Comments (2)

By Larry, April 17, 2011 11:56 am

Lots more where that came from…

Listen/Download – F16C Soul Club Presents – Get It (Come and Get It) 118MB/256K Mixed MP3

Laura Lee – I Need It As Bad As You (Invictus)
Gene West – In the Ghetto (Original Sound)
Marva Whitney – This Girl’s In Love With You (King)
Kenny Smith – Go For Yourself (RCA)
Ohio Players – Find Someone To Love (Capitol)
Common Pleas – The Funky Judge (Crimson)
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend (Capitol)
Jesse Hill – Mardi Gras (Pulsar)
Gunga Din – Crab Cakes (Valise)
Billy LaMont – Sweet Thing (20th Cent Fox)
Young Holt Unltd – Who’s Making Love (Brunswick)
Winfield Parker – Starvin (Spring)
James Brown – There Was a Time (King)
Senor Soul – Don’t Lay Your Funky Trip On Me (Whiz)
Howlin’ Wolf – Pop It To Me (Chess)
Wayne Logiudice – Ow Boogaloo (Philips)
Jay Dee Bryant – Get It (Come and Get It) (Enjoy)
Gene Dozier and the Brotherhood – Testify (Minit)
Jo Armstead – I’ve Been Turned On (Giant)
Syl Johnson – Dresses Too Short (Twinight)
Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl (Kent)
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul (King)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling (Fairmount)
Lavell Hardy – Don’t Lose Your Groove (Rojac)

Greetings all.

I have to get things started by letting you know what an absolute, stone gas my stint at the Subway Soul Club was this past Saturday night.

I’ve gone on in this space many times about how spinning soul music is a blast, but doing it for a room full of enthusiastic dancers really takes things to the next level. Despite the fact that we were in the midst of an impromptu monsoon (which made motoring out to Brooklyn a major undertaking) the room at Public Assembly filled up fast and quicker than you can say Wigan Casino the dance floor was slamming.

Both Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Lady Dawn were spectacular hosts, and the other guest DJs, Miss Evon and PJ Lozito (Connie T Empress had to bow out due to the inclement weather) both brought the heat and things were cooking for several hours straight.

I had an amazing time, got to spin the Northern Soul I love so much and got lots of great feedback from the crowd.

I managed to get most of my sets recorded, so sometime next week I’ll post at least one of them, as well as some pics from the night.

Subway Soul Club will return in May, and will then be taking the summer off, so if you’re close enough to make the scene, you should do so.

Now, welcome to Funky16Corners Spring Break!

No bikini girls or beer bongs, just an hour of funk 45s to hold you all until I return to the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Blogcasting Nerve Center.

As mentioned previously, the fam and I will be vacating for a few days, at the end of which I will be spinning funk and soul 45s for two nights in western Massachusetts.

Friday 4/22 I’ll be joining DJ Andujar and Studebaker Hawk for Sweet Exorcist @ the People’s Pint in Greenfield, MA. I’ll be bringing funk, latin and maybe even some reggae to help keep things hot.

The following night, Saturday 4/23, I’ll be joining DJ Cashman and Snack Attack at Wooly Bully @ the Basement in Northampton, MA for funk and soul on 45. I might bring a little Northern Soul with me this time.

If you’re in the area it would be very cool if you could drop by. I hear on very good authority that these are both smoking parties, and I will be packing nothing but heat in the record box, so a good time is guaranteed for all.

That said, what I bring you today is the first set from my latest appearance at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. This time out I spun all manner of funk and funky soul. I recorded the whole night, but the second set had some crossover with the last sets I posted, and the tonearm got jostled in the third set, so I’ll just file those away in the archive for a later date.
There are a fair number of classics, plus a grip of stuff that I haven’t played out in years, so hopefully you’ll all be able to find something grooveworthy within.

Don’t forget to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio this Friday night at 9PM. It’s the one year anniversary of the transformation from a glorified playlist into something that sounds like a radio show and it’s packed with good stuff.
The episode may not get posted at the blog until I get home, but there are close to 50 episodes archived there already, so lots to listen to.

Dig it all, and I’ll be back next week with tales of my travels, some new live sets recorded for the blog (hopefully) and maybe even some new records.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 31, 2011 10:45 am

Oh, yes…

Listen/Download – F16C Soul Club Presents – Spindletop A-Go-Go 71MB/256K Mixed MP3

Brothers Two – Boogaloo Soul Party (Crimson)
Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)
Barbara Lynn – Club A Go Go (Tribe)
Norman T Washington – Jumping Jack Flash (Pama)
Eyes of Blue – Heart Trouble (Deram)
Lil Bob and the Lollipops – I Got Loaded (La Louisianne)
Wayne Cochran – Goin’ back to Miami (Mercury)
Chet Poison Ivey and His Fabulous Avengers – Shake a Poo Poo (TRC)
Willie Tell and the Overtures – Soul Ranger (Chess)
Interpretations – Snap Out (Bell)
Syl Johnson – Different Strokes (Twilight)
Mad Men – African Twist Pt1 (Gamble)
Sir Lattimore Brown – Shake and Vibrate (SS7)
Georgie Woods – Potato Salad Pt1 (Fat Back)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Shotgun Man (Smash)
Jeanne & the Darlings – Soul Girl (Volt)

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and as is almost always the case, so is the end of my patience/energy.

