The Flamingos circa 1967

 

Listen/Download The Flamingos – Heavy Hips

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week.

I have always been a big fan of groups that got their start in the doowop/R&B era, and managed to hang on through the classic soul era, and sometimes (as in the case of today’s artist) on into funk.

The Flamingos would be worth your time if all they had ever done was record the timeless and amazing 1959 recording of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, one of the greatest records ever made, in any genre, by anyone.

Led by brothers Jake and Zeke Carey, the Flamingos were on the charts fairly regularly between 1956 and 1960, then came back for more starting in 1966 with the soul classic ‘Boogaloo Party’.

The tune I bring you today is one of the last things they did before joining the oldies circuit.

‘Heavy Hips’ (written by Zeke Carey), released in 1975 is manages to be funny without getting (too) silly, taking a ribald tack.

Opening with the cry ‘Lawd! Sho must be Bonanza, because that sure is a whole lotta Ponderosa!’, the band (dig the bass, especially) kicks into a funky groove. The horn section is cool (the trombonist gets to fool around a little bit) and there’s a nice drum breakdown about halfway through.

The late-era Flamingos recorded a couple of LPs for the Ronze label, with ‘Heavy Hips’ also appearing on the ‘In Touch With You’ album, alongside (of course) ‘Bump Your Buns Off’.

Though most of the original members are gone (both Carey brothers having passed on in the 90s) there is still a version of the Flamingos performing, led by early member (and songwriter) Terry Johnson.

I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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).

 

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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