The Young Rascals – Come On Up b/w Mickey’s Monkey/Lovelight
The Young Rascals
Listen/Download – The Young Rascals – Come On Up MP3
Listen/Download – The Young Rascals – Mickey’s Monkey/Lovelight MP3
Greetings all.
The new week is here, and I thought we’d dip into some of that good, Garden State soul.
Funky16Corners has touched on the blue-eyed/equal opportunity soul thing many a time (including a couple of episodes of the podcast) simply because there’s a lot of it and much of that is outstanding.
There has always been a lot of controversy within the collector world about white soul singers because soul, funk and R&B are all predominantly/originally African-American art forms, but like jazz, there were a grip of white artists, producers, songwriters and arrangers who contributed to the growth of the sound from the very beginning.
There were – as is the case in most things – people that were predatory/along for the ride, but there were also a lot of non-black artists (I use that term because of the prevalence of Latino artists) who were quite talented and dedicated themselves to the sound, making lots of outstanding music.
Among this group were New Jersey’s own Young Rascals/Rascals.
Formed in Garfield, NJ, the Young Rascals were a predominantly Italian-American group which had (mostly) worked previously in Joey Dee and the Starliters.
They had the good fortune to have two outstanding singers in their ranks, with Felix Cavaliere (also a great organist) and Eddie Brigati, a shit-hot drummer in Dino Danelli and the outstanding guitar work of Gene Cornish.
They were the most successful blue-eyed soul group of all time, having had five Top 40 R&B hits between 1967 and 1969, as well as more than a dozen Top 40 Pop hits.
Though their sound incorporated rock as well as soul, they carried their soul sound all the way until the group’s dissolution in the early 70s, writing great originals as well as covering existing soul material.
The tracks I bring you today come from the group’s 1966 LP ‘Collections’.
‘Come On Up’, (written by Felix Cavaliere) which was a hit in September of 1966 is a perfect example of a song that would have worked well in the hands of Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett (who covered ‘Love Is a Beautiful Thing’ from this album). It’s one of those great “set starter” songs that builds in intensity as the verse moves into the chorus, with a fantastic vocal by Cavaliere and some searing guitar by Cornish.
The group’s medley of the Miracles ‘Mickey’s Monkey’ and Bobby Bland’s ‘Turn On Your Love Light’ (mysteriously credited to Gerry Roslie of the Sonics) sound like it would have been a highlight of their live set.
Danelli’s drums are hot as a pistol, and the lead vocals switch between Felix (Mickey’s Monkey) and Eddie (Love Light).
The rest of the album (which like most of their ought to be cheap and easy to find) is excellent, with a mix of originals and covers.
I hope you dig the tracks, and I’ll see you 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.
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