Comments (4)

By Larry, November 8, 2015 10:49 am

Grant Green

Listen/Download – Grant Green – Sookie Sookie (45 Edit) MP3

Greetings all.

If you haven’t yet ingested your morning coffee, I’d hold off until after you’ve given today’s selection a spin.

I issue such a warning, because the record you see before you, Grant Green’s version of Don Covay’s soul classic ‘Sookie Sookie’ is one of the deepest, funkiest, dancingest, soul jazz grooves ever committed to vinyl.

Grant Green was of course one of the greatest jazz/soul jazz axemen of the 50s, 60s and 70s. He made a grip of classics for Blue Note as both a leader and as one of the label’s more flexible sidemen, and was hip enough that when jazzers started to whip a little soul and funk into the mix, he did it extraordinarily well. So much so that he has appeared here at Funky16Corners a number of times over the years.

‘Sookie Sookie’ – a 45 edit of the 11 minute plus track from the ‘Alive!’ LP, which was recorded in Newark, NJ in 1970 – is one of those records, like the Village Callers’ ‘Hector’ that is just about impossible to listen to without moving in some way, shape or form.

Naturally, any sane person would get up and dance, but head-nodding and foot tapping are also acceptable substitutes.

Featuring Ronnie Foster on organ (just listen to him pumping out the bass on his pedals) , Joseph Armstrong on congas and the mighty Idris Muhammad on drums, ‘Sookie Sookie’ is funky right out of the gate, and only gets funkier as it goes on.

Green plays around a little with the verse, but as soon as the chorus comes up, with a wave of Hammond organ, you know what song it is you’re digging.

The transition from the chorus into Green’s guitar solo (with some nice accents in the background by Willie Bivvens on the vibes) is tasty indeed.

Back in the early 90s, Us3 had themselves a hit when they pretty much lifted the whole song (I think would be unfair to call what they used a “sample”) and rebuilt it as ‘Tukka Yoot’s Riddim’ with toasting by Tukka Yoot (naturally…) over the top.

It is a heavy record, indeed. So get up on your desk and dance.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, November 5, 2015 4:33 pm

Listen/Download – The Relations – Soul Train – Funky Monkey MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is rapidly approaching, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops into your ears (via the interwebs) every Friday (and – starting in December- once a month at SoulGuyRadio.com ). You can soak up the goodness by subscribing to the the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 out of the archive.

The tune I bring you today is one of those records that found its way into my crates via one of my many, odd collector obsessions, this one being “soul train” records, of which there are MANY.

The thing is, while many of these have something to do with, or were attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the TV show of the same name, many of them pre-date that show.

The concept of a train delivering the faithful to a better life/world has its roots (like much of soul music) in the gospel repertoire.

Through the 1960s and early 70s there were a bunch of “soul train” themed discs, many of which (including today’s selection) I collected in ‘Funky16Corners Radio v.24 Funky Soul Train’.

I can’t tell you much about the Relations ‘Soul Train-Funky Monkey’, other than it was put out by a record company in Queens, NY (Hollis in particular) in 1972.

It works in the patented recitation of various and sundry dance steps, led by a female singer and male backing singers.

The band is funky,with a piano and organ trading licks, and bass and drums laying the foundation.

As far as I can tell, this record went nowhere in particular, and is still a relatively easy pull for under $20.00.

So dig it – download that mix – 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, November 3, 2015 11:55 am

Listen/Download – The JC Band – Jim Jam MP3

Listen/Download – Jimmy Chandler – I Can’t Turn You Loose MP3

Greetings all.

The record I bring you today is one of those tunes that has a penumbra of information around it, i.e. plenty of circumstantial evidence as to its provenance, but very little that points to the identity of the band.

What I can tell you is that this track by the JC Band, appears on the flipside to a vocal by Jimmy Chandler, and appears on the Jersey City-based J-City label, any of which could hve provided the “JC”.

The record dates to sometime in the early 70s, and was written and produced by Paul Kyser and Tom Vetri, who worked with a bunch of acts out of Jersey City, NJ in the 60s and 70s, including the Nu Sound Express, Ltd., Jimmy Briscoe and the Little Beavers, the Ultimate Truth, Calender and Eight Miles High.

