Comments (4)

By Larry, June 2, 2015 1:16 pm

Kim Fowley – “That’s a lovely housecoat you’re wearing Mrs Cleaver!”

Listen/Download – Larry Green and the Rhythmaires – Watch Your Step

Greetings all.

The record I bring you today is an almost complete mystery, aside from the involvement of a certain Mr Kim Fowley.

The smoking version of Bobby Parker’s epic (and influential) 1961 ‘Watch Your Step’ first popped up on my radar via a friend’s sales list.

Its selling point (according to the list) was the fact that it had been arranged by none other than legendary rock’n’roll reprobate/Zelig Kim Fowley.

Fowley had a long and illustrious history as a facilitator, writer, producer, arranger and performer so varied that Norton Records assembled no less than four volumes of the stuff.

Though I haven’t been able to track down any information on Larry Green and the Rhythmaires, it would appear that the 45 you see before you was recorded and released in 1962.

While it lacks the incendiary guitar slinging of Bobby Parker’s original, it more than makes up for it with a certain drunken, wild joie de vive, opening with bass drum and bass guitar (the record starts off like an old car being push started into gear down a steep hill), and then dominated by electric piano and Larry’s wailing vocals.

Though there was a Larry Green in the R&B group the Edsels, I have no idea if it’s the maniac (and I mean that in the best way possible) singing on this record.

It’s a killer, and I hope you dig it.

See you on Friday.

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, May 28, 2015 10:13 am

Miss Mable John

Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time, Same Place

Eddie Jones – Let’s Stop Fooling Ourselves (Fairmount)
Andy Butler – Take Me (TRC)
Mable John – Same Time Same Place (Stax)
Steve Colt and the 45s – So far Away (RCA)
Vanguards – Somebody Please (Whiz)
Invincibles – Heart Full of Love(WB)
Tyrone Davis – Knock On Wood (Dakar)
Barbara Perry – Unlovable (Goldwax)
Ike and Tina Turner – Too Many Ties That Bind (Minit)
Carl Hall – You Don’t Know Nothing About Love (Loma)
Gloria Jones – When He Touches Me (Minit)
Soul Brothers Six – Somebody Else Is Loving My Baby (Atlantic)
Jackie Verdell – I’m Your Girl (Decca)
Grover Mitchell with St John and the Cardinals – Sweeter As the Days Go By (Josie)
Homer Banks – Lady of Stone (Minit)
Johnny and the Expressions – Something I Want To Tell You (Josie)
McKinley Travis – Baby Is There Something On Your Mind (Soultown)
Soul Clan – That’s How I Feel (Atlantic)
Walter Scott and the Kapers – I Want To Thank You (Ivanhoe)
William Bell – You Don’t Miss Your Water (Stax)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time Same Place 110MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is this week’s episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come 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.

Also, the 2015 Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive is approaching rapidly. There’s a grip of outstanding mixes ready to roll, so watch this space for details!

Speaking of original vinyl, the flow of it into the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault has continued unabated, and inside that tidal wave of wax has been a goodly amount of those classic soul ballads.

As a collector/appreciator, I came to the world of ballads fairly late in the game, but I hve been making up for lost time.

So prodigious has been the accumulation, that I felt the time was right for a new ballad mix, so here it is.

There is a lot of southern soul in here, but also a couple of stylish west coast items, with stops in Chicago and Philadelphia as well.

As they say on the streets, ‘It’s all good’, but there are some highlights that bear mentioning.

You have to check out Andy Butler’s very groovy take on Bobby Womack’s ‘Take Me’, hardcore honky Steve Colt’s old-school JB-isms in ‘So Far Away’, the lo-fi, gospel-inflected perfection of the Invincibles’ ‘Heart Full of Love’, Ike and Tina bringing it on the b-side with ‘Too Many Ties That Bind’, Carl Hall’s epic ‘You Don’t Know Nothing About Love’, Gloria Jones covering Rodge Martin’s ‘When He Touches Me’, the mighty Soul Clan and ‘That’s How I Feel’ and reliably genius contributions from Mable John, Homer Banks, the Soul Brothers Six, Grover Mitchell, William Bell and many more.

