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By Larry, April 9, 2015 4:56 pm

Madeline Bell

Listen/Download – Madeline Bell – Picture Me Gone

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, 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, you can also dig the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Madeline Bell is a name that I knew long before I ever owned one of her records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, but long a resident of (and a star in) the UK, Bell has a long history recording under her own name, as the lead singer of Blue Mink, and as a backing singer for a wide variety of performers.

Like Monday’s feature, Marie Knight, Bell got her start as a gospel singer, travelling to the UK as part of a gospel musical called ‘Black Nativity’ in 1962. She remained in the country and by the mid-60s had established herself as a solo vocalist.

Oddly, though I knew of her 1968 recording ‘Picture Me Gone’ as a big mod/Northern fave for a long time, I had no idea that its flipside, a version of ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ was a fairly substantial hit here in the US, making it into the Top 40.

‘Picture Me Gone’, written by Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni, and also recorded by Evie Sands (the original, I think) and Dave Berry, is a fantastic pop soul number with enough push for the dance floor, a wonderful vocal by Bell and some amazing lead guitar.

It has one of those big, booming, anthemic choruses that the Northern crowd digs so much, and bears up quite well to repeat listens.

I hop you 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.

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, April 5, 2015 9:40 am

Marie Knight

Listen/Download – Marie Knight – Cry Me a River

Greetings all.

Welcome to another swinging week here at the Corners.

I have to send out thanks for today’s selection to my friend Mike Schaefer who turned me on to this record a while back.

Though I had a record of hers (a duet with Rex Garvin) I had no idea who Marie Knight was until I heard her epic 1965 version of the old standard ‘Cry Me a River’.

Knight who started out as a gospel singer, touring with Sister Rosetta Tharpe among others, she moved into secular R&B and soul by the end of the 1950s (on the aforementioned ‘Marie and Rex’ 45 ‘I Can’t Sit Down’ which edged into the Pop Top 100).

When Mike posted ‘Cry Me a River’ I was blown away by Knight’s huge, powerful voice, and set out to find myself a copy of the record right away.

What I soon discovered was that Knight also recorded the original version of one of my favorite Manfred Mann records, ‘Come Tomorrow’ for Okeh in 1961. That record – which took a lot longer and a lot more money to bag – will be featured sometime soon.

‘Cry Me a River’, which has been recorded countless times by all kinds of singers, was high on my list of tunes I never really needed to hear again…until I heard Marie Knight sing it.

The arrangement – by Bert Keyes – takes the song at a slow, but powerfully delivered pace, with lots of space for Knight to tear into the lyric.

It majes sense that this record was a Top 40 hit in 1965, because I can’t imagine it making the same impact a year later. It has the kind of sound that just about out the door by mid-decade.

What makes it unique, aside from Knight’s vocal, is the small touches, like the lead guitar that snakes in and out of the arrangement, and the chorus of backup singers that sounds like an actual church choir.

It is a uniquely powerful recording, and a big fave of mine.

I hope you dig it, too.

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, March 31, 2015 11:08 am

Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced

Ahmad Jamal – M*A*S*H Theme
Art Jerry Miller- Finger Lickin’ Good
Odell Brown & The Organizers – The Look Of Love
James Brown- Spinning Wheel
Lena Horne – Rocky Raccoon
Lonnie Smith- Move Your Hand- Part 1
Joe Williams & The Jazz Orchestra – Get Out My Life Woman
Brother Jack McDuff- Theme From The Electric Surfboard
Bobbi Humphrey- Harlem River Drive
Gene Ammons- Jungle Strut
Charlie Earland- Sing a Simple Song
Billy Cobham- Crosswind
Walter Wolfman Washington & Solar System – Good & Juicy
(Bonus Cut) Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans – Tuba Fats & Drums

Listen/Download – Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced 46MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

This is a very fortuitous week indeed, since thanks to a communique from my man Tarik Thornton (veteran of many Funky16Corners pledge drives and guest spots) we have the second brand new mix of the week!

If you have sunk your ears into any of his previous mixes, you know that Tarik has deep crates and excellent taste, and both are on display in ‘Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced’. Here you get just about 40 minutes of very tasty soul jazz and jazz funk, well mixed and served up hot.

