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By Larry, January 29, 2013 11:44 am

Listen/Download Al Kent – Where Do I Go From Here

Greetings all

Once you’ve spent a lot of time listening to, and reading about soul and funk music, you become aware of the fact that sometimes, record labels, by virtue of the creative people involved can be depended on for a certain level of quality.

This is more evident in labels with smaller runs that had less opportunity to dilute their overall power with dozens of substandard or off-genre releases (i.e. no back alley detours into country, rock or crooners).

Sometimes, as in the case of Sansu records (one of the few labels through which I have become infected with the completest virus), you’re digging on the artistic vision of a singular talent, in that case Mr Allen Toussaint, who wrote, produced and arranged the vast majority of the catalog.

In the case of Detroit’s storied Ric-Tic/Golden World labels, the vision is spread out a little bit wider, encompassing the talents of label owners Ed Wingate and Joanne Bratton, producer/arrangers like Mike Terry, the instrumental talents of the Funk Brothers (and associated studio guns) and writer/performers like Al Kent.

Kent (born Al Hamilton), who had recorded in the late 50s with his brothers as the Nite Caps for Groove, then went on to make solo sides for labels like Checker, Wizard and Baritone before hooking up with Wingate’s various labels in the mid-60s (and, among other things, co-writing ‘Stop Her On Sight S.O.S.’ for Edwin Starr).

Stepping back to my original point, the sounds on Detroit labels like Ric-Tic and Golden World are so good, that I will often grab any disc I do not know on the labels whenever I find them, which is what I did with the record you see before you today.

Oddly, it was the instrumental side of this 45 ‘You’ve Got To Pay the Price’ that was a hit, grazing the R&B Top 20 in 1967, and becoming a Northern Soul standard of sorts*.

I dug that tune when I heard it, but it’s the side I’m posting today that really grew on me.

‘Where Do I Go From Here’ is one of those amazing records that gives off waves of Detroit-ness from its every groove.

Masterfully arranged by Mike Terry (when is he getting his boxed set??), with vibes, sweeping strings, bass and guitar (Dennis Coffey), and with a righteous vocal by Kent, ‘Where Do I Go from Here’ is just about perfect.

It is richly detailed and fully realized without passing into overkill, propulsive enough to dance to but with lots to listen for as well, it should have been a hit.

Al Kent went on to do some work for Motown after Berry Gordy bought out the entire Ric-Tic organization in 1968.

The tune was also recorded by the Four Tops (produced by Kent) but remained unreleased until ‘Lost Without You: Motown Lost & Found (1963-1970)’.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*It was also recorded in a vocal version by Gloria Taylor for the Silver Fox label in 1969
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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 15, 2013 11:15 am

OV Wright

Listen/Download OV Wright – Working Your Game

Greetings all

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

The record you see before you today, all hot and ready to shovel into your ears, is yet another one that holds a place of honor in my crates, thanks 100% to my man Tony C.

Some time ago, he recommended ‘Working Your Game’ by the mighty OV Wright, which I dug, but for some odd reason was unable to lay my hands on a reasonably priced copy until recently.

Though Wright is by any measure among the first rank of southern soul singers of the classic era, ‘Working Your Game’ is especially interesting, on account of the drums.

Now when I say ‘on account of the drums’ you know that it must be something out of the ordinary, and it surely is.

Whoever is beating (and I do not use that word lightly) the skins on this record seems to be doing what Hunter S Thompson quoted the Oakland Hell’s Angels describing as  “trying to show some class”, translated as going that extra mile (and then some) to prove one’s worth in a particular situation, though since we’re transporting the phrase from the world of outlaw bikers to that of soul records, the percussionist is beating the shit out of his drum set in a studio, instead of clobbering some poor slob in a gas station toilet.

If you know what I mean (dot dot dot)…

I have no idea who the drummer is, but he is going nuts, adding a certain je ne sais quoi to an already hot record, with ringing piano, sassy backing singers and of course Mr. Wright at the helm.

Were the rest of the record even a scintilla weaker, one might think the drums a bit of overkill, but they fit nicely here and the only drag is wondering why the mystery man wasn’t wrecking drum sets for the Backbeat label on a full time basis.

The flip (‘Baby Mine’ which hit the R&B Top 40 in 1968) is also quite good, so head out and grab yourself a copy of this one for your record box.

