The Four Pennies in their later incarnation as the Hearts of Stone

Listen/Download The Four Pennies – You’re a Gas With Your Trash

Greetings all

I hope the new week finds you well.

Before we get started, I should direct you over to the archive page for my man Studebaker Hawk’s ‘Acapulco Nights’ radio show (on WMUA 91.1FM in Amherst, MA) where he has posted this week’s (3/29) episode, which included a tribute to Funky16Corners.

Make sure to bookmark the site because next week the show will include a special mix, put together by yours truly.

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The tune I bring you today is another one of those things that popped up on a sales list, sounded interesting (and was inexpensive), so I decided to scoop it up.

The song in question, ‘You’re a Gas With Your Trash’ (how could I pass up a title like that?) by the Four Pennies is a very groovy slice of mid 60s soul.

I had initially assumed (you know how that works…) that they were a Chicago group, due to the fact that they were on Brunswick.

When I finally started to poke around for information (finding some conflicting data) it turned out that the Four Pennies (not the UK beat group of the same name) had actually originated in Knoxville, Tennessee.

They got their start in the early 50s as the Five Pennies, eventually becoming (with a number of personnel changes along the way) the Chimes, and the 4 Jokers, evolving into the Four Pennies in the early 60s.

One of the group’s early members was none other than Clifford Curry, who recorded a number of cool soul 45s in the 60s including ‘She Shot a Hole In My Soul’.

They recorded two 45s for Brunswick in 1967, with ‘You’re a Gas With Your Trash’ coming out first.

Though the 45 was produced by James Chavis, I cannot confirm that this was the same guy that ran Chavis records in Delaware, which released a number of rare soul, garage and gospel 45s.

The song is a fast-moving dancer with lots of high harmonies and a honking sax that ties it to a slightly earlier R&B sound.

The Four Pennies would eventually evolve into the Hearts of Stone, recording an album for the Motown subsidiary VIP in the early 70s.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

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.