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By Larry, January 8, 2015 4:47 pm

The Glories being interviewed in 1967

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, in its regular Friday night 9PM bag on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there to listen at airtime, make sure you subscribe to the show as a podcast on iTunes, listen on you mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selection is one of those records that I first encountered on what can only be called an internal safari through my crates.

I was looking for something else, and happened upon an old UK comp of the Direction label (CBS and sub-labels in the UK).

When I realized that there were a few songs on the LP that I was not familiar with, I unsleeved it, slipped it under the needle and gave them a listen.

The one that really grabbed me is today’s selection, ‘(I Love You Babe But) Give Me My Freedom’ by the Glories.

Never having heard of the group before, I set out in search of information and (naturally) a copy of the 45.

The Glories, led by Florida-born singer Frankie Gearing recorded a handful of singles for the Date label in 1967 and 1968, of which ‘Give Me My Freedom’ was the first.

The group never had much success, with ‘Give Me My Freedom’ becoming a minor regional hit in the Northeast in the Summer of 1967.

Opening with a short, spoken intro, the song is soon off to the races with a fast, four on the floor dance beat in the Motown stylee.

Gearing lays down a very solid lead vocal, with some very nice harmonies by the rest of the group.

This is yet another record that should have been a hit, but it appeared in a crowded field, with no less than five female-led soul singles competing with it for chart space.

One of their last 45s was a cover of ‘Dark End of the Street’, recorded in Memphis with Chips Moman at the board.

The Glories eventually morphed into the group Quiet Elegance, who recorded eight singles for Hi between 1972 and 1977.

‘Give Me My Freedom’ is both excellent, and inexpensive (unlike their Northern fave ‘I Worship You Baby’ which can be quite costly), so grab yourself a copy for your box and start dancing.

See you on Monday

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 1, 2015 12:50 pm

Greetings all.

I shall once again remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or help yourself to an MP3 here at the blog.

I thought I’d end the week on the kind of up note that you could stuff in your ears and carry to whatever party you’re heading to.

The Soul Brothers Six are one of those soul groups that is in the required acquisition category, i.e. if I find it, I buy it.

Like most folks my age, I found my way to the SB6 via the bare-chested wailing of Grand Funk Railroad, who had a hit with their 1974 cover of the group’s ‘Some Kind of Wonderful (a hit for the SB6 in 1967), and I’m not ashamed to say that I still dig the stadium stomp of their version, too.

That said, someone (I do not recall who) posted a video a few years back, of what appeared to be an indie film about the SoCal mod scene (‘We Are the Mods’) . It was visually arresting (with the mod girls and the scooter and all that) but what really grabbed me was the song that was playing in the background of the club scene.

I did a little digging and discovered that the tune I was hearing, ‘Thank You Baby For Loving Me’ was a Soul Brothers Six record (from 1968) that I hadn’t heard before.

Written by group member Charles Armstrong, ‘Thank You Baby For Loving Me’ is fast moving (dig that bass) dancer that contains everything that made the Soul Brothers Six such a great group.

There’s the rawness of gospel, street corner harmony, old time soul shouting and that gritty guitar that you hear on so many of their records.

The chart prospects of the SB6 were a thing of the past by the time ‘Thank You Baby…’ came out, but the record almost seems too raw for 1968.

A few years later, John Ellison would go solo, and soon after that would reconstitute the SB6 on Phil LA of Soul and GRT.

You used to be able to pick up a couple of their 45s on the cheap, but those days appear to be gone.

So dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, December 4, 2014 3:14 pm

Dee Dee Warwick

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, so it’s time once again to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs, this (and every) Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selection is another one (like Wednesday’s tune) of those tracks that made it into my ears via a British Invasion singer first.

A while back I managed to put my hands on a copy of Chris Farlowe’s ‘The Art of Chris Farlowe’ LP.

Farlowe, first with his band the Thunderbirds, and later on as the vocalist of Colosseum, was one of the really interesting UK singers that never made a serious dent here in the US.

A singularly unusual looking and sounding cat, Farlowe had excellent taste in R&B and soul, and ‘The Art of Chris Farlowe’ is packed with covers of artists like the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Darrell Banks, Garnet Mimms, and Dee Dee Warwick.

I fell in love with the song ‘We’re Doing Fine’ and with a little digging discovered that it had originally been recorded by Dee Dee Warwick in 1965 for the Blue Rock label.

Written by Horace Ott, the song starts off deceptively quietly, with Warwick eventually joining the acoustic guitar that opens the record.

By the time the band kicks in – brass, strings and electric guitar (arranged by Ott, produced by Ed Townsend) – what you get is a powerful, melodically sophisticated soul 45.