The J-City discography only runs for half a dozen 45s all in and around the same time period.

‘Jim Jam’ is a mid-tempo, funky instrumental with a tasty guitar lead, plenty of piano, bass and drums.

The flip sees Jimmy Chandler (another artist that didn’t leave much of a trail) laying down a nice version of Otis Redding’s ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’, marred only by some weird, effects-laden guitar.

I hope you dig the track, and if any of you have any more info, please drop me a line.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, October 29, 2015 10:38 am

Eumir Deodato & Airto Moreira

Listen/Download – Deodato/Airto – Do It Again MP3

Greetings all.

An important programming note!

The end of the week approacheth, and changes are afoot!

The Funky16Corners Radio Show had a home on Viva Radio for nearly seven years. As of this week, that relationship is coming to an end, I will be leaving Viva, and the show will exist purely as a podcast.

I make this change reluctantly, but due to a string of unfortunate technical difficulties the show did not air in its time slot at least twice in a month, and my requests for explanations or guarantees that these problems would be fixed going forward have gone ignored.

As a result, the Funky16Corners Radio Show will continue to drop every week, on Friday. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or click on the link here at the blog and stream or download the episodes.

So stay tuned, keep digging the show, and I will keep you informed of any further developments.

___________________________________________________________

As a big Steely Dan fan, I can never get enough of cover versions of their songs (a few of which have appeared here before), and the one I bring you today is especially cool.

What you see before you is a 3:30 edit of the original 6:29 track recorded live by Eumir Deodato and Airto Moreira for the 1974 ‘Deodato/Airto In Concert’ LP.

This cut is yet more proof that if you aren’t down with the CTI sound, you are missing out some some of the grooviest, funky (and often smooth) jazz of the early 70s.

The arrangement (aside from its lack of voice) isn’t too far removed from the Steely Dan OG, with an extra layer of Fender Rhodes, plenty of percussion (Rubens Bassini and Gilmore Degap) and nice, heavy horn section.

The hot lead guitar is provided by John Tropea.

Interestingly, though they are billed equally on the cover, Deodato and Airto do not perform together on the record. Airto opened for Deodato at the Felt Forum date from which the performances were taken, and although their tracks are both included on the LP, there is no crossover.

That said, I dig Deodato’s stuff from the period, and this is a great example thereof.

I hope you dig it, 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 6, 2015 3:34 pm

Listen/Download – Larry Foster – Funky Belly Pt1 MP3

Listen/Download – Larry Foster – Funky Belly Pt2 MP3

Greetings all.

How about some tasty funk to get us all through the middle of the week?

I first happened upon Larry Foster’s ‘Funky Belly’ after picking up Warren Lee’s New Orleans-made, Meters-backed record of the same name from 1970.

In fact, Foster’s was the third ‘Funky Belly’ I added to my crates, following OD Williams song on the Bar-Bare label.

Though I haven’t ever found any specific information in this regard, the presence of three geographically close 45s with the same title around the same time, makes me think that there was in fact a dance called the “funky belly”, and that funky people on the Gulf Coast of the USA (specifically Mississippi and Louisiana) were doing it.

Foster’s ‘Funky Belly’ features some funky bass, wah wah guitar and pumping combo organ, and a high-tenor vocal by Foster.

Interestingly – and you should jet on over to my man Kris Holmes’ ‘Greenville and Beyond’ site – the Big Beat label was part of a Mississippi-to-Chicago connection covering blues, soul and funk.

While my guess would be that Larry Foster was in fact working in the Miss/LA area, and tapping into the ‘Funky Belly’ thing in the region, it would certainly be interesting if the dance craze (albeit on a very small scale) made its way up to Chitown.

That said, it’s a groovy little record, and I hope you dig it.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 24, 2015 1:31 pm

The Sound Foundation

Listen/Download – The Sound Foundation – Morning Dew (Walk Me Out In the) MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here, and so I will dole out my periodic reminder that you check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 right here in the archive.

I have, over the years whipped a little funky horn rock on y’all. Small doses and all that, but you know that I have a taste for the brassy stuff from the late 60s, when so many bands in the BST/Chicago mold walked the earth like shiny, loud dinosaurs, stomping on everything in their paths.