You can thank Tony.

I hope you dig it, 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.

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By Larry, January 8, 2013 1:00 pm

Listen/Download Cal’s Tricks – Who’s Gonna Take the Weight

Greetings all

Before we get things started today, I should let you know that I was asked to put together a list of crucial 45s for the new Deserted Island blog. You should pop on over and check it out when you get a chance.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up whilst grazing at the last Allentown All 45 show.

It’s hard not to be overwhelmed in a room packed to the gills with 45s, but since a lot of the dealers (and the kind of stock they bring with them) have become familiar to me over the years, I try to maintain a s small amount of focus.

These days my “want list” (as it is) isn’t very long.

There are a couple of very crucial things that I’m always on the lookout for, but outside of those, I tend to cast a pretty wide net. The old frame of reference is sharp enough that I come away with more gold that gravel, and the record you see before you today is evidence thereof.

I’d never heard of Cal’s Tricks, or the Secant label, but as soon as I noted the presence of a groovy Kool and the Gang cover, I placed the disc on the keeper pile and kept digging.

Once I got the record home I was very happy with my selection, and moved on to digging for information.

There’s not a lot out there, but what I have found is interesting.

It would seem that the Secant label was active in the Washington, DC/Maryland area during the 70s, releasing a wide variety of styles.

The DC Soul Recordings site noting that only three of their releases seemed to fall into the realm of soul and funk, two of them being records by Cal’s Tricks.

‘Who’s Gonna Take the Weight’ – taken here at a slightly faster, dare I say discofied, tempo than the OG – was the second 45 by Cal’s Tricks, released in 1976.

The band’s name seems to be a variation of the name of producer Caltrick Simone.

I don’t think this track or any of Cal’s Tricks tunes have been comped.

I hope you dig the track, 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, December 13, 2012 2:22 pm

Larry Coryell

Listen/Download Larry Coryell – Gypsy Queen (45 edit)

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show.

Coming to you this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, the Funky16Corners Radio Show brings you the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t be there to dig the show at airtime, you can always pick up episodes by subscribing to it as a podcast via iTunes, or by grabbing a straight MP3 download here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a little something I picked up while out digging earlier this year.

I – like many of my generation – first became aware of the song ‘Gypsy Queen’ via the version by Santana, recorded for the ‘Abraxas’ album in 1970.

It was a few years on down the line that I was hepped to the original version by the master Gabor Szabo on his 1966 ‘Spellbinder’ album (you can hear that version by checking out Funky16Corners Radio v.24.5 in the archive).

I had no idea that Larry Coryell had recorded ‘Gypsy Queen’ until I happened upon the 45 you see before you today.

He waxed in in 1971 for his debut on Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label, ‘Barefoot Boy’.

The LP version of the track runs over eleven minutes, with the 45 coming in at just under three minutes.

I have heard the LP edit, and unless you have a taste for extended jazz freakouts/solos, the 45 really delivers all you need to hear.

The band, with Coryell leading on guitar included Steve Marcus on soprano sax (heard a lot here) and Roy Haynes on drums, among others.

This truncated version of the tune encapsulates the crossover between jazz and late 60s rock that Coryell and Marcus were both a big part of.

Things are jazzy enough, with a fair amount of psychedelia mixed in and the band really does justice to Szabo’s OG.

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.

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By Larry, December 11, 2012 4:25 pm

Myra Barnes aka Vicki Anderson

Listen/Download Myra Barnes – Super Good (Answer to Super Bad) Pt1

Listen/Download Myra Barnes – Super Good (Answer to Super Bad) Pt2

Greetings all

How’s about some of the dead on the one, super heavy funk to help you get on up and over the hump?

The record I bring you today is one that I was seeking for a long time, before it ultimately turned up in a box of cheapies at a record show.

It looked a little distressed, but for three bucks I could not pass it by. When I got it home and dropped the needle it was immediately evident that I had made the right choice.

That said, this 45, released in 1970 and credited to Myra Barnes (and then parenthetically to Vicki Anderson, who is Myra Barnes and vice versa…) is a killer.

It is prime, funk 45 era James Brown-and associated action, with interjections by the king himself and some cool, fuzzed out guitar (which you get to hear a lot more of in Part 2) as well.

The thing that always puzzled me, is why the double billing?

