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By Larry, October 29, 2017 10:46 am

Big Maybelle

Listen/Download – Big Maybelle – 96 Tears MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is a 45 that I chased after for years, only finally scoring a decent copy last year.

Big Maybelle was a star of the early years of R&B, having been recording since 1947 and having a string of hits in the early to mid 1950s.

By the time she recorded Question Mark and the Mysterians ’96 Tears’ in 1966, she was in her 40s and her career was all but over.

Her version of ’96 Tears’ takes the original and gives it a big, soulful punch, with a great repeated horn line and a confident, powerful vocal.

The cut is available on 45, but was also on her 1966 LP (with one of the weirdest cover drawings of all time) for Rojac, ‘Got a Brand New Bag’, which I’d love to find as it includes covers of tunes by the Troggs, Donovan, the Beatles, Los Bravos and Dr. West’s Medicine Show And Junk Band’s ‘The Eggplant That Ate Chicago’ (written by a young Norman ‘Spirit In the Sky’ Greenbaum).

That said, this is a dance floor burner, and I hope you dig it.

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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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, October 22, 2017 12:09 pm

Barry St John

Listen/Download – Barry St John – Cry Like a Baby MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is yet another piece of evidence for why you should surround yourself with people with excellent taste and keep your ears wide open.

I first encountered Barry St John and her smoking version of ‘Cry Like a Baby’ when it rolled by in my Facebook news feed, the video having been posted in one of the groups I subscribe to.

The clip, from the Beat Club TV show had St John working the funky side of the street on the old Box Tops tune.

I set right out to find myself a copy of the 45 and in doing so discovered that St John had a couple of earlier 45s that were popular with the Northern Soul crowd.

St John, who was born in Scotland and had sung with R&B groups in the UK and Europe recorded ‘Cry Like a Baby’ in 1968, with production credited to Mike Pasternak aka hugely successful Pirate Radio DJ Emperor Rosko (who produced St John’s 1968 LP ‘According To St John’).

The arrangement featured St John’s powerful voice, backed with some punchy bass and drums and a horn section (dig that baritone sax) way up in the mix.

What I’ve heard of her album (which is nigh but impossible to lay hands on here in the US) is excellent.

St John went on to work as a studio backing singer, working on a ton of UK albums in the 70s including Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’.

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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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, October 15, 2017 12:10 pm

Lea Roberts

Listen/Download – Lea Roberts – When Something Is Wrong With My Baby MP3

Greetings all.

The record I bring to you this fine day is something I picked up in one of my periodic label sweeps, i.e. a dsearch aimed specifically at Minit Records soul 45s.

I spotted the 45 by Lea Roberts (a singer that was otherwise unknown to me) and noticed that it included a cover of Sam & Dave’s ‘When Something Is Wrong With My Baby’ (written by Hayes and Porter), so naturally I had to grab it.

Good thing I did, too, since Roberts reading of the southern soul ballad classic is a powerful one, with solid production by George Butler and a very interesting arrangement by Horace Ott.

There isn’t a a lot of info out there about Roberts. He real name was Leatha Roberta Hicks and she was from Ohio.

She recorded a couple of 45s for Minit and UA before recording a pair of albums in the early to mid 70s for United Artists.

Roberts had a powerful, gospel-infused voice, and her reading of ‘When Something Is Wrong With My Baby’ is excellent. The arrangement, which features understated guitar and piano, and unusually prominent drums really catches the ear.

I will definitely be on the lookout for her albums.

I hope you dig the track, 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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By Larry, October 1, 2017 9:15 am

Roy Head

Listen/Download – Roy Head – Driving Wheel MP3

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is from what is by far the funkiest album by one of the great white R&B/soul singers of the classic era.

Roy Head, formerly of the Traits was a bona fide Texas legend. Posessed of a great, raspy voice and excellent taste in material, Head had his first hit in 1965 with ‘Treat Her Right’ (which became a standard) for Back Beat and even though he didn’t cozy up to the charts much more after that, continued recording quality stuff into the 1980s.

The tune I bring you today hails from the excellent 1970 LP ‘Same People’, which contains a number of amazing tracks (including covers of the Sir Douglas Quintet’s ‘She’s About a Mover’ and Dyke and the Blazers’ ‘Let a Woman Be a Woman’).