‘We’re Doing Fine’ was Dee Dee Warwick’s first hit, making into the R&B Top 30 in August of 1965. She would continue to score hits into the mid-70s.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, November 11, 2014 2:01 pm

The Tams

Listen/Download The Tams – Trouble Maker

Greetings all

How about we cross the great divide here in the middle of the week with some tasty, uptempo southern soul?

The mighty Tams are one of those groups that I knew about long before I heard a note of their music.

It was only in the last five or six years that I started to pick up their records, around the same time that I began to dig into the Joe South (whose songs the Tams recorded) discography.

The song I bring you today is a great 1968 track that was released as a single, and also included on their 1969 LP ‘Portrait of the Tams’.

‘Trouble Maker’ was written, like many of the Tams’ biggest hits – like ‘What Kind of Fool’, ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’ and ‘Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy’ – by Ray Whitley.

Whitley was part of a group of Atlanta-area songwriters associated with publisher Bill Lowery, like the aforementioned South, and JR Cobb who had their songs taken into the charts by artists like the Tams, Billy Joe Royal, Tommy Roe and others.

Whitely  wrote seven of the twelve songs on ‘Portrait of the Tams’, with one each by South,Cobb and Ralph Flynn, and a cover of ‘Hey Jude’.

‘Trouble Maker’ is a fast moving tune with great lead guitar (maybe Joe South?), a typically wonderful lead vocal by Joe Pope and a flashy horn section.

If you haven’t investigated the sounds of the Tams, you really ought to do so. They recorded a lot of amazing music during their career, and none of it is going to make you dig too deep into your wallet, so get to steppin’.

Sadly, Whitley fell into hard times later in his life, living for a time in a homeless shelter, before passing away in 2013.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, November 9, 2014 3:45 pm

The Brothers/Silvetti

Listen/Download The Brothers – Are You Ready For This

Listen/Download Silvetti – Spring Rain

Greetings all

I hope you’re ready to get your groove on this week.

Having done a lot of reading about (and an exponential amount of listening to) the Northern Soul phenomenon over the last decade or so, something that I discovered – along with a grip of amazing music – is that the musical essence of that scene is not at as monolithic as you might think.

Surely there is a “Northern” sound, but if you dig into the annals, especially in the 1970s explosion in the UK, you discover that some of the DJs and the dancers had open minds (and ears).

Here in the US, where exposure to ‘Northern Soul’ is often tied directly to the mod/60s bag (hewing closer to the Manchester-based 60s scene at the Twisted Wheel, which was instrumental in the development of a rare soul scene in the UK), the idea of hearing a Philadelphia International side, or any other disco-identified sound, is all but blasphemous.

However, take a look at the playlists of many of the biggest Northern clubs in the 70s, and you alongside the ultra-rare Motown-influenced ish, you will also see records – then new – that many soul fans today would file off to the side as ‘disco’.

What a lot of people ignore (to their own peril) is that a much of the music associated with early disco culture is by any other name, soul music. Your anoraks/trainspotters/”experts”/killjoys will try to convince you that little after the end of the 60s is worth listening to, but like everyone else, they are wrong from time to time.

When they do that, they forget that Northern Soul was once a vibrant, living, breathing scene, and above all a dancer’s scene and if a record brought people out onto the floor, that’s all that mattered.

Today I bring you two examples of records that were created for disco dance floors and were absorbed into the Northern Soul scene.

The first, ‘Are You Ready For This’ by the Brothers is a solid, four on the floor dancer with the kind of sweeping, melodic string flourished that the soulies really dug.

The Brothers were a New York based studio creation, built around producer Warren Schatz and pianist Bhen Lanzaroni. Their 1975 LP ‘Disco-Soul’ was composed almost entirely of new versions of disco standards by groups like the Ohio Players (the LP features a very cool Hammond driven cover of ‘Fire’), Barry White, Disco Tex, Carol Douglas, and Gloria Gaynor, interspersed with originals by Lanzaroni and Schatz.

‘Are You Ready For This’ was released as a single in the US and the UK, and was picked up by UK DJs where it became a staple at clubs like the Blackpool Mecca (it also seems to have been a minor hit in New York City discos).

The second track I bring you today is ‘Spring Rain’ by Silvetti. Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno, aka Bebu Silvetti, or just Silvetti, was an Argentinian composer/arranger/producer who had his biggest hit with ‘Spring Rain’ in 1977.

The record was a big hit in US and European discos, but was also brought into the Northern scene (to the consternation of many) by disco-friendly DJs like Ian Levine. Like ‘Are You Ready For This’, ‘Spring Rain’ has a strong beat, and wave upon wave of strings.

