Comments (1)

By Larry, October 25, 2012 12:14 pm

Chris Farlowe

Listen/Download Chris Farlowe – We’re Doing Fine

Greetings all

The end of another week has finally arrived, and I have some very groovy mod soul lined up for you today.

But first, I simply must remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. As always, if you are unable to join us at the time of broadcast, you can pick up the shows by subscribing as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 download right here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very recent acquisition, that came as a very nice surprise.

I have known (some of) the music of Chris Farlowe since back in the mod/garage days of yore (three decades past).

The biggie – the one that got this album released here in the States – was his 1966 cover of the Rolling Stones ‘Out of Time’. Farlowe’s version was – at least in my opinion – far superior to the original, and, thanks to the fact that a lot of folks in the UK agreed, it was a Number One hit in that country in June of 1966.

Along with his band the Thunderbirds (which when he recorded ‘Paint It Farlowe’ included both Albert Lee and Carl Palmer) Farlowe started out recording blues, R&B and soul in the early 60s as part of the Mod scene.

Farlowe would eventually be signed to the Immediate label, where he would record at least two albums and a grip of singles, a half dozen of which would hit the UK charts in 1966 and 1967.

The ‘Paint It Farlowe’ LP – released in the UK, with additional tracks as ‘The Art of Chris Farlowe’ – was produced by no less a light than Mick Jagger.

The album was packed with interesting material, including a number of covers of Rolling Stones, Small Faces and Twice as Much tunes, as well as some very cool soul material.

Farlowe had an unusual voice, especially in the far reaches of his range, which was perfectly suited for rough edged R&B material.

‘Paint It Farlowe’ includes his versions of tunes by American artists like the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Garnet Mimms and with the tune I bring you today, Dee Dee Warwick.

The younger sister of Dionne, Dee Dee had a respectable chart career between 1965 and 1971, for labels like Blue Rock, Mercury and Atco.

‘We’re Doing Fine’, written and arranged by Horace Ott, was her first hit, making it into the R&B Top 30 (and the Pop Top 100) in August of 1965.

Farlowe would record his version of the song a year later, and acquits himself quite nicely indeed.

He takes a slightly more aggressive tack with the tune – almost to a Northern-style tempo – and the end result is up there with the finest covers of US soul material by white UK singers.

Farlowe would go on to sing lead with both Colisseum and Atomic Rooster during the 70s, and is still in fine voice today.

I hope you dig the tune, 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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 13, 2012 11:47 am

Grootna, juxtaposed with the jacket of their sole LP

Listen/Download Grootna – I’m Funky

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us, and so I thought I would whip something a little different on you all.

But first a message from our sponsor….that being a reminder that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday evening at 9PM on Viva Radio. As always, we endeavor to bring you the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from vinyl. If you cannot join me at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in the iTunes store, or fall by this very blog to grab an MP3.

That said, it was a while back, whilst out a-digging, that I happened upon a 45 by a group that while jammed securely in my consciousness since childhood, I had never heard before.

That band, Grootna was familiar to me via their many appearances on psychedelic-era San Francisco concert posters, so much so that (thanks to the hypnotic power of one particular poster) it is almost impossible for me to think of their name without also appending that of another down-bill band – Stoneground – to it.

The 45 I found – ‘Full Time Woman’ – was the very first actual Grootna record I had ever seen in person, and while interesting, is not in any way Funky16Corners material.

That said, all roads lead to Rome (or at least to funk).

While I was a-Google-ating in search of Grootna info, I happened upon a Harmless collection entitled ‘Kaleidoscopic Funk’, in which the compilers brought together a wide range of funky rock, trippy funk and all points in between by artists like Sly and the Family Stone, Rotary Connection, Ruth Copeland, Larry Williams and Johnny Guitar Watson, and – as it turns out – Grootna.

I had never heard the song ‘I’m Funky’, so I Youtubed it, dug it a lot, and set out in search of my own copy.

As it turns out, the album on which the song appeared (self-titled, natch) which was produced by none other than Marty Balin (of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship/Roachclip) is fairly hard to come by and expensive, so I dug a little but more and found a vinyl copy of the song in a much more economical package.

This is the part of the post where we take a little detour and extoll the virtues of ‘loss leader” records.

