Cannibal and the Headhunters

Listen/Download – Cannibal and the Headhunters – Zulu King MP3

Listen/Download – Cannibal and the Headhunters – Shotgun MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the dawning of a new week finds you all well.

Today’s selections are part of the continuum created by my ongoing obsession with the sounds of East LA/Chicano R&B, soul and funk.

Cannibal and the Headhunters are one of the best known of the East LA bands by virtue of their memorable name, and the fact that they had one of the signature hits of the scene, that being their 1965 version of Chris Kenner’s ‘Land of 1,000 Dances’, in which the famous ‘Na Na Na Na Na’ chant was added to the song forever more.

I picked up the group’s 1965 LP of the same title a while back, and posted their cover of James Brown’s ‘Out of Sight’ here in 2007.

A few years ago, I was out digging and happened upon another (previously unknown to me) Cannibal LP on the Date label. I recognized some of the same songs from the first LP, but there were a bunch of new tracks as well, so I took the plunge.

When I got the album home and started digitizing the contents, it was obvious that some of the tracks were the same, but a several of them were new.
It looks like after their success with the local Rampart label, Date (specifically Richard Gottehrer of the Strangeloves) decided to take a run at getting Cannibal and the boys a bigger piece of the market. They reassembled the ‘Land of 1,000 Dances’ album, omitting a couple of tunes and recording a few new ones.

The two tracks I bring you today include one track from the original iteration, and one from the new one (though they both appear on the Date LP).

The new track is a cool, midtempo R&B number called ‘Zulu King’. Written by East LA scene fixture Chick Carlton (a black Kansas City transplant who sang with the integrated group the Majestics, as well as writing material for a number of other groups), ‘Zulu King’ runs with a booming bass line, drums and well placed horns, with Cannibal and the Headunters laying some sweet harmonies on top of things.

A few years later, the group Free Movement (‘I’ve Found Someone Of My Own’) re-recorded the song as ‘Son of the Zulu King’.

The second track should be much more familiar, that being a stomping cover of Junior Walker and the All Stars ‘Shotgun’. It features some groovy rhythm guitar and combo organ, as well as excellent group harmonies.

As far as I can tell the Date-session tunes are not currently available in reissue. The iTunes version of the Rampart ‘Land of 1,000 Dances’ includes the original album and tacks on some Rampart 45-only tracks.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.