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By Larry, April 10, 2016 11:18 am

Travis Wammack

Listen/Download – Travis Wammack – Night Train MP3

Greetings all.

It behooves me to warn you that listening to the 45 you see before you may cause heart palpitations, nervous collapse or both, depending on how much coffee and or sugar you have ingested.

Travis Wammack is one of those names that keeps popping up on compilations of instrumental hits, due to his 1964 hit ‘Scratchy’.

Wammack was born in Mississippi but made his name playing in Memphis as a leader, sideman and working as a hired gun for giants like Little Richard (he was Mr Penniman’s bandleader for a decade).

Today’s selection, a cover of the strip club perennial ‘Night Train’. Written and performed by Jimmy Forrest in 1951, ‘Night Train’ was covered countless times by R&B, soul, jazz and rock performers, including the mighty James Brown.

Wammack’s version of the song is one of those instances of source material taken out back, draped over a pile of hand grenades, soaked in nitroglycerine and then blowed up (real good).

I mean, hot damn if this isn’t two and a half minutes of pure, unadulterated insanity. Wammack’s guitar sounds as if it’s being pumped through a Leslie speaker, and the band (just guitar, bass and drums) is recorded in as raw a fashion as I have ever heard on a major-label 45.

Ostensibly a showcase for Wammack’s guitar bad-assery, it serves more as a vivid example of what will happen when intoxicated people are let loose on musical instruments and recording equipment.

The flipside, ‘Karate Time’ is infinitely more subdued, but also quite groovy.

I hope you dig the sounds, 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 17, 2016 11:45 am

Isaac Hayes

Listen/Download – Isaac Hayes – Never Can Say Goodbye MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can dig the show as a podcast in iTunes (subscribe and rate, s’il vous plait), listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, listen on Mixcloud, or grab an MP3 right here at the blog.

We lose out the week with yet another version of one of my all-time favorite songs, Clifton Davis’s ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’.

It has always seemed odd to me, that such an amazing song, a veritable soul standard, was penned by a guy who is best known as an actor.

Between the hit versions by the Jackson Five (the biggest hit, and in my opinion, the gold standard), Gloria Gaynor (and the eight other versions in my iTunes library), I never tire of the song.

The rendition I bring you today comes courtesy of the mighty Isaac Hayes.

Hayes, who never met a song that he couldn’t give the “epic” treatment to, covered ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ on his 1971 Black Moses album (coming in one of the greatest LP packages ever made).

Hayes was fresh off the mega-success of ‘Shaft’ and returned to the studio with a collection composed almost entirely of covers, by the likes of the Carpenters, Toussaint McCall, the Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield, Kris Kristofferson and the Shirelles (among others).

Naturally, Ike takes the song at his patented slow and sexy pace, with some velvety vibes running underneath everything, and his own baritone on top.

Though it doesn’t stretch out to the 12 minute stratosphere of ‘Walk On By’, Hayes gives the song a respectful five-minute reading, and the all-male backing vocals are particularly interesting touch.

Whether you dig the song as much as I do, you really need to pick up as much Isaac Hayes as your record shelves will handle.

Dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 28, 2016 1:07 pm

Willie Mitchell

Listen/Download – Willie Mitchell – Pearl Time MP3

Greetings all.

The end of he week is upon us, and so I will remind you once again to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast, which drops every Friday, bringing you the finest in funk, soul, 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 the TuneIn app, groove to it on Mixcloud, or grab and MP3 right here at the blog.

We close out the week with one master of soul – Willie Mitchell – covering another – Andre Williams.

I picked up my copy of Mitchell’s 1968 ‘Soul Serenade’ LP years ago, but only recently realized that it included a cover of Andre Williams 1967 single ‘Pearl Time’.

My best guess is that I couldn’t imagine anyone outside of Detroit or Chicago covering an obscure Williams tune, but as it turns out, it wasn’t quite as obscure as I thought.

After doing a little research (or more than I had done before) I found out that though Williams original version of ‘Pearl Time’ didn’t hit the R&B charts, it was a minor pop hit, generating some heat in the Midwest and the Northeast.

