Comments (2)

By Larry, June 15, 2015 10:39 am

Ben Gibson – Mo’Soul

Al Foster Band – Night Of The Wolf – Mellow Mellow Records
Frank Beverley & The Butlers – If That’s What You Wanted – Inferno
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way – O.O.T.P
The Vontastics – Never Let Your Love Go Cold – St. Lawrence
Chris Clark – Something’s Wrong – SOUL
Sister Sledge – Love Don’t You Go Through No Changes On Me – Atco
Harvey – Any Way You Wanta – Tri-Phi
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Don’t Make A Fool Out Of Me – Sunday Best
Jackie Wilson – I’m So Lonely – Brunswick
Chairmen Of The Board – When Will She Tell Me She Needs Me – Invictus Records
The People’s Choice – Big Ladies Man – Phil-La Of Soul
Johnnie Morisette With Jennell Hawkins Sexette – I’m Hungry – J.&J. Records
Richard Marks – I’m The Man For You – Now-Again
Frank Motley & The Bridge Crossing – Ya-Ya – Jazzman Records
Billy Hawks – (Oh Baby) I Do Believe I’m Losing You – BGP
Leon Bridges – River – Columbia Records

Listen/Download Ben Gibson – Mo’Soul

Greetings all!

Today I bring you the first guest mix of the 2015 Allnighter/Pledge Drive, ‘Mo’Soul’ from my man in the UK, Ben Gibson.

First, a few words from Ben:

“I’m sure that those of you that drop by Funky16Corners regularly will all agree that Larry is a huge cornerstone (pardon the pun!) of our scene! I’ve been visiting this great site for years now and I’ve lost count of the many great records that I’ve been hipped to from Larry often resulting in a hurried and sometimes feverish spending spree, ask my bank manager, I’m sure he could tell you!

I urge you all to continue to support this great resource of information and music so Larry can carry on sharing his great collection and knowledge with us!

It’s a massive honour to have been asked to contribute, so here’s 50 minutes of the good stuff from my playbox for your listening pleasure!

Enjoy!

Ben”

So dig it, click on the Paypal button, (Everyone that donates will get the 2015 premiums, including the new badge and a bumper sticker!)and sit back and groove to the sounds. Tomorrow: DJ Prime Mundo!

See you tomorrow.

Keep the Faith

– Larry

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, June 11, 2015 10:58 am

The Cooperettes

Listen/Download – The Cooperettes – Everything’s Wrong

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which rolls into town 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 an MP3 here at the blog.

____________________________________________________________________

This coming Monday, 6/15 brings the beginning of the 2015 Funky16Corners Allnighter and Pledge Drive!
Things are getting underway a little later than usual this year, thanks to some family commitments as well as lining up some spectacular new mixes for your listening pleasure.

You’ll be digging mixes from old faves like Asbury 45 Sessions vets DJ Prestige, DJ Prime Mundo and DJ Bluewater, Tarik Thornton, DJ RP of Funkdefy, Vincent the Soul Chef, and Heavy Soul Brutha, as well as new 2015 contributors Chris Lujan (of the M-Tet and the Dirty Dirty Podcast) and Ben Gibson, all bookended by two brand new Northern Soul mixes by yours truly!

All contributors will receive the new 2015 Funky16Corners badge, as well as one (or more, as supplies last) of the groovy stickers you see above, as well as my eternal gratitude.

So get your ears ready!

____________________________________________________________________________

Today’s selection is yet another winner out of the Harthon galaxy of stars.

The Cooperettes discography is not long, but it is packed with winners.

Their ‘Shing-a-ling’ (also known in the unissued verion by Irma and the Fascinators as ‘You Need Love’) was one of the first big Northern 45s I tracked down back in the day, and it remains a favorite.

The group included the Cooper sisters, Janette, Debbie, Tina and Angie, and released a half dozen 45s between 1966 and 1969 for labels like Brunswick, ABC and IDB.

‘Everything’s Wrong’ was their second 45, released in early 1967 and was a minor local hit in Philadelphia.

