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By Larry, November 22, 2016 10:17 am

Miss Sharon Jones

Listen/Download – Sharon Jones – Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In MP3

Listen/Download – Sharon Jones, Lee Fields and the Dap-Kings – Stranded In Your Love MP3

Greetings all.

This has been an exceptionally tough couple of weeks (this is the fourth memorial post in a row).

Sometimes it feels like the universe is out to get us.

Among the many losses, and in many ways the most painful, was the passing of Miss Sharon Jones.

Jones, the brightest light of the modern funk/soul world, and front woman for the mighty Dap-Kings lost a long battle with cancer at the age of 60.

Jones, who only really got to start climbing the ladder of musical success at the age of 40, had worked as a corrections office in Rikers Island in NYC and an armed guard, before joining up with Daptone.

She was born in Augusta, GA (There was a time…) and sang her entire life, fronting wedding bands and wailing in choir lofts, all the while stretching and honing her powerful voice.

Starting in 1996 she recorded a hot string of 45s and LPs, and became the most famous proponent of the classic soul revival (I’m sure there’s a better term, but I have neither the time nor the energy to hash that out right now), working her way up from the clubs to worldwide fame, backed by the hottest band in the land.

My feelings about the various and sundry modern acts working the classic style have wavered between indifference and pure joy, but I can assure that Miss Sharon Jones brought nothing but the latter.

I was never fortunate enough to see her and the Dap-Kings live, but their recorded work has brought me much pleasure over the years.

The two tracks I bring you today are longtime favorites of mine.

The first is Jones reworking of Bettye Lavette’s 1968 arrangement of Mickey Newbury’s ‘Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)’*.

Released in 2004, it is a smoking take on the song (taking it just a touch faster than Lavette) , with Jones singing beautifully all the way through.

The second is a duet with another soul survivor, Lee Fields (Jones was discovered singing backup on a Fields session), and as a perfect example of ‘revivalist’ soul that meets and exceeds the quality of the music from the classic era.

‘Stranded In Your Love’ (which appeared on the 2005 album ‘Naturally’), is an epic (nearing 6 minutes) duet that starts out with a little spoken back and forth between Jones and Fields, but then drops down into a deep, deep number.

The singing, playing (by the Dap-Kings) and the song itself (beautifully written by Gabriel Roth) are simply remarkable. Had this record come out in 1968 in a limited run of 500 copies, modern day collectors would be killing each other to get a copy.

It’s one of those records that I absolutely need to listen to more than once when I put it on. It hits all of those pleasure centers in the brain, and is a reminder of just how good soul music can be.

There is so much painful irony in the fact that Sharon Jones was taken from us just when she was reaching her peak, but sometimes that’s how it is.

We can be thankful that she left behind so much great music.

She will be missed.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Listed on Newbury’s album as ‘Just Dropped In’, Lavette’s 45 as ‘What Condition My Condition Was In’, on the First Edition hit with the parenthetical phrase, and on the Sharon Jones 45 without parentheses…

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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, October 30, 2016 12:59 pm

Judy Clay and the Youngbloods (inset)

Listen/Download – Judy Clay – GetTogether MP3

Greetings all.

Due to the impending election, I’m going to be doing something special this week, under the banner of Soul the Vote (yeah, I know. Not the most original idea but it says what I want it to, so, y’know…).

I will be re-posting some socially/politically relevant classics all week long, culminating in a special Election edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show this coming Friday, 11/4.

We’re going to get things started with Judy Clay’s epic reading of the Youngbloods’ ‘Get Together’, which was originally posted back in February of this year, during the primaries, when the unspeakable (Trump as a major party candidate) was still only a possibility.

There is a lot at stake here, and while I realize that politics is not everyone’s bag, there is a tremendous amount at stake here, and if you are willing to throw your lot in with a maniac like that, then we don’t really have much to say to each other.

So dig the sounds, spread the word, and get your ass out there and vote.

Keep the Faith

Larry

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Originally posted 2/25/16

The last few months (hell, closer to a year) in relation to the upcoming Presidential election have proven to be the rancid cherry atop the shit sundae that has been served up by the opponents of democracy over the last eight (or 36, depending on your frame of reference) years.