I’m digging this one for the second time as I write this, and I think you’ll be giving it repeated plays as well.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back 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, March 29, 2015 11:15 am

Give Everybody Some
Mixed Live by Funky16Corners for This is Funkaholic
Intro
The Bar-kays – Give Everybody Some (Volt)
Artie Christopher – Stoned Soul (Atlantic)
Blue Mitchell – H.N.I.C. Pt1 (Blue Note)
Jomo – Uhuru (Checker)
Ernest Van Treose and the McDaniel Mary Street Band – Medicine Man (RCA)
Cliff Nobles & Co. – The Camel (Phil LA of Soul)
James Brown- Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (LP/Instrumental Mix) (King)
Detroit City Limits – 98 Cents Plus Tax (Okeh)
Ray Pereira – They Say (Columbia Fr.)
Soul Brothers – Horsing Around (Newmiss)
Inez & Charlie Foxx’s Swinging Mocking Band – Speed Ticket (Dynamo)

Listen/Download – F16C for This Is Funkaholic! – Give Everybody Some 67MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Welcome to another swinging week here at the Corners.

I was recently asked by DJ Funkaholic to put together a mix for his This Is Funkaholic! radio show, which airs Saturdays on Radio LeineHertz 106.5 in Hannover, Germany.

‘Give Everybody Some’ is a half hour of tasty, mostly instrumental funk, which aired live this past Saturday (you can listen to the entire show here) . There are a couple of old faves, some things that have appeared here recently, and some groovy new stuff that’ll make it here in the future.

I thought it’d be cool to post it here for those of you that weren’t able to catch it when it aired.

So dig it, and I’ll see you all 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, March 24, 2015 10:57 am

The Sharpees

Greetings all.

One of the great truisms of soul music, is that even though not all roads lead to Chicago, many of the best ones do.

Though over the years I set out to collect regional sounds, especially New Orleans and Philadelphia, later in the game I discovered that when I wasn’t looking, my Chitown crate had swollen considerably.

The groovy thing is, that even taking into consideration the volume of high-quality Chicago soul sides I already know/own, there are tons more, and new stuff I’m discovering all the time.

One of the Chicago groups I came to fairly late in the game is the Sharpees.

Formed in the early 60s as part of Benny Sharp’s revue, the Sharpees, which included (at various times) Stacy Johnson, Herbert Reeves, Benny Sharp, Horise O’Toole and Guy Vernon, laid down a great string of 45s for One-Derful in 1965 and 1966.

Cuts like ‘Do the 45’ , ‘Tired of Being Lonely’ and today’s selection, ‘I’ve Got a Secret’.

The Sharpees had the good fortune to benefit from the songwriting talents of the great Eddie Silvers (of Eddie and the Dehavelons) who wrote or co-wrote several of their best sides.

The group had the benefit of alternating leads, with a raspy baritone competing with a high, stylish tenor, and lots of that classy Chicago soul feel.

‘I’ve Got a Secret’ is a great dancer, which opens with a heavy drum hit, followed by a propulsive bass which is countered by xylophone accents. The lead and the group harmonies are top notch.

The Sharpees 45s are consistently excellent, and since none of them are that expensive (with the Northern fave ‘Tired of Being Lonely’, their biggest hit topping out at around 40 bucks) you have no excuse not to file your own copies.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you 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, March 22, 2015 10:46 am

Lou Johnson

Greetings all.

I hope you all have your Hammond groove pants on.

I first heard Ross Carnegie’s ‘Cool Dad’ (like so many other organ classics) on the legendary ‘Vital Organs’ comp, though it took me something like 15 years before I got around to filing a copy of the OG 45.

Carnegie was a pianist/organist working out of the New York area who is best known (to record collectors, anyway) for a series of self-released 45s he put out between the mid-60s and the late 70s.

‘Cool Dad’ , which I haven’t been able to date exactly, but I’d be willing to bet came out sometime in the mid-to-late 60s, is a hard-charging soul groover, with some especially heavy (and well recorded) drums, pulsing bass, tastefully applied horns, and – of course – Mr Carnegie’s wailing Hammond organ.

The flipside ‘Win. Lose or Draw’ is slightly ‘cooler’, featuring a reapeated figure delivered by the flute and trumpet in unison, before the flute steps out front to solo, followed of course by the Hammond.

