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By Larry, June 10, 2018 10:31 am

With Lloyd on the Label There’s Soul on the Table!

Listen/Download – Lloyd Price Orchestra – It’s Your Thing MP3

Greetings all.

Here’s a crazy one.

Lloyd Price was of course a New Orleans R&B/soul star from 1952 when he hit with ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ on into the mid-1970s (though he has continued to perform into his 80s).

Over the course of his career Price has released albums and 45s by his band, including the great ‘This is My Band’ in 1963 (featuring James Booker on organ) and a number of 45s, including today’s selection.

Price ran the Lloyd Price’s Turntable label for a few years at the end of the 1960s, releasing records by himself, the Coasters, Howard Tate and the Lloyd Price Orchestra.

What makes today’s selection unusual, is that the label says that it was recorded in Jamaica!

The record was arranged by Curley Palmer, who had played guitar with the Coasters and the production is credited to Price and Arthur Jenkins (who produced the Coasters 1969 Turntable 45).

I hve not been able to find any information that indicates how Price and his band ended up in Jamaica, or if it was really his band and not a bunch of Jamaican session musicians.

The version of the Isley Brothers ‘It’s Your Thing’ runs at a leisurely yet funky pace, with some groovy electric piano, percussion and horns.

If anyone can fill in the blanks on this one I would be much obliged.

Until next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, June 3, 2018 10:23 am

The Groovers

Listen/Download – The Groovers – Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is an object lesson in how common band names and cover material can send you down all kinds of dark alleys.

I picked up the Groovers 45 you see before you a few years back on the strength of both sides being soul covers, even though I’d never heard of the band.

I recorded the 45, and into the box it went.

In the time since, I picked up another 45 by a group called the Groovers, but had no idea it was the same group.

The fact that some online resources contained conflicting (and incorrect, this is not the LA band that recorded for Minit and Teri De) information didn’t help matters.

This particular Groovers appears to have been another white showband on the Beach Music scene who recorded for the Fredericksburg, VA labels Groovy (a cover of Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers ‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’) and TCB (the Goffin/King number ‘I Need You’) and two 45s for A&M, all produced by Warren Harding Jr and at least a few of them arranged by none other than Fonce Mizell (?!?).

My educated guess is that these were done when the Mizell brothers were attending Howard University in DC.

The version of ‘I Gotta Go Now’ has a garagey edge to it, as does their take on Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’ (I haven’t heard their TCB single).

The Groovers take on William Bell’s ‘Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday’ is very groovy indeed. Featuring some subtle and soulful guitar, gospel-inflected organ, tastefully applied strings and great vocals.

‘Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday’ seems to have brought the group some success, having charted regionally early in 1970.

According to a Fredericksburg music site, the Groovers were together from the mid-50s until the mid-80s (and a few of the members seem to still be playing today).

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, May 6, 2018 11:35 am

Group Therapy

Listen/Download – Group Therapy – Really Together MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection appears courtesy of one of my increasingly rare trips to one of my old digging stomping grounds (rare because the pickings they are slim, and I’m disinclined to haul my ass 45 minutes out of the way on the off chance that they aren’t on any given day).

That said, I’d never heard of Group Therapy (at least this one) before, but the presence on the album of a bunch of interesting covers (many of them soul songs) cemented the deal and I tossed it on my “keeper” stack.

As it turns out, Group Therapy were a NYC-based act that put out two albums on RCA in 1967 and 1968.

The occupy the same amped-up take on the Rascals sound as Vanilla Fudge ( a considerably more subtle take), i.e. a rock band that loved soul music.

My premier reason for buying this record, though, was the presence of a truly unusual cover version.

Billy Vera and Judy Clay’s ‘Really Together’ (the 1967 flipside of ‘Storybook Children’, which really only features Vera) is a longtime favorite of mine. An absolutely storming bit of soul, clocking in at well under two minutes.

I had no idea that it had ever been covered, so I had to hear the Group Therapy version.

While it’s not quite as blazing as the OG, the version by Group Therapy is quite good, with some throbbing bass, Hammond organ and a great lead vocal.

The rest of the album is a mixed bag of psychedelic workouts like ‘Morning Dew’ and ‘Foxy Lady’ and soul covers (including another, very early cover of ‘Expressway To Your Heart’).

It’s not terribly expensive, so if this is a sound you dig, go out and grab yourself a copy.