The group I speak of is composed of the usual suspects, giant corporations, polluters, homegrown religious fanatics, cowpoke seditionists and every possible iteration of Archie Bunker-esque “populist anger” blowing ugliness at the world from their easy chairs. The combination of hard-edged, professional undermining of society, from those that would straight up fuck any one of us to insert another shiny dime in their offshore tax havens, and the infantile, heavily-armed anger of the dying white hegemony has finally pushed us to the place where we have a leading candidate for the highest office in the land that comes on like PT Barnum and the local schoolyard bully had a baby, and then handed the baby a gun.

If you were so inclined, you could start writing your stack of ‘thank you’ notes to Ronald Reagan, and all of his disciples, who somehow convinced a lot of people that their enemies were not the bosses that busted their unions and converted their once prized jobs into Third World child labor, but rather the cold, tired and huddled masses yearning to breathe free mentioned on the Statue of Liberty.

We live in a world where any number of Republican governors and corporatist Democratic apparatchiks in the school privatization movement (eager to run schools with all the vision they apply to your local Wal-Mart) have people convinced that teachers are the enemy. The same world where the people we’ve elected will turn to us and with a straight face continue to repeat the same insane incantations about deregulation and trickle-down economics that time and experience long ago revealed as a colossal sham.

We live in a world where one side of the political spectrum has collapsed like an angry toddler that has to be dragged through a supermarket, and the other side throws their hands up, without the courage or will to do anything about it.

The amount of ugly debris resulting from this collision – generally hateful, and specifically racist and nativist – is terrifying.

The press, for a variety of reasons a mere shadow of its former self, is filled not with the thinkers that once helped us make sense of an often incomprehensible world, but rather packs of fools that have abdicated their sacred responsibilities and spend their time talking about the election like they’re broadcasting a football game. As a result we are surrounded by people that have been dumbed down, and are fatally disengaged from the process.

It makes me sad, especially since I have young kids who will have to grow into a world that seems increasingly out of control.

This is not to say that all hope is lost, nor should anyone be giving up and preaching the gospel of running away (to Canada, or Europe of anywhere Donald Trump isn’t) because I believe that ultimately, this country is worth fighting for.

I suspect that no matter what happens in November, whether we are suddenly saddled with a lunatic at the helm, maintain an unsatisfactory status quo, or take a difficult first step toward something better, that there will be a lot of unpleasantness ahead.

When someone like the current Republican standard-bearer is allowed to whip a mass of shitheads into a frenzy, that energy has to go somewhere.

Whether it manifests itself as a horrific stain on a once great country, or in impotent rage at a revolution denied, is yet to be seen.

What those of us outside of the bubble need to do is – first and foremost – speak up.

Don’t let the insanity go unchallenged.

Campaign for something better.

Shut off your TV, or at least the part of it that perpetuates the stupidity.

Read a book.

Make something.

VOTE.

Or listen to some music.

It is precisely because I believe in the power of music, to move people and sometimes carry a message, that I do this at all.

I know the political posts are unpopular in some quarters, but as long as I have the ability to lay down and amplify (on some small scale) my thoughts, I’m going to do it.

The song I bring you today should be very familiar to most people of a certain vintage as one of the great peace anthems of the 1960s, as delivered by the Youngbloods.

I have been a huge fan of Judy Clay over the years, both for her duets with Billy Vera, and her solo work. She had a powerful voice.

So when I picked up the 45 of ‘Sister Pitiful’ (her female take on the Otis Redding ‘Mister…’ classic) I was kind of knocked on my ass by the flip side, a heavy, swampy, soulful version of ‘Get Together’.

Where the Youngblood’s version of the song is ethereal and hymn-like, Clay’s take on the song – instantly recognizable as a Muscle Shoals production – is a call to arms.

When the song starts with the words ‘Love is just a song we sing’ but then follows it with the warning shot ‘But fear can make us die’, it ought to turn your head.

Though the Youngbloods released their version in 1967, it didn’t really explode until the middle of 1969. The wistful optimism of the Summer of Love had been washed away by war, riots (race and otherwise) and paranoia.

