The Eyes of Blue – Heart Trouble
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.
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 for some interesting late 60s pop.
Cover Songs, DJ Gigs, Equal Opportunity Soul, Funky16Corners, Funky16Corners@Viva Internet Radio, Northern Soul, Soul, Soul 45
| 
Funky16Corners, Northern Soul, Soul
Themocracy
Cool label, I’ve never seen the orange U.S. Deram label with the black half circle before. All of the U.S. Deram releases I’ve seen were the brown and white or the orange sunburst with “Deram ” in bold black lettering! The Eyes of Blue probably copped this tune from one of the DJ’s at the famous Twisted Wheel where they gigged often, like Amen Corner, The move etc it’s always great to see/hear U.K. 60’s acts who went beyond the obvious Motown covers for material and I concur this is way better than the original (though shorter by one verse for some reason).
I suppose the label differences are pressing plant related. I’ve seen three different US variations on this one, as well as the brown and white and blue and white UK issues. Pretty big list for an obscure record, though I posted a NJ funk 45 earlier this week that had three different pressings, so who knows.
Hi Larry, That’s a great 45.. I’ve been into the UK 60’s scene for years and not heard this one. UK bands were always chasing down obscure US soul and RnB tracks to cover.. David Godin, who started the UK Motwon label, ran a record shop in London called Soul City which used to sell mostly US imports and was probably a source for a lot of the bands and dj’s at the time.
Dave
I couldn’t agree more – the Eyes of Blue version is superior to the also great Parliament version.
promo label, with 66-72 ‘grapefruit’ configuration of US London parent company