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By Larry, March 18, 2010 3:58 pm

Buffalo Springfield

Percy Sledge

King Curtis

Listen/Download -Percy Sledge – Kind Woman

Listen/Download -King Curtis – For What It’s Worth

Greetings all.

I hope that the end of the week finds you all well.
I seem to have found temporary respite from the seasonal onslaught of pollen, which at times feels like someone is following me around tightening a vise on my head. I suspect that the damp weather amplified the problem, but pretty much all I can do is take allergy medicine and hope that it goes away.
The tunes I bring you today are soulful covers of my all time favorite US 60s band (Tied with Arthur Lee and Love), the Buffalo Springfield.
Known to most as the group that spawned Stephen Stills and Neil Young, the Buffalo Springfield were much more than that, creating in the their short, tumultuous existence an amazing, often sublime fusion of rock, country and psychedelic sounds.
Their biggest (only) hit was 1967s ode to the Sunset Strip riots, ‘For What It’s Worth’ which was covered many times, most memorably by the Staple Singers and sampled by Public Enemy for ‘He Got Game’ (on which Stills re-recorded the chorus).
My love for the Buffalo Springfield has been a deep and abiding one. I bought my first BS record when I was 13 and still listen to the group on a fairly regular basis. The unfortunate thing is that their discography, even when augmented with unreleased material, is still quite brief, spanning only three albums, which make sit all the cooler when I come across an interesting cover of one of their songs.
I’ve always seen them as the classic ‘iceberg band’, in that what is visible above the surface is but a tiny fraction of their output. To the vast majority of people all they are is ‘For What It’s Worth’. To a small percentage of people they are known for what the members went on to do, and the tiniest percentage imaginable actually have a real idea of the depth and breadth of their work.
Last year I was out digging for 45s when I pulled a Percy Sledge single from a box and noticed the title ‘Kind Woman’.
‘No..’ I thought. ‘It couldn’t be.’
But, it was.
What was it? A cover of the very last song, on the very last album by the Buffalo Springfield; ‘Last Time Around’.
Written by Richie Furay , ‘Kind Woman’ is one of the more country-ish tunes in the band’s catalogue. Furay would go on to re-record the song solo, and with the band he would found after leaving the Springfield, Poco.
I couldn’t wait to get the record home and hear it. I was curious how Sledge would interpret the tune, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Sledge takes the country feel of the original and shifts it over into soul ballad territory, taking the verse at a reserved tempo and exploding during the chorus. There’s some great piano running underneath, as well as a nicely subdued horn arrangement.
The second track I bring you today is by the mighty King Curtis. His version of the Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’ comes from his 1967 ‘King Size Soul’ album (which also included ‘Memphis Soul Stew’). This version is taking at a relaxed pace, with lush strings, the King’s sax and some great vibrato guitar that ties it to the original. It has a great ‘late night’ feel that makes me want to play it back to back with Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’.
I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Monday with some funk.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, March 14, 2010 2:26 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.83 – Really Together!
Recorded live at Master Groove @ Forbidden City 3/10/10

Playlist

Comments (1)

By Larry, March 11, 2010 4:53 pm

Junior Wells

Listen/Download -Junior Wells – You’re Tuff Enough

Greetings all.