Clay recorded her version of the song in May 1969, replacing the hippy mellowness with a powerful, gospel-infused cry, pushed along by hard charging bass, drums and horns.

It should have become and anthem all over again, but despite its inarguably high quality, it went largely unnoticed (it doesn’t even get a mention in the Wiki about the song) .

That doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.

Give it a listen, and see if you feel the power, too.

Remember that ‘Keep the Faith’ are words to live by, whatever your faith is,and the raised fist in our logo symbolizes the power of solidarity.

Pull down the ones and zeroes, and pass it on.

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, October 9, 2016 9:04 am

“Doctah Jawwwn, known as the Night Trippah…”

Listen/Download – Dr John – Big Chief MP3

Greetings all.

If you checked in to the recent (10/6) edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, in which I went into one of my musical obsessions, that being the New Orleans/LA Connection – of which our hero Mr Rebennack was a HUGE part – you will have heard me refer to the good Doctor as close to a genuine national treasure as we have.

He is a towering sequoia in the world of modern music (generally) and one of the last links to the old school of New Orleans giants (specifically), and the piano tradition therein (very specifically).

He has been playing and recording since the 1950s, and has also inhabited the guise of the Night Tripper since the late 60s.

He has appeared in this space (and on the podcast) many times, as leader and sideman, and today’s selection sees him returning to his roots and giving props to another giant.

Another king of the New Orleans sound, Roy Byrd, aka Professor Longhair, aka Fess, is the man who among other things, went into the studio with Earl King in 1964 and laid down one of the greatest pieces of music ever to explode from the grooves of 45RPM record, ‘Big Chief’.

When Dr John whipped out ‘Dr John’s Gumbo’ in 1972, with a cast of NOLA runnin’ pardners, working it out on a grip of Crescent City classics, ‘Big Chief’ is one of the songs he chose to do.

Dr John’s version of the song takes the piano of the original and moves it over onto the organ, and while he slows the pace somewhat, that second line swing is still there in all its glory.

Featuring some groovy rhythm guitar by none other than Alvin Robinson, an arrangement by Harold Battiste (with Dr John) and production by Battiste and Jerry Wexler, this version of ‘Big Chief’ has a sort of early 70s, smoked out vibe to it, which is cool, and it presents a nice, relaxed counterpoint to the piano-led atomic bomb of the original.

That said, if’n you don’t got you no Dr John, go and git you some.

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, October 4, 2016 10:04 am

Johnny Gibson

Listen/Download – Johnny Gibson Trio – Beachcomber MP3

Greetings all.

I have a very cool one today, that goes way, way back in my crates, yet took me years to kind of figure out.

I picked up ‘Beachcomber’ by the Johnny Gibson Trio years ago in one of periodic Hammond 45 sweeps. As soon as I got it, and slipped it under the needle I discovered that it had been mis-identified (as an organ instro) by the seller. I was bummed, but it wasn’t expensive enough to make an issue of it (and buyer beware and all that) so into storage it went, forgotten for years.

Flash forward a few after that and I find myself in possession of a 1967 45 by the Semi-Colons? (question mark part of the name, stick with me) performing a song of the same name.

I really dug it, and discovered in short order that the Semi-Colons? Were actually Question Mark and the Mysterians performing under an alias.

What was also cool was that the song ‘Beachcomber’ was originally written and recorded by none other than Bobby Darin in 1960.

It was only much later (after I had already written by the Semi-Colons? 45 over at Iron Leg) that I dug the Johnny Gibson Trio 45 out of a box and realized that it was a cover of the very same song.

I flipped it back onto the turntable, and it kind of blew my mind.

I have often described the experience of a kind of seasoning/maturing of the ear, in which experience allows you to understand/appreciate a piece of music much more deeply because of all that you have heard/learned between the first time you heard it and the present.

Johnny Gibson Trio in a Billboard listing, 1964

When I finally gave the Johnny Gibson version of ‘Beachcomber’ a listen I wasn’t sitting there with visions of Hammond organs wailing in my imagination. My ears were wide open, and as soon as I heard that slightly distorted electric piano, and the relaxed, yet still deep in the groove tempo, all was well with the world.