This has been a very busy week, blog-o-rifically and lifewise, and sometimes it seems that the challenges just keep on coming, like lining up outside my door like I’m handing out hundred dollar bills and grilled cheese sandwiches, and then going around the back so they can get in line again to kick me in the ass.

Not everything is bad, since it looks like April is going to be a very busy month DJ-wise, but as always, it’s just a matter of getting all of my psychotic ducks in a row.

When I get all the gig details ironed out, I will make announcements in this space.

That said, it’s time again to remind you all that if you are not otherwise occupied Friday night at 9PM, you should roll on up to the intertubes and grab you some Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio. I always endeavor to bring you the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all culled from vinyl, all engineered for your listening pleasure. If you can’t be there at broadcast time, you can always pick up the shows in MP3 form over the weekend here at the blog.

As promised, I’m posting the second live set from last week’s Spindletop @ Botanica. This time you get more of the partying grooves, including one of my faves by an artist who was taken from us unexpectedly last week, the mighty Sir Lattimore Brown.

There’s all kinds of groovy stuff in the mix, all good’n’greasy enough to get the laziest SOB up off their butt and out onto the floor.

Speaking of getting out on the floor, I’ve been hard (and I do mean hard) at work this week cooking up a very tasty mix that will most definitely loosen up your wig and heat up your shorts. I will be dropping it on Monday, so make sure you have lots of ice, potato chips and several varieties of potent spirits, ‘cuz you’re going to need them.

That said, enjoy the sounds, have yourself a groovy weekend and I’ll be back on Monday with more of the stuff you love.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (9)

By Larry, March 27, 2011 1:48 pm

Miss Della Reese

Listen/Download – Della Reese – It Was a Very Good Year

Greetings all.

How’s by you?

All is as well as can be expected on my end of the interwebs.

The weekend was relatively uneventful, and despite anything the calendar says, Spring has yet to arrive in any real way.

I should mention that I have a couple of very groovy DJ gigs in the pipe, details to follow soon.

I’m not going to be able to make it to the Allentown 45 show this year, but I don’t really mind.

The vinyl gods have been good to me these last few months, bringing in all manner of cool stuff, including a couple of longtime white whales, as well as a bunch of low priced, but uniformly excellent groovers.

I’ve also been edging up to the second big push in the reorganization of the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcasting Nerve Center, which always yields cool stuff from deep in the crates that had been unjustly neglected.

I just dug out a groovy Northern 45 last week that I had either forgotten about – or more likely – had not listened to closely the first time I found it. I like when stuff like that happens.

The tune I bring you today is one of the aforementioned white whales, which I chased like Ahab for a long time before finally landing it late last year.

When you mention the name Della Reese to folks, the reaction you get depends on generational variables.

Folks my parent’s age remember her career as a pop/jazz vocalist that produced a couple of big hits in the late 50s.

Younger folks will remember her mainly as a TV actress, on shows like ‘Touched By an Angel’.

Sit down with a couple of hip DJs, and you very well may hear tell of a lesser known, but truly interesting part of her career, when despite a lack of commercial success she managed to make some very soulful, very danceable records.

Back in the early days of the blog (2005) I featured one of these sides, Ms. Reese’s excellent take on Gene McDaniels’ soul jazz epic ‘Compared to What’, recorded for AVCO in 1969.

The tune I bring you today hails from 1966, and like that session was made with jazz trumpeter Bobby Bryant (search the F16C Podcast Archive for some of his groovier tracks) and his band.

The tune ‘It Was a Very Good Year’, was written in 1961 by Ervin Drake. It was originally recorded by the Kingston Trio, but the song will forever be identified with Frank Sinatra, who recorded – and had a hit with the song – in 1966.

The Sinatra version is a doleful lament, sung by an old man looking back on his life.

Della Reese’s version is a radical reworking of the song, both lyrically (she embellishes the verses) and stylistically. Arranged by Bryant, the song is recast as a funky, hard charging cri de coeur, less wistful than the musical equivalent of a fist in the air. Reese sings the song like someone who despite a colorful past, is looking forward to bigger and better things.

Her vocal is powerful, often sounding as if she was testing the limits of the recording equipment.

The band is on fire, with a pumping Hammond and remarkable drums. The recording has a very hot sound, and the snare and kick drum are – next to Della – the loudest things on the record.

This is one of those records that would have languished in obscurity, had it not been revived by DJs on the jazz dance scene in the UK. It has become increasingly popular with funk and soul DJs, and was reissued by the Jazzman label (with a live version on the B-side).

As far as I can tell, this version is not in print on CD and the 45 can be quite expensive, so unless you need one to play out, slip the ones and zeros on your pod-like-thingy and dig.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some late period British Beat.

Comments (4)

By Larry, March 24, 2011 9:31 am

Listen to him Lucy. He know’s what he’s talking about.