A great, mid-tempo dancer, with a Shirelles feel to it (interesting since the tune was co-written by Wes Farrell, who penned ‘Boys’ for that group), ‘Everything’s Wrong’ is yet another one of those records that should have been a hit, but got lost in the pop tidal wave of 1967.

The Cooperettes had a second wave of popularity with the Northern Soul scene, when ‘Shing-a-ling’ was reissued in the UK in 1975.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday for the Allnighter.

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, June 9, 2015 11:59 am

The Contours

Listen/Download – The Contours – Just a Little Misunderstanding

Greetings all.

Since the middle of the work week is approaching, I though it apt that I should smooth us all over the hump with one of my all-time favorite soul 45s.

The Contours, despite having made a grip of excellent records, and one of the biggest/best remembered soul hits of the 60s (‘Do You Love Me’) are something of an also-ran, which is in no way an artistic judgement, but rather the public perception.

Their work was of a consistently high quality, yet they labored in the shadow of the bigger Motown stars like the Temptations and the Four Tops.

They had eight R&B Top 40 hits between 1962 and 1967, with today’s selection, ‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ their second-to-last hit, making it into the R&B Top 20 in June of 1966.

Co-written by Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax and a youngster by the name of Stevie Wonder (who also plays drums on the record!), ‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ is both a guaranteed dance floor killer, but also has enough pop hooks to stick in your ears.

The stylish lead vocal is by Joe Stubbs (brother of Levi) who had done time in the Falcons and went on to join 100 Proof Aged In Soul.

This would be Stubbs’ only lead vocal with the Contours, and he was soon replaced by Dennis Edwards (who would later join the Temptations).

‘Just a Little Misunderstanding’ re-entered the UK charts in 1970.

It is a very groovy record, and ought to have a place of honor in any soul DJ’s box.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, 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 (2)

By Larry, June 7, 2015 11:25 am

Listen/Download – The Stagemasters – Baby I’m Here Just To Love You

Greetings all.

The record you see before you this fine day hopped into my crates years ago during one of those stellar Allentown all-45 digging sessions.

I had never heard (or heard of) the Stagemasters, but the disc looked cool, so I gave it a spin on the portable and it went directly on the ‘keeper’ stack.

The ensuing years have revealed little about the group or their outstanding stomper of a 45.

Going with the information available on (and about) the label, the Stagemasters hailed from the Reading, PA area.

The Slide label was owned buy a cat named Lenny McKinnon, who also owned the Lorraine, Reading and Hit-Kingdom imprints.

‘Baby I’m Here Just To Love You’ was initially released in 1966 on Slide, then again in 1968 (with a different flipside) on Hit-Kingdom.

It is a storming floor-filler, opening with some very heavy rhythm guitar and bass, followed by a rough, wailing lead vocal and some groovy harmonies.

The record has the kind of relentless energy that the UK soulies dig so much, which is probably why it eventually got a bootleg pressing across the pond.

You can pick yourself up a copy of the Slide issue for between 20 and 30 bucks (for some reason the Hit-Kingdom pressing goes for well over 100 bucks).

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, June 4, 2015 12:14 pm

Ben Aiken

Listen/Download – Ben Aiken – If I Told You Once (I Told You a Million Times)

Listen/Download – Ben Aiken – You Were Meant To Be My Baby

Greetings all.

As the end of the week is near, allow me to remind you once again about the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which 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 keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes, listening on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

Also, all mixed are in-house, and the go date for this years’s Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive will be 6/15, with a new mix being posted every weekday for the next few weeks. This year you’ll get mixes from Ben Gibson (Mo’Soul), DJ Prime Mundo, DJ Prestige, Tarik Thornton, Chris Lujan, Vincent the Soul Chef, DJ Bluewater, DJ RP of Funkdefy, HeavySoulBrutha and of course, two new assemblages from my own crates!

There’s a groovy new badge for this year’s premium (and lots of stickers), so dial into the vault and get ready!

Today’s selection found its way into my crates via that old standby, brand loyalty.

I was out digging at a stoop sale, and though I had never heard of Ben Aiken before I put my hands on this 45, seeing the Loma label, and the name of the mighty Jerry Ragovoy, it moved immediately to the keeper pile, and came home with me.