Myra Barnes is the birth name of Vicki Anderson, one of the great divas of the James Brown organization.

She recorded for a variety of labels, under both names, but oddly enough not in chronological order, i.e. even though there are ‘Myra Barnes’ 45s released on the King label in 1970 and 1971, there are also Vicki Anderson 45s released before and after those (from 1967 to 1971).

Was James trying to break Myra/Vicki in any way possible, and playing any card available? Certainly the vocals on the Myra/Vicki 45s sound like the same person, so it’s not like she was working separate personas.

There was some fluctuation in the position of ‘main female singer’ in the James Brown revue with Myra/Vicki preceded by Anna King, replaced by Marva Whitney, and then returning to the fold before being replaced by Lyn Collins.

To complicate matters even further, she recorded again for Brown’s I-Dentify label under the name ‘Mommie-O’ in 1975.

In the end, Myra Barnes/Vicki Anderson/Mommie-O laid down some of the finest records of the classic funk era, and JB himself reportedly considered her to be the finest singer he ever worked with.

I hope you get down, 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, December 4, 2012 3:48 pm

Drummers Jim Gordon (left) and King Errison (right)

Listen/Download Incredible Bongo Band – Let There Be Drums

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another spectacularly crisp, post-Thanksgiving, pre-Yule day.

The tune I bring you today is a little something I grabbed on a recent dig, and on object lesson in how sometimes you really don’t need to hear a record to know it’s going to be good.

Any beat fiend worth their wax is already hip to the sounds of the Incredible Bongo Band, especially their version of Jerry Lordan’s oft-recorded ‘Apache’, one of the ur documents of hip hop.

The IBB’s first LP ‘Bongo Rock’ is fairly rare and sought after, mainly for ‘Apache’.

However, there is much to dig on ‘Bongo Rock’, up to and including the album’s opening track (and one of its singles), which you see before you presently, ‘Let There Be Drums’.

Like many of the tunes on ‘Bongo Rock’, ‘Let There Be Drums’ is a cover, in this case of Sandy Nelson’s 1961 hit.

Written by Nelson and producer/writer/guitarist Richie Podolor, ‘Let There Be Drums’ was, like so much of Nelson’s catalog, a percussion feature meant to highlight his skill on the skins.

Since the IBB was a similar showcase (created by producer Michael Viner), this time for drummer Jim Gordon and percussionist King Errison, the recordings were aimed in the same general direction.

‘Let There Be Drums’ may lack the crisp breakbeats of ‘Apache’ there are still plenty of slamming drums (do you ever really ever get sick of walls of well recorded drums?) and some cool guitar.

As far as I can tell ‘Let There Be Drums’ was only sampled in 2007 by Buck 65 on the track ‘Dang’.

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 (5)

By Larry, October 16, 2012 3:37 pm

The Tams

Dobie Gray

Listen/Download The Tams – Untie Me

Listen/Download Dobie Gray – Rose Garden

Greetings all

The day of the hump is upon us, and so I feel that it behooves me to provide a soundtrack to push us all up and over the top.

Since his passing back in the beginning of September, I have been deeply involved in a rediscovery of the music of Joe South, through his own recordings and via other artists versions of his songs.

Though he is best known to most as a writer other people’s hits – folks like Billy Joe Royal, Lynn Anderson and the Tams – South was an incredibly solid artist in his own right. The records he made between 1968 and 1972 for Capitol are a remarkable mixture of soul, country, rock and even psychedelia that deserve a much bigger audience.

It was during the process of digging into those albums that I was amazed not only by South’s own versions of his most famous songs (I’d say without hesitation that his is the definitive version of the oft-recorded ‘Hush’) but also pleasantly surprised to discover that he had written a couple of songs that I already loved in versions by other artists (like the Tams ‘Shelter’ and Billy Harner’s ‘She’s Almost You’).

The two songs I bring you today are two more excellent, soulful covers of great Joe South songs.

The first, the Tams ‘Untie Me’ represents both that group’s first hit, as well as South’s initial success as a songwriter.

‘Untie Me’ scraped the edge of the R&B Top 10 in the Fall of 1962, and it’s not only a great song but a great record as well. Produced (and with piano) by Ray Stevens, ‘Untie Me’ struck me the first time I heard it as a perfect tune to be turned into a beat ballad. Once I did a little digging I discovered that it had indeed been covered by Manfred Mann in 1964.

