Comments (0)

By Larry, February 28, 2017 12:47 pm

Listen/Download – Johnny Jay and the Gangbusters – You Get Your Kicks MP3

Listen/Download – Johnny Jay and the Gangbusters – Gangbusters Blues MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is one of those records that I picked up at a record show, never having heard it before, taking a chance on it because I knew the tune, a cover of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels 1966 ‘You Get Your Kicks’.

I had never heard of Johnny Jay and the Gangbusters, and I still haven’t been able to find anything out about them. The group appears to have recorded only this one 45 (in 1967) , and the information on the label isn’t very helpful, except to indicate that the record was produced by Gary Knight (aka Harold Temkin, Gary Temkin, Gary Weston), the co-writer of ‘You Get Your Kicks’ (and also co-writer, with Barbara Banks of one of the greatest soul 45s ever ‘River of Tears’).

I know it seems blasphemous to suggest this, but I think the Gangbusters version of the tune is better than the original by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.

Though Ryder is the superior vocalist, the arrangement and playing on this version of the song is much more robust and ultimately danceable than the original.

The bass guitar is more prominent, as is the horn section and the lead guitar.

The flipside, entitled ‘Gangbusters Blues’, and credited to five separate writers (none of them Knight or his original co-writer Bob Crewe) is actually an instrumental version of ‘You Get Your Kicks’.

The 45 seems to have had some level of success on Northern Soul dance floors in the UK.

If anyone out there knows anything more about the group, please let me know.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 26, 2017 11:55 am

The LaSalles aka Kathy Lynn and the Playboys

Listen/Download – The LaSalles – La La La La La MP3

Greetings all.

Every once in a while you find yourself pulling on a loose thread, and it just keeps unravelling.

Back in the day, during the storied Asbury Park 45 Sessions, one of my compadres dropped the needle on a monstrous banger called ‘Kick-Back’ by a group I’d never heard of before called Willie Tell and the Overtures.

As was often the case, the 45 went right onto my want list, and I set out in search of a copy for my play box.

It took a while, but I finally scored a copy.

While I was searching, I stumbled on another 45 with the same A and B sides as the Willie Tell and the Overtures record, this time by the already familiar Buena Vistas (the exact same recordings, with an earlier release) .

So, down the rabbit hole I went, discovering a whole bunch of cool things in the process.

The Buena Vistas were connected to a pair of Upstate New York characters by the names of Carl Cisco and Tom Shannon, and a band by the name of Kathy Lynn and the Playboys.

The story – at least as I was able to pick it apart – was that Cisco, Shannon and the aforementioned band had varying degrees of involvement (from peripheral all the way down to not at all) with the Buena Vistas 45s, most of which were in fact the work of various and sundry Funk Brothers (I still haven’t figured out how the Buena Vistas 45 got rereleased as Willie Tell et al). Cisco/Shannon also had their hands in records by the Rockin’ Rebels, Revlons and other Western NY/Detroit acts).

That said, Kathy Lynn and the Playboys were a real, working group, and they are (as far as I can discern) the people behind the smoking version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘La La La La La’ that was released on the Motown subsidiary VIP as by the LaSalles in 1966.

Though originally written and recorded by Stevie, ‘La La La La La’ is best known by the hit version by the East LA group the Blendells from 1964.

As much as I love the Blendells version, the recording by the LaSalles (yet another alias) is amazing.

Kathy Lynn (nee Kathy Keppen, who would go on to marry Playboys/Buena Vistas/LaSalles guitarist Nick Ameno) opens the tune with the traditional spoken passage, then rips into it sounding like a crazed version of Brenda Lee.

The band lays into a heavy groove, with organ, drums, bass and soul clapping, making their version of the song perfect for the dance floor.

Lynn went on to record as Lynn Terry, and it appears that a modern version of Kathy Lynn and the Playboys was playing as recently as 2012.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 23, 2017 11:07 am

Dorothy Berry

Listen/Download – Dorothy Berry – Shindig City MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week in here and that means that it is Funky16Corners Radio Show time again. We come to you each and every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe as a podcast in iTunes, listen on Stitcher and TuneIn (catch the show on Cruising Radio UK every Friday evening), Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com.

I remember the first time I ever heard Dorothy Berry’s mighty ‘Shindig City’ – on Gail Smith’s incredible ‘Work Your Soul’ podcast – and nailed it right at the top of my want list.

It took a long time, and more than a couple of dollars to actually score a copy for my playbox, but it was a happy day indeed when I did.