Possessed of an Eddie Holman level tenor, with a sweet touch, and based in Philadelphia, Aiken recorded a string of 45s for labels like Squire, Roulette (he had his biggest success with his 1965 Roulette 45 ‘Stay Together Young Lovers’), Loma and Philly Groove between 1965 and 1972. I have also seen references that seem to indicate that he also sang with a number of other groups on Philly Groove during his time with the label.

‘If I Told You Once (I Told You a Million Times)’, written and produced by Ragovoy and arranged by Herb Bernstein was Aiken’s first 45 for Loma in 1967.

A classic Ragovoy ballad, ‘If I Told You Once…’ starts off slow and easy, but picks up a little steam with a really interesting key change in the bridge.

Aiken’s vocals are excellent, and the flip ‘You Were Meant to Be My Baby’ is a nice, upbeat dancer.

Once again, another excellent Jerry Ragovoy production is cast into the ether and inexplicably, all but ignored by the listening public.

As far as I can tell, you can only pick up Aiken’s Loma material on original 45s, or on the series of Loma reissue LPs that came out in the 70s. His later Philly Groove stuff is accessible on a Collectables CD.

I hope you dig the tracks, and I’l 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 (4)

By Larry, June 2, 2015 1:16 pm

Kim Fowley – “That’s a lovely housecoat you’re wearing Mrs Cleaver!”

Listen/Download – Larry Green and the Rhythmaires – Watch Your Step

Greetings all.

The record I bring you today is an almost complete mystery, aside from the involvement of a certain Mr Kim Fowley.

The smoking version of Bobby Parker’s epic (and influential) 1961 ‘Watch Your Step’ first popped up on my radar via a friend’s sales list.

Its selling point (according to the list) was the fact that it had been arranged by none other than legendary rock’n’roll reprobate/Zelig Kim Fowley.

Fowley had a long and illustrious history as a facilitator, writer, producer, arranger and performer so varied that Norton Records assembled no less than four volumes of the stuff.

Though I haven’t been able to track down any information on Larry Green and the Rhythmaires, it would appear that the 45 you see before you was recorded and released in 1962.

While it lacks the incendiary guitar slinging of Bobby Parker’s original, it more than makes up for it with a certain drunken, wild joie de vive, opening with bass drum and bass guitar (the record starts off like an old car being push started into gear down a steep hill), and then dominated by electric piano and Larry’s wailing vocals.

Though there was a Larry Green in the R&B group the Edsels, I have no idea if it’s the maniac (and I mean that in the best way possible) singing on this record.

It’s a killer, and I hope you dig it.

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.

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, 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

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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, May 28, 2015 10:13 am

Miss Mable John

Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time, Same Place

Eddie Jones – Let’s Stop Fooling Ourselves (Fairmount)
Andy Butler – Take Me (TRC)
Mable John – Same Time Same Place (Stax)
Steve Colt and the 45s – So far Away (RCA)
Vanguards – Somebody Please (Whiz)
Invincibles – Heart Full of Love(WB)
Tyrone Davis – Knock On Wood (Dakar)
Barbara Perry – Unlovable (Goldwax)
Ike and Tina Turner – Too Many Ties That Bind (Minit)
Carl Hall – You Don’t Know Nothing About Love (Loma)
Gloria Jones – When He Touches Me (Minit)
Soul Brothers Six – Somebody Else Is Loving My Baby (Atlantic)
Jackie Verdell – I’m Your Girl (Decca)
Grover Mitchell with St John and the Cardinals – Sweeter As the Days Go By (Josie)
Homer Banks – Lady of Stone (Minit)
Johnny and the Expressions – Something I Want To Tell You (Josie)
McKinley Travis – Baby Is There Something On Your Mind (Soultown)
Soul Clan – That’s How I Feel (Atlantic)
Walter Scott and the Kapers – I Want To Thank You (Ivanhoe)
William Bell – You Don’t Miss Your Water (Stax)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time Same Place 110MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is this week’s episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come 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.

Also, the 2015 Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive is approaching rapidly. There’s a grip of outstanding mixes ready to roll, so watch this space for details!