Though I’ve seen this 45 billed as funk (I suspect the drums have something to do with that), it really hews closer to classic-era Hammond soul jazz, like Wild Bill Davis’s ‘Breaking Out’ and Hank Marr’s ‘White House Party’, which is a groovy thing since those are two of the finest platters to emit the sound of the organ.

As I mentioned when I wrote up his later ‘Open Up Your Mind’ 45 back in 2010, Carnegie worked as a bandleader,music educator and later became well-known in the area as the pianist in residence at the White Plains location of the Nordstroms department store.

‘Cool Dad’ b/w ‘Win Lose or Draw’ is probably the most expensive of Carnegie’s 45s, running between 40 and 100 bucks, but if you pull down the ones and zeroes and give it a listen, I think you’ll agree that it’s worth every penny.

I hope you dig it, 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, March 19, 2015 11:51 am

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and that means that it’s time to warm up the old radiola and tune in the dulcet tones 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. If you can’t fall by at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

I’m closing out the week with a record that is a very heavy bit of funky business, as well as an old favorite of mine.

Though most seasoned diggers’ hearts would be set aflutter by the sight of the Rojac label, it would likely only boil over into a full-scale infarction if it turned out to be the Third Guitar’s “Baby Don’t Cry’, the most sought-after 45 on the label.

That certainly is a banger, but even a brief look at the Rojac discography will reveal that there is much treasure to be dug therein, including sides by Big Maybelle, Kim Tolliver and the man on today’s selection, Mr Lavell Hardy.

Hardy’s 1967 killer ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ was one of the first really heavy 45s that I was lucky enough to dig up and has remained a steady favorite all these years.

Hardy only ever recorded two 45s (both for Rojac), and seems to have had a level of popularity over in the UK where ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ was picked up and released on the CBS subsidiary, Direction label.

‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ is a stellar bit of early days funk, with some heavy guitar and horns, and a searing Pickett-esque vocal by Hardy. I really dig the bass guitar, and the drums are nice and heavy, up to and including the break at 1:47.

Interestingly, while trying to dig up some info on Hardy, I discovered that the year after ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’, Lavell Hardy was involved in a scheme to take a young singer named Vickie Jones and bring her to Florida

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The article about the hoax/tour (above) and the fake-Aretha, Vickie Jones (below)

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where she was to masquerade as Aretha Franklin on a series of concert dates! Hardy got busted, and according to articles in Jet and a number of newspapers, including one called the Afro-American, Aretha and her lawyers were interested in pressing charges against Hardy (who is decribed more than once as an ‘itinerant hairdresser’, but is also described as “wearing his hair in a beautifully sculptured six-inch bush”).

I haven’t been able to find any information about the ultimate disposition of the case, but it certainly makes for an interesting footnote to the Lavell Hardy story!

I hope you dig the song as much as I do, and I’ll 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 (0)

By Larry, March 15, 2015 11:39 am

Lou Johnson

Greetings all.

Lou Johnson is one of those names that pops up all over the 1960s soul timeline, sometimes in settings that almost make it seem like you’re dealing with different artists.

He first made his mark working with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, recording early versions of ‘Reach Out For Me’ ‘(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me’ and ‘Kentucky Bluebird (Take a Message Martha)’ that would go on to be better known by singers like Dionne Warwick and Sandie Shaw.

He also recorded records that became favorites of the UK soul crowd, including ‘Magic Potion’ and the Northern Soul fave ‘Unsatisfied’.

Unfortunately, despite his fantastically smooth voice, and a wealth of remarkable material, his commercial success was limited, having his last brush with the charts in 1965 with ‘A Time To Love A Time To Cry’.

He had been recording for Big Top/Big Hill since 1962. One of the last things released on him by the labels was a 1966 session with Allen Toussaint, in which Johnson recorded a version of the Bacharach/David classic ‘Walk On By’.

It is a really unsual arrangement of a familiar song, with some decidedly New Orleans piano tossed into the mix. You can really hear Toussaint’s hand in the arrangement and Johnson’s vocal is inspired.

Johnson spent some time recording for Atlantic/Cotillion in the late 60s, but by 1971, he had moved on to Volt.

Volt sent him back to work with Toussaint in New Orleans, where they recorded the LP ‘With You In Mind’ (composed almost entirely by Toussaint).’