Friday is here, and I’m happy to say that last night’s Master Groove @ Forbidden City was an unqualified gas.
There was a nice crowd and as is always the case, the hot sounds were flying fast and furious.
This time out I got my shit together and recorded my set, which I’ll be posting on Monday.
Since I am currently sleep deprived (and have a day’s worth of errands ahead of me) I’ll be uncharacteristically brief.
If you’re a fan of Chicago blues, the name Junior Wells should be a (very) familiar one. In a career that spanned more than four decades, Wells, as both a harp master and a vocalist laid down lots of very tasty music. His collaborations with the mighty Buddy Guy are legendary and have rightly secured him a place of honor in the blues pantheon.
However, like many of his contemporaries (Guy included) Junior Wells dabbled (with more success than many) on the soul and funk side of things. Today’s selection is one of his finest efforts from that side of the stylistic street.
Last year, on my Massachusetts digs, I happened upon a hippie-ish record store in a back alley of an ivy encrusted college town. To my delight, their bins were filled with all kinds of groovy 60s pop and rock LP, and in addition to some stuff I hadn’t heard of, I pulled a couple of longtime wants as well.
Toward the end of my time in the store I noticed a small bin of 45s on the side, and while it didn’t look all that promising, I’ve learned through experience that only a fool passes up a  stack of unexplored 45s. Good thing too, since the first handful of singles I picked up yielded the song your hearing today.
A subsidiary of Chicago-based Mercury Records, Blue Rock had a discography that stretched from 1964 to 1969 and was home to all kinds of groovy soul, funk and blues sides. Junior Wells recorded four singles for the label in 1968 and 1969, the first of which was the slamming ‘You’re Tuff Enough’.
While I wouldn’t say that ‘You’re Tuff Enough’ crosses the line into funk territory, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop it into a funky DJ set. It’s a searing bit of powerful sock soul, with a great vocal by Wells and a kick-ass arrangement (by none other than the mighty Charles Stepney!).
Certainly the best two dollars I’ve ever spent in Massachusetts.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back with that live set on Monday.
Have a great weekend.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 25, 2010 6:54 pm

The Killer, in a quiet moment…

Listen/Download -Jerry Lee Lewis – Shotgun Man

Greetings all.

I hope every has spent the week ingesting Funky16Corners Radio v.82, on account of it’s packed from end to end with positively stellar soul 45s, each and every one deserving of close, individual scrutiny, but also groovy in a bunch (like bananas).
I’m already ruminating on the composition of my next Master Groove set, and a couple of recent acquisitions seem to be pointing me in a specific direction (yet to be revealed). Since it appears we’re going to spend the weekend buried in snow (again) I’ll have plenty of time to mull the subject over.
Also, a special word of thanks to Gregorious over at Ourstage for a very nice write-up on Funky16Corners!
Today’s selection is yet another in an ever growing string of tasty records, knowledge of which was imparted to me by the mighty Tony C over in the UK. Every once in a while Tony will drop me a line singing the praises of a record, and I know by now, if I’m not already familiar with it, I’d better find myself one because I’m going to dig it. That’s what they refer to as brand loyalty. Over the decades of my digging career (aren’t careers supposed to make you money??) I’ve been very fortunate in that any generosity I’ve given has come back to me tenfold.
This has a lot to do with hanging with other vinyl heads who know their stuff. If you head out on an expedition, and you have the benefit of another person’s digging skill set, shared information will always result in more cool records. My man Haim has been namechecked in this space countless times, because he has turned me on to an equal number of amazing records.
I’ve never had the opportunity to dig with Tony, but it is clear, via our correspondence that we dig the same kinds of music. Thanks to the fact that nobody knows all the great soul and funk records, and most people don’t know the same records, we are informed by one another when something cool comes along.
I’ve always thought that those in the collector/dj community who thrive on exclusivity – i.e. crate digger ‘secret squirrel’-isms* – were doing themselves, and the rest of us a huge disservice. There’s something unbelievably childish/selfish about things like that. Congratulations! You’ve found a wonderful piece of music and you’re going to keep it to yourself, so you, and only you can listen to it while locked in your mother’s basement, covered in potato chip crumbs and your own, special stink.
Kinda sad, n’est ce pas?
The record I bring you today is one of those 45s that I’d never come across until Tony brought it to my attention. I grabbed myself a copy, dug it a lot, and as a result I’m able to pass it along to you fine people this very day.
I have always been a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis. Of the giants that are blasted into rock’n’roll’s Mt Rushmore – Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley – it has always been a close race between Mr Penniman and Mr Lewis (with Mr Diddley coming in a very close third) as to who should be placed at the top of the pantheon.
Despite a very uneven career, it has always been clear to me that the Killer is one of the realest of the real, and this is in spite of the fact that he is a world class reckless badass. Head over to YouTube and take a gander at the man in performance, wrestling with his piano (and his unraveling pompadour), shooting sparks out of every part of his being and generally rolling like a juggernaut through the teenagers of the late 1950s. Only Little Richard – like Jerry Lee with a caboose full of dynamite – rocked harder, crazier and badder, specially since he was doing it in a segregated society.
As I said before, for one of the true giants of his era Jerry Lee didn’t have a tremendous amount of success. He only had about a half dozen significant hits (mostly in 1957/58) and by the early 60s most of his chart appearance consisted of covers of other people’s material. By the mid-60s he had switched labels, leaving Sun for Smash, and was weaving in and out of his stylistic lane.
It’s important to note at this point that while Lewis spent much of the 60s jumping back and forth between rock, country and soul (yes, soul) this wasn’t really much of a change. All of those elements were present to varying extents from the very beginning of his career, and it’s likely that any point where one of those influences became more pronounced than the others, someone else (like his record company) were attempting to push him where they thought he’d sell some records.
Today’s selection, ‘Shotgun Man’, which appeared on Lewis’s 1967 LP ‘Soul My Way’ – while unmistakably Jerry Lee Lewis – veers off into unusual directions. Those in the know might slap a ‘Mod soul’ label on this one, partly because of who the artist is, but also because it combines aspects of mainstream soul music (as it was in 1966/67) with older R&B roots and just a touch of propulsive rock’n’roll. I’d even go as far as to say that a little more emphasis on ‘the one’ would have nudged this into proto-funk territory (or at least hard edged sock soul). Penned by Jerry Lee’s road manager/brother-in-law Cecil Harrelson, ‘Shotgun Man’ makes references to a number of songs (‘Seventh Son’ ‘Agent 00 Soul’) and people (Howling Wolf, disc jockey John R) and at times sounds like James Brown pushed through a hillbilly strainer. There are points where it reminds me of some of his old labelmate Charlie Rich’s more soulful material.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday

Peace

Larry

*In saying this, I don’t include the Northern Soul practice of ‘cover-ups’, or exclusive dubs in the world of reggae soundclash, which are more a part of the theatricality of the experience. There’s an element of competition, but it’s less about keeping it to yourself than it is about bringing something special to the night.

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By Larry, February 21, 2010 5:12 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.82 – Groovin’ at the Go Go

Playlist

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By Larry, February 18, 2010 6:04 pm

The Average White Band

Listen/Download -Average White Band – Person to Person

Greetings all.

I come to you at the end of the week on the brink of exhaustion.
In addition to my regular fatherly, husbandly and bloggerish duties, I spent last night in New York City, meeting some groovy people, and most importantly, spinning some soul 45s.
It was another excellent evening at Master Groove @ Forbidden City with my cohorts DJ Bluewater and M-Fasis, both of whom laid down very tasty sets of funk and soul.
I put together an all Northern Soul set, and was planning on recording it live, but as luck would have it, I left the house without the proper cable to attach the recorder to the board, so the live recording was not to be.
However, as we speak, despite the fact that any sane person would be in bed, catching up on lost sleep, I’m sitting here recording that set at home, so that I can bring it to you on Monday.
As a result, I’m going to make this entry short, sweet and Master Groove-related.
The last time I did a set at Forbidden City, my man M-Fasis, who always drops something that blows my mind, whipped a familiar disc on the turntable that made my head turn. Way back in the day, when I had my first copy of the Average White Band’s ‘AWB’ album, the song that really blew my mind (aside from ‘Pick Up the Pieces’) was a a little number called ‘Person to Person’. Back in January, when M-Fasis played this very record, two things occurred to me.
First, why was I sleeping on this most excellent 45?
Second, why hadn’t someone sampled that very tasty guitar lick?
The answer to the first question is one of those basic ‘forest for the trees’ conundrums, in which your’s truly is surrounded by mountains of vinyl, and sometimes I get preoccupied and forget stuff.
The answer to the second question is, but of course the song has been sampled, at least twenty times by folks like Big Daddy Kane and Public Enemy.
So, there you go.
So how about some of that tasty Scottish funk to get your weekend started?
I’ll get back to work on that mix, and I’ll see you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 17, 2010 8:10 am

That’s right kids. I’m heading back into NYC tonight for another set with DJ Bluewater and M-Fasis at Master Groove @ Forbidden City, Ave A between 13th and 14th Streets.

