Comments (0)

By Larry, February 6, 2014 12:47 pm

Dee Irwin

Listen/Download Dee Irwin – I Can’t Stand the Pain

Greetings all

The end of the week is fast approaching, so it’s time to remind you to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you ca keep up with the show by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

The tune I bring you today is something I picked up a few years back, and promptly fell in love with.

Big Dee Irwin (aka Erwin, Ervin, full name DiFosco Ervin) recorded for a variety of labels, under a variety of names (or at least spellings) between 1959 and 1978.

He got his start as a member of the Pastels, before starting his solo career for the Hull label in 1959.

Irwin had his only hit in a duet with Little Eva on the old standard ‘Swinging On a Star’, which made it into the Pop Top 40 in 1963 (it was a Top 10 hit in the UK).

He continued to record for Dimension, 20th Century Fox, Roulette, Fairmount and others before hooking up with Imperial in 1968.

Irwin recorded two solo 45s for the label, as well as three duet 45s (all very cool) with Mamie Galore in 1968 and 1969.

Today’s selection was his second solo outing for Imperial, coming out in 1968. ‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’, written by Maurice Dollison (aka Cash McCall) and Monk Higgins, arranged by Higgins and co-produced by Higgins and Irwin (credited on the label as Ervin), is one of those records that really ought to have been a much bigger deal that it was.

‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’, pushed along by an insistent bass (I’d love to know who the bassist is), combines a great vocal by Irwin (nice female backing singers, too) and a fantastic arrangement by Higgins, featuring flute, strings and a powerful rhythm section.

Despite its obvious quality, this seems to be one of those records that just slipped through the cracks, failing to chart anywhere, never gathering the kind of following inclusion on a Top DJs set list can inspire (though it does seem to have gotten a UK release on Minit).

‘I Can’t Stand the Pain’ is – like much of Irwin’s catalog – unjustly forgotten, but that’s why Funky16Corners is here, slipping it into your ears so that it might find a home in your heart.

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, January 19, 2014 11:47 am

Alvin Cash and the Registers

Listen/Download Alvin Cash and the Registers – No Deposit No Return

Greetings all

The new week is here, so I thought I’d dust off some of that good Chicago (via St Louis) instrumental soul to get you greased up and ready to roll.

Alvin Cash (nee Weeks) and the Crawlers/Registers had a string of hits for the Chicago labels Mar-V-Lus and Toddlin’ Town between 1965 and 1968.

Cash and his brothers – basically a dance act – emigrated to Chitown from St Louis and hit the charts early in 1965 with ‘Twin Time’.

Backed by the Registers, originally a St Louis band called the Nightlighters, Cash basically worked the same side of the “vocal” street as Jerry-O, i.e. he was more of an emcee/toaster/proto-rapper than a singer proper, spicing up several groovy instrumentals with largely spoken interjections.

The track I bring you today is – as my pockets often are – Cash-less, featuring the Registers, along with a bottle of pop, getting down.

The tune – ‘No Deposit No Return’ is credited to Joseph Delponto and Larry Nestor. I can’t find anything about Delponto, but Nestor was a Chicago-area keyboardist who had spent some time in the Buckinghams, and wrote and arranged for other Chicago artists like the Sharpees and Syl Johnson.

‘No Deposit No Return’, which opens with the sound of a bottle being uncapped (natch…) opens up into a grooving soul instro led by some soupy (Wurlitzer??) electric piano and saxophone, with enough punch for the dance floor.

Though this song didn’t chart, its flipside ‘Philly Freeze’ grazed the R&B Top 10 and the Pop Top 50 in 1966.

It is a head-nodder indeed, and I hope you dig it.

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 (1)

By Larry, November 21, 2013 1:14 pm

Listen/Download Tim – I Need Your Love

Greetings all

The weekend is rapidly approaching, which means that it’s almost Funky16Corners Radio Show time again. I com to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can also keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes.

The record I bring you today is something that has been simmering in the crates for a long time.

I got my hands on ‘I Need Your Love’ by Tim (yes, just Tim…) way back in that multi-thousand record dump, courtesy of my father-in-law.

It’s one of those records that had to grow on me for a while before I really “got” it.

‘I Need Your Love’ has kind of a slow (dare I say, awkward) intro, but things get going pretty quickly, and build up a very nice head of steam.

The piano pushes the rhythm along, and if you slap on the heaphones and listen closely, the guitar is doing some interesting things.

I can tell you absolutely nothing about Tim himself, other than his last name would appear to be Smith, his voice sounds like a smoothed out Wilson Pickett, and that this is a Chicago 45.