What you get here is ‘Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time, Same Place’, an hour of the finest soulful pleading, shouting and wailing, reaching back into the amen corner, and out into heartbreak alley.

I’ve been spinning this one non-stop since putting it together, so you know it’ll be good.

I hope you dig it (spread the word), and I’ll see you all on Monday.

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, May 17, 2015 11:26 am

I see Inez and Charlie, but where’s the band?

Greetings all.

Here’s a gasser for you all.

A while back I was perusing Kliph Nesteroff’s showbiz blog, and noticed that he had posted a bunch of album covers.

My curiousity was piqued when I spied an album I’d never seen before, by Inez and Charlie Foxx’s Swingin’ Mockin’ Band.

There are a number of LPs and 45s from the classic soul era wherein singing stars allowed their bands to move to the front of the stage, most notably the JBs, The Iceman’s Band (Jerry Butler), Lloyd Price’s band (featuring James Booker) and many others.

What really grabbed my attention, though, was the presence of a tune entitled ‘Shimmy’ listed on that LP jacket.

“No…” I thought, “It couldn’t possibly be a cover of the Toussaint McCall song, could it?”

Well, after a bit of rooting around (this is after all a very scarce LP), I discovered that it was indeed another version of the mighty organ instro, so I set out in search of a copy.

This took a little more effort than I expected, and I ended up taking a chance on a poorly graded (yet well-priced) copy.

When the record finally dropped through the mail slot, and after some cleaning, and picking out a skip here and there, I am very happy to report that it was worth all the effort (and then some).

As far as I can tell, judging by the covers included on the album, it was recorded sometime in 1968 or 1969. No personnel are listed, but I’m guessing at the very least it includes Charlie Foxx on guitar.

The record includes covers of tunes by Otis Redding, Archie Bell and the Drells, Hugh Masekela, The Moon People, the Fame Gang, and right there in the middle of side one, Toussaint McCall’s ‘Shimmy’.

The Mockin’ Band’s version of ‘Shimmy’ is – if not as heavy as the OG, but then what is? – right, tight and outasite, with some sharp, percussive organ playing, guitar, drums and horns. As far as I can tell it’s the only cover of ‘Shimmy’ that was ever recorded.

Though the album is like hen’s teeth, you ought to be able to find the only 45 released from it, the excellent ‘Speed Ticket’ fairly easily.

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, May 7, 2015 11:35 am

Tyrone Davis

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which comes to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot 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 an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is one that was hiding in plain sight in my record room for years, before it finally found it’s way into my ears (and onto the blog).

Tyrone Davis is best know for a two-decade long string of R&B hits, that began in 1968 with ‘Can I Change My Mind’.

I picked up a copy of that very album severeal years back, and dug it right away.

It contained a couple of hits, a couple of contemporary covers and some originals.

Among those covers was a version of Eddie Floyd’s 1966 R&B #1 ‘Knock On Wood’.

I suspect that my missing it the first time around had everything to do with the fact that Davis’s version is a radical reworking of the tune, taking an upbeat soul dancer and turning it (very nicely indeed) into a pleading ballad.

I rediscovered the tune about a month ago when I pulled the album out for a spin, and didn’t recognize the song right away.

The re-imagining of the song is so thorough and so convincing that you almost have to put the original out of your head to dig it.

Davis does a fantastic job with the song (I’d love to know who’s playing the guitar, which is excellent), and it really ought to be better known.

I hope you dig it, too, 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 (2)

By Larry, April 28, 2015 12:23 pm

Danny White

Greetings all.

Today’s mystery is: why would one of the preeminent soul singers of the 1960s write an amazing song but never record it himself?.

Now, the origins of the recording I bring you today are not in question.

Danny White is a New Orleans singer (the man behind the mighty ‘Natural Soul Brother’, one of my all time favorite 45s) who recorded a string of 45s for local (Frisco, Atlas) and national (ABC, Decca, SSS Intl) labels between 1961 and 1969.

He recorded today’s selection in a 1966 Memphis session arranged and produced by Gene ‘Bowlegs’ Miller, with the extra-groovy ‘Cracked Up Over You’ on the flipside.