Listen/Download – F16C Soul Club Presents – Spindletop New Breed 76MB/256K Mixed MP3

Jimmy Hannah & the Dynamics – Leaving Here (Seafair/Bolo)
Frank Frost – My Back Scratcher (Jewel)
Bobby Powell – Why Am I Treated So Bad (Whit)
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm – The New Breed Pt1 (Sue)
Richard Berry & the Pharaohs – Louie Louie (Flip)
Roy Thompson – Sookie Sookie (Okeh)
Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Shurfine)
Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step (V Tone)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling Pt1 (Fairmount)
Roger & the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
Scatman Crothers – Golly! Zonk! It’s Scatman (HBR)
Derek Martin – Daddy Rollin’ Stone (Crackerjack)
King Coleman – Boo Boo Song Pt2 (King)
Billy Preston – Let the Music Play (Capitol)
Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Chess)
Dottie Cambridge – He’s About a Mover (MGM)
Freddie Scott – Pow City! (Marlin)

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and I am in dire need of some form of stress relief, whether it’s extended, uninterrupted sleep, intoxication of some sort or just deep, silent meditation.

It’s not that this week has been extraordinarily rough, ‘cause it hasn’t, but rather some combination of not enough sleep (DJ-ing two hours away on a Monday night will do that), a cold (and/or the onset of seasonal allergies) and the normal slate of irritants, have all combined to do a number on my head.

That said, I’m going to take a tip from the Sims Twins and let a little soul music ‘Soothe Me’.

First, I’ll remind you that this Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to Viva Radio with another hour of the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all straight from my crates to your ears. As always you can either tune in on the interwebs, or come by here over the weekend to pick up the show in its easy to use MP3 form. Either way, the sounds are equally excellent.

I had a gas on Monday spinning at Spindletop, and managed once again to capture the goings on with my handheld digital recorder, so that I might share some of it with you good folks.

I went through the musical fruits (no beans…) of the evening and carved out two sets of grooves, one of which I’ll whip on you today, the second which I’ll drop at the end of next week.

This time out I dipped into the crates and whipped out the best in hard-charging, soul party action, from gritty R&B, tough dance floor soul, right on to early funk.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, that one of the prime reasons I love to DJ in a bar or club is the opportunity to hear really amazing records pumping out of a great big set of speakers. You can set the Mighty Hannibal loose in your earbuds, but it’s just not as cool as hearing him unwind his turban with ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ shaking a room full of people like a minor earthquake.

Every single one of the records in these mixes is perfect for such an environment. I’d go as far as to say that gathered together like this, they might be too powerful for a Friday or Saturday, yet pack just enough musical TNT to set things off on a Monday.

If I was you, I’d pull down the ones and zeros, hit the liquor store, invite over some friends, roll back the carpet and turn up the stereo and do like Mr. Waiters says:

Jump back honey and let the New Breed by!

See you on Monday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

Comments (3)

By Larry, March 22, 2011 11:10 am

Melvin Sparks 1946 – 2011

Listen/Download – Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt1

Listen/Download -Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt2

Greetings all.

I had an excellent time spinning soul 45s last night at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. Once again my man Perry Lane was the host with the most, and some cool people (including my brother) came by to join in the fun. I recorded my sets again, and will be posting one of them on Friday, so stay tuned for that.

Late last week I heard via the Facebook grapevine that the mighty Melvin Sparks had passed, just short of his 65th birthday. The news was confirmed later that day.

If you’re a hardcore soul jazz fiend (like me) especially someone who really digs Hammond sounds, then his name looms large.

Born and raised in Texas, Sparks went on to be the go-to guitarist on late 60s/early 70s Prestige (and Blue Note) dates, working with heavies like Leon Spencer, Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Reuben Wilson, Rusty Bryant, Lou Donaldson, Caesar Frazier, Jack McDuff, Charles Kynard and Sonny Phillips among many others.

If you recognize a lot of organists in that list, it’s a testament to the fact that Sparks was a treasured sideman for the Hammond set, laying his licks deep inside the groove in a career that lasted more than 40 years.

Sparks also recorded a number of sought after albums as a leader for labels like Prestige, Eastbound/Westbound and Muse.
The 45 I bring you today (both extremely tasty sides) is his reading of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ (truncated here to just ‘Thank You’). It was recorded in 1970 with a tight group that included Idris Muhammad on drums, Leon Spencer on the organ (you really get to hear him cut loose on Pt2) and Virgil Jones and John Manning on horns.

Sparks’ style was economical, soulful and right in the groove. Listen to his sustain at the end of the verse phrases, and the way he builds complexity gradually, never flashy, but always solid.

Part one sees Sparks soloing, with Spencer comping in the background, the two masters switching places in part two.

It’s a fantastic example of the Prestige jazz funk sound, and an all-around great 45 with which to groove.

Melvin Sparks was a giant and he will be missed.

See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

Comments (3)

By Larry, March 17, 2011 1:11 pm

The Ohio Players

Listen/Download -Ohio Players – Find Someone To Love

Greetings all.

I hope you’re all ready to shed the week and slip on into the weekend.

Before we wrap things up, I’d like to remind you that I’ll be back in NYC spinning the 45s with soul this coming Monday at Spindletop @ Botanica. It’s a very groovy scene and I assure that I only bring 100% USDA certified soul 45s, guaranteed to move your feet, and under the proper circumstances, strengthen your pimp hand.