Celtex was a label owned by Bill Lasley, which as far as I can tell only issued a few 45s in it’s short (just 1967?) existence, two by bluesman Mighty Joe Young and this 45 by Tim.

The song’s co-writer Vernon Taplin is better known by his stage name ‘Saxie Russell’, the man behind ‘Psychedelic Soul’ on Chicago’s Thomas label.

If you have any more information about Tim, please let me know in the comments.

I hope you dig the tune, 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, November 12, 2013 1:21 pm

Otis Clay

Listen/Download Otis Clay – Got To Find a Way

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week. Today’s selection is another one of those records that the first time I heard it, I knew I had to have it.

I had the old stereola warmed up and my aerial pointed in the direction of New Zealand, where my man Kris Holmes was slinging the 45s on Radio Ponsonby, when I first heard the mind-blowingly soulful strains of Otis Clay singing ‘Got To Find a Way’.

While I certainly knew his name – Clay had a run of R&B hits between 1967 and 1972 – it wasn’t until I picked up his outstanding cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet’s ‘She’s About a Mover’ (which skirted the outside of the R&B Top 40 in 1968) that I became acquainted with his music.

That was some years ago, and no matter how cool the aforementioned 45 was (both sides, too) I was unprepared for the explosive soul power of today’s selection.

Though this song was also recorded by the great Harold Burrage two years earlier (1965)  for M-Pac , there’s just no comparison.

Man, oh man, this is a stone solid, ass-kicker of a 45. It has everything, from a spellbinding vocal by Clay, catchy melody by Jimmy Jones and a powerful arrangement.

Every instrument in the mix verily explodes through your speakers, and oddly enough it sounds like a live mix. The drums (listen to those snare hits!), piano, rhythm guitar and horns are exquisitely balanced, propelling Clay’s vocal into the stratosphere.

Here we have the fabled intersection of pure, undiluted soul shouting, pop hooks and dance floor burn, jumping from the grooves on a 45 that is neither well known, nor exceedingly rare.

If you were similarly moved, you could head on over to Ebay and slap down less than twenty bucks (a steal, you should send the guy a fifty and insist he keep the change) and walk away with two and a half minutes of soul power that’ll set your record box (and any dance floor you bring it to) on fire.

I’m serious…if this record doesn’t knock you back on your heels, I don’t know what to tell you.

I mean, KABOOM.

Honestly.

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 (2)

By Larry, November 10, 2013 5:31 pm

The Staple Singers

Listen/Download The Staple Singers – Why (Am I Treated So Bad)

Greetings all

The record I bring you today is an interesting one indeed.

I first heard ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ as an organ instrumental by the Wildare Express.

The first vocal versions I heard were by Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll, and the mighty Bobby Powell.

It wasn’t until later that I realized that the song had been written by Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples, and originally waxed by the Staple Singers in 1965.

While I haven’t spent a lot of time tracking down and digging for gospel, I am a huge fan of the Staple Singers, especially their early work for VeeJay and Epic.

In the years before they broke through on Stax, the Staples were a gospel group, almost always recorded with just their voices and the accompaniment of Pop Staples remarkable guitar.

The original version of ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ opens with an introductory monologue by Pop, backed by his guitar, bass and some very spare percussion before Mavis, Cleotha and Pervis join in.

It is a remarkable testament to the group’s power as singers (and vocal arrangers) as well as the song’s simply stated message.

If you get the chance, pick up any of the Staples’ Epic-era LPs, as they are uniformly excellent.

It wasn’t but a few weeks ago, when I was posting some videos on Facebook, that I discovered – quite by accident – the version of the song you see before you today.

Though I haven’t been able to nail down the recording date for this session, I suspect it was sometime in 1967 or early 1968, before the group left Epic.

Produced by Larry Williams (with no arranging credit listed) this version of ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ is a radical reinterpretation of the song, excising the monologue, but adding in a full, funky band.

The tempo is a touch faster, and the spare accompaniment of the original is replaced with electric guitar, bass, drums and a horn section, with a very groovy electric piano leading the show.

The 45 you see before you was released in 1971 and it was included on a compilation of their Epic material (studio and live) called ‘The Staple Singers Make You Happy’, intended to cash in on their success with Stax (the title is even a shamless reference to one of their Stax hits, 1970’s ‘Heavy Makes You Happy’).

Though I’m not 100% positive, I think this version of ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ was issued (and charted briefly) in 1967. There is some confusion because both ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad’’ and ‘For What It’s Worth’ were issued multiple times, with different B-sides. I suspect this version did in fact get issued, since the Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll version seems to mirror its arrangement (especially the horns).

