Sons of Blues

Listen/Download -Sons of Blues – Sex Machine MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

The tune I bring you today is yet another iteration of the old saw wherein a very familiar song is presented in a relatively unfamiliar setting.

I cannot recall exactly where I first heard about Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues version of James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’, but I can tell you that I had to have it (in my never ending search for James Brown covers) and it took quite a while to track down a copy of the album it appeared on (‘Where’s My Money’) for my crates.

The Sons of Blues were a Chicago-based blues band and their album ‘Where’s my Money’ was released in 1984 on the independent blues label ‘Red Beans’.

The leader of the group (and its most consistent member) was harp player/singer (thought the vocalist on this track appears to be drummer Moses Rutues) Billy Branch who often got top billing on their records.

The Sons of Blues take on ‘Sex Machine’ is more accurately described as a medley of that song, ‘Licking Stick’ and ‘I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing’.

Though the vibe isn’t purely funk, the band is certainly funky, with a kind of loose-limbed vibe that sounds like it probably developed out of an extended, largely improvised jam.

The band is tight, and the harmonica – largely working here as a horn section substitute – adds an interesting flavor.

The Sons of Blues maintain the call-and-response structure of the original, and the jam stretches out for close to 7 minutes.

The rest of the album is pretty much entirely era-appropriate electric blues.

As I said before, the record is fairly scarce (there’s also a CD version), but not terribly expensive when it does turn up.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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