Though I figure a lot of you are too young to remember, back in the olden days, when I was a kid, you would often open up a major label album and the inner sleeve would contain an ad (or two) for what were known as “loss leaders” i.e. cheap compilations intended to draw the consumer in to the deep recesses of a label’s catalog. They would do this by including a couple of familiar tracks by the bigger names on the roster, maybe an interesting rarity or two, and then a huge heap of stuff by new artists, back-benchers and old timers hanging on for dear life.

The hope was, that you would get this home (they were often very inexpensive considering that they were two or three album sets) dig something unfamiliar and then rush out and buy something by one or more of the artists at full price.

While I don’t recall actually buying any of these comps back in the day, I have spent the last 20 years picking them up wherever I see them because in addition to all of the crud, they often contain hidden gems.

‘The Music People’ is one such collection, which – as it turns out – also contains the song I bring you today, ‘I’m Funky’.

A fantastic example of stoned out, tie-dyed, hippie funk, ‘I’m Funky’ is especially groovy, with the flanged guitar, piano, drums and (slightly fuzzed out) bass and a fine vocal by Anna Rizzo.

Grootna released their sole album in 1971 and broke up a year later.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 9, 2012 2:06 pm

Listen/Download The Intentions – Don’t Forget That I Love You

Greetings all

The record I bring you today has been chilling in my crates for a long, long time.

This is for a variety of reasons, the first of which being that when I bought it all those many years ago, it was for the organ instro on the flip side.

Back in the day, I used to see a record dealer named Dennis at all of the bigger record shows. I met him through my buddy Haim, and bought many records from him both in person and on eBay.

At some point, Haim informed me that Dennis had recorded a 45 in the 60s with a group called the Intentions, which happened to have an organ instrumental on it. I was in the depths of my organ 45 mania, so I sought it ought, found it cheap and grabbed myself a copy.

I gave it a listen, recorded it onto a mix CD, and that – as they say – was that.

I mentioned the instrumental to Dennis at some point and I remember him making a sour face and dismissing it.

Years later, Dennis put up a web site (now defunct) with a page devoted to the Intentions, and the other (much more interesting and important) side of that particular record, and my mind was blown.

I don’t recall if I flipped the 45 over and played ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’ when I bought it, but I suspect that if I did I probably wouldn’t have been into it.

Back then my taste in soul 45s was restricted to gritty, floor-pounding ravers, and the very idea of sweet soul (with falsettos no less) was not anywhere near my wheelhouse.

Now, fifteen some years down the line, my tastes have matured considerably, and I often find myself lost inside of soul harmony 45s.

What I discovered when I finally dug into ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’ was a superbly performed and recorded soul record.

This has a lot to do with not only the voices of the Intentions, but also the fact that the record was recorded in Philadelphia under the aegis of the House of Harthon (arranged by the mighty Luther Randolph), and written by none other that Jesse James!

I do not recall how the Intentions found their way to Philly from the Harrisburg area (though that trip had already been made by the Emperors), but that area of the state had a rich soul tradition (with the Magnificent Men and the Soulville label).

The Intentions recorded that one 45, and once again, that, was that.

Fortunately when the folks in charge of the Harthon catalog re-did the ‘Groovin’ at the Go Go’ comp for the digital age, they expanded the track list, and ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’, as fine an example of that label’s sound as any, is now part of the package. You can get it in MP3 form via iTunes, or on CD at Dusty Groove).

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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 8, 2012 12:42 pm

The Pieces of Eight

Listen/Download The Pieces of Eight – Come Back Girl

Greetings all.

Welcome to another hot, sweaty summer week at Funky16Corners.

The song I bringh you today was one of those happy discoveries that come upon you when you take the time to flip over a 45.

Many years ago, someone (I forget who now) hepped me to a groovy version of the Jimmy Smith instro ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf’ by a group called the Pieces of Eight.

Though I was led to believe that this was a white, southern band (much like the Bad Boys), I knew little else about them.

A few years after that, while out in the field digging I happened upon another Pieces of Eight 45 (TNT) and grabbed it.

That 45 sat in a box of records for a few more years, until one day, while engaged in one of my periodic re-digging sessions – in which I sift through my own crates in search of things I missed the first time around – that I was lucky enough to drop the needle on the tune you see before you today, ‘Come Back Girl’.

As fine a piece of equal opportunity soul as I have ever heard (it even grabbed the ears of the mighty Mr Finewine when I spun it one night at Botanica in NYC) ‘Come Back Girl’ is another window into the wonders of the ‘Beach Music’ scene.

