The Vibrations – Expressway To Your Heart
The Vibrating Vibrations!
Listen/Download The Vibrations – Expressway To Your Heart
Greetings all
The end of the week is finally here, and so then must be the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which magically appears on Viva Radio every Friday night at 9PM. If you have other plans at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or drop by the blog to pick yourself up an MP3.
The tune I bring you today is one of those familiar song/unfamiliar source deals I like to whip on y’all every now and again.
This is another example of a record that I swept up almost indiscriminately back in the early days of my Philly obsession. Drawn in by the (Gamble/Huff) Neptune label and the familiar name of the Vibrations, I grabbed this 45, and while I can’t say that my memory is 100% reliable in this instance, it is likely that I thought that what I was getting was the “original” version of the song that was a huge hit for the Soul Survivors.
I was (of course) incorrect…
That tune, ‘Expressway To Your Heart’ was among the earliest Gamble/Huff chart hits (maybe THE earliest) in 1967, with the Vibrations version not hitting until two years later.
The Vibrations have one of the longest, most interesting histories in all of soul music.
Hailing not from Philly but from Los Angeles, they got their start in the 1950s as the Jayhawks. It was under that name that they recorded the original version of ‘Stranded In the Jungle’.
They also recorded under the name of the Marathons, with which they hit in 1961 with ‘Peanut Butter’.
Reconstituted as the Vibrations, they spent most of the 1960s recording for Checker and Okeh – with a brief stop at Epic in 1968 – before signing with Neptune in 1969.
They recorded three 45s for the label, including their remake of ‘Expressway’ in 1969.
The Vibrations had worked with Gamble and Huff during their time at Okeh (G&H produced the group’s 1968 hit ‘Love In Them There Hills’ for the label) and member Carl Fisher had some of his songs (like ‘Storm Warning’ and ‘(It’s Against) the Laws of Love’) covered by Philly groups like the Volcanos.
The Vibrations version of ‘Expressway to Your Heart’, arranged by the great Bobby Martin, is taken at a slightly slower, grittier pace than the Soul Survivors OG. You get lots of electric piano, organ, some very cool guitar work and lots of great harmonies by the group.
It’s a very groovy record indeed, and one that ought to be better known.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Monday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Themocracy
Larry, *LOVE* this blog and Iron Leg. Have you perchance read Michael Chabon’s new book “Telegraph Avenue”? I think you’d like it, given that it is shot through with references to independent soul/jazz records.
Thanks Lanny! I’m reading Telegraph Avenue as we speak!
the vibrations were a great group,i just dont understand why they didnt the recoqnition that they deserved? sincerely yours, michael mcgehee this song that they recorded wasnt given much air play