The original version of ‘Driving Wheel’ was recorded in 1936 by Roosevelt Sykes (aka The Honeydripper) and went on to become a blues standard, with Little Junior Parker taking it into the R&B Top 5 in 1961 and Head himself recording it for Back Beat in 1966.

Here Head lays into the tune in a funky way, with blazing horns and a chugging Hammond organ laying the foundation underneath.

If you can get your hands on a copy of the album (which I sought after and increasingly scarce) do so with a quickness. You will not be disappointed.

I will surely post other tracks from it in this space in the future.

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, September 3, 2017 11:14 am

Funky16Corners Soul Party A Go Go

Andre Williams – Soul Party A Go Go (Avin)
Bob Kuban Explosion – Jerkin’ Time (USA)
Kip Anderson – A Knife and a Fork (Checker)
Citations – Chicago (Mercury)
Eddie Bo – Shake Rock and Soul (Cinderella)
Oliver Sain – Jerk Loose (Checker)
Magnificent Malochi – Mama Your Daddy’s Come Home (Brunswick)
Larry Johnson – Mercy (Zorro)
Soupy Sales – Nitty Gritty (ABC/Paramount)
Alvin Cash and the Crawlers – The Barracuda (Mar V Lus)
Chuck Berry – Back To Memphis (Mercury)
Billy Preston – Hey Brother (Capitol)
Johnny Daye – I Need You (Stax)
Billy Graham and the Escalators – Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Atlantic)
The Foundations – Jerkin the Dog (Uni)
Howard Roberts – Florence of Arabia (Capitol)
Howard Tate – Stop (Verve)
Joe Simon – Come On and Get It (SS7)
Johnny Maestro and the Crests – Come See Me (Parkway)
Tender Joe Richardson – I Ain’t Going For That (Hot Biscuit)
Jackie Wilson – Hold On I’m Coming (Brunswick)
Ronnie Milsap – Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) (Scepter)
Objectives – Love Went Away (Jewel)
Fats Domino – If You Don’t Know What Love Is (ABC/Paramount)
Other Brothers – Hole In the Wall (Modern)
Russell Evans and the Nighthawks – Send Me Some Cornbread (Atco)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Soul Party A Go Go 117MB Mixed MP3

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Greetings all.

Welcome to Part Eleven of the Funky16Corners 2017 Allnighter/Pledge Drive aka The Summer of Soul!

This week we have the traditional closing mix of the festivities from your’s truly.

I got things started this year with a selection of Northern Soul, and I’m closing things out with a mix of dance floor movers, party starters, soul jazz and Hammond groovers.

The fundraising aspect of the 2017 Summer of Soul hasn’t been all that encouraging.

Whether it was the change in format, the switch to Patreon, or just a general lack of interest, I can’t really say, but if you were waiting for an appropriate time to toss something into the mix, now would be it.

So dig the sounds, and make sure to click on the Patreon button to help keep the lights on here at Funky16Corners! Fundraising up to this point has not been very encouraging, so please do what you can. It is as always greatly appreciated.

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The fundraiser will also take a slightly different form this year, moving to Patreon (click here or on the logo below to go to the Funky16Corners page) , where you will be able to spread your contributions out over the entire year (i.e. if you pledge 12 bucks, it doles it out a dollar a month over the course of a year), which will help cover the ongoing server/broadcast/hardware expenses. This year has seen the upgrade of a couple of crucial pieces of equipment, and any help you fine people can provide will keep the machinery moving here at Funky16Corners central.

So please dig deep so we can continue to do the same!

In addition to all the broadcasts and the blogging all of the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg mix archives will continue.

As I have mentioned recently, the changes to the general format here are as thus – The concentration of the operation will continue its shift to podcasting/radio, with the Funky16Corners Radio Show originating every week as a live broadcast, Thursday nights at 9PM Eastern on MIXLR, and will continue to be posted as a downloadable podcast every Friday, and broadcast in the UK on Cruising Radio.

The Iron Leg Radio Show will also move to a monthly live broadcast (day to be determined) also on MIXLR and will continue to be broadcast on Cruising Radio in the UK.