The tune is a great showcase for a restrained vocal by the mighty Joe Pope, and the arrangement is fantastic.

The second cut today is something  previously unknown to me that I happened upon while digging.

I’ma huge fan of Dobie Gray’s mid-60s Charger sides, and certainly knew of his later hits, but had no idea that he had recorded three singles for the White Whale label in 1969 and 1970.

Among these was an excellent take on South’s ‘Rose Garden’, two full years before it would be turned into a mega-hit by Lynn Anderson.

Gray’s version is subtly funky – a little more so than South’s original – and sounds to me like the kind of record that should have been a pop hit (it does seem to have gotten some play in a few regional markets in the East and the South).

Given enough time, it wouldn’t be hard to put together a mix or two of Joe South covers, but these two will have to suffice for now.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

* Simtec and Wylie were having their hits for the Mr Chand label at the same time as the Krystal Generation, and Simtec Simmons very own T-Box’s band provides the backing on this 45
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 14, 2012 2:38 pm

The Shirelles

Listen/Download The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle

Greetings all

Welcome to another week.

The air is suddenly a touch cooler (especially at night) and so the music I bring you shall also be (at least metaphorically).

The vinyl gods have been especially kind to me of late, whether digging via the interwebs, or out in the field.

I picked up some very groovy stuff this summer, and had an exceptional day at the Allentown All-45 Show a few weeks back.

I find these days that my digging style (if such a thing can be said to exist) has become more refined. This is due in part to it being hammered into shape by experience, but also by the fact that I often enter the fray with somewhat lighter pockets.

I find myself taking more time, returning a lot more stuff to the boxes that birthed them, and in the end taking home a much richer stack of vinyl.

This is not to say that I’m not taking any chances out in the trenches, but rather that by using my head, I take home a lot more diamonds and a lot less gravel.

I only mention this to whet your appetite for the records yet to come here at Funky16Corners.

Oddly enough, the record I bring you today came into my hands not through any field work, but rather through some lucky listening.

This summer a friend passed along about ten hours of vintage airchecks, some soul, some rock and pop.

If you listen to the Funky16Corners Radio Show you’ll already know that I’ve been mining these for all kinds of drops and vintage ads.

What I’ve also been picking up on is several groovy songs that I was either completely ignorant of, or had heard of, but never really heard before.

Today’s selection is one of the latter.

The Shirelles are one of those great groups that populate the transitional period of late R&B/early soul.

Though many people would classify them as part of the ‘girl group’ period, I’d say that many of their best records are unquestionably soul sides (i.e. ‘Baby It’s You’ and ‘Boys’, both covered by the Beatles).

What I did not know, is that the Shirelles, much like the Platters, were another “early” group that carried on making excellent records well into the “classic” soul era.

The remarkable ‘Last Minute Miracle’ is one of those.

The bulk of the Shirelles hits fall between 1960 and 1964, but they managed to hit the charts one last time (#41 R&B, #99 Pop) in 1967 with today’s selection.

Written by George Kerr and Gerald Harris (and originally recorded by Linda Jones  – at a faster tempo – on Loma), and arranged by Richard Tee, ‘Last Minute Miracle’ is one of those records that has ‘Northern Soul Anthem’ written all over it.

Marked by a propulsive dance beat, delicious pop hooks and a remarkable lead vocal by Shirley Alston-Reeves, ‘Last Minute Miracle’ moves from a hard-charging verse into a chorus that builds dramatically.

It is both exceptionally well-written and well-performed.

This is one of those records that after I heard it once, I knew I had to have it. It took me a little while to get myself a copy for my box, but when I did I listened to it over, and over again.

The record also sports an excellent flipside in ‘No Doubt About It’.

The Shirelles would continue to record for Scepter, Blue Rock, Bell and United Artists between 1968 and 1974 but ‘Last Minute Miracle’ was their last date with the charts.

I hope you dig – and dance to – this record, 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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, October 9, 2012 1:39 pm

Listen/Download The Krystal Generation – Unsatisfied With the Merchandise

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another spectacular week.

The tune I bring you today came into my record box via a chance meeting at an unexpected record digging stop a few years back.

I was out with the fam, headed in the direction of some delicious Thai food and we found ourselves with a little time to kill in the vicinity of the old Highland Park Record Sale.