‘Frisco Here I Come’ has a nice, funky edge to it, with a long guitar-heavy intro, before the bass comes in to set the rolling tempo. Johnson is joined by female backing singers and a string section in the chorus, and then later on in the tune by a wild sounding organ.

It should have been a hit, but the only trace of radio play I can find is a single appearance on a New Orleans chart from the Spring of 1971.

It would appear that after ‘With You In Mind’, Johnson did not record again, apparently relocating to the West coast and working as a nightclub singer.

You can find a lot of Johnson’s work on iTunes (including ‘With You In Mind’ repackaged/retitled as ‘Crazy About You’).

I hope you dig the tune, 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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 8, 2015 11:05 am

Ike and Tina Turner

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

The record you see before you is yet another testament to the idea that playing the long game, i.e. waiting until the time is right to strike, is essential to bagging the white whales that haunt the record collector’s soul.

Ike and Tina Turner’s version of ‘Dust My Broom’ (first recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937 – though with earlier roots than that – but popularized by Elmore James in 1952) is a very popular 45 on the Northern Soul and mod scenes, and as a result the competition for copies is often fierce. While at its hottest it’s not crazy expensive (running between 60 and 100 dollars), copies get snapped up quickly.

So, I held off for a long time, hoping that I’d find myself a copy in the “real world” (y’know, outside in the sun, where record hounds fear to tread), but this strategy bore no fruit.

Then, one day it pops up on Ebay, looking a little rough, graded a little low, but I knew (and trusted) the seller, so I put in my bid, sat back and waited to be outbid yet again.

Imagine my surprise when the auction ended – with yours truly as the winner – leaving me with what the kids (I don’t know what kids, but humor me…) call an eight-dollar-hollar*!

Eight lowly, wrinkled smackeroos. Ain’t that a bitch?

Ike and Tina’s 1966 version of ‘Dust My Broom’ dispenses with the age-old tempo/structure (just imagine that famous Elmore James guitar vamp) rebuilding the tune on an aggressive 4/4 frame, with Tina and the Ikettes trading lines while the band (including, believe it or not, what sounds like an electric harpsichord!) charging hard behind them.

It’s not hard to understand how this became such a popular dance floor record, even if it met with almost complete
commercial indifference when it was released.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

 * I mean, the label’s a bit rough, but I don’t play the labels, if you know what I mean…

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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, March 5, 2015 2:16 pm

Sweet Inspirations

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so it’s time to remind you 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 through the TuneIn app, or grab yourselves an MP3 here at the blog.

I thought I’d close out the week with a very nice version of one of my favorite songs.

‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ was written by Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples and first recorded by the Staple Singers in 1965 (and then reworked and rerecorded with Larry Williams in a funkier version in 1967).

It became something of soul/gospel standard, being covered by a number of artists over the next few years.

When I was out digging last year I happened upon the 45 you see before you today, by the Sweet Inspirations.

One of the greatest examples of vocalists that were primarily back-up singers moving into the spotlight, the Sweet Inspirations were Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell (sister of Judy Clay) , Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith.

The group found its roots in the Drinkard Singers, one of the more important gospel groups of the late 50s and early 60s.

They recorded as backup singers for a wide variety of soul and R&B singers before getting the chance to record under their own name in 1967.

‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’ was the A-side of their first 45 for Atlantic, and is an interesting link to their gospel roots and the ability of the song to pass back and forth between gospel and popular presentations.

This has everything to do with the singers, and with the fact that Pop Staples constructed a song that was as much a civil rights anthem as it was a gospel song.

The Sweet Inspirations take it at a pace that seems a touch slower than the original, with their voices set against a thumping bass and swampy guitar (a tip of the hat to the OG).

Their version made it into the R&B Top 40 in 1967, with their biggest hit, ‘Sweet Inspiration’ coming the following year.

The group left Atlantic in 1970, but continued to record late into that decade for labels like Stax and Caribou.

I hope you dig the cut, 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 (0)

By Larry, March 3, 2015 2:16 pm

Vicki Anderson

Greetings all.

How about something tasty from the James Brown galaxy of stars to get you over the hump?

I am continually surprised by the amount of James Brown and related records that I don’t know, and I grab pretty much whetever I find in the field on King, I-Dentify, BrownStone, People or Polydor with any of the JB-signifiers (often enough, his smiling face right there on the label).