If anyone knows for sure, please drop me a line.

That said, it’s a great record, and I hope you all dig it.

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, November 7, 2013 2:00 pm

Mr Andre Williams

Listen/Download Jomo – Uhuru (African Twist)

Greetings all

The end of the week is approaching, and that means that it will soon be Funky16Corners Radio Show time again. Each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, I endeavor to bring you the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

I pulled today’s selection out of the crates a while back and I was shocked to discover that I had never posted it here at Funky16Corners.

‘Uhuru (African Twist)’ was an early funk 45 find of mine, which has appeared in many live sets over the years.

I first picked it up on the strength of the name (artist and song) but as soon as I dropped the needle into the grooves, it went straight into the keeper pile.

There was no real ‘Jomo’ to speak of, with the 45 being the pseudonymous work of the mighty Andre Williams, who co-wrote the song with the assistance of none other than Sidney Barnes.

‘Uhuru (African Twist)’ is a powerful mover, packed with hard-hitting drums, chanting and soul clapping (which gave it a minor following on the Northern Soul scene).

Recorded and released in 1968, the “group” takes its name from Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta and (coincidentally, I think) bears the name of his son, Uhuru (also the Swahili word for ‘freedom’), who would later ascend to the same position).

As far as I can tell, despite its undeniable quality, the record failed to chart (even locally) and is the only thing released under this name.

Andre Williams, of course had a long history as an artist, producer, songwriter and A&R man and continues to perform today at the age of 77.

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, October 24, 2013 9:18 am

Funky16Corners Presents:It’s Gonna Be Good!

Johnny Jones and the King Casuals – It’s Gonna Be Good (Brunswick)
Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century Fox)
Chuck Berry – Club Nitty Gritty (Mercury)
Atlantics – Beaver Shot (Rampart)
Little Richard – Soul Train (Brunswick)
Bobby Hollaway – Corn Bread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins (Smash)
The Turtles – Buzz Saw (White Whale)
The Vibrations – Soul a Go Go (Okeh)
Benny Scott – Soul Beat (Brunswick)
Junior and the Classics – Mix Up a Go Go (Magic Touch)
Jon Lee Group – Pork Chops (Sparton)
Ricky Allen – Cut You a Loose (AGE)
El Dorados – The New Breed (Port)
Danny White – Cracked Up Over You (Decca)
Louis Chachere – A Soulful Bag (Forte)
Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)
Toussaint McCall – Shimmy (Ronn)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor) (Like)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents: It’s Gonna Be Good – 75MB Mixed MP3/256K

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your side of the universe, and that you’re all ready for the weekend.

Don’t forget that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 (or two, or 100) out of the archive here at the blog.

A while back my man DJ Trick over in St. Petersburg, RU asked if I would be amenable to doing an interview and whipping up a mix that they could post in their ‘Grooves’ project*.

As someone who is always down with the cause of spreading the sounds of soul and funk all over the globe, I agreed and set to work.

As you will hear as soon as you pull the trigger on this one, I was in a particularly raucous mood that day, packing just about 40 minutes worth of sonic nitroglycerin into mix form and setting the fuse.

What you get here, is some of my favorite, high-octane soul shouters, organ burners, hardcore R&B and dance party starters, stitched together so that the assembled multitudes might cut themselves a slice of rug (and maybe spill a little beer, too).

If you haven’t sussed it out over the long haul, this is a pretty good approximation of the kind of set I’d throw down were I spinning in a live setting.

That said, this is perfect weekend stuff, so get your download on, and have yourself a party, Artie.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

PS They’re posting the interview over there, but it’s in Russian…
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, September 1, 2013 10:53 am

John Bishop and his guitar, looking badass.

Listen/Download John Bishop Trio – Wade In the Water

Greetings all

I hope the new week finds you well.

The summer is finally at and end, at least the part of the summer marked by the invasion of the great horde, which tends to recede right around Labor Day, leaving the beaches to us locals for a few precious weeks.

The fam and I had the opportunity to vacate in the latter half of August, during which the wife and I had our own little getaway.

Naturally, that included a little bit of record digging (doesn’t it always) which resulted in a nice fat stack of new additions to my crates, here and over at Iron Leg.

I always enjoy stepping out of my own little vinyl ecosystem and into a new one, where the ebb and flow of wax is different, the stock is new (at least to me) and not quite as picked over as what I’m used to.

There aren’t too many opportunities of that nature where I live, so it’s a gas when I get my mitts on some stuff that I haven’t seen/heard before.

Keep your eyes peeled for the results of said excavations in these pages.