You should also tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio, this Friday night at 9PM for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from vinyl sources. As always, if you are otherwise occupied at the time of broadcast, you can always fall by the blog over the weekend and pick up the show in convenient MP3 form.

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

Now, about the funk…

The tune I bring you today is a bit of instrumental genius from the early days of the mighty Ohio Players.

With a lineage that goes back to 1959 (when the group came together as the Ohio Untouchables), on into their mid-decade rebirth as the Ohio Players, after which they worked in New York as the house band for Compass Records (releasing two singles for the label in 1967 and 1968).

They were working with producer Johnny Brantley’s Vidalia productions when they hooked up (for one album) with Capitol Records.

The tune I bring you today comes from that partnership.

Interestingly, their recording from this period, for both Compass and Capitol had been recirculated on the exploit/ripoff label Trip/Upfront as the album ‘First Impressions’, which is where I first heard ‘Find Someone To Love’. Their Capitol LP, ‘Observations In Time’ isn’t incredibly rare, or expensive (copies go for between 40 and 100 bucks) but it doesn’t show up that often.

The group’s vocal material from this period has always reminded me of the Parliaments stuff from the mid-60s, with a slightly more raucous edge.

‘Find Someone To Love’ features Sugarfoot Bonner’s wobbly, deeply funky guitar prominently, as well as hard hitting drums, droning organ and the band’s horn section. It’s a much deeper, grittier groove than the flashy, fonky stuff they’d hit the charts with a few years later.

Not exactly the Love Rollercoaster, more like the funhouse on the way there.

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

See you on Monday (either here or in NYC).

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some insane surf instros.

Comments (8)

By Larry, March 8, 2011 12:32 pm

Dixie Cups (above) and Billy Vera (below)

Listen/Download – Dixie Cups – Two-Way-Poc-A-Way

Listen/Download – Billy Vera – Big Chief (Tu-Way Poca-Way)

NOTE: After you’re done reading, make sure to check out the comments for additional information on the roots of these songs.

Greetings all.

Here’s yet another unscheduled post, brought on by some deep thinking, spawned by a lack of same on my part, but ultimately remedied (at least I think so, but you’ll have to decide for yourself).

When I posted Billy Vera’s ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’ yesterday, preceded by a few weeks by the Dixie Cups record of the almost identical title, ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’, it didn’t occur to me to think anything other than that both songs were drawing water from the same well, i.e. Mardi Gras Indian tradition.

The Indian Tribes are a New Orleans-based African American tradition that goes back to the mid-19th century, likely born out of the shared minority experience of blacks and native Americans.

The celebrations by these tribes are centered around several holidays climaxing with Mardi Gras, the final day of celebration prior to the Christian feast of Lent (which itself ends with Easter).

The tribes dress in fantastically ornate feathered costumes and parade through the city, doing symbolic battle for primacy.
If you are a big fan of New Orleans music, you have certainly heard, through countless versions of ‘Iko Iko’ (itself based on Sugarboy Crawford’s ‘Jock-A-Mo’, a situation that led to legal action which saw Crawford leave without gaining authorship of the later record, yet being given monetary rights to the Dixie Cups recording), as well as tunes like Professor Longhair’s ‘Big Chief’ words and phrases with a direct connection to the Wild Indian tribes, like ‘big chief’ ‘spy boy’ and ‘flag boy’, as well as a wide variety of seemingly meaningless, rhythmic phrases (check out Professor Longhair’s ‘Tipitina’ for a master class in same*).

When the Dixie Cups recorded ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ for ABC in 1965 (following their success with ‘Iko Iko’ on Leiber and Stoller’s Red Bird label) they were working with the same basic material, albeit in a much rawer way.

Billy Vera recorded ‘Big Chief (Tu-Way-Poca-Way)’ in 1974, creating his own bit of Mardi Gras funk, borrowing the main phrase from the Dixie Cups record or, and this is entirely likely considering the obscurity of the Dixie Cups recording, from a separate ‘third party’, i.e. Mardi Gras Indian tradition, or earlier R&B source itself.

When I posted the Vera 45 yesterday, a commenter stated that although he liked the record, it was merely an imitation of the Dixie Cups recording. I also had a brief exchange of e-mails on the subject with the mighty Dan Phillips of  Home of the Groove.

I rolled this around in my head for a little while, and since I was out running errands when the comment came in, bounced back and forth between the two songs on the iPod, which in the car is a huge (and potentially dangerous) pain in the ass.

When I got home, I decided that the only way to get to the bottom (or at least close to the bottom of the situation) was to do my best to transcribe both songs and compare.

I’m not qualified to do this on a melodic level, but I do have enough of an ear to see that the Dixie Cups record is almost melody-free, more of a chant than a song. It has a sui generis feel that is both mysterious and extraordinary, where Vera’s record is straight ahead funk.

Lyrically, my assumption was that any similarities I was hearing were likely the result of, as I said before, both artists pulling phrases from the same tradition, which predated both recordings.

When I finally got both sets of lyrics typed out – and I hope you’ll forgive me if some of the words are incorrect – it would appear that aside from the title (which I can’t trace beyond the Dixie Cups record, which may in itself be a problem with countless spelling and punctuation variables) and a pair of common two-line phrases (placed in italics below), the songs are not the same.