Though I have only skirted its frontiers while digging for information, the Beach Music scene, based mainly out of the Southeast (Carolinas and Georgia) has, like Northern Soul in the UK, a largely white fan base.

Unlike Northern Soul, Beach Music had, and still has a tradition of homegrown show bands that toured (and recorded) all over the South, many of them also, largely white.

That said, the scene is built on R&B and soul, much of that, recorded and performed by black artists, many of whom were backed by the white bands as they toured in the South.

The Pieces of Eight were formed in the mid-sixties when two members of the Swinging Medallions split off on their own and joined up with a band called the Tassels. The new band had a hit in several national markets with the tune ‘The Lonely Drifter’ (also recorded by the O’Jays) and released a few 45s on regional labels that were later picked up by A&M and Mala for national distribution.

Written by the group’s guitarist Carlie Barbour, ‘Come Back Girl’ is a perfect example of the kind of shuffle so common on Beach Music dance floors, combined with an uptempo, sweet soul feel.

Though it gets said over and over again about countless, obscure records, ‘Come Back Girl’ really should have been a hit.

Unfortunately, outside of a few regional Top 40 appearances toward the end of the summer of 1967 in Alabama and North Carolina, the record didn’t make a dent.

That’s too bad, because it’s a killer.

As Pieces of Eight 45s go, it’s not the most expensive, but seems to run north of $25 or $30 bucks when it turns up.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll 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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 1, 2012 10:57 am

Linda Lyndell

Listen/Download Linda Lyndell – What a Man

Greetings all.

Welcome to a sweltering new week here at Funky16Corners.

The track I bring to you this fine day is one you certainly know, even if you don’t know it.

Bear with me…

There are a number of 45s in my crates that I carry with me not only because they are fine records in and of themselves (as is this one) but rather because they carry with them the power of surprise.

Few things are more fun for me as a DJ than whipping something onto the turntables and having a whole dance floor full of people perk up there ears because they recognize something that is at once familiar (the song that sampled it) and strange (and the song from which it was sampled).

That portion of the box is reserved for cuts like Jimmy Bo Horne’s ‘Let Me Be Your Lover’ (the Stereo MCs ‘Connected’) and Just Brothers ‘Sliced Tomatoes’ (Fatboy Slim’s ‘Rockafella Skank).

Occasionally you get the angry crank or two who is incensed that you’re not playing the more popular/modern record, but mostly people get a kick out of it.

When I drop Linda Lyndell’s ‘What a Man’, most people’s ears start to hear Salt’n’Pepa’s 1994 hit ‘Whatta Man’.

Though Salt’n’Pepa bring the drums a little heavier, the Linda Lyndell OG is undeniably sexier.

The song is funky – yet not quite funk – with the guitar, bass and electric piano winding around each other. Lyndell’s vocal is outstanding, and the backing vocals have just a touch of gospel in them.

‘What a Man’ made it all the way to #50 R&B in August of 1968.

The rest of Lyndell’s story, though short, is extremely interesting.

Growing up in Florida, singing gospel in both white and black churches, Lindell was brought to the attention of Isaac Hayes and David Porter at Stax by DJ Dave Crawford (who wrote this song).

Despite the production credit going to Crawford, ‘What a Man’ was recorded in Memphis, a fact underlined by those undeniable Memphis horns.

Lydell recorded two 45s for Volt, then, beset by threats from both whites (including the KKK) and blacks upset about her place as a white singer of black music, she left the music business and went on with her life, not singing professionally again until 2003 at the opening of the Stax Museum in Memphis. It was there that she performed ‘What a Man’ live for the very first time.

I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (8)

By Larry, May 22, 2011 3:16 pm

Bobby Doyle from the cover of ‘The Bobby Doyle Introductory Offer’ (above)
The Bobby Doyle Three, with Kenny Rogers at left (below)

Listen/Download – Bobby Doyle – River Deep Mountain High

Greetings all.

Before we get rolling, I’ll remind you that I’m going to be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica, alongside the host with the most Perry Lane this Monday, 5/23 starting at 10PM. This time out I’ll be taking a short break from the funk and soul and returning to the garage punk, beat, freakbeat and frat rock of my youth, so if you dig yourself some fuzz, some caveman drums and teen hollering, fall by and soak up the sounds.

Speaking of sounds, how about some cool ones.

If you come by Funky16Corners, and have read the words I spill several times a week, you’ll know that I am nothing if not enthusiastic, and that I’m constantly in search of groovy stuff that I haven’t heard before.