Speaking of original vinyl, the flow of it into the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault has continued unabated, and inside that tidal wave of wax has been a goodly amount of those classic soul ballads.

As a collector/appreciator, I came to the world of ballads fairly late in the game, but I hve been making up for lost time.

So prodigious has been the accumulation, that I felt the time was right for a new ballad mix, so here it is.

There is a lot of southern soul in here, but also a couple of stylish west coast items, with stops in Chicago and Philadelphia as well.

As they say on the streets, ‘It’s all good’, but there are some highlights that bear mentioning.

You have to check out Andy Butler’s very groovy take on Bobby Womack’s ‘Take Me’, hardcore honky Steve Colt’s old-school JB-isms in ‘So Far Away’, the lo-fi, gospel-inflected perfection of the Invincibles’ ‘Heart Full of Love’, Ike and Tina bringing it on the b-side with ‘Too Many Ties That Bind’, Carl Hall’s epic ‘You Don’t Know Nothing About Love’, Gloria Jones covering Rodge Martin’s ‘When He Touches Me’, the mighty Soul Clan and ‘That’s How I Feel’ and reliably genius contributions from Mable John, Homer Banks, the Soul Brothers Six, Grover Mitchell, William Bell and many more.

What you get here is ‘Funky16Corners Presents: Same Time, Same Place’, an hour of the finest soulful pleading, shouting and wailing, reaching back into the amen corner, and out into heartbreak alley.

I’ve been spinning this one non-stop since putting it together, so you know it’ll be good.

I hope you dig it (spread the word), 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, May 26, 2015 12:26 pm

Erma Franklin

Listen/Download – Erma Franklin – Change My Thoughts From You

Greetings all.

Erma Franklin is definitely among the ranks of soul singers that ought to have been much better known, and probably would have been were she not overshadowed by her sister Aretha.

Franklin had a formidable discography of her own, having recorded a string of singles for Epic in the early 60s, but having her biggest success working with Jerry Ragovoy at Shout, where she hit with ‘Piece of my Heart’ in 1966.

After she left Shout in 1968, Franklin recorded an excellent string of 45s (and an LP) for Brunswick.

‘Change My Thoughts From You’ was the b-side of her only other hit, 1969’s ‘Gotta Find Me a Lover (24 Hours a Day)’, which grazed the R&B Top 40 that spring.

Written by Gary Jackson (who co-wrote ‘(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher’ for Jackie Wilson), Carl Davis and Nate Smith, and produced by Davis and Eugene Record, ‘Change My Thoughts From You’ is a great bit of melodic, ever so slightly funky Chitown soul.

Opening with ringing piano chords, followed by crisp drums (dig that big, fat kick drum!) and a very cool bass line, the song moves along at a brisk enough pace for the dancers.

There’s a little bit of crackle at the beginning of this one, but if you take a look at the label (a very cool dealer included this 45 as a freebie with another record) it’s a miracle that it plays at all.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll 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.

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, May 24, 2015 11:30 am

On Top Records head honcho Calvin Carter

Greetings all.

I thought that since Spring has finally sprung, we ought to start the week with some stylish, sweet, Chicago soul.

It bears mentioning that I first heard ‘Wait a Minute’ by the Newday on a Gap commercial.

Yes, you read that right.

I was watching TV, and all of a sudden my ears perked up when I heard a very groovy tune flowing from the box.

I headed right over to the Google machine, where it was soon revealed to me that the song in question was ‘Wait a Minute’ by the Newday, and that it found its way into a Gap ad via a recent reissue by the good folks in the Numero Group.

The record was initially released in 1972 on the short-lived On Top label. On Top was started by Calvin Carter (one of the founders of the Vee Jay label) and its brief discography includes releases by the Newday, and none other than Bobby Rush.

‘Wait a Minute’ features a wonderful arrangement by Tom Tom, aka Tom Washington, the Chicago arranger responsible for such incredible records as ‘Get On Up’ by the Esquires, ‘In My Body’s House’ by Gene Chandler, ‘Shing A Ling’ by Cicero Blake, and ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time’ by Tyrone Davis.

