Garnet Mimms – Prove It To Me
Garnet Mimms
Listen/Download Garnett Mimms – Prove It To Me
Greetings all.
I hope the day finds you all well.
The end of another week is here, and so is your weekly dose of soul power on the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We take to the airwaves of the interwebs this – and every – Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at the time of broadcast you can always fall by the blog and grab the show (or any of the previous 100 episodes) in MP3 form.
Today’s selection is another one of those records I might never have known about had I not had the good fortune to spin beside one of the greats of the game, the mighty Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.
It was last Spring when I was fortunate enough to spin at one of the last Subway Soul nights in New York City that I got to spin the good stuff, sharing the decks with Phreddie, Girlsoul, and my old friend Jumpy, spending a fair amount of time (as is often the case in these situations) lengthening my want list.
There were many cool sounds that were new to my ears, but the one that really grabbed me is the 45 you see before you today.
As soon as the Boog dropped the needle on ‘Prove It To Me’ my ears perked up and I sidled up to the decks to see what the record was.
I have to be honest when I say that for the longest time I pretty much thought the Garnet Mimms story started and finished with the epic ‘Cry Baby’.
Back in ’63, when the mighty Jerry Ragavoy and Bert Berns put pen to paper, and then went into the studio with Mimms, they created one of the great soul ballad records of the classic era.
Today’s selection, ‘Prove It To Me’ – recorded and released in 1966 – was written (again) by Ragavoy (co-written by Edward Marshall who also helped pen Ragovoy’s first chart hit, the Majors ‘A Wonderful Dream’), who also produced and arranged.
It is a stunning, moody slice of Northern soul with a repeating horn line that digs deep into your ears. The record also features a great vocal by Mimms and some just this side of incongruous gut-bucket lead guitar.
Oddly enough – though this may be a testament to what listeners were expecting from Mimms – ‘Prove It To Me’ didn’t make a dent on the charts, but its flip side, the (excellent) slow ballad ‘I’ll Take Good Care Of You’ was a Top 20 R&B hit in the Spring of 1966.
It’s a killer 45, and I hope you dig it as much as I do.
See you on Monday
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
This is so good I wish it was ten time longer! Any chance of hear “I’ll Take Good Care Of You” someday?
I’m including it on the 4/27 edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, so tune in or download when it drops.
My uncle used to play this guy at family barbecues. Had everybody upand dancing, even my miserable aunt no one could stand.
When Garnet came on, all that drama just evaporated. For real. As in, Bye Bye.