Willie Mitchell recorded his version in 1968, alongside covers of tunes by James Brown, Otis Redding and Bobby Hebb among others.

Mitchell’s take includes a robust horn section and a slightly cheesy (in a good way, natch…) organ over some tight drums, with Mitchell just about speaking the lyrics.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do, too.

Have yourselves a great weekend,and I’ll see you all on Monday.

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 10, 2016 2:47 pm

Chuck Brooks

Listen/Download – Chuck Brooks – Baa Baa Black Sheep MP3

Greetings all.

How about some nice, funky Memphis soul?

I forget where I first heard this 45 (I’m guessing on Facebook somewhere) but when I did, I knew I had to find myself a copy.

Chuck Brooks was a Memphis-based singer/songwriter who waxed 45s for AGP, Volt, Mercury, Chimneyville, and Malaco between 1969 and 1977.

Today’s selection, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ was recorded/released in 1969, recorded in Memphis and produced by Tommy Cogbill.

It was also released in the UK that year on Dave Godin’s Soul City imprint.

A tough, funky number with some hard-hitting guitar, and organ, as well as a strong vocal by Brooks, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ failed to hit the charts, though it certainly should have (his 1970 45 for Volt got some play in Philadelphia).

Interestingly enough, after his recording career, Brooks went into business with none other than Homer Banks, forming the Sound Town label, and co-writing, producing early 80s hits for J Blackfoot.

I hope you dig the 45, 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, October 27, 2015 1:11 pm

OV Wright

Listen/Download – OV Wright – Eight Men, Four Women MP3

Greetings all.

As regular visitors well know, I dig me some deep, deep soul ballads (see several mixes in the archive), and one of the finest creators of said sounds, was the mighty O.V. Wright.

I have been a fan of Wright’s since my earliest days of soul collecting, having picked up ‘Love the Way You Love’ (which quicky became a favorite) more than 30 years ago.

Wright was one of the truly great southern soul singers, with a flexible, raspy voice that was as adept delivering upbeat, danceable fare, as it was songs like today’s selection.

‘Eight Men, Four Women’ is one of those songs that seems almost impossibly slow, sorrowful and deep, yet it was a Top 5 R&B hit in 1967*.

Wright is pushed along by a tight lead guitar, subtle, almost churchy organ, and a saxophone that sounds like the player was wandering in and out of the studio unpredictably.

The female backing chorus has a looseness that sounds to my ears like a moonlighting gospel group, and you can almost picture Wright, perched on the edge of the stage, delivering his tale of woe.

The song is credited to Don Robey’s ‘D. Malone’ pseudonym, and I for one would love to know who really wrote it (Robey apparently had a habit of taking copyright for himself, sometimes at the point of a gun).

It’s a very solid number, and if you’re not already down with O.V. Wright, it should provide a gateway to appreciating a truly great singer.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*I compare this to records like ‘Heart Full of Love’ by the Invincibles and ‘Crying In the Street’ by George Perkins and the Silver Stars as songs that were big hits in the 1960s that would probably be excluded from the charts today by virtue of their rawness.

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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.

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.

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By Larry, October 20, 2015 11:44 am

Homer Banks

Listen/Download – Homer Banks – A Lot of Love

Greetings all.

The track I bring to you today is like Monday’s tune, a precursor to (if not an outright OG) of one of the big tunes of the British Invasion.

Homer Banks was both a fine songwriter, and an excellent (if underappreciated) soul singer.

Banks recorded a string of brilliant Memphis-based 45s for Minit between 1966 and 1968, all the while writing for other artists, many in the Stax organization.

If you give a listen to any of the records that banks made under his own name, it leaves you shaking your head, wondering how he wasn’t a success on his own (and why Jim Stewart never signed him to his own deal at Stax).

Banks had a high, flexible tenor that reminds me of a lighter version of Sam Moore (which is interesting since Banks co-wrote ‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’ for Sam and Dave), able to soar on ballads but with enough grit to deliver harder edged material.