Where the mystery (as it is) starts is the song I bring you today, the most excellent ‘Taking Inventory’.

A stomping soul number, with an excellent vocal by White, ‘Taking Inventory’ was written by none other than Stax star and 60s soul legend Eddie Floyd.

The crazy thing is, it would appear that no matter the excellence of the song, Floyd does not to have ever recorded the song himself.

That didn’t stop the song from getting around, though, with additional cover versions laid down by the Ferris Wheel (on the Pye label in the UK) and none other than Vic Waters and the Entertainers (for Capitol here in the US).

I can’t imagine why Floyd never recorded the song himself, but the version by Danny White is solid enough on its own.

Though White stopped recording after the 60s, according to the always excellent Sir Shambling, he went on to manage the Meters, and eventually died in 1996.

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 (1)

By Larry, April 19, 2015 10:39 am

The Souljers (above), The Mixtures (below)

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

Today’s selection is a bit of mystery record.

Not that we don’t know who it is – that would be the Souljers (aka the Soul-Jers) – but that the story attached to the group is composed of little more than loose ends.

What we do know is this, the song ‘Chinese Checkers’ was originally recorded by none other than Booker T and the MGs in 1963 and appeared as the flipside to ‘Plum Nellie’.

The Souljers version of the song was released on the legendary East LA Rampart label in 1966.

As to who the Souljers/Soul-Jers were, I think the cats in the picture above are Delbert Franklin and Phil Tucker, who recorded the ‘Soul-Jers’ 45 ‘Gonna Be a Big Man’ and ‘Crazy Little Things’, which is a soul vocal.

If you do a little digging, it appears that the Souljers ‘Chinese Checkers’ is in fact a re-release of the Mixtures (another Rampart/East LA group) 1963 recording of the song from a few years earlier. In fact, both ‘Chinese Checkers’ and its b-side ‘Poochum’ appeared on two different Mixtures 45s on the Linda label!

Even weirder, is the fact that the label of the Souljers 45 indicates that both tracks were from an album called ‘Move Over Ramsey’, which never appears to have been issued.

How the Mixtures tracks ended up being reissued on Rampart as the Souljers is something of a mystery, though their Linda 45s are listed as Faro productions, and Faro and Rampart were both owned by impresario Eddie Davis, and Delbert Franklin appears to have been a member of both groups as the sax player.

That said, ‘Chinese Checkers’ is a groovy track, following the mellow electric piano groove of the original, and adding in some vocal interjections and handclaps, giving it that ‘live in the studio’ feel.

I hope you dig it, and if you have any info to add that will help unravel the mystery, please let me know.

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, April 12, 2015 11:22 am

Fantastic Johnny C

Listen/Download – Fantastic Johnny C – (She’s) some Kind of Wonderful

Greetings all.

I was recently doing a little of that ‘internal digging’ thing, heading back into the crates to turn the earth as it were and see what I might dig up for the radio show and the blog.

One of the first things I pulled out was the Fantastic Johnny C’s 1968 LP.

Johnny Corley was one of several acts in the Philadelphia area associated with (and largely controlled by) Jesse James.

Though he was born in Greenville, SC, Corley came of age in Philadelphia and hit the charts three times in 1967 and 1968, his biggest success coming with ‘Boogaloo Down Broadway’ which was Top Ten on both the Pop and R&B charts.

Phil LA of Soul decided to do an entire album on him in 1968, which included a nice balance of originals and covers of tunes by Robert Parker, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Ben E King.

One of the other covers is today’s selection, a very nice version of the Soul Brothers Six’s ‘(She’s) Some Kind of Wonderful’.

The original version by the SB6 had hit with the song (on Alantic) the previous year, and would eventually relocate from their Upstate NY base to Philadelphia.

Fantastic Johnny C’s version of the song is excellent (as is the rest of the LP) with a very nice, horn-laden backing track. It’s interesting to hear the song with a slick arrangement and (more importantly) a solo voice, as opposed to the harmonies of the SB6.

If you get the chance to pick up the ‘Boogaloo Down Broadway’ LP, grab it, since it is uniformly excellent and also includes the Northern-style killer ‘New Love’.