I’ve dipped into the crates and will be spinning a set of classic, upbeat Northern Soul that you will not want to miss. Things get going at 10PM, so fall by Forbidden City and get you drink (and eat, the food is excellent) on while letting your tired ears be massaged by the best in funk and soul, all spun at 45 revolutions per minute.

See you there.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 4, 2010 5:09 pm

Marvin Gaye

Listen/Download – Marvin Gaye – One More Heartache

Greetings all.
The end of the week is upon us (like a lion on an impala) and in the spirit of great forces of nature, I bring you one of my favorite 45s by the mighty Marvin Gaye.
The first time I heard the song ‘One More Heartache’ was probably 25 years ago at the height of the mod/garage revival, when it arrived in my ears via a cover version by UK R&Beatsters the Artwoods.
Remembered as much for what their members went on to do (Jon Lord, Keef Hartley) as their fantastic music, the Artwoods (named for their singer Art Wood, brother of Face/Rolling Stone Ron) layed down some serious transitional heat, updating American R&B for a modernist audience. It was on the greatest hits lp ‘100 Oxford Street’ that I first heard a number of amazing songs that I would later discover to be covers of artists like Solomon Burke (‘Keep Looking’), Benny Spellman (‘I Feel Good’) and of course Marvin Gaye.
Though I loved the song ‘One More Heartache’, and was aware that it had been done originally by Gaye, it was another 20 years before I actually got my hands on a copy of the original.
When I did, and the needle hit the wax my mind was good and truly blown.
This, my friends is because Marvin Gaye’s recording of ‘One More Heartache’ is nothing less than a monument to the greatness of soul music. Recorded in 1965, ‘One More Heartache’ – written by Warren ‘Pete’ Moore, Smokey Robinson, Marv Tarplin, Robert Rogers and Ronald White – was a minor hit in the spring of 1966, scraping the outer limits of the Pop Top 40. Why it wasn’t a bigger hit may have as much to do with its dark message as it does with the huge surplus of musical competition at the time. A quick look at a chart (see below) from almost exactly 44 years ago reveals pop and soul classics jamming up the charts so thickly that even a record as mighty as ‘One More Heartache’ was unable to fight its way closer to the top.
It may also have something to do with the record sounding oddly familiar.
The day I got my hands on this particular 45 I digi-ma-tized it, and then proceeded to listen to it at least a dozen times on the old MP3 delivery device, during which time it dawned on me that ‘One More Heartache’ is something of a musical restructuring of Gaye’s hit from the previous year ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’. The framework of the song is similar and at times ‘One More Heartache’ sounds as if the composers of both songs (who by the way are the same, and were also all members of the Miracles) took the bright, upbeat ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ and rewrote it as a darker, minor key, mirror version of itself.
Musically, the record (produced by Robinson) is incredible, built – like a James Brown side – on interlocking bits of musical clockwork, with a chiming guitar riff (played by Marv Tarplin) over a pulsing organ (the master Earl Van Dyke), snapping snare drum, finger snaps, tambourine and eventually saxophone. Gaye’s vocal is a masterpiece of soulful pleading, with a lyric that at times sounds like a not too distant cousin of Titus Turner’s ‘All Around the World’.
No matter how you slice it, ‘One More Heartache’ is a heavy record. If you know someone who’s concept of soul is lacking, you need only lock them in a room with this record and a turntable, refusing to let them out until they ‘get it’.
I know you’ll dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

