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By Larry, June 5, 2012 5:13 pm

Johnny Williams

Listen/Download Johnny Williams – Slow Motion Pt1

Greetings all.

Now here’s an odd one (not the record, but the story).

A while back one of my Facebook friends posted a Soul Train clip to illustrate a dance step, and after that part of the clip, Don Cornelius introduced another song.

It’s a good thing I stuck around for the tune (and that Don mentioned the name of the singer) because it was very cool indeed.

The singer was Johnny Williams, and the song was the cut I bring you today, ‘Slow Motion’.

This is another great example of how a song can graze the R&B Top 10, but not really make any noise at all on the Pop side of things.

When ‘Slow Motion’ hit in 1972 I was listening to the radio – at least the AM side of the dial – quite a bit, but when I heard the song in the aforementioned clip, I had no recollection of it whatsoever.

My first instinct was that this funky gem was a southern soul cut, but the tiniest bit of research revealed that the song had been written and produced by Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia!

I haven’t been able to find much info on Johnny Williams, other than that he recorded for a couple of labels (Chess, Cub, Twinight) before making it to Philadelphia International.

The Billboard R&B chart book mentions that he moved from his native Alabama to Chicago in the mid-50s and sang gospel, but not much else.

‘Slow Motion’ opens with some heavy drums and a soulful grunt from Johnny, before the band kicks in. The smooth electric piano underpinning and the stylish horns are the only hints that this might be a Gamble/Huff jawn.

Though Williams recorded a few more sides for PI, he failed to hit the charts again, and passed away in 1986.

‘Slow Motion’ is included in the recent boxed set of Tom Moulton/Philadelphia International remixes.

I hope you dig the cut and I’ll see you on Friday.

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.

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).

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.

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By Larry, June 3, 2012 11:50 am

Leroy Hutson and a ladyfriend in 1973

Listen/Download Sugar and Spice – Ah Hah Yeah

Greetings all.

The preparations for the Funky16Corners 2012 Pledge Drive/Allnighter are coming together nicely with some very groovy mixes on tap. Things should get rolling in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more details.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up on a hunch while out digging.

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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.

___________________________________________________________________________

I’d never heard of Sugar and Spice or the song ‘Ah Hah Yeah’, but a certain name on the label piqued my curiosity, so I grabbed it and took it home.

When I got to Googling it turned out that my hunch was correct, and the the arranger ‘L. Hutson’ was singer Leroy Hutson, who also happened to be a member of the group.

If the name Leroy Hutson is familiar to you, it may be because he was the man who replaced Curtis Mayfield in the Impressions in 1971.

He also went on to a solo career through the 70s and 80s, hitting the R&B charts a dozen times between 1973 and 1979 while on the Curtom label.

Hutson grew up in NJ, eventually attending Howard University in Washington, DC where he met (and roomed with) none other than Donny Hathaway.

He followed Hathaway to Chicago where they recorded as members of the Mayfield Singers.

Hutson was joined in Sugar and Spice by singer Deborah Rollins, with whom he recorded ‘Ah Hah Yeah’ in 1968 for the Kapp label.

The tune is a very tasty slice of funky soul, with a great opening bass line, some tight drums and great duet harmonies from Hutson and Rollins.

The producers credit for Guy Draper leads me to believe that this is a Chicago 45.

I haven’t heard any of the other Sugar and Spice 45s but I will be on the lookout for them.

I hope you dig the tune and I’ll be back later in the week.

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, May 29, 2012 2:12 pm

Send Me Some Cornbread!

Listen/Download Russell Evans and the Nite Hawks – Send Me Some Cornbread

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is upon us and since it’s sunny and hot outside I thought I’d toss something greasy on the grill.

I first heard ‘Send Me Some Cornbread’ a while back when one of my many DJ friends posted a Youtube clip online.

It was another one of those “where has this record been and where can I get me one” things and though it took me a couple of months to put my mitts on a copy that was both playable and cheap, I finally did, so here it is.

There’s just this one thing…that being, no matter how hard I try, I cannot unearth a speck of info on this record, other than when it was released.

Interestingly, the sole 45 by Russell Evans and the Nite Hawks was released both in the US (the Atco copy you see here) and in the UK on Atlantic in the summer of 1966.

‘Send Me Some Cornbread’ is a soulful good time, with some fantastic gut bucket guitar, organ and a slightly wild chorus chanting the word ‘cornbread’ over and over again (much to my delight, I might add).

The flip, ‘The Bold’ is a tasty organ instro that will soon appear in an upcoming mix.

There are plenty of listing on the interwebs for this record, but little else to explain how someone capable of making such a groovy record could fade so deeply into the void.