This particular story begins a while back when, in a decidedly non-musical moment of repose, I was chilling, watching a documentary about the life and work of Hugh Hefner. It was during this film that I had another one of those cool, unexpected epiphanies.

They got to the dot on the timeline in the late 60s where the TV series ‘Playboy After Dark’ took to the airwaves, and during a retrospective thereof, they ran a clip of a dude that I’d neither seen nor heard before, dropping a very soulful version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In the Wind’. That cat was  Bobby Doyle.

The name rang only the tiniest of bells, so I ran to the interwebs and started looking for information.

There wasn’t a lot out there, but what I did find was very interesting.

Doyle, who just happened to be blind, never really broke through on a national level, yet was something of a Texas institution.

He was born in 1940 in Houston, eventually moving to Austin to study at a school for the blind.

He began his recording career waxing rock’n’roll for the mighty Back Beat label, eventually making 45s for a variety of local labels as a solo, until forming the Bobby Doyle Three.

As it turns out, I had heard of Doyle before, and it was via the bass player in the Bobby Doyle Three, a youngster by the name of Kenny Rogers (yes, THAT Kenny Rogers). Rogers played bass and sang backup in Doyle’s group from the late 50s until 1965*, when he left, eventually moving on the First Edition and then huge success as a pop/country singer.

The Bobby Doyle Trio toured the country playing their mix of jazz and pop in a variety of venues, including several Playboy Clubs, which seems to be how he eventually got booked on Playboy After Dark.

By the late 60s, Doyle had relocated to Los Angeles, where he made albums for the Warner Brothers and Bell labels while working with producer Mike Post.

The tune I bring you today, Doyle’s funky take on ‘River Deep Mountain High’ was the non-LP B-side of his version of ‘Blowin’ In the Wind’ and seems to date from around 1968.

Doyle was a fantastic singer, with a soulful tenor voice that managed to hit gospel heights while still maintaining a level of restraint, something that made him an unusual commodity, especially in the late 60s.

Interestingly, his obit mentions Doyle having done session work for Phil Spector around this period, though I haven’t been able to connect that with Doyle’s recording of this song.

Doyle’s take on ‘River Deep…’ is one of the best versions I’ve heard, with a tight arrangement, featuring his voice and piano, horns and backing singers. It manages to be funky in that generalized, Leon Russell, soul/rock/gospel way without ever going over the top (unusual, especially in relation to this particular song, which seemed to inspire excess).

Though he did appear on TV and release albums for WB and Bell**, Doyle never really connected on a national level, coming close in the early 70s when he was for a short time David Clayton Thomas’s replacement in Blood Sweat and Tears.

Unfortunately Doyle didn’t gel with the group (which appears to have been going through a number of personnel changes at the time) and only appears on piano and vocals on a few songs on the 1972 ‘New Blood’ LP.

Bobby Doyle was probably doomed to obscurity by the fact that even in a time when people were stepping over genre boundaries on the reg, he was too hard to pin down. He was possessed of a genuinely soulful voice, but slipped effortlessly between rock, jazz and soul (which in another time would have been an asset) but perhaps his freak flag wasn’t flying high enough to get noticed.

Doyle went on to work steadily, performing in lounges in Las Vegas, and a variety of venues back in his native Texas, before he passed away at the age of 66 in 2006.

Bobby Doyle is a supreme testament to the fact that sometimes even prodigious talent is no guarantee of fame and fortune. It’s not hard to imagine that there are many such undiscovered/forgotten gems out there, which is the main reason I keep digging.

As far as I can tell very little of Doyle’s work (aside from a few Bobby Doyle Three tracks on a Kenny Rogers box set and some early stuff on rockabilly comps) remains in print. His WB and Bell albums can be picked up fairly inexpensively, as can his 45s from the same period***.

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

Peace

Larry

*Some of the group’s records were produced by Kenny’s brother Lelan, who would also produce the 13th Floor Elevators and a wide variety of soul and funk artists for the House of the Fox, Silver Fox and Blue Fox labels.

** Doyle also has a song (‘The Girl Done Got It Together’) on the soundtrack to the cult film ‘Vanishing Point’

***His early 45s and the Bobby Doyle Three album are much more collectible.

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, April 24, 2011 6:12 pm

Wayne Cochran

Listen/Download – Wayne Cochran – Hootchie Cootchie Man

Greetings all.

