is desperately in need of a new, better name that it will never get because nothing accurate (like 70s, urban, R&B based club dance music) rolls off the tongue quite as easily as what we already have, is a huge, interconnected saga of musicians transitioning out of the 60s soul era, pioneering DJs, producers and engineers, and of course the dancers, who for a few years in the mid -70s built a huge wave that is still breaking today.

Sadly, it seems that despite some very astute journalism on the subject (see links in this post), the true story of disco will likely never break out beyond the people that experienced it’s glory days first hand, and of course, record nerds. And to be totally honest, as is often the case, even though I know more about it than some folks, I’m barely scratching the surface. There are people out there that have spent years collecting this music, delving into the wildly varied permutations available with some records.

Unlike the music it replaced on the R&B spectrum, disco is harder to nail down because it had fundamental, structural differences.

Though a lot of the soul music the preceded it was meant to be danceable, disco, once it started to be ‘purpose built’ in the era of the 12 inch single, i.e. after the day of Loft classics like Eddie Kendricks ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind’, was an entirely new kind of dance music.

There were auteur-producers before the 70s, but once disco began to happen, musicians, producers and engineers began deconstructing and rebuilding many of these records to fit the long-form dance experience.
Sometimes, when the raw materials were worthy, and the remixers talented (and occasionally visionary) the results were transcendent.

Of the Loft-era records that have been discussed here, specifically Booker T and the MGs ‘Melting Pot’ and the aforementioned Eddie Kendricks tune, what you were getting was an ‘organically’ long record with its own set of rhythmic and dynamic shifts that just happened, thanks to groundbreaking DJs like David Mancuso, to capture, and propel dancers.

As the mid-70s approached, and dance club culture (and the need for product) expanded, remixers stepped in and created longer – and in the best cases, better – records from raw material.

They also created a lot of pulsating, sonically uninteresting stuff as well, but as today’s selection illustrates, when it was good, it was REALLY good.

When I mentioned earlier that you didn’t have to dig very deep, Chic’s 1977 debut, ‘Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)’ is the perfect example.

Released in 1977 (on Buddah, right before Chic signed to Atlantic*) was a Top 10 Pop and R&B hit.

Chic is an especially interesting example, because in an era, and a style of music often thought of as the product of faceless session musicians, they were an actual band. Formed by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards in 1976 (the pair had been playing together since 1970), with drummer Tony Thompson and vocalist Norma Jean Wright, the music that they made in the 70s and 80s is proof that disco could be much more than just a thumping beat.

‘Dance Dance Dance’, which was mixed/edited by Tom Savarese a popular NY area DJ (one of the first disco DJs to receive a label credit for his mix),  in both 45 (3:40) and 12 inch (8:21, you can get the long version on iTunes) versions.

The cool thing – at least to me – is that ‘Dance Dance Dance’ is not in any way (other than purely musical) a ‘deep’ record. The lyrics are spare (calling out popular dances, with the intermittent ‘Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah’**), but the music is nothing short of brilliant. It is the kind of record that forces you to move.

Compare it to a record like Bobby Freeman’s 1964 ‘C’Mon and Swim’, which although basically a laundry list of popular dance steps is still a brilliant dance record because of the combination of Freeman’s spirited delivery and a dynamic instrumental backing. It’s as basic as it gets, and in the wrong hands the formula can be leaden and idiotic, but in when done properly it can be anthemic and inspirational.

Opening with Edwards powerful, pulsing bass, Thompson’s sharp drumming and Rodgers slinky rhythm guitar, it also has (and this is the part I really dig) vocals that double as a device to carry both the melody and pure, rhythmic punch. The way the singers (including a young, unknown Luther Vandross) deliver the ‘BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH’s is as visceral as (occasionally more so than) the bass and drums and is truly a thing to behold.

I love the way the strings and the horns weave in and out of each other, as well as the latin percussion accents and hand claps.

Produced by Rogers and Edwards with Kenny Lehman (who gets a co-writing credit) is a record that bears up to close, repeated listening, as well as (naturally) dancing.

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

Peace

Larry

*The 12 inch version was eventually released on both Buddah and Atlantic

**The chant originated in the 1920s with orchestra leader Ben Bernie and was resurrected in the 1969 film (about 1930s dance marathons) ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They’

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By Larry, January 23, 2011 4:01 pm

Gene West (aka Barry White)

Listen/Download – Gene West – In the Ghetto

Greetings all.

I hope the world is treating you all well at the dawn of a brand new week.

It was a groovy – if frigid – weekend, with me and the little corners having a boys day on Saturday, and then on Sunday Miles and I went out for some digging and Vietnamese food.