I can’t find any trace of this record in Atlantic Records sessionographies,which suggests to me that it was picked up whole and issued by Atlantic/Atco from another source, but that’s just an educated guess.

The lyrics mention New York City, but that could signify nothing at all. If anyone has any info on Mr Evans and/or his Nite Hawks, please let me know.

That all said, ‘Send Me Some Cornbread’ is the kind of record that I absolutely live for, and I only wish there were more.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, and I’ll see you on Friday.

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, May 27, 2012 4:05 pm

Bobby Womack

Listen/Download Bobby Womack – Simple Man

Listen/Download Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

If you are a longtime follower of the Funky16Corners blog, you’ll already know that this time of year usually brings our Pledge Drive, complete with a grip of new mixes.

If you know that, you’re also probably familiar with the difficulties here at the Funky16Corners compound.

This has been an especially trying year, with all kinds of challenges related to my wife’s treatment, as well as all the logistical issues that come with it.

I’m here to tell you that things are on track, and summer is nigh, so the Funky16Corners Pledge Drive will be happening (if a bit later than usual)  this year.

The mix requests have been sent out (some positive replies have already arrived) and I have a very groovy premium in the works, so stay tuned over the next few weeks for updates in that regard.

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The last few months have seen funk and soul fans on the edge of their seats waiting for news about the health of the mighty Bobby Womack.

The 68 year old singer/songwriter had been diagnosed with what was thought to be colon cancer.

This week he was operated on and the tumor they removed proved to be benign.

We have been best by a seemingly endless string of deaths of soul, funk and disco greats in the past year, and the idea that Bobby Womack might be next was indeed chilling.

This all made me think that instead of another in memorium, it would be nice to celebrate Mr Womack while he was still with us.

The two cuts I bring you today are both exceptionally cool.

The first, ‘Simple Man’ is one of my favorite cuts from his 1972 album ‘Understanding’, which also yielded his Number One R&B hit ‘Woman’s Gotta Have It’.

‘Simple Man’ is a great slice of funky soul with some fuzzed out guitar, pulsing bass, rolling electric piano (with just a touch of synthesizer) and a very nice vocal by Bobby. If you can get your hands on the album, do so since it is packed with great music.

The second cut – please forgive the scratchy nature of the 45 – is the title cut from the 1973 crime drama ‘Across 110th St’.

Credited to Bobby Womack and Peace, the song, which made it into the R&B Top 20 in 1973 transcends the generally accepted ‘blaxploitation’ sound. It has a funky underpinning and some judiciously applied string flourishes. The album (I don’t have a copy of the whole soundtrack…yet) is split between songs written and performed by Womack and instrumental tracks written by famed jazz trombonist JJ Johnson (both men are credited with this song).

I hope you dig the music, and keep Bobby Womack in your thoughts that he makes a complete recovery.

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, May 24, 2012 1:13 pm

Viola Wills

Listen/Download Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind

Greetings all.

I hope the end of the week finds you all well.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime you can always come by the blog and grab yourself a downloadable MP3 of the show (and more than 100 archived episodes) over the weekend.

The tune I bring you today is something that came as a bit of surprise to me the first time I heard it…sort of.

The first time I heard a disco version of Gordon Lightfoot’s 1971 hit ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ was on the soundtrack to the movie ‘54’. I thought it was very cool and set out in search of the record, only to discover that the version in the film was a re-recording (by Stars on 54) of the original disco-ization of the song.

That version, which you see before you today, was recorded in 1980 by Miss Viola Wills.

The surprising part, at least for me, was that all I ever knew of Viola Wills was her killer, early 70s funk 45 ‘Sweetback’ (which you can hear in Funky16Corners Radio v.6 – Bold Soul Sisters).

I had always assumed that Wills was just another one-shot funk singer and hearing her sing something like this was jarring.

Of course if I’d bothered to do any digging at all I would have soon discovered that Viola Wills had a number of phases in her long career.

She was first discovered in her native LA by Bronco-era Barry White, and recorded several 45s during the 1960s (some of them written and produced by White).

She recorded ‘Sweetback’ in 1971 (Wikipedia says that she performed the song on Soul Train!).

The most successful stage of her career comes during the disco era, when she placed records near the top of the Dance charts a number of times in the late 70s and early 80s, imcluding ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ which hit #2 in 1980.

Wills version of the song, so far removed from it’s acoustic, singer/songwriter origins actually makes for a fantastic disco record.

Despite his folkie origins, Lightfoot was an accomplished pop songwriter, and the melody translates well into Wills’ upbeat, dance floor interpretation.

While it certainly may not be everyone’s cup of disco, I dig it a lot and I hope you do too.

