Gentleman June Gardner – It’s Gonna Rain….b/w HURRICANE!!!
Go Go Girls!
Listen/Download Gentleman June Gardner – It’s Gonna Rain
Greetings all
I come to you from deep inside the storm, as Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Whatever Sandy beats down upon us with buckets of rain and howling winds (which are guaranteed to get a lot more howly as the day progresses).
I figured I ought to get up off of the couch and blog something before the electricity goes bye bye.
I was rifling through the stacks looking for my copy of Dave Baby Cortez’s ‘Hurricane’ (which I found, and just reposted, so get it while it’s hot) but happened upon the record you see before you first.
It was as of the hand of fate took a second out of its busy day to offer up one of the all time great soul instrumentals.
‘It’s Gonna Rain’ by Gentleman June Gardner is right up there in my Top 10 instrumental soul 45s. In fact I was shocked that’s I’d never blogged it before!
I first heard it many years ago on an old Charly comp of New Orleans soul.
The record you see before you was the first copy of the song I got on wax. Oddly enough in an Australian pressing of Gentleman June’s LP (released on Emarcy here in the US).
I have since then grabbed the US LP and 45 (can’t have to many copies of a great record!), but I keep wondering how this record got released in Australia (I liken it to the NZ pressing of the 13th Floor Elevators ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’).
Gardner was a New Orleans based drummer and bandleader who recorded great music inside and outside that city (he also worked with the mighty Sam Cooke).
The extra groovy thing about this one – which I didn’t discover until I’d had it for a few years – is that it is a cover of a tune by Sonny and Cher!
The OG, which was released on the flip-side of ‘I Got You Babe’ is a garage-au-go-go cruncher and probably the most surprising thing in the S&C discography.
Though I don’t know this for sure, my suspicion has long been that Gardner was hepped to the tune by his NOLA homeboy Harold Battiste, who was working out on the coast as musical director for Mr. & Mrs. Bono.
‘It’s Gonna Rain’ is a certified soul stomper that’ll have you out of your seat and twisting before you know it.
It’s the perfect antidote to this bitch of a storm that’s sitting on top of us right now (and promises to get a lot worse before it’s over).
Keep your fingers crossed that those of us on the Eastern seaboard make it through Sandy in one piece (or at least as few pieces as possible).
I’ll see you all tomorrow.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Themocracy
Larry, are you sure “You’re Gonna Miss Me” got a New Zealand press? I think that might be a red herring. There is a strong cover version on La Gloria by the local band Tom Thumb which has been comped. But I don’t think that the Elevators original was released here.