Curtis Knight – Love-In
Curtis Knight
Listen/Download Curtis Knight – Love-In
Greetings all
I hope the middle of the week finds you all well.
The tune I bring you today is something groovy from the slightly later, post-Jimi period of Curtis Knight’s career.
I was giving some thought to how it must have sucked for Knight to be known only via his intersection with Hendrix, but then I thought about how much energy he expended in attempting to capitalize on that connection, and forgot all about it.
Knight was working in NYC with his band the Squires when Hendrix, who had already taken part in what in retrospect seems like a marathon effort to make cameos in the careers of as many other performers as he could before breaking on his own.
As a live performer, Jimi worked stages alongside Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, the Isley Brothers, Carl Holmes and the Commanders, and in the studio with Lonnie Youngblood, Billy LaMont, Don Covay, King Curtis and many others.
He hooked up with Knight and the Squires when he finally landed in New York City in 1965. He recorded sessions with Knight (some legit, some jams) during ’65 and ’66, until he formed his own band, and was eventually spirited off to the UK by Chas Chandler.
Knight and his facilitators spent a lot of time repackaging pretty much anything he recorded with Hendrix (often deceptively), making a great deal of hay (and not a little money).
This is not to say that Knight was without talent himself. He had played and recorded in a variety of R&B, rock and soul settings through the 50s and 60s.
The tune I bring you today hails from a 1969, UK-only (?!?) 45 he recorded for RCA.
The record is an interesting microcosm of Knight as Hendrix mentor-turned-acolyte (parasite?), with a slightly psyched-out number ‘Fancy Meeting You Here’, complete with heavy guitar and echo appearing on the flipside.
The side of the disc we concern ourselves with today is the funky ‘Love In’.
The arrangement and production is very cool, with lots of wah-wah guitar, some oddly echoed horns, sassy female backing vocals and a great performance by Knight (I really dig the bridge too).
I’d love to know the story behind Knight getting a UK only record deal, though I have seen a few later LPs that seem to have only been released in Europe.
As it is, the vast majority of the records released with Curtis Knight’s name on them, had Jimi Hendrix’s right next to (or on top of, or under) it.
I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll see you on Friday.
Keep the faith
Larry
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!
The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.
They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).
Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.
Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press
Funk, Funky16Corners, Soul, Soul 45
| 
Funk, Funky16Corners, Soul
Themocracy
if, like me, you like Hendrix more when he was on the chitlin’ circuit than the white hippie circuit you’ll love the book “Becoming Jimi Hendrix,” a chronicle of his scuffling days.
I LIKE this one Larry. Almost redeems Curtis for all that cash-in. You know, you might be the one to find a (as porky calls it) ‘chitlin circuit’ Hendrix rarity that I foolishly let go before i realized it when i di the big purge in ’93: The Arabians (titles un known) on an almost peach colored label produced by Jimmy (as I recall) Hendrix. It was a stock 1962 or 64 soul cut ( there was a radio stadio time date on the one I had) that certainly featured what SEEMED like Hendrix’s rather angular rhythm chops… like what he did with the Isley Bros and more like the Covay material. There is also a book called ‘Black Gold’ with detailed info on many other of the unlikely and impossibly rare Hendrix-involved recordings…but I’ve NEVER seen The Arabians 45 wiyth Hendrix’s name on it listed ANYWHERE. So maybe it is the EARLIEST recording he was involved with? 1962 or 64…I’m pretty damn positive about that. Have to be close to the Covay cuts.
@ Duncan Walls….you must be thinking of the Arabians 45 issued on the LeMans label. The producer was James Hendrix….a totally different guy than Jimi.
Thank You Ana-B! I am forever in your debt for relieving me of wondering if I let go an ultimate collectible. When i had that 45 it was pre-internet (or pre-data accumulation as we have it now) and I had no way of confirming or disproving anything! I should have known that between this blog and your own (which i have followed with pleasure for quite a while now) that somone with more knowledge than I would know the answer. I STILL was a nice record with interesting rhythm guitar on it and I stand by my speculation based on pure wonder. Thanks for setting me straight. I love this world!
Both tracks can be found on the “Sugar & Spice”-LP I found twice on fleamarkets in the 90’s here in germany. Couldn’t find any info on the net about this lp but someone mentioned it could be a german-lp only. I always liked the album a lot, contains lots of psychedelic soul and rock numbers like “sugar & spice” and “people minding other people’s business”. Some tracks would rather fit for your “Iron Leg”-blog. Does anybody know the “Chequered”-lp by Chubby Checker where he tries to sound like Jimi?