WMCA Countdown Survey for Week of February 10, 1966
FABULOUS 57

1. Lightnin’ Strikes – Lou Christie
2. Uptight – Stevie Wonder
3. A Well Respected Man – The Kinks
4. Don’t Mess With Bill – Marvelettes
5. These Boots Are Made For Walking – Nancy Sinatra
6. My Love – Petula Clark
7. No Matter What Shape – T-Bones
8. My World Is Empty Without You – Supremes
9. Barbara Ann – The Beach Boys
10. Working My Way Back To You – Four Seasons
11. We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper – Beatles
12. Going To A Go-Go – Miracles
13. Lies – Knickerbockers
14. Ballad Of The Green Berets – Sgt. Barry Sadler
15. Love Makes The World Go Round – Dean Jackson
16. Listen People – Herman’s Hermits
17. Hurt Yourself – Frankie Valli
18. Cryin’ Time – Ray Charles
19. Stop! – The Moody Blues
20. Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkel
21. 634-5789 – Wilson Pickett
22. In My Room – Verdelle Smith
23. Husbands And Wives – Roger Miller
24. Elusive Butterfly – Bob Lind
25. I Fought The Law – Bobby Fuller Four
26. Batman Theme – The Marketts
27. Little Bit Of Soap – The Exciters
28. Call Me – Chris Montez
29. Take Me For What I’m Worth – Searchers
30. The Duck – Jackie Lee
31. Like A Baby – Len Barry
32. Night Time – Strangeloves
33. When Liking Turns To Loving – Ronnie Dove
34. At The Scene – Dave Clark V
35. Just Like Me – Paul Revere & The Raiders
36. Since I Lost The One I Love – The Impressions
37. Somewhere There’s A Someone – Dean Martin
38. This Golden Ring – The Fortunes
39. It’s Too Late – Bobby Goldsboro
40. Up And Down – The McCoys
41. It Won’t Be Wrong – The Byrds
42. This Can’t Be True – Eddie Holman
43. My Baby Loves Me – Martha & The Vandellas
44. Keep On Running – Spencer Davis Group
45. Whenever She Holds You – Patty Duke
46. Promise Her Anything – Tom Jones
47. Why Can’t You Bring Me Home – Jay & The Americans
48. This Old Heart Of Mine – Isley Brothers
49. One More Heartache – Marvin Gaye
50. The Cheater – Bob Kuban
51. California Dreamin’ – Mamas & Papas
52. Baby Scratch My Back – Slim Harpo
53. Custody – Patti Page
54. You’ll Be Needin’ Me – Lettermen
55. Shake Me, Wake Me – Four Tops
56. My Prayer – Johnny Thunder
57. Daydream – The Lovin’ Spoonful

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By Larry, January 31, 2010 5:52 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.80 – Forbidden City Organs