I first happened upon the Sound Foundation back in the halcion days of Soulstrut, when the group’s sole LP used to show up in’finds’ posts on the reg. The dark hallways of the attics of the basements of my mind remain littered with album covers first encountered in that forum, so when I happened upon one of the group’s singles in the field, I snapped it up right away.

The Sound Foundation, who apparently came together in Las Vegas recorded for the very interesting, short-lived Smobro label, which (dig the smushed-togetherness of the name) was owned and operated by the Smothers Brothers during the peak of their popularity in the late 60s.

The flipside of this 45 is a very groovy take on Steppenwolf’s ‘Magic Carpet Ride’, but it was the other side that really grabbed me.

‘Morning Dew’, written in the early 60s by Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson, was later popularized by Tim Rose and the Grateful Dead, and covered dozens of times by a wide variety of performers.

The Sound Foundation version of the song is a real departure from tradition, taking the dark, post-apocalyptic dirge and turning into an upbeat, funky mover. They even manage to stir a little Sly and the Family Stone into the mix (dig the breakdown around 1:40).

While certainly not outright funk or soul, their version of ‘Morning Dew’ is proof yet again of the constant intersection of styles that was going down between 1967 and 1971, when rock and soul groups were mixing their figurative chocolate and peanut butter together to make something new.

It is very cool, and I hope you dig it, too.

See you 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 13, 2015 11:22 am

Freddie Roulette

Listen/Download – Jackie & Tut – Hawaiian Punch MP3

Listen/Download – Jackie & Tut (feat. Herb Kent) – 10-2 Double Plus MP3

Greetings all.

I thought we’d start the week with a rather recent acquisition, one so groovy that I felt the need to bump it right up to the front of the line.

A while back someone posted Jackie and Tut’s ‘Hawaiian Punch’ on Facebook and I just about fell in love with it.

There’s a Latin phrase (which has popped up in this space before) ‘sui generis’, which is used to describe something that is unique, or in a class by itself.

‘Hawaiian Punch’ is mos def sui generis.

The first thing that grabbed me, aside from the steady groove, was the wobble-legged steel guitar lead, something I’m not accustomed to hearing on a funky record.

Sure, there are a handful of very groovy soul sides out there with pedal steel woven into the fabric, but this is the first one I’ve ever heard where it (though this is lap steel) used as a lead instrument.

The man behind the steel wasa Chitown cat named Freddie Roulette, who played locally (with Earl Hooker among others), eventually recording an album of his own – ‘Sweet Funky Steel’ – for Janus in 1973.

‘Hawaiian Punch’ was recorded in 1967 (you have to wonder if Robbie Krieger heard it before the Doors did ‘Moonlight Drive’) and released with a vocal, provided by none other than Chicago radio legend Herb Kent, on the flip called ’10-2 Double Plus’ (with Kent basically rapping over ‘Hawaiian Punch’). I tend to prefer the pure instrumental, but both sides are worth hearing.

The track is funky (thanks in large part to an absolutely titanic bass sound) and incredibly infectious. Put this one on at your next stein hoist and just try to keep the people from dancing.

Roulette continued to record in a wide variety of bands over the years, and is still active today.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 6, 2015 11:05 am

Little Charles and the Sidewinders

Listen/Download – Little Charles and the Sidewinders – Shanty Town MP3

Greetings all.

I thought we’d get the week off to a start with an old fave of mine.

Back in the day, my man Haim turned me on to all kinds of groovy records. We had very similar tastes so he was a fantastic digging partner.

One of the groups he put me on to was Little Charles and the Sidewinders.

Ironically, the song that first grabbed me is the one I’m still looking for, probably the group’s rarest side ‘A Taste of the Good Life’ on Decca from 1967.

The record I bring you today is yet another disc from the extremely brief discography of the Botanic label (seen here a few weeks back with Gary US Bonds).

Little Charles was Nashville-born singer Charles Walker, who got his start touring with JC Davis’s band, before taking some of the guys with him and forming the Sidewinders in 1966.

The group recorded a series of discs for Decca, Drum, Botanic and Red Sands between 1966 and 1971.