Then (yes, it gets better) when I started to dig into the history of the Johnny Gibson Trio, another chapter in the small but interesting story was revealed.

Pianist Johnny Gibson, his brother Dwight (on drums) and bassist Ron Haste (an integrated trio, the Gibsons were African American and Haste was white) were a Toledo, Ohio group that recorded ‘Beachcomber’ for the local Twirl label in 1964, which became a local hit and was picked up for national distribution by the Laurie label. The group went on to record a few more singles for the Big Top label before breaking up.

‘Beachcomber’ was a Top 20 hit in Ohio and Detroit, which is where the Mysterians (natives of Saginaw, MI) first heard it and added it to their repertoire.

The Johnny Gibson Trio version of ‘Beachcomber’ has built up a following over the years, eventually becoming a favorite on the dance floors in the UK.

Though the Trio broke up, Gibson continued to work as a musician, eventually relocating to Europe.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all 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, September 11, 2016 10:50 am

Listen/Download – Frankie Gee – A Date With the Rain MP3

Greetings all.

I have a very groovy, very danceable 45 for you this fine day.

Featured back in March in the ‘Funky Music Is the Thing’ mix, Frankie Gee’s cover of ‘A Date With the Rain’ is stunning.

Originally done by the mighty Eddie Kendricks on his monumental 1972 ‘People Hold On’ LP, ‘A Date With the Rain’ was an early disco landmark and one of the most sublime soul records of the 70s. The song appeared on the LP and as the B-side of a 45 (both running 2:42) but there was also a 12” edit running over nine minutes that as far as I can tell is only currently available on YouTube.

That said, Frankie Gee, an LA artist who recorded a handful of disco 45s in the mid 70s for labels like Claridge, Lipstick, Sky and Galactic Star recorded his own version of the song in 1975, picking up the pace a little, adding heavier bass, organ and clavinet.

Though it clocks in at almost the same length as Kendricks’ OG, it has a more aggressive feel and probably could have had some success on the dance floor, but didn’t chart (unbelievably, neither did the original). I can’t even find traces of it on the disco charts.

Gee’s version of ‘A Date With the Rain’ has, however, built up a following with DJs since its release, and was pressed up I sufficient quantities by Claridge (a label with multiple lives) that it isn’t terribly hard to find or expensive.

The flip side is a bizarre cover of Lee Dorsey’s ‘Ya Ya’.

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

See you 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, September 8, 2016 11:09 am

Taj Mahal

Listen/Download – Taj Mahal – A Lot of Love MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove. You can (and should) subscribe in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, check it out on Mixcloud or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.

You all know that I am all about a groovy cover version, and especially when it comes from an unexpected source.

I have been a Taj Mahal fan since way back in the day, but always associated him with a more hippy/bluesy train of sound (if you will), from his early days with the Rising Sons, through his Woodstock-era sounds and beyond.

So, when I picked up an old CBS records loss-leader (so budget-y that it was released with two LPs jammed into a single sleeve?!?) and discovered Taj working it out on one of my fave soul tunes, Homer Banks’s ‘A Lot of Love’, I was stunned!.

The version in the LP was a longer (4:00) LP edit, but when I started looking on the intertubes for information, I discovered that there was also a much tighter 45 edit (2:44) that had a certain amount of popularity with the Northern Soul crowd.

I set myself a saved search, and before long the 45 popped up and I grabbed it for my playbox.

One of Taj Mahal’s greatest strengths (and also, oddly enough, a weakness of sorts) is that he was an able interpreter of all kinds of material. This is something that was for decades and essential talent in singers, but in the rock era kind of fell by the wayside.

He took full advantage of this talent over the years, and as as a result, his managed to avoid being pigeonholed, but also (unfortunately) avoided the charts.

‘A Lot of Love’ originally appeared on his 1968 LP ‘The Natch’l Blues’ which included traditional material like ‘The Cuckoo’ and ‘Corinna’ alongside soul material like ‘A Lot of Love’ and William Bell’s ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’.

While the longer, LP version of ‘A Lot of Love’ is excellent, the 45 edit is trimmed nicely to give it a lot more dance floor/jukebox appeal, thus its popularity with the soulies.