The tune I bring you today is one of those great intersections of a song I love and a particularly hot performance.

‘Wade In the Water’ is a spiritual that goes back well over a century, which is why the writing credits on this version – to Sam Cooke and JW Alexander – are odd, but that is neither here nor there, especially when you consider how often people were slapping their names on public domain compositions in order to pick up a little scratch.

It has long been one of my favorite songs and I’ve gotten into the habit of picking up records with versions of it (like I do with ’Soul Makossa’) wherever I find them.

I had been on the lookout for the record you see before you today – ‘Bishop’s Whirl’ by the John Bishop Trio – for years. While it’s not particularly scarce, it eluded me nonetheless so I was happy to score a copy at a nice price.

John Bishop (born Gregory Ceurvorst) was a Chicago-based guitarist who ended up touring with Ray Charles (thus the Tangerine label) in the late 60s. He also played with Donny Hathaway, Ramsey Lewis and the Staple Singers among others.

His version of ‘Wade In the Water’ – the full album edit is included here, there is a much shorter version on 45 – is smoking, with exceptional work by Bishop on guitar and organist Newell Burton, Jr. Bishop goes into a blazing solo around the three-minute mark that explodes around 4:15.

It is an exceptional bit of hard-charging soul jazz, generating enough heat for the dancers (the 45 has a minor following with the Northern Soul crowd).

I haven’t been able to nail down whether or not this was Bishop’s touring band, or a group put together for the date. Burton was a Sacramento-based organist, and the bassist on the record, Jerry Scheff is a renowned session player who started a long stint touring with Elvis Presley around the time that this album was recorded.

That said, the rest of the album – with the exception of the soulful ‘Way Out Back’ – is fairly straight ahead jazz.

Bishop settled in Chicago, where he played with his wife in the Georgia Frances Orchestra, until his passing in 2011 at the age of 65.

I hope you dig the tune, 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 (3)

By Larry, August 4, 2013 1:10 pm

French picture sleeve

Listen/Download Bo Diddley – Wrecking My Love Life

Greetings all

Welcome to another week here in the land of vinyl.

The disc I bring you today is something I picked up while I was out digging last year.

You all know that I hold Bo Diddley in the highest possible esteem.

He was a gunslinger, surfer, scooter owner and general badass, as well as one of the architects of the one true rock and roll.

Though there are those that will boil him down to his essence, that being the famous “beat”, there are others (like me, for instance) who know what a truckload of manure that is.

Bo made a LOT of amazing music in his career (some of it beyond amazing, like cornerstone of modern music amazing) but unfortunately, outside of collectors of vinyl (on the deep side), much of his later catalog is not well known.

The track I bring you today is (believe your ears or not) from 1967, where it appeared on the flipside of the decidedly non-boogaloo-ish, ‘Boogaloo Before You Go’.

‘Wrecking My Love Life’ packs a metric ton of swagger into its two minutes and 47 seconds, with a thick, spicy bouillabaisse of echoey, reverbed guitar, harmonica, and female backing vocals.

The first time I heard this one, I had to go back to make sure that it wasn’t an earlier side being reissued because it sounds like 1962, holed up in a bunker where 1967 keeps a knockin’ but can’t get in.

The record stomps arounds like some kind of R&B kaiju, crushing buildings, cars and tanks under its massive feet.

Solid stuff from the master, and one I think you’ll want to play over and over again.

I hope you dig it, 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 28, 2013 2:22 pm

Listen/Download Benny Scott – Soul Beat

Greetings all

I figured it might behoove me to get the week off to a start with something obscure, and of course, funky.

I picked up today’s 45 last year whilst getting my record show dig on.

When I encountered the old, familiar Brunswick label, and then saw the title ‘Soul Beat’, you just know I had to slap this one onto the keeper pile.

As it turns out this was a fortuitous decision, since Benny Scott’s ‘Soul Beat’ is a very hot bit of funk from 1970, with some tight horns (it’s mostly a horn feature) and a particularly messy, yet very cool guitar solo.

Information on Benny Scott himself has been hard to come by.

It would appear that he was a Chicago-based bass player (he played with both Curtis Mayfield and Leroy Hutson), and while my first instinct was to associate him with the Scott Brothers who recorded for Toddlin’ Town (and other labels) I don’t think there was a Benny in their midst.

Either way, the 45 has quite a bit of flavor, and I would not hesitate to offer it up to a dance floor full of sweaty groovers.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Chills and Fever was first issued as by ‘Johnny Love’ on the Startime label a few months earlier
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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 21, 2013 12:44 pm

Billy Stewart, tickling the ivories…

Listen/Download Billy Stewart – Scramble

Greetings all

Hows about we get the week started with something surprising?

