Mr A. DeWalt Mixon Esq.

 

Greetings all.

I come before you today to attest personally to the value of big (literal and figurative) ears.

The wife and I were early adaptors in the satellite radio thing, and though we have decreased that tech footprint over the years, we still rock the Sirius/XM in the main family car. As a result, it is through that portal that we do much of our listening on long car trips (usually driver’s choice).

It was on such a lengthy journey while attempting to keep myself from drifting off the New York Thruway, I pointed the dial at Soultown, and encountered (for the very first time) the tasty little disc you see before you today.

Like most folks for whom soul music is more than a passing fancy, I have often taken the Motown giants for granted(usually unfairly) due to their omnipresence on oldies radio when I was a kid, and the limited scope thereof, i.e. there’e nothing like hearing the same 25 Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations etc songs over and over again until your eyes and ears glaze over and you’re tempted to move on to something more exciting.

As has been recounted here in the past, I eventually managed to force myself through that swamp and discovered how much greatness was really out there.

Junior Walker and the All Stars were definitely part of that pantheon, racking up dozens of hits between 1965 and 1979, some of which are as shit hot today as the day they rolled off the presses in Detroit 50 years ago.

I have a bunch of the essential Junior 45s in my crates, and I grab the LPs whenever I find them, but as I found out, there were still some cool things I hadn’t yet heard.

When ‘Gimme That Beat Pt1’ came on the radio my ears perked right up, and since the satellite has a display, I didn’t have to wait but a second or two to find out that what I was digging was a new (to me) Junior Walker and the All Stars track.

‘Gimme That Beat’ is one of those records that still carries with it the heat of ‘classic’ funk, yet is also starting to reveal some of the fancier, streamlined options of the newer models, with just the faintest suggestion of the gathering heat of the disco dance floor.

You get some very groovy bass, nice vocals and sax by Junior and percolating guitar that attests to the fact James Brown’s juggernaut was still kicking up dust in the zeitgeist.

This was one of Junior’s last hits (Top 50, 1973) but demonstrated that he could still work it out.

I hope you dig it, 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.

One Response to “Junior Walker and the All Stars – Gimme That Beat Pts 1&2”

1. jb says:

   February 1, 2015 at 12:29 pm

   I was a big fan of Soul Town when I was a Sirius subscriber. Happy to hear it doesn’t seem to have declined with the Sirius/XM merger, as some other channels did. Thanks as always for the tunes.