Fantastic Johnny C went on to record the Philly funk classic ‘Let’s Do It Together’ for the local Branding Iron label (it was picked up for national distribution by Kama Sutra) and continued to record for Phil LA of Soul into the 70s.

I hope you dig the cut, 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 (1)

By Larry, April 5, 2015 9:40 am

Marie Knight

Listen/Download – Marie Knight – Cry Me a River

Greetings all.

Welcome to another swinging week here at the Corners.

I have to send out thanks for today’s selection to my friend Mike Schaefer who turned me on to this record a while back.

Though I had a record of hers (a duet with Rex Garvin) I had no idea who Marie Knight was until I heard her epic 1965 version of the old standard ‘Cry Me a River’.

Knight who started out as a gospel singer, touring with Sister Rosetta Tharpe among others, she moved into secular R&B and soul by the end of the 1950s (on the aforementioned ‘Marie and Rex’ 45 ‘I Can’t Sit Down’ which edged into the Pop Top 100).

When Mike posted ‘Cry Me a River’ I was blown away by Knight’s huge, powerful voice, and set out to find myself a copy of the record right away.

What I soon discovered was that Knight also recorded the original version of one of my favorite Manfred Mann records, ‘Come Tomorrow’ for Okeh in 1961. That record – which took a lot longer and a lot more money to bag – will be featured sometime soon.

‘Cry Me a River’, which has been recorded countless times by all kinds of singers, was high on my list of tunes I never really needed to hear again…until I heard Marie Knight sing it.

The arrangement – by Bert Keyes – takes the song at a slow, but powerfully delivered pace, with lots of space for Knight to tear into the lyric.

It majes sense that this record was a Top 40 hit in 1965, because I can’t imagine it making the same impact a year later. It has the kind of sound that just about out the door by mid-decade.

What makes it unique, aside from Knight’s vocal, is the small touches, like the lead guitar that snakes in and out of the arrangement, and the chorus of backup singers that sounds like an actual church choir.

It is a uniquely powerful recording, and a big fave of mine.

I hope you dig it, too.

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, March 31, 2015 11:08 am

Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced

Ahmad Jamal – M*A*S*H Theme
Art Jerry Miller- Finger Lickin’ Good
Odell Brown & The Organizers – The Look Of Love
James Brown- Spinning Wheel
Lena Horne – Rocky Raccoon
Lonnie Smith- Move Your Hand- Part 1
Joe Williams & The Jazz Orchestra – Get Out My Life Woman
Brother Jack McDuff- Theme From The Electric Surfboard
Bobbi Humphrey- Harlem River Drive
Gene Ammons- Jungle Strut
Charlie Earland- Sing a Simple Song
Billy Cobham- Crosswind
Walter Wolfman Washington & Solar System – Good & Juicy
(Bonus Cut) Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans – Tuba Fats & Drums

Listen/Download – Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced 46MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

This is a very fortuitous week indeed, since thanks to a communique from my man Tarik Thornton (veteran of many Funky16Corners pledge drives and guest spots) we have the second brand new mix of the week!

If you have sunk your ears into any of his previous mixes, you know that Tarik has deep crates and excellent taste, and both are on display in ‘Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced’. Here you get just about 40 minutes of very tasty soul jazz and jazz funk, well mixed and served up hot.

I’m digging this one for the second time as I write this, and I think you’ll be giving it repeated plays as well.

I hope you dig it, 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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 8, 2015 11:05 am

Ike and Tina Turner

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

The record you see before you is yet another testament to the idea that playing the long game, i.e. waiting until the time is right to strike, is essential to bagging the white whales that haunt the record collector’s soul.

Ike and Tina Turner’s version of ‘Dust My Broom’ (first recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937 – though with earlier roots than that – but popularized by Elmore James in 1952) is a very popular 45 on the Northern Soul and mod scenes, and as a result the competition for copies is often fierce. While at its hottest it’s not crazy expensive (running between 60 and 100 dollars), copies get snapped up quickly.

So, I held off for a long time, hoping that I’d find myself a copy in the “real world” (y’know, outside in the sun, where record hounds fear to tread), but this strategy bore no fruit.