Dorothy Berry is an especially interesting singer, having recorded a string of excellent singles (under her own name, with Jimmy Norman, as part of Dorothy, Oma and Zelpha, and with the African Bag All Stars – between 1962 and the early 70s, and because she was for a time, Mrs Richard ‘Louie Louie’ Berry.

‘Shindig City’ is a as booming, fast moving and danceable a soul 45 as was ever made in the classic era, and oddly enough you can thank future Bread-man David Gates for that.

No, really…DAVID GATES.

For those in the know, Gates is much more than Bread, having left behind a very long (and very good) string of records in rock, soul, rockabilly, and pop for a string of labels as writer, producer, arranger and performer from the late 50s right on up to the formation of Bread in the late 60s.
He was – like Leon Russell and JJ Cale, both of whom he worked with – part of the Oklahoma expat music scene in LA.

Gates wrote, produced and arranged ‘Shindig City’, as well as almost everything else recorded for the short-lived Dot Records subsidiary Planetary in 1964 and 1965, including both of Berry’s 45s for the label.

‘Shindig City’ – which has a fair amount of popularity on the Northern scene, like many Northern Soul faves starts with the Motown sound as a template, but takes it in a more muscular, Wall of Sound direction, seemingly testing the limits of magnetic tape to see exactly how much sound it can contain.

The drums are thundering, the horn section (specifically the trombones) creating waves of sound and Berry’s wailing vocal abetted by a female chorus.

It’s one of those records that verily drags people out of their seats and onto the dance floor, and sounds amazing coming out of a big sound system.
Though in a sane world ‘Shindig City’ should have been a big hit, it only had a brief period of regional success (in New England) in May of 1965.

Dorothy and Richard Berry (who sings backup on the flipside of this 45) would divorce in the late 60s, and she would go on to join the Ray Charles Revue as a Raelette, a job she would hold into the early 80s.

So dig this incredible record, over and over again, and if you haven’t checked out the Clyde Stubblefield tribute, please do so.

I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, February 21, 2017 1:42 pm

Tribute to the Funky Drummer

Clyde Stubblefield Spoken Intro
James Brown and the Famous Flames– Cold Sweat Pts 1&2 (King)
James Brown – Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud) Pts 1&2 (King)
Marva Whitney – It’s My Thing (King)
James Brown – Mother Popcorn Pts 1&2 (King)
Clyde Stubblefield Live Solo 1968
James Brown – Shhhhhhhh For a Little While (King)
James Brown and the Famous Flames – I Got the Feelin’ (King)
James Brown – Popcorn With a Feeling (King)
James Brown – Funky Drummer Pts1&2 (King)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Tribute to the Funky Drummer: Clyde Stubblefield 65MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

This is something I would have put together earlier but the fam and I were on the road when word came down that the mighty Clyde Stubblefield, aka the Funky Drummer had slipped the surly bonds of earth.

Between 1965 and 1970 Stubblefield was deep, deep inside the pocket, driving the James Brown band from the drummer’s throne, often alongside John ‘Jabo’ Starks.

Stubblefield was as tasteful and economical a drummer as ever played soul and funk, with a tight, crisp style that managed to swing like hell.

Back when the Godfather of Soul passed away, I wrote about his work on ‘Cold Sweat’ thusly:

“It was in ‘Cold Sweat’ that James Brown, after three years of work, decided to ‘give the drummer some’, and things were never the same. With that record, he gathered together all of his innovations since ‘Out Of Sight’ – along with all the other musicians that he had inspired in the ensuing three years – and broke through yet another wall. ‘Cold Sweat’ is the ‘groove’, expanded upon, then further refined so as to concentrate its’ power. The beat is more experimental, the song structure now reduced to it’s essence (as if the ‘groove’, at one time adjacent to the song, had now become the song). This is never more apparent than in Pt2, where the aforementioned ‘drummer’, gets the also aforementioned ‘some’ – and blows soul music out of the water.