Though I haven’t been able to find any information on the Newday (this appears to have been their only 45), ‘Wait a Minute’ is a wonderful performance, with dueling tenor and falsetto vocals, and fantastic, slightly funky band.

One can only imagine how successful this record might have been if released/pushed by a major label.

Instead, it languished in obscurity for over 30 years, and now it’s being used to sell jeans.

Crazy world we live in.

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.

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, May 21, 2015 12:46 pm

R. Dean Taylor

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, so I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits 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 through the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Don’t forget, the Funky16Corners 2015 Allnighter/Pledge Drive is coming up soon. The mixes have started rolling in, including some by some old faves, as well as a couple of stellar new contributors. Watch this space for details!

Today’s selection is one of those records that I could have sworn was featured here some time in the past 10 years, yet when I bucked down and did a search I discovered that aside from a few mix appearances, it had never gotten the spotlight.

Time to remedy that…

R. Dean Taylor was a Canadian-born singer/songwriter who had a few 45s under his belt when he signed on with Motown as a staff songwriter (and occasional recording artist) in 1964.

Over the next eight years he wrote for Motown (co-writing ‘Love Child’ for the Supremes, among other songs) and recorded for the subsidiaries VIP and Rare Earth.

He is best known for his 1970 pop hit ‘Indiana Wants Me’, yet hardcore soul fans will always swear by today’s selection, the 1966 classic ‘There’s a Ghost In My House’.

Co-written by Taylor with the Holland/Dozier/Holland juggernaut, ‘There’s a Ghost In My House’ is one of those Motown sides that should have been huge (imagine if it had been done by the Four Tops), but ended up getting lost in the shuffle.

Propelled by a powerful fuzz guitar lead, and a solid rhythm section (listen to that bass drum!), ‘There’s a Ghost In My House’ is a dance floor killer.

Though it didn’t hit here in the States, it became an in demand side in UK soul clubs, eventually becoming such a Northern Soul favorite that when it was reissued in the UK in 1974 it reached the Top 5 on the Pop charts!

It has long been a favorite of mine, and I can recall the day I finally found a copy (along with a grip of heavy Northern Soul 45s) digging in Philly about 15 years ago.

It is a staple in my play box, and still kind of sends a shiver up my spine when it starts playing.

I hope you dig it, too, 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, May 19, 2015 12:30 pm

Eldridge Holmes

Greetings all.

I come to you in the middle of the week to offer up one of my personal white whales, just recently reeled in.

If you follow the goings on here at the blog or the radio show, you know that the mighty Eldridge Holmes occupies a very special place in my heart.

Holmes was – during the 1960s – one of the truly great vocalists working with Allen Toussaint down in New Orleans, yet here, years after his death he remains every bit as obscure as he was prodigiously talented.

I was lucky enough to track down every one of his 45s years ago, save the one you see before you today.

The fifth and last 45 he recorded with Toussaint at ALON, ‘Emperor Jones’ b/w ‘A Time For Everything’ is one of the finest 45s in his catalog, and by far the rarest. Though it has never been incredibly expensive, it is exceedingly scarce, rarely showing up on Ebay and subject to competitive bidding whenever it does.

I have watched, bid on and lost this 45 at least a dozen times in the last ten years, hoping against hope that I might find it in the field, yet until recently it remained elusive.

When I finally got my hands on a copy, it had a damaged label (which I really couldn’t care less about, never having needed to play a label), but the grooves were in very decent shape indeed.

‘Emperor Jones’ has always been a fave of mine, not only because it features a stellar vocal by Holmes, but because it stands alongside the Van Dyke’s ‘No Man Is An Island’ as the greatest bit of Chicago-style soul ever waxed in the deep South.

Recorded in 1965, and written by Toussaint under his ‘Naomi Neville’ pseudonym, ‘Emperor Jones’ seems like an invitation to dance (“Do the Emperor Jones”), opening with a drum and horn fanfare, and borrowing its title from a Eugene O’Neill play. The repeated trombone and piano vamp under the verse echoes Major Lance’s ‘Monkey Time’, and the falsetto backing vocals are pure Mayfield.

It is one of Toussaints finest ‘pure’ soul 45s of the 60s, and a record that ought to be better known.

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.