I hope you dig it.

See you next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, March 25, 2018 1:52 pm

Mason and Dixon

Listen/Download – Mason and Dixon – Soul Power MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up while I was out digging on the strength of the song, that being a cover of Derek Martin’s ‘Soul Power’.

I had never heard of Mason and Dixon before, and there’s precious little information out there about them.

Their names were Bobby Mason and Tony Dixon, and they appear to have fronted a showband that was based in and popular around New England from the late 60s into the late 70s.

The recorded an album for Tower in 1969 and then singles for Buttercup and Metronome in the early 70s.

The Buttercup connection is the most interesting.

The label was owned by Teddy Randazzo, and was relatively short-lived, releasing only five singles between 1970 and 1971, two by Mason and Dixon, one by Sheila Anthony, and two by Derek Martin.

Martin’s Buttercup 45, ‘The Moving Hands of Time’ is a fantastic, moody piece of psych/soul, which I will bring to you if I ever get my hands on a clean copy.

I’ll assume that Mason and Dixon got their hands on ‘Soul Power’ (also written by Randazzo) because of the label’s connection to Martin, who had recorded the song for the Detroit label Tuba, and then had it picked up by Volt in 1967.

The Mason and Dixon version is very cool indeed, with funky bass, horns and a great dual vocal by the singers.

As far as I can tell none of their stuff met with any national success, with the flipside of this 45 (a medley of MacArthur Park and I Don’t Want To Cry) charting at a single station in Missouri.

It’s a groovy 45, and if anyone has any more info about the band, please drop me aline in the comments.

Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, March 18, 2018 11:20 am

Listen/Download – Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics – Funky Shuffle MP3

Greetings all.

The 45 I bring you today started out as a mystery record.

A group that made only one single, on a label that only released one single, with no address on the label.

I cannot recall where I put my hands on Funky Shuffle by Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics, other than it came from a sales list (as opposed to a random dig in the field).

The record sounds like a white band with a soulful bent, with the flipside, ‘Breaktime’ leaning in a more garage-y direction.

‘Funky Shuffle’ quickly reveals itself to be a rewrite of ‘Harlem Shuffle’, with wild lead vocals, relentless combo organ, spooky background vocals and a solid drummer.

Though 45Cat suggests that this is a 1966 release (certainly not out of the question) I haven’t seen any other corroborating information to confirm that.

The single clue as to the origin of this record is the authorship of the flipside, attributed to Jules Kruspir.

Kruspir was a Pittsburgh, PA operator, managing the doowop group the Marcels, and running St Clair records, home to a wide variety of Western Pennsylvania acts including garage punk legends the Swamp Rats.

A Google search reveals a couple of local newspapers, in Pittsburgh and Morgantown from the late 60s with ads for performances by Ronnie Rae and the Dynamics (both, sadly hidden behind paywalls, so I was unable to see them in detail).

If anyone has any additional information on the band, please let me know.

Until next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, March 4, 2018 12:38 pm

The Salem Travelers

Listen/Download – The Salem Travelers – Wade In the Water MP3

Greetings all.

How about some deep, soulful gospel to get your week rolling?

The Salem Travelers were one of the more interesting Chicago-based gospel outfits.

Their mid-to-late 60s recordings are a great bridge between classic gospel and the sounds of soul and funk.

Though they’re best known for their string of albums or Checker in the late 60s and early 70s, they got their start recording for Halo, the gospel imprint of Chicago’s One-Der-Ful records.

Their recording of the spiritual classic (and one of my favorite songs) ‘Wade In the Water’ hails from 1966, and as soulful version of the song go, it’s one of my faves.

It has a slightly rough feel to it (the vaguely out of tune piano, possibly the very same one that appears on a number of One-Der-Ful/Mar-V-Lus 45s has something to do with that) but the group’s vocals are tight and take off into the stratosphere, especially after the introduction.

Sadly, I don’t think the Salem Travelers stuff has been comped, so your only way to pick it up is on the original pressings.

If you dig the tune, head on over to the archive for Testify!, my WFMU show and dig the long set of versions of ‘Wade In the Water’, many of them radically different.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Until next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, February 25, 2018 12:58 pm

Listen/Download – Hal Driggers and the Key Brothers – Brown Baggin’ MP3

Listen/Download – Hal Driggers and the Key Brothers – Black Pepper MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The track I bring you today dropped into my crates a few years back, solely on the strength of the sounds packed into the grooves.