See you next week.

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, May 20, 2012 1:27 pm

Freddie Scott

Listen/Download Freddie Scott – (You) Got What I Need

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your corner of the universe.

I thought  – after what turned out to be an entire week of obituaries – we’d get the new week off to a killer start with a record that I chased for a long time.

There can hardly be a person left on the face of the earth who hears the opening bars of ‘(You) Got What I Need’ and doesn’t immediately think ‘Biz Markie!’

However, there are without a doubt a large portion therein who cannot follow that thought with the name of the original recording artist,  Freddie Scott.

I love playing this record for people whose eyes light up with the opening, and then get even wider when they hear an unfamiliar voice and song follow.

When Biz Markie hit in 1989 with ‘Just a Friend’ it’s hard to imagine that many of his contemporaries (other than the DJs) had any idea at all about the sample source.

Though Freddie Scott had a Top 40 R&B hit with ‘You Got What I Need’ in 1968 (the second to last hit in a chart run that started in 1963 with ‘Hey Girl’), the record did not subsequently find a spot in the rotation of oldies radio. His music was strictly the purvey of soul collectors and members of an older generation when the Diabolical Biz Markie slapped on a powdered wig and let loose.

As groovy as the Biz was (is) the really cool thing is, when you sit down and give the Freddie Scott OG a good listen and realize what a fantastic record it is.

Then you take a look at the label and get your second surprise, that being that ‘You Got What I Need’ was written and produced by none other than the mighty Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff!

Though Gamble and Huff had written and produced a grip of amazing local Philly stuff, when Bert Berns handed Scott over to them they had only had one national hit, 1967’s ‘Expressway To Your Heart’ by the Soul Survivors (the Intruders ‘Cowboys to Girls’ would hit the charts only a few months before ‘You Got What I Need’).

Scott had hit the R&B and Pop charts more than half a dozen times in five years. He had moved from Colpix/Columbia to Shout in 1966.

‘You Got What I Need’ manages to be both tuneful and funky (dig those drums), and a great showcase for both Scott’s voice and Gamble and Huff’s producing/arranging talents.

I’m surprised that the record didn’t make a bigger dent in the charts, but following Bert Berns’ death in late 1967, Freddie Scott would only record one more 45 for the label.

He went on to record briefly for Probe, and then Mainstream, but my the mid-70s had moved on to writing advertising jingles.

He passed on in 2004.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all later in the week.

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, May 13, 2012 2:44 pm

The Mighty Duck

The Law Firm of Jones, Dunn, Cropper and Jackson Esqs

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Sing a Simple Song

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Chicken Pox

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Melting Pot

Greetings all.

I had other plans to start the week (how many times have I typed those words in the last year?) but when I woke up this morning and turned on my phone, the very first thing I saw, while I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes was news of the passing of the mighty Duck Dunn.

Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, the longtime bassist for the legendary Booker T and the MGs died in his sleep while on tour in Japan.

He was 70 years old.

It is at this point that I make a somewhat embarrassing confession (at least as far as soul is considered) that being that the first time Duck Dunn really came onto my radar was as a member of the Blues Brothers.

I was 16 years old when ‘Briefcase Full of Blues’ came out, and like zillions of others my age (and otherwise) I bought the album.

Though I knew who Booker T and the MGs were – ‘Green Onions’ was then, and still is an elemental part of my musical foundation – I had never heard the names of Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper before the Blues Brothers came onto the scene.

That album was the first place my fragile young mind touched base with the sounds (once removed) of Junior Wells, King Floyd, the Chips and a few others. As odd as it may seem, that first Blues Brothers album (I never bought another) was a serious jumping off point for me (as many other unlikely records would also be in the following decades).

What I didn’t know at the time, was that I was already deeply in love with the sound of Booker T and the MGs, via their role as Otis Redding’s band on the Monterey Pop recording.

I didn’t start buying soul 45s until I was in my mid-20s, but when I did I grabbed each and every Stax 45 that popped up in front of me, whether at record shows or at dusty flea markets (there twarn’t no interwebs back then, kids…), and many of them were either by Booker T and the MGs, or featured some or all of them as the backing band.

The decades that followed saw me – like any other self respecting soul fan – picking up Booker T albums wherever I found them.

While their oeuvre was, like every other instrumental band of the era, seasoned liberally with filler, they had more high points (and quite a few Everests) in their catalog than just about any other similar outfit.

The MGs were as tight as they came, with Dunn and uber-drummer Al Jackson creating as deep a pocket as has ever been heard.

The selection of songs I bring you today is by no means comprehensive, but I think you’ll find it quite groovy nonetheless.

There will be no Green Onions served, since Dunn wasn’t yet a member of the group* when it was recorded.