I managed to grab a couple of very cool things that day, and today’s selection was one of those.

Flipping through a box of 45s, I was compelled to stop when I spotted the smiling face of Gene Chandler on the Mr. Chand label, familiar to me via a couple of very tasty Simtec and Wylie* 45s already extant in my crates.

I had never heard of the Krystal Generation before, but since I’m always on the lookout for Chitown soul, and the price was right, I grabbed the record and took it home.

When I finally had a chance to give it a spin I discovered what sounded an awful lot like an attempt by Mr Chandler et al to capitalize on the success of the Honey Cone ( a group that had a number of hits, some of them substantial, for the Hot Wax label between 1969 and 1972.

The Krystal Generation – who actually grazed the R&B Top 50 with an even more blatant grab at the Honey Cone with 1971’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’- were a femme vocal ensemble featuring the talents of Joyce Smith, Darlene Arnold, Mary Shelley and Mary Lead.

‘Unsatisfied With the Merchandise’ a very groovy side on its own merits, displays all the marks of a serious attempt to replicate the Invictus/Hot Wax sound, both instrumentally and vocally.

The history of popular music is filled with examples – somemore successful than others – with acts trying to get ahead by “borrowing” the sound and style of another, and the Krystal Generation, though competent, were a pretty obvious example thereof.

‘Unsatisfied With the Merchandise’ falls a few catalog numbers after ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, so I’d assume that it was either from late 1971 or early 1972.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

* Simtec and Wylie were having their hits for the Mr Chand label at the same time as the Krystal Generation, and Simtec Simmons very own T-Box’s band provides the backing on this 45
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 18, 2012 1:00 pm

Odyssey (Lillian Lopez, left)

Listen/Download Odyssey – Going Back To My Roots

Listen/Download Odyssey – Roots Suite (Ajomora/Going Back To My Roots/Baba Awa)

Greetings all

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

I had something else in the on deck circle, ready to go for today, but then I fell victim once again to my relentless need to read, and stumbled upon the news that Lillian Lopez, the singer of the group Odyssey had passed away at the age of 76.

Odyssey, best known for their 1977 disco classic ‘Native New Yorker’ (Top 10 R&B, Top 20 Pop) had a number of hits between then and 1982.

Lopez started a group with her sisters Louise and Carmen which became Odyssey in the mid 70s after Carmen left and was replaced by singer Tony Lopez. Lopez was with the group for their first LP (and hits) and was replaced by William McEachern by the time they recorded their second record.

The tune I bring you today is a great example of why you should always keep your ears (and options) open.

I have made mention many times in this space of how lucky I am to have had (and continue to have) a wide variety of musical “mentors”, i.e. fellow collectors and musicians who have always been generous with their time and their taste, turning me on to new sounds all the time.

One of these good people is my man DJ Birdman down in DC, a long time friend who has been a significant influence (and source) for me when it comes to dance music, specifically disco and post-1980 soul.

Birdman has always been very open about sharing his digging spots with me when I roll through DC, as well as always passing records on to me that he thinks I should hear.

Last year, when the fam and I were down in out nation’s capitol, we had ourselves a nice visit with Birdman and his family, after which he handed me a stack of vinyl, some of which I’d asked him to grab for me, and others that he was giving me to check out.

Not one to ever object to horizon-widening (especially when it comes to music) I expressed my gratitude, packed the wax in the ride and lead-footed it back to Jersey so that I might sample the goods.

One of the records in the stack is the disc you see before you today.

It was Birdman who had first hipped me to Lamont Dozier’s OG of ‘Going Back to My Roots’ and it was he that introduced me to the most excellent cover by Odyssey.

I think it’s safe to say that left to my own devices, I may very well have passed this record by.

While I knew of ‘Native New Yorker’ – and you know I dig disco – it’s not the kind of disc I’d pick up unless I was looking to stash it with my DJ stuff,  amongst my “wedding records”.

I was completely ignorant of the wider reach of Odyssey’s catalog and was pleasantly surprised when I had a chance to drop the needle on today’s selection.

Originally recorded by songwriting legend Dozier in 1977, ‘Going Back To My Roots’ was given a somewhat smoother interpretation by Odyssey. Though Dozier’s (fairly rare and sought after) OG is a 9-minute-plus epic, it failed to make it onto the charts whereas Odyssey scored in both the US and the UK.