We headed over to the once great Record Store That Shall Not Be Named (even though it’s near a major NJ Ivy League university…) and much to my surprise I scored some cool LPs, despite the fact that whoever is pricing the new arrivals section appears to also be sniffing glue. The place really is a huge crapshoot these days, which – when you have to drive almost an hour to get there – makes it difficult to get motivated, but sometimes it’s actually worth the trip.

I don’t know about you all, but I’m sure that if they ever lock me up in a padded cell, it will have something to do with my obsession with cover songs, who was being covered and who was doing the covering.

The tune I bring you today is something I knew nothing at all about until stumbling over it recently, the musical equivalent of finding a twenty dollar bill in the street.

What caught my eye was not the song title (I was still unaware that this was the same song that Elvis made famous), but the mention that the artist in question, a certain Gene West, was in actuality the master of sexy, soulful sounds, Mr. Barry White.

Once I got my hands on the record (at what turned out to be a very nice price, always cool) it was immediately apparent that this was the same ‘In the Ghetto’, written by Mac Davis and taken onto the charts by Elvis.

The voice delivering the tune was unmistakably that of Barry White.

As it turns out, in the short time between the end of his tenure working with Bronco/Mustang records, and the launch of his extremely successful solo career, Barry White was at loose ends. During this time (1967 – 1970) White did a lot of studio work, as well as writing lost gems like ‘Doin’ the Banana Splits’ for – of course – the Banana Splits. And recording today’s selection.

Why he (or the folks at Original Sound) thought that ‘Gene West’ sounded better than Barry White I do not know (perhaps contractual entanglements, though his real name appears on the label as arranger), but the record, released in the summer of 1970 is a lost classic.

Despite any fondness one might have for Elvis’s version (I haven’t got much…), White takes the tune from a dark, almost maudlin place and funks it up, adding a layer of defiance to the lyrics that are completely absent in the earlier recording.

Oddly, White was a big Presley fan. I’ve read anecdotes that state that when a teenaged White, just having finished a jail sentence for stealing $30,000 worth of tires, heard Presley’s ‘It’s Now Or Never’ he decided to devote himself to a career on music, for which I will say for the first and last time in my life, ‘Thanks Elvis!’

I hope you dig the tune.

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 classic 1965 LA garage folk.

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By Larry, January 20, 2011 3:48 pm

Listen/Download – The Impacts – Thunder Chicken

NOTE: If you downloaded the file in the first half hour or so after I published this post, you got a shortened version of the track that cuts off about 15 seconds too soon. I have since uploaded a new file that should be OK.

Greetings all.

How’s about some smoking, hard charging soul jazz to close out the week?

First, might I remind you that this Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back on Viva Radio with another hour of the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on vinyl.

I can’t tell you much about today’s selection, other than it kicks a boatload of ass.

I picked the Impacts ‘Thunder Chicken’ 45 (gotta love that title) years ago during an attempt to complete the Marmaduke discography.

A Philadelphia-based imprint started by Len Barry and Bernie Binnick, Marmaduke was originally home to the Electric Indian (before a move to UA) and a few much more obscure bands like the Hidden Cost, Norma and the Heartaches, Race Street Chinatown Band and Daley’s Diggers.

The only thing I’ve been able to track down about the Impacts is that they seem to have been the backing band on a number of Philly 45s for artists like Rocky Brown, Monica and Herb Johnson on the Toxsan label.

None of those recordings would indicate that that had a killer like ‘Thunder Chicken’ in their repertoire.

I can’t say for sure, but it seems to me that like many other musicians working in the soul recording studios of America’s cities in the 60s, the Impacts may have been frustrated jazzers churning out pop, soul and funk to get a paycheck.

Listening to the raging ‘Thunder Chicken’, with its unison jazz guitar and saxophone leads, swinging drums and hand claps, you get a picture of a Saturday night party in a smoky Philly bar.

The flipside, ‘Brown Finger’ (?!?!) is a much slower, laid back affair with none of the fire of ‘Thunder Chicken’.

A brilliant, but obscure record that needs to be heard.

So there you go.

Have a great weekend!

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 obscure, New England garage pop.

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By Larry, January 18, 2011 3:34 pm

Miss Ruby Andrews

Listen/Download – Ruby Andrews – Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)

Listen/Download – Wayne Bennett – Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)

Greetings all.

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

The tune(s) I bring you today represent one of the finest ‘love gone bad’ soul songs of the 60s, as well as a groovy instrumental spin on same.

Ruby Andrews was a Mississippi-born, Chicago-based singer who recorded for, and scored a string of R&B hits with the Zodiac label between 1967 and 1971.