The drum break on side two of ‘Cold Sweat’ is a remarkable testament to exactly how far ahead his peers James Brown had gone.
In the sound of funk, there is no more important component than the drummer(s). Without the drummer, the groove has no foundation. Certainly a groovy bass line can get you moving side to side, but without the forward propulsion of the drummer, you aren’t really going anywhere. The most important element of the drummers importance to funk, is that it is through him (or her as the case may be) that funk received it’s most radical elements. These elements are the rhythms of Afro-Cuban music, and most importantly modern jazz. Anyone familiar with Elvin Jones, Max Roach or Art Blakey will hear their echoes in the beats of funk. These are the sounds of percussionists that got inside the rhythm and stretched it into all kinds of new shapes, designed to grab the body at it’s core and move it, i.e. make it dance. The BeBoppers and the modern jazzers provided an obsession with open spaces and explosive punctuation. They brought rhythm up out of the viscera, through the heart and into the head. This ‘intellectualism of the beat’, in combination with the polyrhythmic fire of congueros like Chano Pozo and Mongo Santamaria (later quite the funkster himself) timbaleros like Tito Puente, and the freedom of the New Orleans ‘Second Line’ drummers (Earl Palmer, June Gardner, Smokey Johnson and James Black) – which in turn has it’s parallels in the samba drummers of the Brazilian carnival – all contributed to the funky stew. This is not to say that Clyde Stubblefield had his ears turned to New Orleans, Rio or even the Village Gate – directly (he may well have), but that all of those sounds were swirling around in the mid-60’s, and all found their way into the sound of the funky drummer.

The break in Cold Sweat Pt2 is presaged, at about 45 seconds with six pleas (commands?) to ‘Give the drummer some” before turning to Stubblefield with ‘You got it drummer!’. The Flames drop away as Stubblefied works the kit, keeping time on the ride cymbal, booming on the toms and popping the beat on the bass drum. Ten seconds later JB brings in Bernard Odum on bass, and for almost ¾ of a minute he and Clyde break it on down. At 1:59 the horns come back in and ride all the way to the end. At nearly a full minute, Stubblefield’s ‘break’ is hovering dangerously close to the land of the drum solo, yet the energetic self indulgence of a Ginger Baker, Keith Moon (or even Buddy Rich) is absent, and has been replaced by a deeply funky vibe. This is a drum solo you can dance to. It is devoid of pyrotechnics yet full of ideas – subtle yet consistently explosive. It’s no mistake that Stubblefield is the man who’s work found it’s way into dozens of samples. The man who inspired JB to chant ‘The Funky Drummer!’, over and over again.”

The mix you see before you includes most of Clyde Stubblefield’s best known work with JB, as well as a clip from the famed 1968 Boston Garden concert which is like a punch in the gut.

I spent a lot of time playing the drums when I was younger, but I could only sit back wide-eyed (and eared) at the work of Clyde Stubblefield, who played the drums like James Brown danced.

He was a master.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 19, 2017 9:40 am

Marie Queenie Lyons

Listen/Download – Marie Queenie Lyons – Drown In My Own Tears MP3

Listen/Download – Marie Queenie Lyons – Try Me MP3

Greetings all.

Marie Queenie Lyons is the epitome of the kind of artist that resided in the back of my mind – courtesy of other DJs finds/mixes – for years before I ever managed to put my hands on any of her music.

Her sole LP, recorded for Deluxe in 1970 is a crate diggers favorite, and is also quite rare and expensive.

Lyons was born in Louisiana, and worked with King Curtis before hooking up with the Deluxe label where she recorded the LP and a handful of 45s (all of which were LP tracks).

She was a powerful, raw singer, dragging elements of gospel shouting into James Brown (who was a significant influence) territory.

The tracks I bring you today are from a 1970 Deluxe 45, and both appeared on her ‘Soul Fever’ LP.

‘(I’ll) Drown In My Own Tears’ was written by Henry Glover (who also wrote Annie Had a Baby, California Sun, Peppermint Twist, and was the co-writer of Soulville) and was first recorded by Ray Charles in 1957. Lyons take on

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 16, 2017 11:36 am

Lorraine Ellison

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Heart Be Still MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Coming to you every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl in iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, Mixcloud and right here at Funky16Corners.com

We close out the week with something groovy from Miss Lorraine Ellison.

Ellison, best known for her epic reading of Jerry Ragovoy’s ’Stay With Me’(grazing the R&B Top 10 in 1966), had a uniquely powerful voice.

She recorded for Mercury, Warner Brothers and Loma between 1965 and 1970, returning to WB in 1973/74.

Today’s selection, ‘Heart Be Still’ is one of those records I grabbed while digging, without having ever heard it, on the strength of the names on the label, those being Ellison, Ragovoy and Bert Berns.

When I looked up ‘Heart Be Still’ I was surprised to discover that it had actually been a hit, Ellison’s last date with the R&B Top 40 in 1967.

My surprise was based more in the style of the song, a restrained, heavily gospel-inflected feel (she had gotten her start recording gospel with the Ellison Singers), as opposed to its obvious quality.

Written by Ragovy and Berns, arranged by Garry Sherman and produced by Ragovoy, ‘Heart Be Still’ combines a restrained backing (piano, organ, drums) with a tour de force vocal by Ellison, backed by a gospel-style choir.