Such was the case when I found myself a copy of the 45 you see before you, Vicki Anderson’s 1971 ‘I’m Too Tough For Mister Big Stuff (Hot Pants)’.

Here we have a 45 of value to record collector types as an ‘answer’ record (as part of the Jean Knight-originated ‘Big Stuff’ continuum, not to mention the parenthetical “hot pants” tacked on at the end), and to funk 45 heads for the Vicki Anderson content, since she hardly lent her pipes to anything that wasn’t a stone gas.

The tempo is relaxed – as these things go – yet still packs a punch. Written by one of James Brown’s guitar slingers, Hearlon ‘Cheese’ Martin, the song has a kind of odd rhythmic push, especially in regard to the way Anderson delivers the lyric.

You get to hear how ‘James Brown is down and Wilson Pickett is wicked’, as well as how ‘the cats in Watts are cool if you aren’t a fool’, and Vicki, one of the most powerful voices in Brown’s orbit, is on point.

The flipside, ‘Sounds Funky’ (written by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke) is a rocked up instrumental with some heavy guitar and piano.

I hope you dig the song, 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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 1, 2015 12:59 pm

Darondo

Greetings all.

I thought I’d start the week off with something very special indeed.

My deep and abiding appreciation for sweet, harmony soul took a long time to take root. As has been discussed here many times over the years, my soul fandom started out with roots in rough, raucous southern soul, and I still have a decided taste for fast-moving, soul party 45s.

That said, having opened my ears sufficiently, and listened (really, listened) to what was out there, I have come to love soul balladry, and as those things go, there are few better records in the canon than Darondo’s ‘Didn’t I’.

Strangely enough, I remember when Darondo (full name Darondo Pulliam) was rediscovered, partly by Justin Torres, who reported the story as it unfolded on a soul/funk message board I frequented. It was years before I actually heard his music, and when I did, I was blown away.

Darondo (his name is misspelled on the 45) was a San Francisco Bay area performer who recorded three rare 45s in the early 70s, and then kind of fell off the face of the earth until Gilles Peterson revived interest in his music when he started playing ‘Didn’t I’ on his BBC radio show*.

Anyway, a while back I had some filthy lucre burning a hole in my pocket and decided that the time was right to go out and find myself a copy of the ‘Didn’t I’ 45 for my crates. It didn’t take very long, and thanks to a friend who pointed me in the direction of a Bay Area record dealer, I was able to score the disc at a lower than anticipated price (always sweet).

Ultimately, the price was irrelevant, since – as you’ll hear when you pull down the ones and zeroes – this is the kind of record that is worth whatever you have to pay to get it.

‘Didn’t I’ is as remarkable a serving of soul as you’re ever likely to find.

Sublime is an accurate (yet inadequate) word for the artistry packed in the grooves of this 45. Opening with Darondo’s guitar, then joined by bass, it starts off simply, but when joined by his voice and the organ and strings, its many wonders are revealed.

Darondo moves back and forth between a falsetto, and an Al Green-like growl, and his delivery is in turns raw and exceptionally beautiful.

‘Didn’t I’ is proof, once again, that high quality is no guarantee of success. Here we have a remarkably well written song, and well made record, that repeatedly surprises and delights as it unfolds, yet was met by commercial indifference.

I have often written about how – at least in my approximation – a great record is like a journey in which all of the right turns are taken at the right time, moving the traveller in the right direction. Here, Darondo navigates the various sections of the song, and more than once manages to emerge in extraordinary places.

One of these comes at 1:50, when the title is repeated, backed by pulsing organ and strings. It’s a musical moment capable of moving me to tears with its beauty.

The flipside, ‘Listen to My Song’ is also great, especially the interplay between the eerie sounding organ and the acoustic piano. It reminds me of the kind of thing Lou Bond was doing in Memphis around the same time.

Fortunately, you don’t need to drop the big bucks to dig the sounds of Darondo. You can find his stuff on CD, or pick it up via iTunes.

Sadly, Darondo passed away in 2013.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Ironically, it wasn’t until recently that I made the connection and realized that I already knew one of Darondo’s other 45s, the funky ‘Let My People Go’, after hearing it on the Sound of Funk Vol 2’ back in the 90s.

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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.