The funky ‘Shanty Town’ was released in 1970. Powered along by a pulsing bass line and a wailing vocal by Little Charles, ‘Shanty Town’ is a very groovy number. It was – like everything else on Botanic – produced by Jerry ‘Swamp Dogg’ Williams.

Though it didn’t make any impact, it’s flipside ‘Please Open Up Your Door’ (which was issued again on Red Sands in 1971) was a minor regional hit in the St Louis, MO area.

Little Charles took much of the 70s and 80s off, running an art gallery,before returning to musicin the late 90s, first under his real name Charles Walker, and then with Charles Walker and the Dynamites.

I hope you dig the sounds, and if you have a reasonably priced copy of ‘Taste of the Good Life’ laying around, please drop me a line.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 3, 2015 11:39 am

Crossing the Pond – An Hour of Transatlantic Organ Heavies!
Dave Russell with the Wright Sounds – Harlem Shuffle Pt2 (Jemal)
New London Rhythm and Blues Band – Soul Mate (Vocalion)
Casey and the Pressure Group – Powerhouse (Wizdom)
Andre Brasseur – Pow Pow (MFP)
Bob Kuban and the In Men – Batman (Musicland USA)
Dave Baby Cortez – Popping Popcorn (Okeh)
Four Instants – Watermelon Man (Society)
The Pop Ups – Lurking (HBR)
George Semper – Get Out Of My Life Woman (Imperial)
Cocktail Cabinet – Breathalyser (Page One)
Merritt Hemmingson – The Letter (RCA)
Trudy Pitts – Bucket of Soul (Prestige)
Troy Thompson Band – 1-2-3 (Dee Dee)
Donald Seward – Studio B Funk (Revolution)
Inez and Charlie Foxx’s Swinging Mockin Band – Shimmy (Dynamo)
Graham Bond Organisation – Wade In the Water (Ascot)
Wynder K Frog – Dancing Frog (UA)
Shotgun Express – Curtains (Columbia UK)
Brother Jack McDuff – But It’s Alright (Atlantic)
Wildare Express- Why Am I Treated So Bad (Brunswick)
Mohawks – Ride Your Pony (Pama)
Ross Carnegie – Cool Dad (El-Con)
James Brown – Shhhhhhhh (For a Little While ) (King)

Listen/Download – Crossing the Pond: An Hour of Transatlantic Hammond Heavies! MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, which mean that it’s Funky16Corners Radio Show time! Join me this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove – all on original vinyl! If you can’t be there at airtime you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

Frequent fliers here at Funky16Corners know that I have a Hammond organ jones, and it has been quite a while since it has evidenced itself – in mix form, anyway – here on the blog.

So, I sat down, dug through the crates and whipped together a delicious meringue of Hammond (and other) organ sides for your delectation entitled ‘Crossing the Pond: An Hour of Transatlantic Hammond Heavies!“.

The catch -as they say – is that the music in question is split right down the middle, with about half of it originating overseas. Most of the foreign stuff is from the UK, but you also get groovers from Holland, Sweden, Belgium and right over our Northern border in Canada.

There are a couple of old faves, some folks that have appeared here at the blog in single posts,and a couple of very cool records/performers that have never appeared here in any form.

You get an hour of the good stuff to keep your ears (and hopefully your feet) busy, so dig in 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 30, 2015 11:38 am

Hank Ballard

Listen/Download – Hank Ballard – Come On Wit’ It MP3

Greetings all.

Like any sharp character, you need only see that familiar black and orange King label (with the Godfather’s head, too…natch) to know that there is goodness in the offing.

This time out we get yet another tasty side from the mighty Hank Ballard.

Ballard, who’s chart heyday (with the Midnighters) was almost a decade in the rear view mirror laid down this side in 1969.

His resurrection at the hands of James Brown may not have been a huge commercial success, but will go down in history as a real ‘solid’ on JB’s part, and as providing some of the best music in Ballard’s discography.

‘Come On Wit’ It’, (flip side of ‘Blackenized’) co-written by Ballard, Brown and Bud Hobgood is a great bit of chugging funk with a punchy bass line and some bright horns.

