Ralph Soul Jackson – Sunshine of Your Love
Ralph Soul Jackson
Listen/Download Ralph Soul Jackson – Sunshine of Your Love
Greetings all
Welcome once again into the inner sanctum of all things soulful.
I have to admit that I was totally ignorant as to the existence of today’s selection until it popped up on a friend’s sale list last year.
Always on the lookout for a groovy cover tune, I pulled the ripcord on the sound file, had my ears singed and requested (nay, demanded) that the 45 be put in reserve until I could send some semolians coursing through the ether.
Ralph Soul Jackson, aka the Alabama Love Man was a son of that great state, cousin to none other than Jo Jo Benson, and recorded this (and many other great 45s) with the good folks at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals.
He laid down his cover of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ in 1969, a year after Cream had their hit.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Cream, especially this song, which is the tune that drew me toward the band as a kid.
‘Sunshine of Your Love’ is remarkably cool, despite being a fairly simple piece of work, relying on the interpreter for that extra added something. Hand it to a garage full of teenage troglodytes and it doesn’t sound quite as magical.
Jack, Eric and Ginger whipped their particular brand of fuzzed out, psychedelic plod onto it and the audience – even the Top 40 – ate it up.
Mr Jackson went into Fame studios with Spooner Oldham and managed to one-up the lads from the UK in a big way.
You get a stunning horn chart, some groovy electric piano and a big fat bass, with Ralph riding it all like a bronco buster. The band adds a little more conventional forward thrust to the beat (on account of you’d maybe want to have people dance to the record), and while Ralph takes the occasional liberty with the lyrics, I don’t think Peter Brown would mind.
The extra cool thing is, that Ralph Soul Jackson is still at it today! He released the ‘Alabama Love Man’ CD last year and all reports indicate that he is still at the top of his game.
I hope you dig the tune (and grab the new stuff as well) and I’ll see you on Wednesday.
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).
Themocracy
Very good version – now if you’ve got Spanky Wilson’s…..!
Like it Larry.Thanks.