As time wore on, and new sounds became popular, and the idea of ‘soul music’ became more expansive – I hesitate to say ‘inclusive’ since there were/are many who would just as soon strangle you than hear a disco record – new terminology was adopted that allowed collectors and DJs to compartmentalize these records into their own genres, like ‘modern soul’, ‘deep funk’, ‘rare groove’ and ‘crossover’. Often times you’ll see announcements for allnighters and weekends in the UK and Europe where these tangential sounds will have separate rooms/dance floors devoted to them.

If you have an open mind policy (like we do here) it’s not at all hard to see the threads that link all of these categories, and to find your way back through their roots, stopping to savor the vast array of records that resist classification (often my favorite kind).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, November 6, 2014 12:53 pm

Volcanos – Storm Warning (Arctic)
Homer Banks – A Lot of Love (Minit)
The Supremes – Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart (Motown)
The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Maurice and the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
OV Wright – Love the Way You Love (Back Beat)
The Spellbinders – Help Me (Get Myself Back Together Again) (Columbia)
Otis Clay – Got To Find a Way (One-Derful)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do (Imperial)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
The Marvelettes – I’ll Keep On Holding On (Tamla)
The Broadways – You Just Don’t Know How Good You Make Me Feel (MGM)
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket (Revilot)
The Facinations – Girls Are Out To Get You (Mayfield)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
The Cooperettes – Shingaling (Brunswick)
The Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
The Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle (Scepter)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Cameo/Parkway)
The Younghearts – A Little Togetherness (Soultown)
Jean Wells- With My Love and What You’ve Got (Calla)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (Laurie)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt5 – Northern Soul

Greetings all

The end of the week, and of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration are both at hand.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device on the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The mix I chose to close out the week is near and dear to my heart.

Over the course of my soul fandom, stretching back 30 years, no sound has hit me as deeply as Northern Soul.

I’m not going to go into the roots of the sound here (I have in the past, to be sure), or provide a definition, other than to say these are records that combine hard-charging tempos and great melodies in uniquely exhilarating ways.

One need only listen to the mix all the way through to get the picture, as it were, but I suspect that even then, there are those that might take issue with some of the selections.

Northern Soul is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I approach the sound as someone who genuinely loves it.

Some of my very favorite soul records – in any genre – are key to this mix. These are records that lift you in every way, some crossing over into what can safely be described as pure musical bliss.

This is my favorite genre to listen to, and by far my favorite to spin for dancers as a DJ.

I thought it fitting that this was the mix to cap off the anniversary week.

I hope you dig it, and I hope you keep listening/reading as long as I still have something meaningful to say.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

I’ll see you all next week.

And, as always…

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 18, 2014 11:03 am

Listen/Download The Naked Truth – The Shing-a-Ling Thing

Listen/Download The Naked Truth – The Stripper

Greetings all

Don’t forget that the end of the week is nigh, so the Funky16Corners Radio Show, dropping every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio isn’t far off. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

The track I bring you today is a testament to the value of carrying piles of otherwise useless facts around in your head at all times.

As has been stated here many a time, I spent a lot of years chasing down as much Philly soul as my greedy little hands (and not so little ears) could grab.

One of the things I always do – with records from Philly, or any other area – is to try and get a handle on the major players in any scene, i.e. musicians, songwriters, producers and arrangers. This information will allow you – in the absence of specific discographical data – to gather up 45s you might otherwise have passed over.

While I had never heard of the Naked Truth, when I picked up the 45, aside from the title ‘The Shing-a-ling Thing’ (note to fledgling collectors of 60s soul, pick up any and all ‘shingaling’ records), I noticed several names on the label that indicated that this was a Philadelphia-based record.

The disc was arranged by Richie Rome, a Madara-White production, and co-written by none other than Leon Huff.

Needless to say (though you can already see I’m going to say it anyway…) I put this one in the keeper pile and brought it home.

As it turns out, ‘The Shing-a-ling Thing’ is a groovy, pulsing dancer that has its share of devotees on the Northern Soul dance floors ( I would not be surprised to find out that it is Mr Huff tickling the ivories on the record).

My guess is that ‘The Shing-a-ling Thing’ was a throwaway b-side, with the cover of David Rose’s ‘The Stripper’ being the selling point (thus ‘The Naked Truth’).

Why this crew thought to resuscitate ‘The Stripper’ (which had been a huge hit in 1962) as a fairly hard-hitting organ instro in 1967 is a mystery, though I suspect that it has something to do with a popular commercial for Noxzema shaving cream, that used ‘The Stripper’ as its backing music that year.