Those of you that listen to soul music on the reg (or have ever tuned into oldies radio) will certainly know of the vocal talents of the mighty Billy Stewart.

Stewart hit the R&B charts 11 times between 1962 and 1968, crossing over into the Pop top 10 with his epic reading of ‘Summertime’ in 1966.

Stewart was a big man with an even bigger voice and he had a way with both soaring ballads and fast movers as well.

Back in the day someone (I forget exactly who, so forgive me) hepped me to the fact that Billy’s discography had a bit of a hidden secret.

Stewart, who had been recording since the mid-50s, had also been a part of Bo Diddley’s band, recording with the master on both drums and piano.

Sometime in 1963, giving his pipes a rest Billy propped himself up at a Hammond organ and went to town, whipping out the tune you see before you today, ‘Scramble’.

‘Scramble’ is a fantastic organ spotlight, with some great horns (especially a wailing trombone) in the background. I shows that Stewart was no slouch on the keys, and makes me wish he’d recorded more of the same, which (as far as I can tell) he did not.

This is one for the Hammond nuts, as well as a nice bit of trivia to thrill your fellow soulies at your next get down.

I hope you dig it, 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 (3)

By Larry, June 11, 2013 12:02 pm

The mighty Dells, Marvin Junior at the top.

Listen/Download The Dells – Stay In My Corner (LP)

Listen/Download The Dells – There Is (45)

Greetings all

The world of soul was saddened last week to hear of the passing (on May 29) of the mighty Marvin Junior of the Dells.

I have to admit that for many years I was largely ignorant of the breadth of the Dells catalog.

The groups remarkable 1968 hit ‘There Is’ knocked me on my ass when I first heard it as a kid, even though I thought I was listening to the Four Tops.

I eventually figured out the truth, grabbed myself a copy of the 45 and always dug inserting its explosive power (especially that conga break)  into DJ sets.

Other than that, and a couple of their obvious bigger hits (like the 1969 version of ‘Oh What a Night’) I knew little of their vast discography (they were together, with the original line up for over 50 years!).

It wasn’t until I grabbed a copy of the ‘There Is’ LP that I had my mind blown by their epic ballad ‘Stay In My Corner’.

I first had to grapple with the fact that I already knew (and loved) the song, as done in a more uptempo version by the Hesitations.

That, and the fact that the track is over six minutes long, practically unheard at the time outside of the rock world.

Written by Wade Flemons, Barrett Strong and Bobby Miller (the latter producing the album with arrangements by the great Charles Stepney),’Stay In My Corner’ was first recorded by the Dells in 1965 for VeeJay. That version – which grazed the R&B Top 20 – was not only much shorter (2:17) but sung with a different rhythmic pulse.

The 1968 recording, which topped the R&B charts and made the Pop Top 10, was, on both the LP and the 45, a six-plus minute epic and a master class in soul singing.

The Dells had their first hit (the original version of ‘Oh What a Nite’) in 1956, and the traces of that earlier era of R&B harmony are evident throughout ‘Stay In My Corner’.

The first time I listened to the song, the opening struck me as almost schmaltzy, but any hesitations I had disappeared as soon as Marvin Junior started singing.

Though the basic drive train of the song is an almost standard ‘late night soul ballad’ thing, what the Dells do with it over those six minutes is truly remarkable.

The song takes a couple of unusual melodic turns, which the group takes full advantage of, shifting the tone subtly but powerfully.

There’s a section around the 2:40 mark where they harmonize on the word ‘stay’ that just about shoots through your ears like a bolt of lightning.

As I mentioned before, the Dells brought bits and pieces of old school, streetcorner singing into the later soul era, and there are a number of times where Johnny Carter’s falsetto breaks out in (for 1968) unusual, and very cool ways.

The most amazing part of the record, comes at just after the five-minute mark, where Marvin Junior stretches out the word ‘baby’, holding the note for well over 15 seconds, in a move that in the hands of lesser singer would seem pretentious or operatic. Yet Junior’s voice was a remarkable, soulful instrument and you never get the impression that there’s a second of it that he doesn’t feel in the deepest part of his soul. I get choked up every time I hear that section of the song. It boggles the mind and reminds me why music is as close as I get to a religion these days.

‘Stay In My Corner’ is the kind of record you need to sit down with, slap on the headphones and really get inside of with repeated listens.

It’s that good.

The Dells were an amazing group, and Marvin Junior a mighty singer.

He will be missed.

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.