‘A Lot of Love’ (co-written with Deanie Parker) was the A-side of Banks’ first Minit 45 in 1966 (he had already recorded a pair of 45s for the small, Memphis-based Genie label) and while it wasn’t a hit, it did make it over to the UK where a young cat by the name of Steve Winwood heard it and lifted its basic riff, reworking it into ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, a huge hit in the US and the UK, and ultimately a much better-known record than Banks OG.

I’m here to tell you (though your ears ought to be able to figure it out on their own) that while ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ is a classic, ‘A Lot of Love’ is in the end a much better record, with an outstanding lead vocal by Banks, and a fine arrangement with enough kick for the dance floor.

Oddly enough, Banks would be ripped off (by proxy) again, when Flavor (who may or may not have been aware of ‘A Lot of Love’) re-ripped the tune as ‘Sally Had a Party’, which is also an amazing record.

Homer Banks went on to write/cowrite a number of hits, including Luther Ingram’s smash ‘If Loving You is Wrong (I Don’t Want To be Right)’, and would hit the charts himself in a duo with Carl Hampton in 1977 with ‘I’m Gonna Have To Tell Her’.

Banks passed away in 2001 from cancer.

All of Banks’ Minit 45s are excellent and worth picking up when you can find them.

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

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.

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.

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By Larry, October 1, 2015 10:37 am

Wee Willie Walker, then and now

Listen/Download – Wee Willie Walker (feat Curtis Salgado) – Help!

Listen/Download – Wee Willie Walker – Ticket To Ride

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can 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 at the blog.

I am going to break with tradition today and do something I don’t normally do, which is take the time to hype a new release.

What made me do this, is the release of an outstanding comeback album by Wee Willie Walker.

I first came upon Walker’s music back in the day when I unearthed his sole Goldwax 45, a blinding cover of the Beatles ‘Ticket To Ride’.

Having been in the habit of grabbing any and all Goldwax ish found in the field, I was thrilled times two, first by putting another notch in my Goldwax discography, and second (but really “first”) finding a killer soul 45 formy play box, where it has held a position of honor for years.

Walker got his start singing gospel with the Redemption Harmonizers (alongside songwriter Roosevelt Jamison*), he relocated from his home base in Minnesota to Memphis, where he hooked up with the Goldwax label.

Quinton Claunch recorded a bunch of sides on Walker, but only one ever came out on Goldwax, a few others being leased to Checker in the 60s. Walker went on to record for a variety of labels in the 70s.

His new album, ‘If Nothing Ever Changes’ is an outstanding mix of new songs and well chosen covers (including numbers by Eddie Hinton, the Southside Movement and Calvin Arnold, as well as a wonderful reworking of John Conlee’s old country hit ‘I Don’t Remember Loving You’), with Walker, still in fine voice and backed by an excellent band.

The overall feel is less retro-soul, than a modern offering by a singer with deep roots in the classic era.

The playing and production are first rate, and while the album is filed under ‘blues’, this is a soul outing through and through, with Walker able to wail like back in the day, as well as deliver depth in the quieter moments.

I first posted Walker’s version of ‘Ticket to Ride’ back in 2008, and I’m reposting it today alongside another Beatles cover from the new album, a take on ‘Help!’ in a duet with Curtis Salgado.

Walker and Salgado take the song at a slower pace, stirring in bits of gospel and deep southern soul.

‘If Nothing Ever Changes’ was released by the non-profit Little Village Foundation, and you can pick it up in iTunes, or at Amazon.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do too.

See you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Composer of ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’

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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.

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.

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By Larry, September 15, 2015 1:26 pm

Ollie and the Nightingales

Listen/Download – Ollie and the Nightingales – Girl You Have My Heart Singing MP3

Greetings all.

I have to shout out to my man Kris Holmes, who hipped me to today’s selection when he fell by on his grand tour of the states.

There’s really nothing better than a vinyl session with someone who has excellent taste, and Kris has that in spades.