I had no idea who Hal Driggers was/is (still don’t). It’s not an expensive record, but – and this is the important part – it cooks.

A cursory listen will reveal that ‘Brown Baggin’ is a very spare rewrite of Robert Parker’s ‘Barefootin’, with the gist moving away from dancing and going all the way over to the surreptitious consumption of alcohol, hidden inside the brown bag of the title.

“Brown Baggin’ is a mover, taking the foundation of the Parker classic and running with it.

The flipside, ‘Black Pepper’ is a wild slice of R&B with some hot rhythm guitar and organ.

The context clues on the label, and a Google-i-zation reveal that the 45 was originally released on the North Carolina Cheeco label as by Hal Driggers and the Six Key Brothers (with the descriptor ‘six’ removed for the Atlantic pressing).

My seasoned ears suggest to me that Mr Driggers is a white fella, which is neither here nor there, though along with the geographical location it suggests to me that he might have been part and parcel of the many white R&B bands working in the south (and on the Beach Music scene) at the time.

I have not been able to track down any information on the Key Brothers, either.

Driggers and the Key Brothers did one more 45, for the Philadelphia-based Star Time label.

If any of you fine folks have any info on Driggers or the Key Brothers, please drop me a line.
Until next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, December 24, 2017 1:34 pm

Harold Johnson

Listen/Download – Harold Johnson – Greensleeves MP3

Greetings all.

I hope that the new week and the holiday season finds you all well.

The tune I bring you today is a Christmas favorite that got its start as decidedly secular English folk ballad in the 1500s, eventually being appropriated as the Christmas song ‘What Child Is This’ in 1865.

It has been recorded countless times in a variety of styles by a long list of performers.

Today’s selection, by jazz pianist Harold Johnson appeared on his 1970 LP ‘Wide Open’.

‘Wide Open’ is a fantastic example of alternately funky/straight soul jazz piano laying down a selection of originals and contemporary covers.

Johnson’s version of ‘Greensleeves’ gets off to a hot start with congas and bass, before being joined by a hard-hitting drummer, and then Johnson himself.

It is an aggressive arrangement of a song that is usually delivered in a much more languid style, and it works very well indeed.

Johnson and his group had recorded two earlier albums, one on the small LA H.M.E. label and the second (like this one) for Revue.

Oddly, after 1970 Johnson worked mostly as a sideman on a string of LPs by Eddie Kendricks, Willie Hutch and others and as a composer and arranger.

I hope you dig the tune, and that you all have a happy holiday.

See you next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, December 17, 2017 12:37 pm

Stretch

Margaret Singana

Listen/Download – Stretch – Why Did You Do It MP3

Listen/Download – Margaret Singana – Why Did You Do It MP3

Greetings all.

As has been said here many a time before, one must keep their ears peeled and open at all times if the flow of interesting music is to continue into one’s crates. The reords you see before you today at a testament to that very thing.

A while back I was immersed in a viewing of ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ when a funky song popped up on the soundtrack that got my ears perked right up.

A dash of Googling and IMDB-ing led me to the track ‘Why Did You Do It’ by Stretch.

I had never heard of the band or the song, but dug it a lot, so I started looking around and discovered the the tune was a UK Top 20 and dance floor hit in 1975.

The group was led by Elmer Gantry (aka Dave Terry) former lead singer of UK psych group Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera and former Curved Air member Graham ‘Kirby’ Gregory.

They released the 45 on the UK Anchor label also home to Ace, and (for some odd reason) all of the UK versions of Alice Cooper’s albums.

The original Stretch version of ‘Why Did You Do It’ is a very groovy piece of funky rock with a solid backbeat and bass combo that butts right up against disco without trading too heavily on that territory, and a fantastic vocal by Gantry.

The other version I bring you today was recorded a few years later by South African vocalist Margaret Singana.

Her take on the song, from her ‘Tribal Fence’ album was released here in the US on the Casablanca label.

Singana’s album is a mix of traditional African sounds, soul and disco, and featured production and guitar work from future Yes member Trevor Rabin (also a native South African).

The production on Singana’s version is a little slicker (with a very nice guitar solo by Rabin) , but her excellent voice features heavily. Her album also contains a nice version of James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World’.