Don’t forget, my weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! is on the air live, every Wednesday night from 10-12. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. So tune in when you get a chance!
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So, download and dig the mix, keep digging the radio shows, and we’ll be back next week with another groovy mix.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg when you have a minute!. <

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By Larry, June 18, 2017 10:37 am

The Impressions

Mr and Mrs Turner

Listen/Download – The Impressions – You Must Believe Me MP3

Listen/Download – Ike and Tina Turner Revue – You Must Believe Me MP3

Greetings all.

Before we get rolling….

My weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! is on the air live, every Wednesday night from 10-12. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. So tune in when you get a chance!
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I will go ahead and assume that is you are regular visit to these environs that you are already acquainted with the sounds of the mighty Impressions.

Though the group were much more than just a vehicle for the genius of Curtis Mayfield, there is also no doubt that without him they would never have reached the heights they did.

Today’s selection was a Top 20 hit for the group in 1964, and is a perfect example of the group’s deep, gospel-inflected soul.

The arrangement is pure Chicago class (courtesy of Johnny Pate) but also opens with a taste of Mayfield’s Pop Staples-influenced guitar, sitting there all by itself, laying a foundation of Mississippi Delta soil on which the rest of the song rests (and weaving itself in and out of the arrangement all the way through).

One of Mayfield’s finest ‘begging for forgiveness’ tunes, it treads a fine line between pleading and confidence, with Sam Gooden and Fred Cash’s harmonies riding up in the front seat with Curtis’s voice so closely that it almost sounds like he’s doubling (tripling?) himself.

The way the muted horns rise up and recede again behind the verse is a thing of beauty, making it my favorite Impressions record by a longshot.

I’m also including a very groovy cover of the tune by the Ike and Tina Turner Revue.

Their version appeared on the 1965 LP ‘The Ike and Tina Turner Show Vol2’ on Loma. This, along with the previous year’s ‘Live – The Ike and Tina Turner Show’ is an essential volume and a fantastic snapshot of a live soul revue of the classic era.

If someone were smart, they’d reissue the two discs together.

Though it was recorded not long after the original by the Impressions fell off the charts, Tina introduces the song by saying they were going “way back”.

Ike’s guitar plays pretty close to the original, while the Ikettes and Tina trade lines expertly, giving the tune a fuller, more open harmony workout.

It’s a highlight of the album, which also includes a cover of the Impressions ‘Keep On Pushin’ (coincidentally the Impressions release that immediately preceded ‘You Must Believe Me’) as well as a weird ‘fake live’ version of the Turner’s Northern Soul classic ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’.

I hope you dig the tunes.

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

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too. <

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By Larry, May 25, 2017 12:45 pm

Pervis Staples and Carla Thomas

Listen/Download – Pervis Staples and Carla Thomas – It’s Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul) MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops each and every Friday with finest in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the Stitcher and TuneIn apps. Check it out on Mixcloud, or gran yourselves an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

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I am in the process of gearing up for this year’s fundraiser, as well as a reassessment of blogging/podcasting workload.

All podcasts, Funky16Corners Radio Show, Iron Leg Radio Show and my weekly live bag, Testify! on WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio will continue going forward.

The actual written end of the blogs may undergo some truncation to accommodate the increased production schedule.

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We close out the week with the groovy version of song first recorded by Jeanne and the Darlings (on Volt) in 1968.

This version of the song ‘It’s Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul)’ was recorded by the duet of Pervis Staples and Carla Thomas as part of the massive (and quite good) Stax project ‘Boy Meets Girl’, issued as a 2-LP set in 1969 and featuring the cream of the Stax/Volt stable.

Most of the duet pairings were new, i.e. no long standing pairings were included, but the results were always interesting.

Both Pervis and Carla were second-generation singers, Pervis as part of the Staple Singers (along side his father Roebuck, aka Pops, and his sisters Mavis, Cleotha and Yvonne) and Carla the daughter of Stax legend Rufus Thomas.

It’s interesting to hear Pervis outside of the framework of the Staples sound, and to realize how mush his voice sounds like his father.

Carla, of course, had had solo hits prior to this session, and had duetted with both her father and the mighty Otis Redding.