There are points where her vocals reach into the rafters, bordering on the histrionic, yet always remain anchored in reality.

It’s a great record, and I hope you dig it.

See you next week.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 14, 2017 12:26 pm

F16 Presents: Super Duper Love
Soul Brothers Six – Some Kind of Wonderful (Atlantic)
Marvelows – Talkin’ Bout You Baby (ABC)
Pat Lewis – Look At What I Almost Missed (Solid Hit)
Platters – I Get the Sweetest Feeling (Musicor)
Etta James – I’m So Glad (Cadet)
Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers – It’s Growing (Gordy)
Eddie Holman – Stay Mine For Heaven’s Sake (Parkway)
Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
Intruders – Every Day Is Like a Holiday (Gamble)
Johnny Nash – Ooh Baby You’ve Been Good To Me (Epic)
Mad Lads – No Time Is Better Than Right Now (Volt)
Aubrey Twins – Love Without End Amen (Epic)
Benny Spellman – I Feel Good (Atlantic)
Sam and Dave – You Don’t Know What You Mean To Me (Atlantic)
Felice Taylor – I’m Under The Influence of Love (Mustang)
Foundations – Baby Now That I’ve Found You (UNI)
Bettye Lavette – I Feel Good All Over (Calla)
Marva Whitney – This Girl’s In Love With You (King)
Contributors of Soul – Look What You Done For Me (New Miss)
Darrell Banks – Open the Door To Your Heart (Revilot)
Four Tops – Something About You (Motown)
Sugar Billy – Super Duper Love (Are You Digging On Me) (Fast Track)
Willis Wooten – Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious (Virtue)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Super Duper Love 108MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Valentine’s Day is upon us once again, and though I have traditionally re-posted the 2012 Funky16Corners mix ‘Dance of Love’, I thought that the time was right this year to whip up a brand new love mix for you to share with your significant other.

Funky16Corners: Super Duper Love is just over an hour of groovy, uptempo soul and funk love songs (all on a positive tip, because who needs to hear about heartbreak when you’re celebrating.

I once again dedicate it to my lovely wife!

I hope you dig it, spin it for the one you love.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 12, 2017 5:51 pm

The Young Hearts

Listen/Download – Young Hearts – Oh, I’ll Never Be The Same MP3

Greetings all.

I have been a fan of the Young Hearts/Younghearts/New Younghearts ever since falling in love with their brilliant Northern Soul classic ‘A Little Togetherness’ which remains one of my all time favorite 45s.

The group, which recorded under a few different iterations (in name), usually under the auspices of Bobby Sanders between 1967 and 1977 for a variety of labels including Canterbury, Pick-a-Hit, Minit, Soultown, Zea and 20th Century.

Their one 45 for Pick-a-Hit was released in 1967 with the original line up of James Moore, Charles Ingersol, Ronnie Preyer and Earl Carter.
Both sides of the 45 are cool, but I think that ‘Oh I’ll Never Be the Same Again’ is a little bit of subtle perfection.

Written by Sanders, Anita Poree (who went on to write classics for Eddie Kendricks and the Friends of Distinction) and someone named ‘C. Scorborough’, ‘Oh I’ll Never Be the Same Again’ has a sweet sound that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Temptations record, with a great falsetto lead and some great, rich harmonies bubbling up underneath.

The arrangement, which was redone/sweetened a few years later on the group’s Minit LP (with the addition of a vibes and a more prominent string section) is very nicely done, letting the vocalists shine.

As far as I can tell, aside from a few individual tracks floating around on comps (mostly ‘A Little Togetherness’) the Young Hearts catalog is largely absent from the reissue market. Their LP isn’t super hard to come by (easier than their 45s), and whatever you can pick up will be worth your time.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 9, 2017 11:11 am

William Bell

Listen/Download – William Bell – You Don’t Miss Your Water MP3

Listen/Download – Otis Clay – You Don’t Miss Your Water MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so I will remind you once again not to forget to hook yourselves up with the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl, each and every Friday in iTunes (where you should subscribe) , TuneIn, Stitcher, Mixcloud and at Funky16Corners.com

We end the week with an absolutely, 100% certified soul classic from the pen (and mouth) of one of the greatest Southern soul men, the mighty William Bell.

I have known this song since the very earliest days of filling my ears with soul music, having heard it on a long forgotten compilation more than 30 years ago.

Since then, I have accumulated several other versions (including killers by Otises Redding and Clay among others).