Recorded Live in NYC 1-27-10

Playlist

Head over to the Funky16Corners Podcast Archive to hear this mix

Before we get started, I want to say that after serious consideration with the Funky16Corners board of directors, and close consultation with some serious heads (not the least of whom being my man DJ Prestige) I have decided not to deep six the old versions of the blog (WordPress and Blogger). While I did deactivate all active content links on both sites (replacing them with redirects where necessary), since I was unable to do a full export of the WordPress blog, and could not bring over the comments on the old blog posts, AND since I consider reader commentary to be an important part of the process (mainly because so many of you contribute information via those posts) I figured it would benefit all parties to keep the old sites up and running (with any luck as long as this sentence).
Anything you might travel back there to hear, can now be heard here in the new Funky16Corners Radio Podcast and Guest Mix Archives.
The mix you see before you today was supposed to be up in this space on Friday, but I just had too damn much to do, and so I had to put it off for a couple of days. I think, however that you will be pleased when you pull down the ones and zeros and stuff it in your ears.
For you see (hear), Funky16Corners Radio v.80* is just about an hour of high octane, Hammond fueled groove grease guaranteed to get you off your ass, slipping and sliding across the floor, with the hip-shaking, and the wild gesticulation, and the shaking of the hair, gospel wailing and general good times.
Big words those, but I think once the sounds have been ingested, you will concur.
It all started thusly…
Back before Christmas, my lovely wife asked me what I wanted as a holiday gift. I generally reply to these queries with a shrug and a ‘Don’t worry ‘bout me on account of I pretty much have everything I need’. However, this year there was something I had my eye on, so I sent my wife the link, and ‘Bob’s yer uncle’ a brand new digital recorded dropped into my stocking.
My main motivation in requesting this new bit of hardware was so that my casting of the pods would be facilitated, but as is the norm when I get a new toy, I find some other, more interesting way to put it to work, and so I did.
It was at the last Asbury Park 45 Sessions that I brought my recorder along and attempted to record my set right off the board. I thought everything had gone swimmingly, until I got up the next morning, transferred the file onto my laptop and discovered that Einstein (that’s me, heh heh…) hadn’t read the instructions properly, and what I had recorded was not the mix off the board, but all the ambient noise surrounding it. I tossed that one into the old electronic wastebasket and set my sights on my next set at Master Groove.
Well my friends, it was a success.
I had spoken to my host the esteemed DJ Bluewater about what I would play this time, and I suggested a ‘theme set’ of sorts. He thought this was a good idea, so I sat down in the midst of my record vault and started digging. I had originally thought I might do a Northern Soul thing (next time out maybe) but I happened upon a clump of solid Hammond 45s, so I took that as a sign and continued in that direction.
What you have here is an actual live mix, recorded directly from the booth monitor line on the mixer, no fiddling/editing involved.
If you’ve visited with me here over the years, you’ll already be aware that I am a first class Hammond organ nut, and my crates run deep. When I started pulling stuff to compose my set, I extracted enough records for three or four sets, and then sat down with the turntable and selected a little over an hour’s worth of faves.
The records you’ll hear in this mix are the very cream of the dancefloor Hammond crop, with lots of your big keyboard wranglers (Messrs Earland, Doggett, McCall, Lewis, Van Dyke, Frog and Carnegie) a couple of unusual sources (Albert Collins and the Turtles, yes, the Turtles) and a few things you may not have heard before.
As stated previously, my intention here was to whip something up to get the dancers moving, so if you’re playing this inside your corporate veal pen, try not to spill your coffee/disturb your neighbor. If you’re on the bus, piping it in via earbuds, don’t be surprised if your neighbor attempts to administer first aid, since you may appear to be involved in convulsions of some sort.
That said, I will refrain from further comment, letting the sounds speak for themselves.
I hope you dig the mix, and rest assured that I will endeavor to bring you more of the same (both live, and organ mixes) in the coming months.

Peace

Larry

*I was rapping with my man DJ Bluewater last week about how I can’t beleive how many mixes are in the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg Archives (combined mounting up to well over 100 mixes in less than four years)

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By Larry, January 26, 2010 4:42 pm

Ray Sharpe

Listen/Download – Ray Sharpe – Help Me (Get the Feeling Pt1)

Listen/Download – Ray Sharpe – Help Me (Get the Feeling Pt2)

Greetings all.
Welcome back to the new, improved, up tight, all right and solidly grooved Funky16Corners blog.
I should begin by dropping a few programming notes.
First and foremost, the move of all the old ‘Wordpress-era’ posts into the Archived Posts page (a mind numbing and eye-straining process) has been completed, so if there’s anything you’re looking for, hit up the link in the header. It’s funny, in that I discovered that the first post I dropped when I transferred from Blogger to WordPress – back in June of 2006 – was, like the first post here at the independent Funky16Corners blog, a tune by Pat Lewis. Odd bit of synchronicity, that.
I haven’t set a date for the implosion of the two old versions of the blog, but I supposed sometime in the next few weeks might work out, giving everyone some time to adjust their linkage. If there’s something specific you’re looking for (that Googles hasn’t picked up) you can always use the search function at the top of the page.

