Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band – (I Gotta) Hold On To My Love
Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band
Listen/Download – Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band – (I Gotta) Hold On To My Love
Greetings all.
I never thought I’d say this, but thank heavens for Mondays.
I come to you having weathered a truly weird weekend. Yours truly and all the local Corners are groovy like gravy, but we have intersected with some odd shit this past weekend. There is definitely something to be said for having the dark hand of misfortune brush past you instead of crushing you like a walnut (for a change), but it still carries with it the stink of dread, and naturally sympathy for those who have not been spared.
That said, I am most definitely in the mood for some upbeat, forward moving, nay storming soul sounds.
The record I bring you today was one of several I adopted from the archive of my man Mr Luther, my guide for all things Mod who just happened to be paring down his crates, while I happened to be (perpetually) stuffing mine.
Naturally, I did the only correct thing, and gave some of those hard earned records a good home where they would be surrounded by others of their ilk (and quality), spun for good folks like you, and of course blog-i-mo-fied, like this.
I’ve known the name Geno Washington for a long, long time.
He was the most prominent example of US ex pat-GIs, who went overseas and found themselves part of the music scene across the pond.
Some – most – of these cats did their thing as patrons of the R&B scenes in the UK and on the mainland, but some, like Mr Washington stepped into the picture and made their own sounds. Washington and the Ram Jam Band had two huge hit LPs in the UK, which both happened to be live albums (both composed almost entirely of covers).
As I mentioned, I knew his name, which appeared frequently in histories of the UK scene, where he was namechecked by many of his contemporaries, however, I never heard a note of his music until I pulled some green from my pocket and traded it for the 45 you see pictured above.
This was done solely on the recommendation of Mr Luther – who has never steered me wrong in matters musical- who said, though the A-side had caught my eye (a nice cover of the C.O.D.’s ‘Michael (the Lover)’, which was a hit in the UK in 1967), I needed to hear the flip.
Good call sir, since – as I was forewarned – ‘(I Gotta) Hold On To My Love’, a soul banger by any means, also happens to sport a chorus which includes a tip of the hat to one of my fave soul records, Chris Clark’s ‘Love’s Gone Bad’, not to mention the Lord Buckley quote (which was also the title of their second album) ‘Hipsters, Flipsters and Finger-Poppin’ Daddies!’
The reference is fairly subtle, and kind of sneaks up on you, but eventually reveals itself in the horn and guitar lines leading up to the title lyric. It is by no mean overpowering, and the song as a whole goes its own way, but it makes an already groovy record a little bit better, and honestly, how can that be a bad thing?
It most certainly is not.
So take a moment to pass this one onto the MP3 delivery device, sneak away from your desk and cut a rug in one of the conference rooms.
See you on Wednesday.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
because i wasn`t here for days , right now got caught by some nice disorientation ,visting your site : i was checking the same band yesterday ,looking for “some upbeat” – stumbling over some clips from 1967.
can’t remember many silver-shoe’d band line ups 😉
https://soul.blogger.de/stories/1728376/
Glad you gave it a good home AND enjoyed it! It’s always been my fave by Geno Washington. THe LP version is fairly amusing with some ad-libbed “beat poetry” by Geno after the music ends.
I know Dexys Midnight Runners are regarded as a one-hit wonder in the US, but you may like this video of their UK “Geno” – I’m sure you can guess who it was about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnoUlZnwYy4
Love your site by the way – and re a post of yours from a few months back, I’m glad you have bits of ska/reggae from time to time too.
Wow – that is a great song!
can anyone provide a primer on how to distinguish the two “Genos?” I’m told that “Gino” was the real deal (and a Coward!) and “Geno” was a doppelganger.
Two different guys. Gino (who sang “Gino Is a Coward”) was a Detroit R&B/soul singer. Geno was the ex-GI who came to prominence in the UK.
I was wondering about the gino/geno thing as well. Embarrassed to admit I didn’t they were two different guys. Geno’s live album is truly an insane wonderful party on a record, it’s got a live crowd stamping their feet and clapping their hands. I think it’s called “foot stomping soul” or at least the re-issue cd is… as far as Gino goes, this track is one of my all time faves – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7jK6lgqdrU
Thats some hot stuff right there.
All respect to the Detroit Gino, but those of us from the UK, Geno is the man, (if not for more sentimental reasons than quality!) W.