Interestingly, the Naked Truth’s version of ‘the Stripper’ charted briefly in Philadelphia in the fall of 1967.

It’s pretty cool, which is why I’m including it here.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 16, 2014 11:03 am

Bob Brady and the Con Chords

Listen/Download Bob Brady and the Con Chords – Everybody’s Goin’ To the Love In

Greetings all

The tune I have selected to start out the week is a long time favorite, party-starter and dance floor annihilator.

Possessed of one of the great blue eyed soul voices of the classic era (though it was largely ‘borrowed’ from Mr. William Robinson of Detroit, MI…) Bob Brady led the Con Chords through a half-dozen stellar 45s on the Chariot label between 1967 and 1969.

Based in the Baltimore, MD area (check out my interview with Con Chords trombonist Larry Sprigg in the old F16C web zine), the Con Chords were popular up and down the East Coast, having their biggest success with 1967’s ‘More More More of Your Love’ which was a big regional hit in Philadelphia.

The record you see before you today was a minor local hit in 1968.

‘Everybody’s Goin’ To the Love In’ – co-written by Brady and Con Chords keyboard player Jim Samuel – is an absolutely brilliant 45, that is guaranteed to set any dance floor on fire (thus its popularity with the Northern Soul folks).

Opening deceptively quietly, with a muted trumpet and piano, it soon builds up to an explosive, pounding opening (dig those piano chords), followed by Brady’s trademark falsetto vocal.

The lyrics are all 1968-heavy peace and love (‘Everybody’s going to see the guru!’) but the arrangement is solid soul, and the record builds the excitement over and over again.

I LOVE this 45 and have played it out many a time.

I hope you dig it as much as I do.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 21, 2014 4:01 pm

Listen/Download The Trends – Soul Clap

Greetings all

The end of the week is approaching so I will remind you once again to twist the dials on your interwebs radiola to tune in the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You’ll get an earful of the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab yourself an MP3 out of the archive here at the blog (where more than 200 episodes are stored!).

The record I have selected to close out the week is a tasty little disc I picked up last year while hunting for wax out in the New York hinterlands.

I was rifling through the crates in the basement of a groovy little record store, and making myself a nice bigstack of 45s to take home when I happened upon ‘Soul Clap’ by the Trends.

I had never heard of thr group or the song, but who am I to pass up a record with a title like that?

Fortunately the store had a turntable on which to preview platters, and I gave it a spin.

What I got was a very nice dancer, brought to you by the production skills (and pen) of the mighty Johnny Pate.

Naturally, the record has plenty of soul clapping, punchy bass and rhythm guitar, and some of those tasteful Chitown strings.

The flipside, ‘The Big Parade’ is a nice, sweet group harmony side.

As it turns out, the Trends (Eddie Dunn, Emmett Garner Jr., Ralph O’Neill and Jerome Johnson) had a string of 45s, first on Smash, and then on ABC between 1964 and 1968.

They didn’t have much commercial success – aside from some airplay in Chicago – but their 45s are cool and worth picking up.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 12, 2014 12:58 pm

Darrow Fletcher

Listen/Download Darrow Fletcher – The Pain Gets a Little Deeper

Greetings all

Here we all are, knee-deep in the middle of the week.

What better, then, than some refreshing, upbeat Chicago soul?

Darrow Fletcher’s debut 45, 1966’s ‘The Pain Gets a Little Deeper’ is one of those records that I chased after for quite a while before I finally landed one for my play box.

It’s not a crazy expensive 45, but it is popular and in demand, so you kind of have to fight a little bit to put your hands on one.

It’s also quite good.

Recorded when Fletcher was 14 years old (?!?), and co-written by the singer, ‘The Pain Gets a Little Deeper’ is a snappy bit of dance floor soul, with a superb, raspy vocal and a very tasty horn arrangement.

The record was produced by Fletcher’s stepfather Johnny Haygood, and grazed the R&B Top 20 in January of 1966.

Fletcher recorded 18 singles between 1966 and 1978 for labels like Groovy, Jacklyn, Revue, Congress, UNI and ATCO.

He had two more minor R&B hits in 1970, and 1976, but never got any higher than his debut despite the consistent high quality of his material.

There’s a great Kent comp of his 1966-1971 records called ‘The Pain Gets a Little Deeper’ which can be had on CD or through iTunes.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 3, 2014 12:08 pm

Future Congressman Salvatore ‘Sonny’ Bono

Listen/Download Cookie Jackson – Uptown Jerk

Listen/Download BJ and the Profits – It’s Gonna Rain Outside

Greetings all

I thought we’d start the new week with something very groovy, and a little bit unusual.