There are certainly several common motifs, i.e. the Big Chief, spyboy (or spy), the second line and the battle fire (all of which appear in Professor Longhair’s ‘Big Chief’, which was itself written by Earl King) , but what you end up with is two songs about the same basic set of events (the meeting of the Indian tribes), which include many similar details.

Whether Vera lifted the repeated phrases (rhyming ‘on the bayou’ and ‘world on fire’ and then ‘tambourines ringing’ and ‘second line singing’) directly from the Dixie Cups record, or if they also arise from a third source that I am unaware of (which is also possible) I do not know.

If any of you do, please let me know and I will make note of it in this piece.

That said, there’s also the question of whether or not Vera, a California native, was engaging in a form of stylistic carpetbagging by drawing so heavily from these sources. If he’d recorded his record in 1966, I might say so, but ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’ was recorded in 1974.

Vera was an R&B/soul vet by this point, already familiar with the sounds of the Crescent City. As I mentioned in the previous piece, he is not only a musician with an almost 50 year long career, but also a historian.

As has been displayed in the space for the last six years (and in the web zine before that) the music and culture of New Orleans is brilliant, very deep, and very, very contagious.

My only visit there was as a teenager almost 35 years ago, but every time I put on a record by Professor Longhair, Eddie Bo, Dr John, the Meters, Huey Piano Smith and the Clowns, Irma Thomas, Eldridge Holmes, Roger and the Gypsies or any of the other NOLA artists that I hold so dear, I feel New Orleans in the room, and I can’t really think of any other American music that transports the listener to a region with as much ease.

I’d like to think that Billy Vera was trying to recreate that feeling when he wrote and recorded ‘Big Chief (Tu Way Poca Way)’.

Either way, he created a great 45.

The Lyrics: Note – I omitted repeated uses of the title since I’m not much of a typist, and I fear I may be approaching my lifetime quota on hyphens.

______________________________________________

Dixie Cups – Two-Way-Poc-A-Way
Early in the morning
Indians coming
Go and get the Big Chief
Big Chief ready
Down on the bayou
World on fire
Lord ain’t he pretty
Talkin’ bout big chief
Talkin’ bout big chief

Spy met a gang now
Spy went the signal
Big chief holla
Spy boy walla
Straight on to me

Go up fast now
Tell everybody
Goin on down
Down town

Spy boy leaving
Big chief holla
Second line follow
Tambourines ringing
Second line singing

Sun goin down
Sun going down
Jump all around now
All fall down
Goin’ on in now
Goin’ on in now

______________________________________________

Billy Vera – Big Chief (Tu-Way-Poca-Way)
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day
Onda wondo wonda day

Big Chief march out to the bayou
Dance around the battle fire
Say at night it can’t be done
Won’t come back ‘til battle is done

Goin on in now
Big chief leaders
Across the river

Where my spyboy Big Chief holla
Goes behind the second line follow
Enemy see your see turn tail
Tribes is fighting tooth and nail

Keep on fighting
Big chief leaders
On the bayou
World on fire

Battle is won we go downtown
Big parade when the sun go down
I want to paint my face turn green
Try to find my voodoo queen

Bayou bayou
World on fire
Big Chief holla
Second line follow
Tambourine ringing
Second line singing
See my queen now
Yours is green

Peace

Larry

*Much of this language has roots in Creole and what is referred to as Mobilian jargon

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

Comments (4)

By Larry, March 6, 2011 3:01 pm

My copy of the 45 (above) and two more variations (below)

Listen/Download – The Touch – Pick and Shovel

Listen/Download – The Touch – Blue On Green

Greetings all.

I hope everyone had themselves an exceptionally groovy weekend.

I just want to take a second to mention that I took some time this weekend to clean up the blogroll. There were a number of blogs that had either gone dark (for a variety of reasons), including a few faves, as well as a number of others that hadn’t had a new post in six months or more. There was also one that appeared to have been compromised with malware, so that got the axe too.

If your blog was taken off in error, i.e. I caught you during a temporary break (I don’t get to go through the whole list all that often), please let me know.

I figured I’d get things started this week with something funky, that’s also a bit of an intriguing mystery record.

I grabbed ‘Pick and Shovel’ by the Touch off of a set sale list a while back, mainly because it’s one of those meat and potatoes funk 45s that always seems to turn up on DJ playlists as well as the various and sundry places where groovy labels get posted for perusal on the interwebs.

Unfortunately the copy I got had the exceptionally dull-looking Atlantic-distributed version of the 45. The original local issue on the Lecasver label is very cool (seen above).

I mentioned intrigue because, though it is omitted on my version of the 45, the OG indicates that LeCasVer (an amalgam of the label owners names, Leanzo, Castellano and Verrico) bears an address in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

There’s also the matter of the creativity-associated names on the labels (the flip is a cover of Booker T and the MGs ‘Blue On Green’), including John Frangipane and Vinnie Corrao.

Both of those gentlemen were NY-area session players, Frangipane on keyboards, and Corrao on guitar.

The tune itself is a wild, off kilter Meters-esque affair with lots of wailing organ, choppy guitar, unusually animated bass and hard hitting drums.