As I have been/am on vacation, this post is being prepared well in advance of publication, all pending and timely issues to be addressed upon my return.

I have gone on at length in this space, several times about my deep and abiding love for the sounds of the mighty Wayne Cochran.

As far as crazed, insanely be-conked white soul guys go, there was no one deeper in the game than brother Wayne.

He recorded rock, R&B, blazing soul and funk, all with his big, cornbread fuelled frame jammed into sparkling, skin tight togs, all placed carefully under what can only be described as the craziest haircut in the history of the tonsorial arts.

It’s like an atomic cotton candy process, as if Mr Softee had gotten himself a head full of Dixie Peach, Aqua-Net and gym-floor shellac, and then let all of his ice cream melt while he drove the truck at high speed listening to nothing but heat-distressed James Brown and Otis Redding tapes.

The tune I bring you today is his cover of the Willie Dixon standard ‘Hootchie Cootchie Man.

Therein you get to hear WC rip through the litany of hoodoo talismans, until, filled with the spirit, he declares that he is going to ‘Hootchie your Cootchie’, which on the surface doesn’t sound at all like an idle threat, and while the common 21st century usage may not have been in effect, I suspect it meant the same thing anyway, since we’re talking about Wayne Cochran.

Released in 1967, wedged in between very hot 45s by Laura Lee and Lonnie Brooks, Wayne’s version stands up proudly alongside all soulful interpretations thereof, as well as floating near the top of his own discography.

I dig it, and I suspect you will as well.

I’ll be back on Wednesday to regale you with tales of my time on the road.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, April 10, 2011 12:54 pm

Medley and Hatfield hail a cab!

Listen/Download – Righteous Brothers – Harlem Shuffle

Greetings all.

How’s by you? Groovy, I hope.

This post sees the beginning of a very busy month for me and my record box, with another appearance at Spindletop @ Botanica Monday night 4/11, which I suspect will be a gritty, mostly 60s funk bag. Things get rolling at 10PM, so drop by if you’re in the neighborhood.

This will be followed on Saturday 4/16 by my first appearance at the storied Subway Soul Club. I’ll be digging deeply into my Northern crates for this one, and I have a whole stack of recent acquisitions as well as many storming old faves that I assure you – if you are in a terpsichorean mode – will get you out of your seats and onto the floor. Since I’ll be spinning alongside Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Connie T Empress I can say without hesitation that you will be in for a night of the finest dance floor soul available on 45RPM discs. You do not want to miss it.

Assuming I survive the week, the Funky16Corners fam will be hitting the road for a little rest and relaxation, which will be capped off by two nights in northwestern Massachusetts, with stops on Friday 4/22 in Greenfield (Sweet Exorcist @ The People’s Pint)  and Saturday 4/23 in Northampton (Wooly Bully @ The Basement) . I’ll post more details as the week moves on.

The tune I bring you today comes to you courtesy of my own curiosity.

While I would say that it’s safe to assume that my record jones is by and large a 45 thing, one of my favorite things to do is grab albums and plumb their depths to see what might be hidden in the grooves. Sometime last year I was out (I can’t remember exactly where) and I happened upon the Righteous Brothers 1967 LP ‘Sayin’ Somethin’.

I would not describe myself as a big fan of the duo, at least not of their biggest hits (some of which hail from the Wall of Sound). I would say that I dig both Bill Medley’s thundering baritone, and to a lesser extent Bobby Hatfield’s soaring tenor (occasionally falsetto).

When I found the LP in question, and noticed that it contained a variety of interesting cover songs, I tossed it in the ‘keeper’ stack and took it home.

When I got back to the crib and dropped the needle a few times, the track that really hit me was (not coincidentally) today’s selection, the Brothers’ cover of Bob and Earl’s classic ‘Harlem Shuffle’.

What grabbed me was the fact that Medley and Hatfield crank down the tempo a few steps, giving the song a menacing, vaguely sexy feel.

The arrangement, by Bill Baker makes excellent use of the brass section (the trombones are tearing it up), and I dig the throbbing bass guitar in the background.

While I don’t see many people getting up and dancing to this one, it really is a groovy twist on a classic, and it sounds great on the old headphones.

I hope you dig it, and that I’ll see some of you good folks down at Botanica.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, March 10, 2011 11:12 am

The Eyes of Blue

Listen/Download – The Eyes of Blue

Greetings all.