In other news, tonight (Wed 1/27) I will be returning to Master Groove at Forbidden City (NY, NY , Ave A between 13th and 14th Sts) for another guest set alongside your host DJ Bluewater and our Asbury Park 45 Sessions colleague M-Fasis. If you are in – or near – the city, fall by and soak up some funk and soul, all spinning at 45 revolutions per minute.
The tune I bring you today is one that I was unaware of, until I posted Aretha Franklin’s ‘Save Me’ last summer. One of the commenters (Pete W) informed me that the original version of the song was not Aretha’s 1967 version, but a record from the previous year, Ray Sharpe’s ‘Help Me (Get the Feeling)’.
I set right out to find myself a copy of that 45, and managed to procure it about a month later.
It took a little bit of time, because in addition to your run of the mill soul fans, it turns out that Jimi Hendrix fans/collectors were also on the lookout for this particular 45 (since Hendrix played guitar on the session as part of King Curtis’ group).
So, I get my copy of the record, slap it on the turntable for digi-ma-tization, and discover that it was indeed a cooker.
Sharpe is a minor, but significant figure in musical history. The native Texan had truly unusual start for a black artist, in that his first big impact was with a rockabilly 45, 1958’s ‘Linda Lu’. He continued to record through the 60s and 70s, laying down rock, soul and R&B sides for a variety of labels. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that Sharpe recorded at lest one 45 with the Soul Set for the Philadelphia Sock & Soul label in 1968.
When he recorded ‘Help Me (Get the Feeling)’ in 1966, he shared composing credit with both King Curtis, and the King’s primary guitarist Cornell Dupree (it’s Dupree who lays down the lead guitar on the track, not Hendrix). Interestingly, where the guitar line on Franklin’s ‘Save Me’ is reminiscent of Them’s ‘Gloria’, ‘Help Me (Get The Feeling)’ falls much closer to the 1965 Van Morrison classic, with lyrical references to the original.
The basic backing track really got around, appearing first on the Sharpe 45, then on Franklin’s record, then again in 1967 when ‘Help Me’ was covered (using the backing track) by Jamaican singer Owen Gray, and then AGAIN in 1968 when King Curtis re-used it for his own ‘Instant Groove’. According to a Hendrix history web site, the Owen Gray version can be heard in the background of a taped Hendrix interview, where he hears the record playing and says “…just in case anybody can hear a guitar in the background that’s me playing in New York when I was starving..”
Anyhoo, I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this record is heavier on it’s own merits, or on account of its history (I vote for the former).
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

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Comments (14)

By Larry, January 24, 2010 9:08 pm

The Soulful Miss Pat Lewis

Listen/Download – Pat Lewis – Look At What I Almost Missed

Greetings all. And welcome to the new digs
Surprised?
Me too…
Here’s the deal, in the shortest form possible at the moment.
The Funky16Corners Blog has been in business for just over five years (business being a term used in the loosest way…).
Things got started over at Blogger, and after two years, thanks to Blogger’s dismal tech issues, I moved over to WordPress, where I remained until just about now.
Last week, a couple of blogging friends were shut down by the powers that be at WordPress with no warning, and – adding insult to injury – no explanation.
Neither of the blogs in question were ‘outlaw’, at least in the sense that they were not de fact file sharing repositories, where people rip commercially available CDs and upload the entire thing for download.
These blogs were along the lines of what you see here. Interesting, obscure tracks, offered with commentary and historical background, engineered so that the readers (that’s you) develop a taste for the sounds in question, and then head out into the real world to purchase it on your own, i.e. educational. Certainly, not everyone follows these guidelines as much as the next guy. Some folks pop by, listen to the track in their browser and then mosey along. Others, those not inclined to fill their house with mountains of vinyl, collect and listen to the files on the MP3 delivery device of their choice, and since the vast majority of what gets posted in this space is unavailable any other way, that’s cool too.
The bottom line is, that I have, and will continue to put my heart and soul (no pun intended, but it works, so…) into this enterprise, and I don’t want some cowardly technocrat to destroy it all with the push of a button, without any kind of due process (that being the main issue).
It’s not like WordPress (or any other free blogging service) is getting complaints and then approaching the blogger in question, investigating the situation and then making a determination. They are summarily pulling the plug because “terms of service” have been violated. I do know one blogger that was able to come back from such an outage, but their experience is an exception.
I understand that they have the right to do this, I just think it’s an unfair, shitty way to do business.
As a result, I made the decision to install the WordPress software (related to, but separate from the blogging service) on my own web space (which I have maintained for years in order to store the files and pics I post on my blogs, the content for the webzine and the podcast archives) and relocate the Funky16Corners blog to a new URL. You’ll still be able to reach it by using www.funky16corners.com, but if you’ve been using the https://funky16corners.wordpress.com , I’d ask that you update your links (especially if you have us on the blogroll at your own blog or website) and henceforth proceed to:

https://funky16corners.lunarpages.net

That is the new home of the Funky16Corners blog (though you can change the link to www.funky16corners.com and that’ll work just as well).
You might notice that the look of the blog has changed. When I switched to my own set up, I was unable to keep the blogging template I was using at WordPress, so I had to do a little investigation and find a template that I was happy with design-wise, and that would allow me to use my own banner. The new template (Panorama) includes rotating banner images (which is why the banner may change each time you return to the blog).
The links for the Podcast Archive, Guest Mix Archive, Pre-Wordpress Archive and regular archived posts (more on that in a moment) appear in tabs at the top of the blog, along the bottom of the banner, as well as the familiar sidebar links.
The blogroll still appears on the right side of the blog.
When I moved from Blogger to WordPress, I created an archive of all the old posts. I wanted to import the entire WordPress version of the blog (posts, links, archives and all) in order to create as close to a seamless transition as possible. Without getting too technical, the export/import file from the old blog was (thanks to more than three years of content) far too large to move in one piece, so I had to rebuild. I did move all posts for the last two months into the main page of the blog. All previous posts will be moved (in one-month increments) into the ‘Archived Posts’ link in the header. It’s not as convenient as I would have liked, but It does preserve the old material.
Hopefully, the new look won’t prove too daunting, and your eyes and brains will adjust accordingly over the coming weeks.
As far as commenting, the link to comment is on the top, right hand side of each post.
The overall layout of the new template is a little bit wider, but I think it’s readable. Same basic white background, same typestyle.
That said, I hope you’ll take the time to follow Funky16Corners to its new home.

If you blog, or run a website, please update your links.
It would be greatly appreciated.
And now, how about some soul?
The 45 I bring you today is one that I chased for years and years, generally being outbid at every turn. It’s not a super-expensive record, but it doesn’t usually go for cheap, so when I saw a, how do you say “distressed” looking copy, graded at VG+ (and starting at ten bucks) I figured I’d take a chance. I ended up getting it at the starting bid, and basically kept my fingers crossed that it would be playable when it fell through the mail slot. Smart bunch that you are, you’ve already figured out that it was.
I have to say, that in all my years of digging, this 45 may have the highest level of sonic satisfaction, when balanced against the visual condition of the record itself. There’s some crackle there, but not enough to ruin a great record.
The record in question is Pat Lewis’s storming 1966 version of ‘Look At What I Almost Missed’.
If the song sounds familiar, it’s because the tune’s author George Clinton re-did it with the mighty Parliaments a few years later on the Revilot label.
Lewis’s version (the OG as far as I can tell) was the first 45 released on Detroit’s storied Solid Hit label. Lewis had four 45s (a full third of the label’s discography) released on Solid Hit in the label’s short, two year history, one of which is the ultra-rare, ultra-amazing ‘No One To Love’.
‘Look at What I Almost Missed’ is a dynamite bit of Northern Soul, with a snappy guitar opening, magical Motor City sound and best of all, a great vocal by Lewis herself.
Lewis, who recorded numerous backing vocals for Motown as part of the Andantes, and can be heard as one of the female voices on Isaac Haye’s ‘Hot Buttered Soul’, also recorded one 45 for Golden World.
That said, I hope you dig the sounds, and that you’ll stick with the Funky16Corners blog.

PS – Funky16Corners at Master Groove, @ Forbidden City, NYC Wed 1/27
Be there, or be somewhere less entertaining…

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for a new psychedelic mix.

PSS Check out Paperback Rider too.

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