Ballard’s vocal is packed with raspy goodness (I love the repeated refrain of ‘Groovy to the bone!’).

Oddly, only one of Ballard’s later King 45s – ‘How You Gonna Get Respect’ – made it into the R&B charts, breaking into the Top 20 in November of 1968.

Fortunately most of his funky stuff (aside from his LP which can be expensive) is relatively affordable and not too hard to track down.

I hope you dig the track, 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 25, 2015 12:20 pm

Don Julian and the Larks

Listen/Download – Don Julian and the Larks – Shorty the Pimp Pt1 MP3

Listen/Download – Don Julian and the Larks – Shorty the Pimp Pt2 MP3

Greetings all.

Don Julian, with the Meadowlarks (an early, integrated doowop group) and then the Larks, was a West Coast R&B/soul/funk fixture in the 50s, 60s and 70s, recording for a variety of labels, like RPM, Specialty and Money.

The Larks worked their way through classic soul styles, with Julian and the group making their way right into funk by the early 70s.

‘Shorty the Pimp’ is a masterpiece of Blaxplo-funk, and has something of a mysterious provenenance.

The track (anda few others that found release on 45) were supposedly part of a soundtrack to an unreleased blaxploitation movie called ‘Shorty the Pimp’, which, considering the cinematic reach of the song is entirely believable.

That, and the fact that the deep, spoken voice on the track is none other than Don Julian’s running buddy, Richard ‘Louie Louie’ Berry!

‘Shorty the Pimp’ is a slow grooving, funky mover, mixing falsetto vocals, group harmony and the aforementioned narration with some of the finest lyrics ever composed about life on the streets. There’s lots of cool rhythm guitar and organ working its way in and out of the mix.

Julian and the Larks would also create the soundtrack for the film ‘Savage’ around the same time.

‘Shorty the Pimp’ was sampled almost two decades later by Too Short on his own track of the same title.

‘Shorty the Pimp’ appeared on the rare Don Julian and the Larks LP ‘Super Slick’, but if you don’t have a coupla hundo burning a hole in your pocket, you can score a copy of this most excellent 45 for a fraction of that.

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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, August 20, 2015 11:39 am

Freddy – Henchi and the Soulsetters

Listen/Download – Freddy – Henchi and the Soulsetters – Folsom Prison MP3

Listen/Download – Freddy – Henchi and the Soulsetters – Popcorn Baby MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, coming to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can listen live, subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 out of the archive here at the blog.

Freddy-Henchi and the Soulsetters were one of those bands – like Benny Gordon and the Soul Brothers – that worked relentlessly, playing on the road and recording a string of 45s for a variety of labels (Onacrest, Tower, Bell, Reprise) for years, never really breaking through like they should have.

Formed in Phoenix, AZ in the mid 60s, they eventually moved to Los Angeles, then again to Colorado where they would continue to play, in one form or another well into the 80s.

Led by Freddie Gowdy and Marvin ‘Henchi’ Graves, the band recorded one 45 for Tower in 1969, and while it might not have made any impact on the charts at all, it is as solid as they come.

The A-side is a funk reworking of Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, and as insane as that concept sounds, Freddy-Henchi and the Soulsetters make it happen.

Opening with a false/country start, the band drops down into a heavy groove, transforming the song into a hard-hitting, minor-key work of genius. I mean, it WAS 1969, and people were doing all kinds of crazy things (musically and otherwise), and I can understand how the very idea of a funk take on a country classic might have been off-putting to some people, but this record is REALLY good.

I dig the haunting strings running underneath (they almost sound like a mellotron), and when the band breaks into a quote from ‘Hey Jude’, all bets – as they say – are off.

The flipside, the extremely heavy ‘Popcorn Baby’ owes a serious debt to Dyke and the Blazer’s hit from the previous year, ‘Funky Walk’. Built on a pounding drum beat, and some Hendrix-level wah wah guitar, the record is a killer.

The group would go on to have some local success with their cover of Major Lance’s ‘Um Um Um Um Um’ in 1970, and then to lay down the funk 45 classic ‘Funky To the Bone’ for Reprise in 1972.

I hope you dig this 45 as much as I do, 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.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.