The flip, ‘Blue On Green’ is very faithful to its source material, with Frangipane approximating the Booker T organ sound very well. I actually dig the Touch’s version more than I do the original. It has a warmer, more relaxed feel.

As far as I can tell ‘The Touch’ wasn’t a measurable hit anywhere, but I do know for a fact that there are at least three different pressings of this 45, i.e. the one I have, the one with the groovy lettering, and another one with a dark blue label and very simple lettering, so it was clearly getting around.

I wish I knew more about the band, especially if they (like the label) were NJ-based, and whether or not they were merely a studio project or actually played out.

The world may never know.

However, there’s a fair amount of funk packed into the grooves, so I hope you dig it.

I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

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By Larry, February 15, 2011 3:15 pm

The Dixie Cups on TV = Groovy…

Listen/Download – Dixie Cups – Two-Way-Poc-A-Way

Greetings all.

I don’t know about you, but I unwisely spent my Sunday evening staring at the TV set while the ‘music industry’ took a hot steaming dump.

I understand that ranting about this brings with it the possibility of being branded as old and out of touch, but honest to god, what a lot of shit.

Oh, by the way, I’m talking about the Grammy Awards.

It’s not like this is a new development, because what manifested itself on the screen this week was only the latest incremental step in a decades-long slide to the bottom.

It has been years since popular music ceased worrying about sounding good and began obsessing with spectacle, i.e. how many pyrotechnics, backup dancers and how much postmodern filigree could be wrapped around a song (and I use the term loosely) to keep the saucer-eyed worker ants tossing their hard earned money into the wood chipper, but the blending of the tabloid sensibility with what passes for music these days is scraping the street like a damaged muffler, throwing up sparks and shrapnel while revealing the finely tuned engine of commerce for the loud, greasy beast that it really is.

The really revealing thing is how much of this can be laid at the feet of old-schoolers, who allow their egos to be over-inflated by essentially empty (publicist driven) idolatry from their descendants while phoning it in in the laziest possible way.

There, on the stage next to the current crop of freshly wrapped, forgettable crap (nothing new there, just the latest version of the oily film that has always floated atop the music industry) were folks like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger (who in paying “tribute” to Brother Solomon Burke, got the first line of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ WRONG), Aretha Franklin and Kris Kristofferson (among many others) who really ought to have known better, basically tossing dirt on top of their own caskets.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they were performing something new, of their own creation, but they allow themselves to be wrapped around all manner of contemporary awfulness, like juicy slices of bacon embracing a succession of turds (anti-Rumaki?) , while we all sit by like waterboarding subjects, gasping thankfully for that brief respite from a musical drowning like our torturers are doing us a favor.

Just awful on every conceivable level, ultimately more about the ‘red carpet’, the iconography of crass stupidity and commerce than anything that might be mistaken for art and soul.

Of course I sat there like Statler and/or Waldorf (OG Muppets represent), sneering at my TV set when the off-button was always in reach, which makes me a special brand of rube, but I was also e-commiserating with others of my ilk on the social network that will remain unnamed, so I guess it was a kind of digital anti-focus group, in which we all bonded together in hatred for those that would presume that we were stupid enough to find any of this appetizing, which is where things are in the 21st century (where’s my jet car and Martian vacation home???).

It’s the ultimate manifestation of everything bad about post-modernization (not the conceptual po-mo but what the powers of commerce have done with it).

What we need is something solid with a direct line to the soul, and what you get is Justin Beiber, dancing ninjas with fireworks shooting out of their asses and a “song of the year” (really? Bad year…) largely cribbed from a thirty year old pop song. It’s as if the recording industry, already choking to death on its own spew (and lack of foresight) decided that insulting the intelligence of its audience was a waste of time since there was no longer anything there to be insulted so why not serve up the contents of their dumpster and make believe it’s caviar and lobster?

That said, when I decided I was going to fill this space with gripe, I realized that I couldn’t very well do that without countering the suck with something especially good, representative of the kind of musical kick in the sack required to cleanse the palate in a case like this.

I have my man Dan at the Home of the Groove to thank for turning me on to today’s selection a few years back.

I – like anyone else with a radio or a seat at a wedding – was already aware of the Dixie Cups, with the ‘Chapel of Love’, and ‘People Say’ and that tip of the feathered headdress to their home in the Crescent City ‘Iko Iko’, but when I first heard ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ my hair (and my prominent ears) stood on end, as they should when presented with something so powerful.

Recorded in 1965 after they moved from Red Bird to ABC/Paramount, and produced by none other than Joe Jones, ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ is the Wild Indian chant of ‘Iko Iko’ taken to a whole ‘nother extreme, removed from the pop element and placed firmly in the Mardi Gras parade as if you were cakewalking alongside the Big Chief with a head full of spirits (liquid and deceased).

Not much more than the Dixie Cups and a grip of percussion (more than enough if you ask me) ‘Two-Way-Poc-A-Way’ was – even for 1965 when things were really starting to change – an awfully strange record to toss at AM radio – but that’s one of the many reasons (maybe the main one) why it’s so cool.

I’ve dropped this one at funk 45 fests (and in a previous mix) but I figured that in a situation like this, it deserved to be put up where it might be savored on its own.