The Odyssey version of the song is – at least in my opinion – more consistently danceable than the original, even in its extended ‘Roots Suite’ version.

Lillian Lopez continued to tour with a version of Odyssey until 2000, when she retired from the stage.

I hope you dig the tunes and I’ll be back 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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (10)

By Larry, September 4, 2012 9:32 am

Everybody get up and do the water damage!

Listen/Download Marvelle and the Blue Mats – The Dance Called the Motion

Greetings all

My name is Larry, and I am here to inform you that today’s record will very likely upset your shit, blow your mind and at the very least get your ass up out of the seat, and onto the street.

But first (there’s always a speed bump like this, isn’t there?) a bit of rumination on the passage of time.

Today is the day that I turn 50.

Yes, a half century of slacking, record collecting and life in the rear view mirror, with – hopefully – much more to come.

I’m not one of those people that normally obsesses about age, believing that you are as old as you feel.

I don’t feel 50, and my lovely wife keeps telling me I don’t look my age, and anyone with the opportunity to observe me in my natural habitat will tell you that I don’t act it either.

That said, I’ve found myself giving this particular milestone a little more thought that I would have expected, which is normal, and I suppose as long as I’m not out on my (real or virtual) front lawn embroiled in an impotent rage, shaking a stick at teenagers for any combination of offenses against culture (real or imagined) then I’m probably ahead of the curve.

So there’s that.

It helps that keeping Funky16Corners up and running has its own, odd rejuvenative (is that a word?) effects.

It’s just that, when I was a kid, back in the olden days (as it were), the thought of a person who was actually 50 years old conjured up images of stern “oldness”, a la my school pricipals (who probably weren’t close to 50 at the time), priests and the like, not some big tattooed record nut with two little kids running him ragged.

The good thing is (at least for anyone fretting about encroaching age) is that 50-ness is not what it used to be. Science may be keeping people alive longer, but culture – at least some of it, because I’ve encountered a contemporary or two who seem like they were in a huge hurry to get old, at least ideologically – if not actually keeping people younger, is at least adjusting the generational state of mind so that even though we may be watching the pages fly off the calendar, we are still in touch with the parts of our younger selves that need to be kept around.

So here’s to crafting a combination of youthful enthusiasm and the wisdom of age into a fresh state of mind.

I’m trying.

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The world of record collecting has – like every other ‘market’ – its peaks and valleys, having almost everything to to with supply and demand.

Supply is usually determined by…supply, as is there are X number of known copies of any record available for sale, and the rarity (supposed or real) will cause a change in price.

Demand tends to fluctuate wildly. There are record collectors out there stepping all over each other to get their mitts on gospel records that nobody (maybe not even the people that recorded them) cared about ten or fifteen years ago and the same can be said (with the timeline adjusted accordingly) about records in almost any subgenre that had gained in popularity.

There are also records – within popular, collected genres – that gain currency for a variety of reasons, including being comped (always guaranteed to drive up the price), regional popularity on a dance scene (see Northern Soul) or use in an advert (which has blown up several funk and soul records in the UK in the last decade).

I only belabor thus point because the record I bring you today is an example of such fluctuations in real (or what passes for real) time.

I first heard Marvell and the Blue Mats ‘The Dance Called the Motion’ years ago on one of those quasi-bootleg comps that tried to do for soul and funk what Pebbles did for garage punk.

My wig was good and truly flipped, and I decided then and there that I NEEDED a copy of this particular 45.

Well…as soon as I started looking in earnest it became apparent that if I was to get one, I would have to fork over a couple of hundred dollars, which I did not have.

The few times I scoped out a copy on Ebay, the results were much the same.

Then – in the last year or so – some telling things began to happen in regard to the value of the 45.

Copies began to turn up (some with people I know) and then a buddy hooked me up with a seller (from whom he had procured his own copy).

The price quoted was very low (compared to a few years ago) so I forked over the dough and grabbed it.

The label was water damaged, but I’m not really a stickler for label condition if the vinyl is clean.

The record fell through the mail slot, hopped up on the turntable and once the needle hit the grooves, all was well with the world.

‘The Dance Called the Motion’ (maybe the funkiest thing ever to come out of Milwaukee, WI) opens with an explosive break and revs right up into a powerful, James Brown-y groove that is guaranteed to light up the sleepiest crowd.