I first heard Ruby via a mix tape that included the pulsing funk of ‘You Made a Believer Out of Me’, which was a Top 20 hit in 1969. That record was a big fave of mine for a few years before I finally scored a copy of Ms. Andrews biggest hit, the tune I bring you today, ‘Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)’.

An R&B Top 10 hit (and Pop Top 50) in the summer of 1967 (with Casanova spelled ‘Casonova’ on the label), ‘Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over), co-written by Joshie Armstead and Milton Middlebrook, and bearing a characteristically fantastic arrangement by the mighty Mike Terry, is a dramatic, emotional record that sounds years ahead of its time.

The second version of the tune came to me quite by accident.

Last year, during the Funky16Corners Pledge Drive and the premier of the Funky16Corners Soul Club, my man Tarik Thornton included the track ‘Rocking Funky Broadway’ by Wayne Bennett in his mix.

Not too long after that I spied that record on a sale list and picked it up.

It wasn’t until it fell through the mail slot that I discovered that the flip was a version of ‘Casanova’.

Bennett was a journeyman jazz/blues guitarist who had played on some of Bobby Bland’s landmark recordings.
His version of ‘Casanova’, basically his guitar lead overdubbed onto the original backing track from Andrews’ 45, was released on the Chicago-based Giant label (for which Armstead herself recorded some excellent 45s) in 1968. Bennett lays down the melody line with a bold, jazzy flair, creating a more memorable performance than one would expect from such a reworking.

There were later cover versions of the song by Loleatta Holloway (1975 Aware) and the disco group Coffee (1980 DeeLite).

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll see you all 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 obscure, New England garage pop.

Comments (2)

By Larry, January 16, 2011 1:42 pm

Willis ‘Gator Tail’ Jackson

Listen/Download – Willis ‘Gator Tail’ Jackson – Bow Legged Daddy

Greetings all.

I don’t know about how things are where you reside, but I am good and freaking sick of snow. We got clobbered right after Christmas with 34 inches, and got almost another foot the other night. The landscape around here is getting crazy, with the rivers of snow, edged with piles of dirty snow (up against even dirtier snow), which just get dirtier every single day. I keep hoping for a thaw, but I know when that comes it’s just going to uncover stuff that needs to be fixed or cleaned up.

No fun…

That said, I still have my records to keep me warm!

The tune I bring you today is something that I acquired passively, i.e. as part of a big lot of 45s. I originally made the purchase to get one particular single (a psyche thing I’d been after for years) and managed to get about 200 other records in the deal.

Aside from the whole thing being packed in what appeared to be shredded newspaper (which I was cleaning up for a couple of weeks afterward) there were about two dozen keepers in the bunch, bringing the per-record cost (after junking most of them) to about 50 cents per, which is not bad at all when you consider that the record I bought the lot for was worth about three times what I paid for the whole thing.

It was a nice grab bag, with some groovy 60s pop, a couple of cool soul 45s, and a few funky things as well, which included today’s selection.

When I pulled out a 45 by Willis ‘Gator Tail’ Jackson my interest was piqued, Jackson – a tenor saxophonist – was one of the OG soul jazzers, having recorded a string of dates for Prestige, Verve and even Muse in the 70s.

The second point of interest on the 45 was that it was on Paul Winley Records.

Winley was a New York based label owner who issued a bunch of doo wop and early rock in the 50s and early 60s, before moving into funk and soul in the early 70s, and then on into the early days of hip hop.

This 45 features vocal and instrumental versions of the song ‘Bow Legged Daddy’, the vocal credited to Paul’s daughter Ann Winley (uninspired) and the instro (which we feature today) to Willis ‘Gator Tail’ Jackson.

Though the tune seems to have it’s roots in standard R&B/blues, it’s a shuffle, laid down in a funky style with some groovy organ.

The interesting thing seems to be that this may very well be the group otherwise known as the Harlem Underground Band.

Sometime in the early-to-mid 70s Winley recorded a session that was rumored to include George Benson, Willis Jackson, Ann Winley, Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez and/or Reuben Wilson on organ and released the session under the name ‘Harlem Underground Band’. That album included the track ‘Smoking Cheeba Cheeba’ which went on to have its break harvested for a number of rap records.

That session was issued under a few different names/covers, one clearly meant to capitalize on the success of Benson, whose picture was displayed prominently on the cover of the later version. Benson had recorded with Jackson years earlier. There’s also a record on the Upfront label (a notorious recycler/re-labeler of sessions) that appears to be the same group (if not the same exact session).

I can’t say for sure if this is the exact same group, but since Winley and Jackson were part of the original recording, and the organist on this session sounds like he has some chops, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I hope you dig the tune, and 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 obscure, New England garage pop.