Real stuff for an increasingly unreal world.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, February 13, 2011 1:08 pm

Phil Upchurch

Listen/Download – Phil Upchurch – I Don’t Know

Listen/Download – Phil Upchurch – Bacn’ Chips

Greetings all.

I hope the dawn of a new week finds you all well and in a soulful groove.

I spent the better part of the weekend configuring a new workstation after the old (original) Funky16Corners laptop, that I had passed on to the kids, went belly up. Fortunately the transition from Vista to Windows 7 was a lot easier (and much less expensive) that that from XP to Vista, where a lot of the software I use for blogging and podcasts was suddenly rendered obsolete.

As we speak, I have completed the Monday posts for Funky16Corners and Iron Leg, and started work on next week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show, so it appears that we’re up to speed.

I should let you know that next Monday (2/21) I will be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. It’s a very cool bar, and I assure you I’ll be bringing some very groovy records with me, so if you’re in the neighborhood, and feel like a cocktail and some soul might hit the spot, drop by.

The tunes I bring you today hail from the discography of one of the truly great and innovative labels of the 60s, Cadet.

They also come to you courtesy of the plectrum of one of the label’s greatest session musicians, Mr. Phil Upchurch.

If his name is familiar, it may be because he had a genuine hit in 1961, with the Phil Upchurch Combo and ‘You Can’t Sit Down’.

It’s more likely you’ve seen his name on the backs of (and the fronts of some) countless albums, where he contributed his talents on the guitar.

Upchurch was born in Chicago, and it was to that city he returned after his stint in the Army.

If you’re a devotee of the Cadet sound, you’ve heard Upchurch’s playing on productions by both Richard Evans and Charles Stepney (who produced/arranged this session), including albums by the Soulful Strings, Ramsey Lewis, Odell Brown, the Rotary Connection, Jack McDuff and even Woody Herman’s sessions for the label.

Upchurch also had the opportunity to record a few albums of his own for Cadet, including ‘Upchurch’ in 1969, and the album that includes today’s selections ‘The Way I Feel’ in 1970.

The two tracks I bring you today give you a flavor not only for Upchurch’s prodigious skill as a guitarist, but also for the way the Cadet sound synthesized the various and sundry musical threads coursing through the atmosphere at the time.

Both ‘Bac’n Chips’ and ‘I Don’t Know’ are both soulful, occasionally funky, with touches of rock (I hear bits and pieces of Hendrix) as well as the smooth, stylish, even artsy feel of Stepney’s best work.

Like Richard Evans, Stepney was nothing less than a visionary, instilling the records he worked on with imagination and style.

Upchurch would go on to record sought out sessions for Blue Thumb, as well as decades of making the records of other artists better than they might have been.

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some prime UK psyche/prog.

Comments (4)

By Larry, January 11, 2011 3:56 pm

Quincy Jones

Listen/Download – Quincy Jones – Money Runner

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is here, and while I should be exhausted, I am oddly energized. I suspect a serious crash is on the way, but I’m gonna keep plowing ahead until it arrives.

You see, I was out last night spinning 45s at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC and did not arrive home until well past my normal hour for commencement of slumber. However, since I got to spin 45s for nearly three straight hours to a very groovy and appreciative crowd (special thanks to the Funky16Corners readers who came by!) and I had a blast.

Botanica is very cool spot (home base for no less than the mighty Mr Finewine!), and my man Perry Lane has a very cool thing going with Spindletop.

I’ve rattled on in this space a few times about how I like stepping outside of my DJ comfort zone to stretch a little, and last night was the perfect opportunity. Spindletop is all about Hammond grooves and soul/Mod jazz with just a touch of international flavour, and I spent a lot of time and care pulling records and formulating my sets.

The only downer of the night was that we were unable to negotiate a line out of the mixer to my digital recorder, so I was unable to do a live recording. However, as I type this I am spinning the identical stuff and mixing it live here in the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcasting Nerve Center so that you can check it out.

Right now I plan on doing only the early set, which was a mellow affair, which I’ll drop on Friday, along with a full set list of the night (60 45s!).

I’ll be back in NYC on February 4th at After the Laughter Soul Club at Lulus, 113 Franklin St in Greenpoint (Brooklyn) and I’ll be returning to Spindletop February 21st, so if you like what you hear, head on over.

When we last discussed the mighty Quincy Jones, it was almost a year ago and his groovy theme to the Ironside TV show.

The tune I bring you today is another theme, but sees Le Q jumping from the small screen to the silver one.

The tune in question, ‘Money Runner’ appeared in the 1971 film ‘$’ (often listed, for obvious reasons as ‘DOLLAR$’).

‘Money Runner’ was released as a 45 in 1972 and actually hit the charts, working its way into the R&B Top 50 and hovering just outside of the same listing on the Pop side of things.

The only other tune I’ve heard from the soundtrack is Little Richard’s ‘Money Is’*, which is cool, on account of it’s Mr. Penniman, but if you want something funky, ‘Money Runner’ is the way to go.

The soundtrack album features a grip of West Coast jazz/studio cats, but the group also included Billy Preston, Paul Humphrey and David T Walker, so it probably wouldn’t be much of a stretch to attribute some of the funk quotient herein to them.