If you follow Funky16Corners, you probably wouldn’t expect to see the name Sonny Bono pop up, but then again, to paraphrase an old Monty Python bit, ‘No one expects Sonny Bono!’

The cause for this appearance is – however – 100% soul 45 related, so rest easy.

The story starts many years ago when I fell in love with what is still my favorite New Orleans soul instrumental, Gentleman June Gardner’s ‘It’s Gonna Rain’.

If you’re not familiar, take a peek in the Funky16Corners mix and Radio Show archives, since it pops up in both more than once.

It is a swinging bit of dance floor heat, and for tha reason, sweated hard in 45 form by DJ types.

Though I can’t recall the exact interval, it was a little while before I discovered that the song was in fact a cover of a Sonny and Cher tune (?!?), which had appeared on the B-side of their hit ‘I Got You Babe’.

The groovy thing is, the Sonny and Cher OG is a KILLER record, working kind of a garage/soul-a-go-go thing.

The song became a fave of mine, so much so that when I saw that it had been covered by a group called BJ and the Profits, I snapped it up post haste.

What I discovered when I finally got my hands on it, was that it was produced by Mr. Bono (no slouch in that department) and, when I heard it, that ole Salvatore actually sings on it too!

As you’ll hear when you pull down the ones and zeros, the BJ and the Profits version is very cool indeed.

Using a new backing track, with what sounds like either a sitar or fuzz guitar, the lead vocal is taken by ‘BJ’, who unfortunately remains a mystery.

Despite the fact that Sonny was involved, and the record pops up in S&C discographies, I haven’t been able to track down the identity of the singer.

The flipside, ‘I Lost All Faith In You’ is a hard-edged number with a rolling New Orleans rhythm.

The second record we have today – also credited to York-Pala Productions, in fact Sonny & Cher’s managers Charlie Green and Brian Stone) is Cookie Jackson’s ‘Uptown Jerk’.

The very first record released on Capitol Records Uptown subsidiary (both of these records are from 1965), ‘Uptown Jerk’, is an upbeat dancer that has its fair share of fans on the Northern scene.

Lorraine ‘Cookie’ Jackson is a much better known performer, having recorded 10 45s between 1961 and 1970 for labels like Press, Uptown, Okeh and Kris.

The flipside, ‘(I’m Gonna) Go Shout It On the Mountain’ is a thinly disguised reworking of the old gospel tune ‘Go Tell It On the Mountain’.

As far as I can tell, though Sonny Bono did a fair amount of outside songwriting and production (he was an acolyte of Phil Spector’s) these are the only soul 45s he had anything to do with. They were released months apart in 1965 (the first and sixth singles in the Uptown catalog).

They are both cool, and worth picking up when you see them.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 22, 2014 12:50 pm

Ike and Tina Turner

Listen/Download Ike and Tina Turner – Somebody Needs You

Greetings all

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

The song I bring you today is one of those anomalies that piques my curiosity and sends me off on a search.

A while back I was listening to the two volumes of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue recorded live, released in 1965 on Loma and Warner Brothers.

If you get a chance to pick up either volume, they are both outstanding, presenting the group in fine form delivering a wide variety of material, including great covers of songs by the Impressions, Etta James, the Soul Sisters, the Five Dutones and more.

The one track (on Volume 2) that stuck out like a sore thumb was ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’.

Clearly a studio track with audience overdubs (where every other track was live), the song was also a stylistic departure.

Whereas Ike and Tina and the Ikettes always had a harder, R&B inflected edge to their recordings, ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’ was stylish, Detroit-style Northern Soul.

I hit the reference books and discovered that the song had been released as a single in 1965, and that it was fairly scarce, and a little bit expensive.

It took me a little while, but I finally tracked down a copy.

Even a single listen should be enough to convince you that ‘Somebody Needs You’ (as the track is listed on the Loma 45) is unlike anything else in the Ike and Tina discography.

As it turns out, the song has an interesting history.

Written by Frank Wilson (the man that brought you ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’), ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’ was also recorded by Darrell Banks (Revilot 1966).

The backing track from the Ike and Tina version was recycled several times.

First as Larry Laster’s ‘Go For Yourself’ (with new lyrics by, and credited to Leon Sylvers) on Loma in 1966, a year later by Herb and Doris on the HIP label, as ‘Lighten Up’ by Larry Atkins on the Highland label, and by Ty Karim as ‘Lighten Up Baby’ on Car-A-Mel!

Interestingly enough, the Darrell Banks recording uses a completely different track/arrangement.

It’s an amazing record, and a real departure for Ike and Tina. It leaves me wishing that they’d done more like it.

I hope you dig it too, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.