I hope you dig both versions of the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, December 10, 2017 12:17 pm

El Chicano

Listen/Download – El Chicano – Coming Home Baby MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

I have been digging-econo of late, and so when I dipped into a Discogs store and found a grip of interesting looking one-dollar 45s, I thought I’d grab me some and see how it played out (if you will). Most of the things I picked up hardly amounted to ‘taking a chance’, seeing that they were either very cheap, or by reliably great artists (or both).

One of those purchases sits before you today, East LA giants El Chicano’s smoking version of Bob Dorough and Ben Tucker’s oft-recorded ‘Coming Home Baby’.

The group’s version of Gerald Wilson’s ‘Viva Tirado’ was a substantial hit in 1970, and though they continued to record/release music for the next decade, they never really had another big hit.

This is not to say that they weren’t making good music, as today’s selection will attest.

‘Coming Home Baby’ hit the charts a dozen different times between Mel Torme’s brilliant version in 1962 and 1971.

El Chicano’s version, a blazing, overmodulated Hammond feature only charted very briefly in a few California markets, but it is among the finest versions I have heard.

Cramming almost five and a half minutes onto one side of a 45, the El Chicano version has a hot, live sound with just enough Latin percussion in the mix to remind you who your listening to.

In addition to the general hotness of this 45, it should serve as a reminder that El Chicano’s stuff is uniformly excellent and as our friends in the UK are wont to say, ‘cheap as chips’, so go out and get you some.

See you next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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By Larry, November 19, 2017 11:48 am

Machito

Listen/Download – Machito and His Orchestra – Baby I Love You MP3

Greetings all.

You already know that I’d fill a bathtub in Latin soul and roll around in it if I could (TMI??), so imagine my delight when I happened upon the 45 you see before you today.

I knew of the might Machito (aka Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo) who was recording rhumba as far back as the early 1950s.

Like so many of his contemporaries, faced with the rising popularity of boogaloo, Machito went into the studio in 1968 with arranger/composer Bert DeCoteaux and laid down an entire album of (mostly) Memphis soul covers (and one groovy DeCoteaux original).

The obviously-titled ‘Machito Goes Memphis’ is not only smoking hot from start to finish, but also (at the writing) still relatively inexpensive.

Machito and his orchestra cover Booker T and the MGs. Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Sam Cooke, and on this track, Aretha Franklin.

The band hits a nice groove, with the drums, bass and percussion laying down the bottom. It is – like the rest of the album – a headnodder, just Latin enough for the boogaloo fans and soulful enough for everyone else (though a considerable crossover is to be expected).

As far as I can tell, Machito never took this direction again.

I hope you dig the track and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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By Larry, November 12, 2017 1:02 pm

Billy Lee Riley

Listen/Download – Billy Lee Riley – Don’t Fight It MP3

Listen/Download – Billy Lee Riley – Mississippi Delta MP3

Greetings all.

If you already know the name of Billy Lee Riley, you very well might be surprised to see him here at Funky16Corners.

Along with his band the Little Green Men he waxed some smoking rockabilly sides for Sun Records in the mid-50s, including ‘Red Hot’ (later covered by Robert Gordon) and ‘Flying Saucers Rock and Roll’.

However, as the years went on, Mr Riley found his way to the R&B side of the street (though there is a case to be made that having worked in rockabilly he was already half the way there).

In 1962 he was the man behind the Megatons’ ‘Shimmy Shimmy Walk’, and as the decade moved on he recorded a wide variety of material, including a fair amount of soul covers.

Today’s selections hail from a 1967 45 for the Mojo label (Riley bounced around to Mercury, GNP Crescendo, Atlantic, HIP and then back to Sun by the end of the 60s) where he did a number of 45s and a couple of albums, including 1968’s hard to find ‘Southern Soul’.

Riley’s covers of Wilson Pickett and Bobbie Gentry are pure Memphis, with a tight, hard-hitting band and great vocals. There’s plenty of hot guitar (naturally) and some nice piano and backing vocals as well.

‘Mississippi Delta’ is especially groovy. Originally the flipside to Bobbie Gentry’s epic ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, it was – in its original version – smoking hot. Riley turns up the soulful heat just a little bit more and the horn chart and drums are excellent.

Riley’s 45s from this period aren’t too hard to find, but the albums might force you to pry open your wallet a little bit further.

I hope you dig the tracks and I’ll see you next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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