Ollie and the Nightingales got their start as the gospel group the Dixie Nightingales, and recorded under that name in the late 50s/early 60s for Pepper, Nashboro and Chalice.

They made the transition to secular music with Stax in 1968, providing backing vocals for Sam and Dave and Eddie Floyd, and laying down their own stuff on a handful of singles and an LP between 1968 and 1970 (when lead singer Ollie Hoskins would leave the group and begin recording as ‘Ollie Nightingale’).

‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ was the flipside of their first Stax 45, ‘I Got a Sure Thing’ which was a Top 20 R&B hit in April of 1968.

While I dig the A-side, ‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ is an absolute killer.

Co-written by Booker T Jones (who also produced the record) and William Bell, the song features deep, rich harmonies and a great lead by Hoskins.

The thing that popped into my mind the very first time I heard this record was that it ‘rocked’. It has a great propulsive feel, driven by the drums, organ, bass and guitar, making it great for the dance floor and catchy as hell.

The short guitar solo at 1:03 is fantastic, and the breakdown at 1:45 makes me wonder if a young Michael McDonald was listening to it when he wrote ‘Taking It To the Streets’.

The group had two more Top 50 R&B hits in 1968 and 1969 before Hoskins left and was replaced by Sir Mack Rice, with the group continuing as the Nightingales.

Ollie Nightingale had a fairly long solo career before passing away in 1997.

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

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.

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.

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By Larry, August 23, 2015 1:30 pm

The Bar-Kays

Listen/Download – The Bar-Kays – A Hard Day’s Night MP3

Greetings all.

Join me as we welcome the new week with some of that tasty, Memphis goodness.

The Bar-Kays were a group of young Memphis players that were recruited by Stax, and ended up (fatefully) backing Otis Redding on his final tour (most of them perishing in the same plane crash that took Otis).

The track I bring you today is the Bar-Kays 1968 version of the Beatles’ ‘A Hard Days Night’.

I hadn’t heard the track when I found this single, but since it was cheap, a Fabs cover, and on Volt, I couldn’t very well leave it behind.

Good thing I didn’t, because it’s an interesting reworking of the Beatles original, packed with Memphis soul flavor.

Opening with the organ, and twangy guitar, the band build upward from a hard-hitting riff that allows them to deliver the Beatles’ melody in a manner that is 100% McLemore Ave.

Interestingly enough , the single was produced by MGs drummer Al Jackson, Jr., which I initially found surprising. Then I did some digging and discovered that producing was a nice sideline for Jackson, with credits on records by Johnny Taylor, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Mable John, the Mad Lads and others.

As far as I can tell ‘A Hard Days Night’ is a 45-only track, so if you want it, that’s how to get it.

I hope you dig it, 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.

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.

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By Larry, May 31, 2015 11:09 am

Judy Clay

Listen/Download – Judy Clay – It Takes a Lotta Good Love

Listen/Download – Judy Clay – You Can’t Run Away From Your Heart

Greetings all.

What better way to start off the week, than with a very solid slice of Memphis soul?

I’ve been a fan of Judy Clay for a years. Most of that time, I only really knew her late-60s duet work with the mighty Billy Vera, like ‘Country Girl, City Man’ and ‘Storybook Children’, and her duets with William Bell, like ‘Private Number’.

She got her start in the the famed gospel group the Drinkard Singers, alongside Cissy Houston and Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, moving into the world of secular music in 1961 for the Ember label.

Clay spent the next few years recording for Ember, Choice, Scepter, and Lavette, before landing at Stax in 1967.
The two songs you see before you today represent both sides of her amazing debut single for Stax.

‘It Takes a Lotta Good Love’, co-written by Al Bell and Booker T Jones, and produced (both sides) by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, is a soulful powerhouse, with a punchy, radio-friendly arrangement, and a wonderful vocal by Clay. This is one of those records that just kind of kicks you in the ass and makes you wonder why it wasn’t a hit.