The end of a very long week is here, and despite pounding out more than my quota of words and such, I’m still ready and raring to go.

But first this update from the Funky16Corners newsroom…

This Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns once again to Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all brought to you with the hot wax squeezed through the digital meat grinder and transplanted onto the throbbing airwaves of the interwebs. This week we have more of the groovy gravy you have come to know and love, including some cool new arrivals.

As always, if you are otherwise occupied during our normal time slot, you can always fall by the blog over the weekend to collect your very own MP3 copy of this week’s show that you may insert onto the pod-like thingy of your choice.

Oh, and this…

I mentioned that I’m all fired up, and the record I bring you today is the reason why.

I can say with some certainty that the Eyes of Blue version of ‘Heart Trouble’ made its way into my ears some time during the mighty mod days of the mid-80s, courtesy of the tape-making mania of my man Mr Luther. From that moment it was lodged in my brain like the thorn in the foot of Androcles lion, nagging at me for decades until the day when a copy this very 45 and yours truly finally intersected.

I had copies of the song on tape, and then CD, but as any DJ worth their wax will tell you, when a record really knocks you out, until you have a copy in your box to whip on the groovers (which I will be doing when I return to Spindletop on 3/21), nothing else matters.

As I said, the song blew my mind but got even better when I found out that the song in question had originally been recorded by the Parliaments.

In fact, the Parliaments version is the rarest of their 45s, pulling in a few hundred smackers when it shows up.

The original version by Mr. Clinton and his pals was released on Detroit’s storied Golden World imprint in 1966. Written by George Clinton and Sidney Barnes, the original version (which can be heard here) is not only one of the group’s finest songs, but a certified Motor City soul classic. The lyrics would resurface years later in the Funkadelic song “You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure”.

That said, the Parliaments never got its due, and remains as obscure as it is good.

Which begs the question where did the Eyes of Blue, the pride of Neath, Wales get their hands on it?

While Northern Soul hadn’t really happened yet, there was certainly a soul scene in the UK, and it seems entirely possible that the Eyes of Blue heard the song in any number of clubs, or even played on the radio.

Ultimately, what matters is that they not only met the Parliaments on their own musical turf, and I would go as far as to say bested them when they waxed the tune for Deram in 1967*.

How do I arrive at this somewhat controversial conclusion?

Well, there are a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that the Eyes of Blue (ironic name for what might be termed blue-eyed soul, a subgenre we will henceforth refer to as – in the words of reader George Macklin – “equal opportunity soul”) version of ‘Heart Trouble’ is without any question one of the two or three finest mod soul covers ever recorded, up there alongside numbers like the Action’s epic version of the Radiants ‘Baby You’ve Got It’ and the Artwoods take on Solomon Burke’s ‘Keep Looking’.

It has a sonic power that the original lacks, and a fantastic vocal by Gary Pickford Hopkins sounding like a rougher-edged Paul Jones.

The Eyes of Blue version record is every bit as danceable as the Parliaments and then some.

Where the original has a more complex vocal mix – with female backing singers and a powerful male bass vocal – as well as strings (a role taken in the Eyes of Blue version by piano), the cover builds its power in an entirely different way. The beat is constructed on powerful snare drum hits, which are the mimicked by the tambourine, piano chords and pumping bass guitar.

Whenever you run into a cover of a soul tune by a white band, there are always perceived issues of authenticity, with ‘perceived’ being the operative term.

Our friends in the UK had a serious jones for US soul and R&B, and there were tons of such covers recorded with widely varying levels of success. When I tell you that I first fell in love with the song ‘Our Love Is In the Pocket’ when I heard the version by Amen Corner, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you while it’s groovy in its own way it doesn’t really stack up favorably with the versions by Darrell Banks or JJ Barnes and the same could be said for the Alan Bown Set’s cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘Headline News’.

However, every once in a while you get the perfect pairing of band and song that manages to transcend a soul original, and this is one of those times.

Oddly, the Eyes of Blue, which got its start as an R&B/soul band, recorded one more 45 for Deram, the excellent ‘Supermarket Full of Cans’ before signing with Mercury and morphing into a much heavier, prog/psych concern, with members of the band ending up in groups like Man, Gentle Giant and Wild Turkey.

I hope you dig this one as much as I do, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*What you see before you is a US issue of the 45. Go to this 2004 article in the Funky16Corners web zine for a gander at the UK pressing.

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.