Their version of ‘It’s Unbelievable…’ is very cool. The song was co-written by Homer Banks (a big fave hereabouts) and Don Davis, and the session was co-produced by Davis and Al Bell.

The sound is a little more restrained than the Jeanne and the Darlings version (also produced by Davis), but I attribute that to the difference in the vocals, which are much harder-edged in the latter.

The pair duet on one other song (‘I’m Crying’) and participate in the group opening of ‘Soul-a-Lujah’.

That said, it is an excellent number, and I recommend the ‘Boy Meets Girl’ LP very highly. The original vinyl isn’t terribly expensive or hard to find, and some of the CD reissues truncate the track list significantly.

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

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

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, May 23, 2017 12:22 pm

Clyde McPhatter

Listen/Download – Clyde McPhatter – A Shot of Rhythm and Blues MP3

Greetings all.

Before we get rolling….

My new weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! had it’s inaugural episode last Wednesday and is archived over there. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. I’ll be on the air every Wednesday night (tomorrow!) from 10-12, live, so tune in when you get a chance!
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I am endlessly fascinated with artists who are associated with the earlier days of R&B who continued to make music (often overlooked or forgotten) well into the classic soul era.

Today’s performer is a great example thereof.

Clyde McPhatter sang with Billy Ward and the Dominoes, was a founding member of the Drifters and had a string of solo hits stretching from 1955 to 1965 (though most of those fell between 55 and 61).

Though he dropped off the charts for good in 1965, he continued to record well into the 70s for a variety of labels (his great cover of ‘In My Tenement’ appeared her a while back).

Today’s selection hails from a brief run (1966-1967) that McPhatter had with the Amy label.

His smoking cover of Arthur Alexander’s classic ‘A Shot of Rhythm and Blues’ (a landmark of early soul which became something of a Beat group standard in the UK) was recorded in Muscle Shoals with Rick Hall at the board, and it shows.

Opening with rock solid drums and horns, McPhatter drops in followed by guitar and bass and a groovy combo organ and he is joined in the chorus by female backing singers.

It’s a great update of the tune, and packs plenty of soul power, which is why it’s so disappointing to see that it doesn’t appeared to have gained an audience anywhere, even regionally.

Perhaps audiences associated McPhatter with an earlier style/sound, but someone missed the boat by not promoting the 45, since it sits right up there with pretty much anything else coming out of the Southern soul sound at the time.

An object lesson is keeping your ears (and mind) open.

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

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

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 20, 2017 11:10 am

The Wicked One!

Listen/Download – Wilson Pickett – Love Will Keep Us Together MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then I must ask you once again to tune in the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which comes to you each and every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn and Stitcher apps, check it out on Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

We close out a week of familiar songs in unfamiliar renditions with a very solid souping up of one of the biggest slices of AM Gold from the 70s.

The first time I heard (thanks Mike Schaefer!) that Wilson Pickett had done a cover of the Captain and Tennille’s ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ (a song I actually dig in the original version) I could scarcely believe it.

When I finally heard it, I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s not that I thought that Pickett wasn’t capable, but rather that I suspected that he might be too powerful a singer, and would blow through it like a bullet through a wet tissue.

Recorded in 1976 and released on Pickett’s ‘Chocolate Mountain’ LP (a one off on his TK distributed Wicked label), ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ was a #69 R&B hit (no notice on the Pop charts, other than some minor regional success in L.A.).

Pickett’s version is slightly funky with enough pop polish to keep the AM audience interested, but no so much as to scare away his diehard fans.
It’s really cool to hear the song removed from Toni Tennille’s buttery voice and recast with Pickett’s razor-sharp growl.

I dig it, and I hope you do, too.

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 18, 2017 7:16 pm

The O’Jays

Listen/Download – O’Jays – Four For the Price of One MP3

Greetings all.

Today I come to with 45 in hand, offering another very familiar song in a very unfamiliar version.

Larry Williams and Johnny Watson’s 1967 ‘Two For the Price of One’ has been a HUGE favorite of mine since I first heard it back in the 80s (when my buddy Johnny and I used to duet on the song).