Interestingly enough, I can only find one chart reference to ‘It Takes a Lotta Good Love’, and the station was also playing the flipside, ‘You Can’t Run Away From Your Heart’.

A killer Hayes/Porter ballad, with a beautiful melody, and an incongruous, yet perfect guitar opening, had a little more success than its flipside, showing up in four different markets. The performance is a testament to the fact that Judy Clay should have had a bigger career. She maneuvers from her very solid middle range, into high notes and back again with perfect control, and brings a lot of gospel flavor into her delivery.

She had her last hit in 1970, and spent the next decade performing as a backing singer for a variety of performers, including Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett.

She passed away following a car accident in 2001.

I hope you dig the tunes, 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.

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.

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By Larry, May 14, 2015 11:37 am

Barbara Perry

Greetings all.

The end of the week is near, so I will remind you once again to twist the knobs on your radiola to tune in the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there at airtime, you can keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listening on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

ALSO…The Funky16Corners 2015 Allnighter/Pledge Drive is coming up soon. Got some very cool DJ types lined up to contribute mixes, as well as a couple of hot ones from my crates, plus a groovy new Funky16Corners badge for this year’s shinding. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for details!

Goldwax, one of the preeminent southern soul labels of the 1960s, and home to the likes of OV Wright, James Carr, Spencer Wiggins, Percy Milem and Timmy Thomas among others, is one of those imprints that I will always grab when I’m out digging.

Whether or not I’ve heard the 45 in question, so solid is the catalog that you are guaranteed a good time/listen, no matter what you happen to find.

Such was the case when I found the Barbara Perry 45 you see before you. I was out digging at a local stoop sale, and even though Perry was completely unknown to me, I saw a Goldwax 45 I didn’t have, so onto the keeper pile it went.

Good thing, too, because packed into its grooves were two excellent sides of Memphis soul.

I haven’t been able to find much out about Perry, who only ever had two 45s released in her career, one on the Memphis imprint Fernwood in 1961, and the disc you see before you in 1967. She did record several sessions for Goldwax, which eventually saw the light of day on compilations, but these two tracks were the only to make it onto 45 for the label.

‘Say You Need It’ is a great upbeat number with just a hint of country twang to it (imagine, if you will, the same song delivered by someone like Jeannie C Riley), and some very tasty lead guitar.

‘Unlovable’ is a slow, pleading ballad, with a great vocal by Perry, marred only by a slightly out of tune piano (what is it about out of tune pianos on 60s soul 45s??).

Perry’s other Goldwax recordings can be heard on a variety of compilations, most of which can be found on iTunes.

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

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.

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, April 28, 2015 12:23 pm

Danny White

Greetings all.

Today’s mystery is: why would one of the preeminent soul singers of the 1960s write an amazing song but never record it himself?.

Now, the origins of the recording I bring you today are not in question.

Danny White is a New Orleans singer (the man behind the mighty ‘Natural Soul Brother’, one of my all time favorite 45s) who recorded a string of 45s for local (Frisco, Atlas) and national (ABC, Decca, SSS Intl) labels between 1961 and 1969.

He recorded today’s selection in a 1966 Memphis session arranged and produced by Gene ‘Bowlegs’ Miller, with the extra-groovy ‘Cracked Up Over You’ on the flipside.

Where the mystery (as it is) starts is the song I bring you today, the most excellent ‘Taking Inventory’.

A stomping soul number, with an excellent vocal by White, ‘Taking Inventory’ was written by none other than Stax star and 60s soul legend Eddie Floyd.

The crazy thing is, it would appear that no matter the excellence of the song, Floyd does not to have ever recorded the song himself.

That didn’t stop the song from getting around, though, with additional cover versions laid down by the Ferris Wheel (on the Pye label in the UK) and none other than Vic Waters and the Entertainers (for Capitol here in the US).

I can’t imagine why Floyd never recorded the song himself, but the version by Danny White is solid enough on its own.

Though White stopped recording after the 60s, according to the always excellent Sir Shambling, he went on to manage the Meters, and eventually died in 1996.

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

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.

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.