‘Money Runner’ starts out fast, with what sounds like clavinet and guitar, then electric piano and more guitar (of the wah wah persuasion) before the clavinet moves out in front for most of the song. It sounds like a more aggressive cousin to Isaac Hayes ‘Theme From Shaft’ (especially the guitar interludes), but goes off in an odd and especially interesting direction in the last minute of the record, with a shift in tempo, the addition of an ominous chorus, and eventually a bizarre shattering sound.

The tune was covered later the same year by the John Schroeder Orchestra.

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

Peace

Larry

*There’s another version of this 45 with the Little Richard tune on the A-side

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some cool pop from an unusual, yet familiar source.

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By Larry, January 9, 2011 1:11 pm

Syl Johnson

Listen/Download – Syl Johnson – Different Strokes

Greetings all.

How’s by you?

I had a groovy weekend hanging with the extended family (some of whom had to truck up from South Crackalack for late Christmas) and doing my level best to chill (as opposed to freeze, which is what I’ve been doing lately).

If anyone hasn’t already been hipped to the fact by my constant mentions, I will be spinning many groovy rackords this Monday with the one Perry Lane at Spindletop at Botanica in NYC. If you are in the neighborhood, you really ought to fall by and soak up some of the groove grease. I will be bringing much Hammond goodness, some groovy vibes and some au go go swingers and the vinyl will start to cook at 10PM. I hope to see some of you there.

That said, who feels like getting a good swift kick in the ass?

I have paid tribute to the mighty Syl Johnson in this space a number of times over the years.

He is perhaps the greatest of the cats who started out working the blues and made the passage into soul and funk, and thanks to a swanky – and comprehensive – set by the Numero Group, Mr. Johnson is as they used to say, the man of the hour.

It should go without saying – though you already know I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway – that Syl was badass, never bringing just 100 percent when 200 would do, and that was never more obvious than with today’s selection.

Syl Johnson is very close to the top of the list of soul singers that, whenever I see one of his 45s in the field, if I don’t have it, I grab it, and if I’m not sure (and with someone of my advanced vintage and declining mental capacity, this happens more than I like) I grab it anyway, because there’s just no such thing as too much Syl.

However, as long as I’ve been prowling the crates, I never happened upon a copy of ‘Different Strokes’, and there’s a good reason for that.

Thanks to the age hip hop and turntablism, even if a record is a killer all by its own bad self, should it contain a drum break, loop, ill horn stab or other sample bait, it ends up on the want lists not only of regular old record collectors, but also of beatheads and producers, who hope to emulate those that have found success slicing and dicing before them, or maybe just to say that they pack all the tastiest breaks and beats in their record box (or on their laptop, or whatever).

‘Different Strokes’ is one such record. It is unquestionably what Slim Gaillard would anoint a ‘killer diller’ on it’s own, but since it has been sampled a few dozen times (see the list below*) it is sweated by many, and as a result, it is harder to nail than many other Syl Johnson 45s.

Fortunately for me (and now you all) I was eventually able to scoop up a nice, clean copy, which I will whip on you presently.

‘Different Strokes’ isn’t quite what I’d call pure funk. It is undeniably funky, but it’s really a hard charging bit of high octane sock soul with enough groove to put a dip in your hip. It’s like an angry bear showing up on funk’s front stoop, clawing at the door, but never really busting into the house.

This is not to say that I would for a minute hesitate to drop it during a funk set, on account of if you can’t get your dance on to this record you need a soul transplant (or at least a few more drinks).

That all said, if you were not hip to Syl, you are now, and you should either run out onto the intertubes and score that Numero set, or hunker down into the crates and find you some 45s.

See you all on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

*Songs sampling ‘Different Strokes (from the Breaks.com)
Boogie Down Productions’s “Criminal Minded”
Boss’s “Recipe of a Hoe”
Brand Nubian’s “Try to Do Me”
Compton’s Most Wanted’s “Give it Up”
De la Soul’s “The Magic Number”
DOC’s “Beautiful But Deadly”
Dr. Octagon’s “Bear Witness (Extended Mix)”
EPMD’s “It’s My Thing”
Fear of a Black Hat’s “Fuck the Security Guard”
Ice Cube’s “Robbin’ Hood (Cause It ain’t All Good)”
King T’s “At Your Own Risk”
Kool G Rap’s “F U Man”
Kool G Rap’s “Talk Like Sex”
Kwame’s “Ownlee Eue (Reprise)”
Louise’s “Beautiful Inside”
Michael Jackson’s “Blood on the Dancefloor”
Mr. X & Mr. Z’s “Respect”
NWA’s “Real Niggaz Don’t Die”
Poison Clan’s “Jeri Curl”
Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet”
Rodney O & Joe Cooley’s “Wake up New York”
Scarface’s “Mr. Scarface”
Style’s “The Assassinator”
TLC’s “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg”
Tupac’s “Nuthin’ But Love”
West Coast Rap All Stars’s “We’re All in the Same Gang”
Whodini’s “Funky Beat”
Wu-Tang Clan’s “Shame on a Nigga”
Yomo & Maulkie’s “Mockingbird”
Young Black Teenagers’s “Sweatin’ Me”
Zhigge’s “Toss it Up”

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some cool pop from an unusual, yet familiar source.