So, curious cat that I am, I started to do a little bit of research, tracking the record through a couple of auction aggregating sites and two things became apparent.

First, ‘The Dance Called the Motion’ had been coming down in value for more than a year, leveling off at about a third of its peak value.

Second, and this was the kicker, most of the copies on the market (at least recently) had been originating with the same seller, i.e. the value had tanked because someone was flooding the market with product.

As someone who doesn’t really sell records with any regularity, this doesn’t bother me much, though I’m not sure I’d feel the same way if I’d gone for the record when it was at its most expensive.

As a buyer, and a collector concerned more with the intrinsic, musical value of a record, getting a record this good at a (relatively) low price couldn’t make me happier.

As a DJ, I’ve never had much respect for other DJs (or crowds) who gauge the power of a record by its rarity. When you’re trying to get people to dance (or keep dancing) what matters is how good it is, not how rare.

There are always trainspotters in every crowd (especially at some of the genre-specific nights) and there are certainly countless rare records that are also ass-kickers, but the same can be said of lots more, less expensive 45s, i.e. ‘The Dance Called The Motion’ is going to blow people’s minds whether it costs $250.00 or fifty cents.

Make of that what you will, but I will always say that if you spend all your time chasing five-hundred dollar records, you’re probably missing the forest for the trees, and lots of good music as well.

And that my friends is your lesson for the day.

Now dance.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 26, 2012 3:01 pm

Major Harris

Listen/Download The Nat Turner Rebellion – Tribute To a Slave

Greetings all

It’s good to be back in the saddle here at the Corners.

The fam and I spent the week on vacation, half of which saw yours truly sick enough to go to the doctor.

Fortunately I made a snappy comeback and we managed to have to some fun, and I even got in a very fruitful dig in on the way home (digimatizing in the background as I write this).

I hope the new week finds you all well, and that you’re ready for something heavy from my Philly crates.

Every once in a while (though not so much anymore) you stumble upon a very groovy 45 with a name conjures up images of “one-off”-ness, i.e. the single recorded effort of a groovy but obscure/lost band/artist.

The first time I found a disc by the Nat Turner Rebellion, I instantly thought this was the case.

The record in question – ‘Tribute To a Slave’ on the Delvaliant label – popped up while I was excavating the hinterlands of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It looked cool, sounded even cooler and took a place of pride in my Philly crates.

That was more than ten years ago.

Over the course of the next few years, I found two more 45s by the group on two more labels (Philly Groove and Philly Soulville), and started to recognize some familiar names on the labels.

The fist of these was Major Harris (the group is sometimes listed at the Nat Turner Rebellion featuring Major Harris), a singer that would have a huge hit in 1975 with’Love Won’t Let Me Wait’.

The other was Joe Jefferson, Philly area songwriter/producer/label honcho (he ran the Del-Val imprint).

As it turns out, Major Harris and Joe Jefferson were in fact brothers, and cousins of MFSB guitarist Norman Harris (who produced and co-wrote at least one of their 45s).

It took me a while to reconcile the vocalist on the Nat Turner Rebellion sides with the singer of ‘Love Won’t Let Me Wait’.

Where the latter is the ne plus ultra of mid-70s, late night, bedroom soul, the Nat Turner Rebellion sides are funky, and sometimes militant (the group name having its own racial/political meaning), sounding like the product of an especially hip Blaxploitation soundtrack.

The cut I bring you today, ‘Tribute To a Slave’ is a tiny bit more subdued than the flip (the very cool ‘Plastic People’ which can be heard in Funky16Corners Radio V.1 – Funky Philadelphia) but the vocal interplay in the group, in the Temptations stylee, is outstanding, as is the guitar/electric sitar riff running through the record.

The lyrics are a tribute (natch…) to the group’s namesake, calling out to him in the racial climate of the early 70s, closing with the repeated chant of ‘We ain’t slaves no more!’.

The production is first-rate, and I’m more than a little surprised that the group – especially with this record – didn’t make more of a splash.

Since Major Harris left to join the Delfonics in 1971, the assumption is that most of the NTR tracks predate that departure.

There are at least four different 45s on three different labels, and rumors of others as well.

If anyone has any info on the other members of the group, please drop me a line.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you later.

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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.