Richard ‘Popcorn’ Wylie – Funky Rubber Band
Popcorn Wylie blasts off in his leisure suit…
Listen/Download – Richard ‘Popcorn’ Wylie – Funky Rubber Band
Greetings all.
The middle of the week is upon us, and in response to the cold, gray skies, falling leaves and various and sundry major and minor irritants, I come to you with something upbeat and funky so that we may all be warmed (at least spiritually) and forward motion may be maintained.
Before we get started, some news, that being that all of the mix archives have been updated, with 14 mixes in the Soul Club, 28 episodes of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, another 14 in the Guest Mix Archive (haven’t done one of those in a while), and 96 mixes in the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast Archive. That’s 152 mixes stacked neatly awaiting delivery to the pleasure centers of your fevered brains.
If you haven’t heard them all, and you need something to do…
Today’s selection is another entry in a relatively small, yet not insignificant dance craze movement, centered around the lowly rubber band.
Naturally, the assumption here is that the rubber band in question is not the object, but rather a dance named after it.
Over the years, I have found ‘Rubber Band’ 45s by the mighty Eddie Bo (under his own name with the Soul Finders and under the rubric of Curley Moore and the Kool Ones), the mighty Meters and Atlanta DJ Alley Pat.
I’m sure there must be some others that I have yet to hear and/or excavate, but they currently escape me.
The record I bring you today is 1971’s ‘Funky Rubber Band’ by the legendary Richard ‘Popcorn’ Wylie.
Wylie, a Detroit pianist, singer and arranger was an important part of the early years of Motown as a recording artist (with Popcorn and the Mohawks), arranger and pianist and leader for a time of the Motortown Review.
Though his own discography is fairly short for a cat who worked all through the 60s and 70s, the more you dig, the more you discover he was a very busy man.
He left Motown in the early 60s, recording a number of 45s under his own name for Epic, and working as a producer/arranger for artists like Edwin Starr and JJ Barnes on labels like Ric-Tic and Golden World.
He also founded the short-lived, but legendary Soul Hawk label, where he recorded Jimmy Soul Clark, the New Holidays (who Wylie also produced for Westbound), Eric and the Vikings and the Mighty Lovers among others.
Among his freelance work were recordings with the Fabulous Counts (producing the classic ‘Jan Jan’), Jerry-O (he co-wrote ‘Funky Football’), Jamo Thomas (he co-wrote ‘I Spy (For the FBI)’) and co-writing the Northern Soul classic ‘With This Ring’ for the Platters.
Following his last Epic 45 in 1964, he only recorded sporadically under his own name through the 60s, laying down 45s for the Karen and Carla labels in 1968, and then ‘Funky Rubber Band’ for Motown’s SOUL subsidiary in 1971.
‘Funky Rubber Band’ without any question delivers on the ‘funky’ part of the title, as well as the classic ‘dance craze’ framework in that the lyrics are composed largely of dance step instructions. You also get funky guitar, Wylie’s own clavinet, hard hitting drums and a tight horn section.
It’s a very solid – and affordable – funk 45.
Wylie had a revival of sorts in the 80s and 90s when he discovered his popularity with the Northern Soul crowd in the UK.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Friday with something groovy.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
Speaking of Popcorn found this alarmingly funky number from Dub Overlord Lee Perry a couple of months back…
I had no idea Wylie was involved with Soul Hawk, or for that matter all those recordings…thanks for the info.
@Mondo, I own an awful lot of Lee Perry by I never heard that before. Sounds like a Meters Lp played at 45.