Aided by a tight band, including a couple of Leon Russell’s Okie homeboys, Jesse Ed Davis and Chuck Blackwell, Taj kicks up the tempo of the original, and delivers a very groovy vocal.

It’s a tasty bit of late 60s soul, and I dig it a lot.

I hope you do, too.

See you 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, September 6, 2016 11:39 am

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download – Booker T and the MGs- No Matter What Shape MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the middle of the week finds you all well, embracing the post-Labor Day warmth.

Here at the Jersey Shore, I’m enjoying the sudden excess of elbow room, now that the summer invasion is over. It’s a nice feeling to be able to get a cup of coffee, or some groceries without fighting a mob to do it.

This may not men much to those of you outside of tourist traps, but the psychic weight that is lifted off when the tourists finally go home is remarkable.

That said, today’s selection is a perfect soundtrack for that ‘vacation is over but I’m still digging the warmth’ feeling.

You all know that Booker T and the MGs were giants of Memphis soul, and I’m here to remind you that their album tracks were often as groovy as their hit 45s.

Their cover of the T-Bones 1965 hit ‘No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)’ was something of a revelation when I first heard it.

You see, the original, while a very groovy instro (played by the cream of the Wrecking Crew), was based on an Alka Seltzer jingle, and not remotely like anything you’d expect the law firm of Jones, Cropper, Jackson and Dunn to lay into.

Even so, Booker and band were so skillful, locked into such a mighty groove, that they were able to take something so utterly un-soulful, and transform it into a wonderfully groovy thing.

Thanks in large part to Duck Dunn and Al Jackson’s sock soul rhythm section, Booker T’s jazzy organ and a subtly tremeloed guitar by Steve Cropper, ‘No Matter What Shape’ is turned from a sprightly, somewhat monotonous AM radio thang, into a perfect, end of summer, you wanna (but don’t hafta) dance, head nodder of the first order.

Included on the MGs 1966 ‘And Now!’ LP (which also included the two-sided R&B hit single ‘My Sweet Potato’ b/w ‘Booker Loo’), it is one of the highlights of an excellent album (the version of ‘One Mint Julep’ is one of my favorite MGs cuts).

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all 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, August 25, 2016 11:21 am

Alvin Robinson

Listen/Download – Alvin Robinson – Fever MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops as a podcast each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile devuice via the TuneIn app, check it out on Mixcloud or grab an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com.

If you stop by here or the podcast on the reg, you have surely witnessed me raving about the mighty voice of Alvin Robinson.

Robinson, a singer/guitarist from New Orleans, who traveled to NY with Joe Jones, where he met up with Leiber and Stoller.

With Leiber and Stoller at the helm, Robinson made a string of brilliant 45s for the Red Bird, Blue Cat and Tiger labels between 1964 and 1966.

First among these was his original recording of one of L&S’s greatest songs, the mighty ‘Down Home Girl’.

The flipside of that 1964 disc, was his version of the  Davenport/Cooley standard made famous by Little Willie John, ‘Fever’.

Aided by an arrangement by Stoller (with production by both L&S), Robinson lays into the song with a skillful, emotional touch that should have cemented his reputation as one of the great singers of the classic soul era, instead of the footnote he is to most people.

The band is fairly standard, but Stoller drops in vibes accents throughout the tune that add an air of mystery to the proceedings.

Robinson alternates between beautiful subtlety and his trademark growl, making this one of the highlights of his all-too-brief catalog.

Following his time with L&S, Robinson made a few more 45s in New York, before joining the New Orleans exodus to the West Coast (following Harold Battiste, Mac Rebennack, Jesse Hill and King Floyd) where he would make some excellent records for the Pulsar label, and continue working as a studio guitarist into the 70s. He eventually returned to New Orleans, and passed away in 1989, only 51 years old.

He was a mighty singer, and all of his work is highly recommended.

I hope you dig it, 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, August 23, 2016 10:10 am

Ken Boothe

Listen/Download – Ken Boothe – Let’s Get It On MP3

Greetings all.