William Bell was brought to Stax Records by the legendary Chips Moman, who produced this, Bell’s own composition and debut 45, in 1961.

Though ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ was not a hit (though it had some small regional success in the South and California) at the time of it’s release, it went on to a position as a cornerstone of both the early Stax sound specifically, and of Southern soul in general.

It is one of those great soul records that seems as if it were constructed entirely from bits and pieces of gospel music, yet transcends the holiness vibe completely, becoming something that is better heard late at night escaping from an AM radio speaker.

The arrangement is uncomplicated, yet on repeated listens there are bits and pieces where certain parts of the band stand up, especially the piano, the ghostly organ solo that trades lines with Bell, and the lingering cymbal that drifts off into the ether at the very end of the song.

Bell’s vocal is simply a masterpiece. It has a confessional feel, as if he’s conversing with the listener, and though he never soars into the rafters, there are moments where the pure emotion of his voice is a thing of beauty. His opening line, ‘In the beginning…’ is amazing in its simplicity and directness, coming across like the first page of a book, or the title card of a movie. It forces you to stop and listen.

Though Bell’s original is indisputably amazing, you also need to hear Otis Clay’s version, which might be the greatest version of the song.

Recorded in Muscle Shoals in 1968, at the beginning of a brief run of 45s that Clay recorded for Cotillion, between his long runs at One-Derful and Hi, ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ is a testament to Clay’s mighty voice, and the power of a great singer seeing an opportunity to take an already great song into the stratosphere.

The arrangement is still fairly spare – with the guitar taking the place of the acoustic piano, a more prominent horn section and some very nice electric piano in place of the organ, but Clay’s vocal is spectacular, wrenching every bit of emotion out of the lyrics, conveying a palpable sense of regret.

I wouldn’t feel as if I’d done my job if I didn’t include it today.

So dig them both, and I’ll see you all next week.
.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 7, 2017 12:12 pm

Clarence Carter

Listen/Download – Clarence Carter – Take It Off Him and Put It On Me MP3

Greetings all.

I have spoken many times before about the value of keep your ears wide open and connecting with other DJs/collectors. I can scarcely recall a time when I shared the turntables with someone where I didn’t walk away with something groovy added to my want list.

Though my man Kris Holmes (formerly of the Antipodes, now a Texas transplant) and I never shared the decks, we have listened to each other’s shows, and were fortunate enough to meet up in person a while back while he was travelling here in the States.

Naturally, part of our brief time together was devoted to playing records, from our respective playboxes, and one of the records that Kris hepped me to that day is the 45 you see before you, Clarence Carter’s ‘Take It Off Him and Put It On Me’.

Recorded in Muscle Shoals in 1970, ‘Take It Off Him..’ is a great slice of hard driving, funky Southern soul, with the Clarence and the Swampers locked into the groove, and there’s even a little electric sitar thrown into the mix!

Carter’s vocal is top notch, and the arrangement, with some understated piano, very funky bass and sure shot drums is rough an ready for the dance floor.

Fortunately, unlike a couple of other things that Kris played that day, this one was an easy/cheap pull. So peel you a five spot out ya bankroll and get you a copy for your own playbox.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 5, 2017 11:43 am

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

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 2, 2017 12:24 pm

Arthur Prysock

Listen/Download – Arthur Prysock – In the Rain MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and I will remind you not to forget to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops each and every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via TuneIn and Stitcher, dig it on Mixcloudm or gran yourself an MP3 here at Funky16Corners.com

He tune I bring you today is one of those ‘familiar song from an unfamiliar source’ things that I like so much.

I forget where I first heard about Arthur Prysock’s version of ‘In the Rain’, but I was both surprised by its very existence, and that it had been a hit.

The song was of course written by Detroit master Tony Hester and first recorded by the mighty Dramatics, and it was a Number One R&B hit (as well as making it into the Pop Top Ten) for the group in 1972.

Arthur Prysock though, is a name I always associated with an earlier era.

He began his career singing with big bands in the late 40s, having his first hit in 1952 (I Didn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night) with the Sy Oliver Orchestra.

He worked mostly as an R&B balladeer, having a string of hits with the Old Town label starting in 1960.

When he recorded ‘In the Rain’ in 1973, he was 44 years old and hadn’t had a hit since 1965.

His version of the song has a very hip arrangement, with some groovy organ and horns, and it’s a nice contrast to hear the song delivered in Prysock’s husky baritone.

Prysock would go on to have a minor resurgence, placing three more R&B Top 40 hits in 1976 and 1977.

He passed away in 1997 at the age of 68.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.