Funky16Corners

Len Barry – I Struck It Rich

By Larry, June 28, 2012 3:00 pm

Len Barry

~~Listen/Download Len Barry – I Struck It Rich~~

Greetings all.

The end of another week is here, and so is your weekly dose of soul in the form of 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.

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Also, in other news, my man Eilon Paz, photographer and founder of the Dust and Grooves site is having a show of his vinyl portraiture (he featured yours truly back in the day) at the Tropicalia In Furs store, with an opening event Friday night July 6th from 7-10PM.

There will be photos from his various D&G features, as well as vinyl (natch) DJ sets by my man DJ Prestige and the mighty Supreme La Rock.

You might even see a picture of me!

If time and life allows I’m going to try to make it out to this one. I hope to see you there!

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The tune I bring you today is an old favorite of mine.

Len Barry is a name that should be familiar to soul fans, especially with a focus on the sounds of Philadelphia.

Barry – nee Leonard Borisoff – got his first taste of chart success as a member of the Dovells.

He first hit big in 1965 with the brilliant ‘1-2-3’ in the summer of 1965, which almost hit #1 Pop and grazed the R&B Top 10.

When I describe that record as ‘brilliant’ I’m not kidding. It was written by Barry with John Madara and David White (both Philly mainstays) and sports a stunning arrangement by Jimmy Wisner.

Barry is one of a number of soulful white singers from the Philly/Baltimore axis, including Billy Harner (more on him in a moment), Daryl Hall (then in the Temptones), and Bob Brady (of the Conchords).

Barry’s Decca sides from 1965 and 1966 are excellent and worth seeking out (including his improbably cool version of ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story).

The number I bring you today charted regionally in the Northeast in the summer of 1966 (almost exactly a year after ‘1-2-3’).

The first time I heard ‘I Struck It Rich’ it was via the version by the aforementioned Billy Harner.

Harner, a Philly-area native (south Jersey actually) recorded a grip of fantastic records in the 60s for a variety of local and nationally distributed labels. His version of ‘I Struck It Rich’ takes a slightly rougher tack that Barry’s, and a for a while it was my favored version of the two.

However, as the years went on, and I got deeper into the stylish sounds of Northern Soul, Len Barry’s improved greatly in my eyes (and ears, of course).

Co-written by Barry with the mighty Gamble and Huff (and arranged again, by Wisner) ‘I Struck It Rich’ is up there with the best of Philly soul.

As a vocalist, Barry is much closer to the Smokey Robinson mold (not as close as Bob Brady…) than Harner, a rougher singer with a deeper register.

That all said, I’d be happy spinning either version for dancers.

I hope you dig the tune and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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