How’s about a little mid-week soulful reggae?

Ken Boothe, one of the truly great Jamaican voices, from the rock steady era on, has appeared in this space a few times before, with his epic reading of Syl Johnson’s ‘Is It Because I’m Black’ as well as his groovy take on the Royalettes ‘It’s Gonna Take a Miracle’.

Today’s selection is the title track from his 1974 LP ‘Let’s Get It On’ (also home to the aforementioned Syl Johnson cover).

One of the best crossover LPs of the 70s, ‘Let’s Get It On’ features a number of cool covers from the Four Tops (That’s The Way Nature Planned It), Paul McCartney (My Love), Neil Young (Down By the River, oddly credited to Boothe and producer Lloyd Charmers) and as in today’s selection, the mighty Marvin Gaye.

I’ve often proffered that much of the classic Jamaican music of the 60s and 70s is merely soul music with a specific riddem, and there is hardly another singer (all props to Toots Hibbert, natch) that demonstrates that as well as Ken Boothe.

Boothe is a fantastic singer, capable of smooth, loverman style as well as a rougher, Otis Redding-esque rasp, both on prominent display in ‘Let’s Get It On’.

Boothe lays into the lyric with passion, and the song’s already relaxed pace/structure lends itself readily to reggae.

The instrumental backing is basic (though the lead guitar is distinctive without getting in the way), and the backing vocals aid and abet Boothe nicely.

There’s a lot of Boothe’s material available in reissue an in iTunes, but as far as I can tell this album (at least in whole) is not. That said, original copies are not terribly expensive, and start to finish you’d be hard pressed to invest in a better reggae LP.

I hope you dig the track, 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, August 18, 2016 11:46 am

Producer Tony Eyers

Listen/Download – Tony Cody – Walk On By MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops as a podcast each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile devuice via the TuneIn app, check it out on Mixcloud or grab an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com.

I first heard Tony Cody’s ‘version’ of ‘Walk On By’ a while back thanks to the Funk For the People blog, and I was blown away.

First and foremost, because it is undeniably a straight up lift of Isaac Hayes legendary arrangement of the Bacharach/David classic from the 1969 ‘Hot Buttered Soul’ LP.

Cody’s take on the song boils it down to its essence, from Hayes epic 12-minute reading into a much more (45RPM) manageable 4:27.

Who was Tony Cody, and how did this happen?

There’s really not much to say in that regard. Cody is a fairly anonymous figure, with only this record to his credit.

Interestingly enough, the backing track originated on a UK exploit LP called ‘The Hits of Bacharach’, credited to the ‘Singers and Chorus of Manhattan’. That version (which you can hear on Youtube) featured a female singer. The cash-in aspect of the LP makes it easy to understand the copying of the arrangement.

That album was produced by the same guy who produced the Tony Cody single, a cat named Tony Eyers, who had a long history of cranking out similar albums for the UK/Euro market through the 70s, with a couple of more legit projects along the way.

The Cody 45 takes the Hayes arrangement and softens the edges a little bit, but not enough to ruin the overall effect, and Cody’s voice – while not possessed of the depth of Isaac Hayes – gives the record a kind of fuzzed out, lounge vibe.

Oddly enough, this 45 charted in Thailand (and nowhere else) in 1972!

It is groovy, indeed, and I hope you dig it.

See you 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, August 7, 2016 11:51 am

Junior Parker – Taxman (Capitol)
Jackie Wilson – Eleanor Rigby (Brunswick)
Don Randi Trio – Love You To (Reprise)
Gary McFarland – Here There and Everywhere (Skye)
London Jazz 4 – Yellow Submarine (Polydor)
Don Randi Trio – She Said She Said (Reprise)
Linda Divine – Good Day Sunshine (Columbia)
Maceo and All the Kings Men – For No One (Excello)
Don Randi Trio – I Want To Tell You (Reprise)
Chris Clark – Got To Get You Into My Live (Motown)
Junior Parker – Tomorrow Never Knows (Capitol)

Pictured: Jackie Wilson, Junior Parker, Linda Divine and Maceo Parker

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Revolving In Soul 54MB Mixed MP3

NOTE: The always excellent Any Major Dude With Half a Heart blog did a similar (though more stylistically all-encompassing) mix that you should definitely check out. There’s some crossover, but I think you’ll dig both mixes – Larry

Greetings all.