It was only a few years ago when my buddy Jeff hepped me to the fact that the O’Jays had done a cover of the song.

I set out in search of the record, and managed to pick one up at a record show a while later.

The 45 you see before you today was released in 1973 – it was the O’Jays final 45 for the label – but the recording is from several years earlier, having appeared for the first time on the 1968 ‘On Top’ LP.

Sporting some fake crowd noise, and a groovy arrangement (with some strings that sound like they were lifted from a Temptations sessions) the O’Jays version of the song included slightly altered lyrics (to accommodate the extra singers) and the whole thing charges along at a very brisk pace indeed (brisk enough, and with enough strings/vibes seasoning to get any Northern Soul dance floor moving).

How it ended up tacked onto a 1973 release is a mystery, but at least it allows you to have this most excellent track on 45.

I hope you all dig it, and I’ll 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 16, 2017 11:08 am

Listen/Download – Sam Hutchins – Dang Me MP3

Greetings all.

Happy Monday and all that…

The tune we open the week with is a certified Memphis burner, as well as one of the most interesting soul covers of a decidedly non-soul song.
‘Dang Me’ was written and first recorded by Roger Miller, who had a big hit with it in 1964. If you’re not familiar with the original head on over to Youtube and check it out.

If you know it, then Sam Hutchins’ 1968 cover will likely blow your mind.

Hutchins recorded a string of 45s for the Amy/Bell/Mala group between 1966 and 1969, before joining the Masqueraders and singing lead with them in the later part of their career.

His version of ‘Dang Me’ was recorded in 1968, and produced by Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill.

Hutchins takes the laconic, wry delivery of Miller and lays a whole lot of soul onto it, with a hard hitting take on the song.

The record starts out with some groovy organ before Hutchins drops in like a hammer, backed by a horn section and guitar. That would be enough for me, but right near the end of the record the arrangement takes an unexpected, and completely wonderful turn, dropping down into a much slower gospel-inflected passage that is really something else.

It’s become a fave of mine since I first heard it a few years ago, and I hope you dig it too.

Until 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 11, 2017 10:30 am

New Birth

Listen/Download – New Birth – It’s Impossible (LP edit) MP3

Listen/Download – New Birth – It’s Impossible (45 edit) MP3

Greetings all.

A few years back I was down in DC with the fam, doing the sightseeing thing with a couple of (mandatory) digging stops. We had the Sirius ‘Soultown’ station on, and my ears perked up when the record you see before you (which I’d never heard before) came on the radio.

It took me a few seconds to get into the groove, no doubt caused by my mind fixating on the original hit version of the song, which was by Perry Como.

Once I got past that, I was kind of blown away.

I stopped into my fave DC record spot – Memory Lane – and asked my man Marshall is he had a copy for me. They only had one, and it was beat, but I bought it anyway.

So, I get home, decide I want the album, find one on Ebay, and get that.

Then, a few weeks later, I’m looking for something else, and discover that I already had a copy of the 45 (close to mint condition), and realize (yet again) I have way too many records.

Anyway…

The idea of a soulful version of ‘It’s Impossible’ seems…ahem…impossible (or at least improbable), but sometimes the right combination of talents can take a song and lift it right out of a familiar frame, turning it into something entirely new.

New Birth were the vocal adjunct of the mighty Nite Liters, which started out as the brainchild of Vernon Bullock and the mighty Harvey Fuqua.

Their self-titled debut LP had come out earlier in 1971 (and garnered little notice). ‘It’s Impossible’ was included on their sophomore effort ‘It Ain’t No Big Thing But It’s Growing’ alongside covers of tunes by Bread, the Five Stairsteps and the Jackson Five.

The group lays down a groove, with the vocal starting with a high female voice. Things move to the next level when a male singer comes in with a more traditionally soulful delivery, backed by the entire group’s harmonies.

Despite the ghost of Perry Como lurking in the wings, the New Birth version transcends the original completely.

It was New Birth’s first hit, grazing the R&B Top 10 and the Pop Top 40 in the Fall of 1971.

The group would go on to have more than a dozen hits between 1971 and 1979.

It’s a very cool tune (I’m including the LP mix of the song that runs almost half a minute longer than the 45 edit) 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.