Then, one day it pops up on Ebay, looking a little rough, graded a little low, but I knew (and trusted) the seller, so I put in my bid, sat back and waited to be outbid yet again.

Imagine my surprise when the auction ended – with yours truly as the winner – leaving me with what the kids (I don’t know what kids, but humor me…) call an eight-dollar-hollar*!

Eight lowly, wrinkled smackeroos. Ain’t that a bitch?

Ike and Tina’s 1966 version of ‘Dust My Broom’ dispenses with the age-old tempo/structure (just imagine that famous Elmore James guitar vamp) rebuilding the tune on an aggressive 4/4 frame, with Tina and the Ikettes trading lines while the band (including, believe it or not, what sounds like an electric harpsichord!) charging hard behind them.

It’s not hard to understand how this became such a popular dance floor record, even if it met with almost complete
commercial indifference when it was released.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 * I mean, the label’s a bit rough, but I don’t play the labels, if you know what I mean…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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, March 5, 2015 2:16 pm

Sweet Inspirations

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so it’s time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourselves an MP3 here at the blog.

I thought I’d close out the week with a very nice version of one of my favorite songs.

‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ was written by Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples and first recorded by the Staple Singers in 1965 (and then reworked and rerecorded with Larry Williams in a funkier version in 1967).

It became something of soul/gospel standard, being covered by a number of artists over the next few years.

When I was out digging last year I happened upon the 45 you see before you today, by the Sweet Inspirations.

One of the greatest examples of vocalists that were primarily back-up singers moving into the spotlight, the Sweet Inspirations were Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell (sister of Judy Clay) , Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith.

The group found its roots in the Drinkard Singers, one of the more important gospel groups of the late 50s and early 60s.

They recorded as backup singers for a wide variety of soul and R&B singers before getting the chance to record under their own name in 1967.

‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ was the A-side of their first 45 for Atlantic, and is an interesting link to their gospel roots and the ability of the song to pass back and forth between gospel and popular presentations.

This has everything to do with the singers, and with the fact that Pop Staples constructed a song that was as much a civil rights anthem as it was a gospel song.

The Sweet Inspirations take it at a pace that seems a touch slower than the original, with their voices set against a thumping bass and swampy guitar (a tip of the hat to the OG).

Their version made it into the R&B Top 40 in 1967, with their biggest hit, ‘Sweet Inspiration’ coming the following year.

The group left Atlantic in 1970, but continued to record late into that decade for labels like Stax and Caribou.

I hope you dig the cut, 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 (2)

By Larry, February 22, 2015 12:03 pm

Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

One of my favorite sidelines (and they are legion) is finding later records by artists that I had relegated to an earlier time. That these are discoveries to me is due in part to the fact that the later records are usually obscure, but also because of the ‘blind spot’ of R&B success.

This ‘blind spot’ as it is manifests itself with R&B/soul artists that had some degree of crossover success, and then seemingly faded from the limelight. What in fact happened many times, is that while they may have lost favor with pop audiences, many of these artists continued to place records on the R&B charts and black radio.

Other times, they didn’t even have that luxury, and were merely making a stab at a new/more contemporary audience.

Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry is best known for his 1956 hit ‘Ain’t Got No Home’, and ‘But I Do’ from 1961. He was a singer/pianist and a New Orleans fixture, and while he may have left the charts after 1961, he continued to record through the 1960s and 1970s.

The record I bring you today is a very groovy 1965 cover of a song that Hank Ballard had recorded with the Midnighters in 1956.

‘Tore Up Over You’ takes the Midnighter’s original and bumps up the tempo, tossing in some combo organ that sounds like it was borrowed from a Sir Douglas Quintet session. The bass and guitar push things along with an excellent vocal by Clarence and some female backing singers.

I know I say this a lot, but this really is one of those records that should have been a hit. It’s got plenty of kick to it, fits in very nicely with the 1965 musical zeitgeist and I wouldn’t hesitate to drop it for a room full of dancers. As far as I can tell, it did absolutely nothing when it was released, relegating it to the ‘to be rediscovered’ file, from whence I bring it to you.

So dig it, 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.