I was puttering around in the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault the other day and some friends brought it to my attention that the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles epic ‘Revolver’ LP – one of the most important and paradigm-shifting albums of the 60s – was upon us.

Naturally, having devoted several mixes to the songs of the Beatles (as covered by soul, funk and jazz artists) I had to see if I could put together a mix of covers that approximated the track listing and running order of the original.

I had to cheat a little bit (what you see here matches the track listing of the US issue of the album, i.e. the one I grew up with, but not the longer/more interesting UK issue, which you see on CD reissues of ‘Revolver’) and the running time is almost the same (with the mix running about two minutes over).

That is due to the fact that there aren’t many covers of material from the UK album that fit inside the (admittedly broad) stylistic brackets I mentioned above. There are a grip of soul/funk covers of songs like Eleanor Rigby, but none at all of ‘I’m Only Sleeping’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ or ‘Doctor Robert’.

That said, I did have bunch of cool things on hand.

The saving grace was Don Randi’s 1966 ‘Revolver Jazz’ LP, contributing no less than three tracks to the mix, the swinging version of ‘Yellow Submarine’ by the London Jazz 4 (good luck finding a version of that song that isn’t meant for kids or played for comedy), and Maceo Parker’s stunning and wholly unexpected version of ‘For No One’.

A couple of the tracks in this mix have appeared here in some form before, but I couldn’t resist the pure novelty and record nerd-ery of recreating Revolver.

So, I hope you dig it, 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 26, 2016 11:23 am

Jimmy Smith: The Master Wrestling With the Monster

Listen/Download – Jimmy Smith – Chain of Fools Pt1 MP3

Greetings all.

I was wandering through the hallways of the windmills of the caverns of my iPod and it occurred to me that we could all stand a dose of some midweek Hammond.

Who better to whup a little B3 on us all that the elevated past master of the organ, the mighty Jimmy Smith.

Smith is an interesting character in the annals of the Hammond – at least as far as organ 45 nuts like me go – because while he is the best known of the instruments proponents from the classic era, and recorded both as a straight ahead jazzer and a soul jazz/funk guy, he hasn’t ever really been my go-to guy for heavy, really greasy organ sides.

This has a lot to do with the fact that while a master musician, Smith was also probably the most mainstream organist of his time, with long associations with both Blue Note and Verve records. He was prolific, and fairly good-selling, so his records pop up a lot more commonly than most of his contemporaries.

He was also consistently an LP artist – thanks to his major label gigs – so he wasn’t dependent on, or laying his best stuff down for, the 45RPM format (as opposed to a guy like Hank Marr who did some of his best stuff on the smaller discs).

That said, he was no slouch, and when he wanted to he could dish out the grits and gravy with the best of them.

One of my fave Smith 45s is his version of the Don Covay (and Aretha Franklin, naturally) classic ‘Chain of Fools’ from his 1968 LP ‘Stay Loose’, on the cover of which he is inexplicably dressed in skydiving gear, and jumping up and down (though his previous album ‘Respect’ had him doing karate poses in a gi, so maybe it was in his contract).

Featuring snappy, in the pocket drums by Grady Tate and some very tasty guitar from a moonlighting Phil Upchurch (the LP was recorded in NYC), as well as a female backing chorus, Smith wails on the tune, managing to (in this first of two-parts) really do the track justice.

As Hammond 45s go, ‘Chain of Fools’ is pretty hot, and I’m sure it got more than a few feet moving when their owners dropped a nickel in the jukebox.

It would also seem that ‘Chain of Fools’ had some success (it charted locally in New York) since it was repressed a bunch of times and even got a European release.

So, if by some strange coincidence this is the first time you’ve heard Smith’s stuff (which I doubt, but bear with me) head out to your nearest used record store, garage sale or flea market and add some more Jimmy Smith to your crates, though a truckload of his Blue Note and Verve titles are available digitally, as well.

So dig it, and I’ll see you all 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.