Listen/Download – Frankie Gee – A Date With the Rain MP3

Greetings all.

I have a very groovy, very danceable 45 for you this fine day.

Featured back in March in the ‘Funky Music Is the Thing’ mix, Frankie Gee’s cover of ‘A Date With the Rain’ is stunning.

Originally done by the mighty Eddie Kendricks on his monumental 1972 ‘People Hold On’ LP, ‘A Date With the Rain’ was an early disco landmark and one of the most sublime soul records of the 70s. The song appeared on the LP and as the B-side of a 45 (both running 2:42) but there was also a 12” edit running over nine minutes that as far as I can tell is only currently available on YouTube.

That said, Frankie Gee, an LA artist who recorded a handful of disco 45s in the mid 70s for labels like Claridge, Lipstick, Sky and Galactic Star recorded his own version of the song in 1975, picking up the pace a little, adding heavier bass, organ and clavinet.

Though it clocks in at almost the same length as Kendricks’ OG, it has a more aggressive feel and probably could have had some success on the dance floor, but didn’t chart (unbelievably, neither did the original). I can’t even find traces of it on the disco charts.

Gee’s version of ‘A Date With the Rain’ has, however, built up a following with DJs since its release, and was pressed up I sufficient quantities by Claridge (a label with multiple lives) that it isn’t terribly hard to find or expensive.

The flip side is a bizarre cover of Lee Dorsey’s ‘Ya Ya’.

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

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.