I have included a very tight Sly and the Family Stone cover, and two brilliant tracks from the last album the band did together.

Their cover of Sly’s ‘Sing a Simple Song’ comes from their 1969 LP ‘The Booker T Set’ and opens with a bit of a drum break from Jackson, soaked thoroughly in reverb, before the band kicks in. It sees the heavy kick of Jackson’s bass drum move into a more explicitly funky place, and while it never really moves into Sly-esque overdrive, it is tasty indeed.

‘Chicken Pox’ the first track from the group’s 1971 LP “Melting Pot’ (the last by the classic line-up) is the sound of the Meters breathing down the MG’s collective neck. The band is moving into a funkier place, and doing so with style, but the spectre of their Crescent City competition always seems to be there. Oh, how I wish this one was on a 45…

The last cut I bring you today is the title cut from ‘Melting Pot’, and by far one of the most interesting things they ever did.

Lasting in excess of eight minutes, ‘Melting Pot’ is important not only because it shows signs of the MGs stretching out into more progressive directions, but also because it became one of David Mancuso’s deeply influential Loft parties in New York City.

I’ll spare you an excess of words here, but if you have any interest in digging a little deeper, you can refer back to the piece I wrote on the record in early 2010.

Suffice to say, if all you ever knew was ‘Green Onions’, ‘Melting Pot’ will be a revelation.

Duck Dunn was – in addition to his better known gigs – a prolific session musician, both during and after the Stax era.

He was a legend, and he will be missed.

See you later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though Dunn was a longtime part of the Stax/Memphis crew, being a boyhood friend of cats like Cropper and Packy Axton (Dunn was in the Mar-Keys) he didn’t join the MGs until he replaced Lewis Steinberg in 1965

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).

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, May 10, 2012 10:22 am

Little Milton means it ladies!

Listen/Download Little Milton – Just a Little Bit

Greetings all.

I hope the end of the week finds you all well.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime you can always come by the blog and grab yourself a downloadable MP3 of the show (and more than 100 archived episodes) over the weekend.

If you travel through the highways and byways of the Funky16Corners then you will already know that I am often preoccupied with the species known as the soulful bluesman.

During the classic era these giant roamed the earth, guitars (and or harmonicas) in hand dominating any ecosystem they happened to stomp in.

You had your Syl Johnson, Junior Wells, Alberts King and Collins, and, perhaps the souliest of them all, Little Milton.

During a long and fruitful career he laid down some of the finest example of the sub-genre, especially groovers like ‘Grits Ain’t Groceries’ (his reworking of Little Willie John’s ‘All Around the World’) and ‘More and More’ (covered ably by Blood Sweat and Tears).

I grab Little Milton 45s wherever I find them because his work was consistently and reliably good.

It was only in the last year that I finally encountered one of his LPs in the field. It was a ‘Greatest Hits’ but it included several tracks I didn’t have yet so I grabbed it and took it home.

Among the new (to me) cuts was Milton’s outstanding coverof Rosco Gordon’s 1959 classic ‘Just a Little Bit’.

I already had the 1965 cover by Roy Head (done in the style of his previous hit ‘Treat Her Right’) but despite the fact that it was a Top 20 R&B hit in 1969 I had never heard Little Milton’s version of the song.

Milton takes the song at a somewhat slower, ever so slightly funky tempo, adding in plenty of organ and of course his own sweet voice.

It is not in any way earth-shattering – the song has after all been covered dozens of times – but it is a groovy tune and any Little Milton is quality Little Milton, and so I bring it to you.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you when I see you.

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).

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.

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By Larry, May 6, 2012 4:17 pm

The Samplers – Beastie Boys

The Sampled – clockwise from top left – Johnny Hammond Smith, Norman Whitfield,
Jimmy Smith, The Commodores, Jeremy Steig

Listen/Download Johnny Hammond Smith – Big Sur Suite

Original release – Higher Ground LP (Kudu 1974) – Sampled on Pass the Mic (Check Your Head LP 1992)

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Listen/Download Commodores – Machine Gun

Original Release – Machine Gun LP (Motown 1974) – Sampled on Hey Ladies (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

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Listen/Download Jeremy Steig – Howling For Judy

Original Release – Legwork LP (Solid State 1969) – Sampled on Sure Shot (Ill Communication LP 1994)

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Listen/Download Jimmy Smith – I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Babe

Original Release – Blacksmith LP (Pride 1974) – Sampled on Professor Booty (Check Your Head LP 1992)

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Listen/Download Norman Whitfield/Rose Royce – Yo Yo

Original Release – Car Wash OST (MCA 1976) – Sampled On Shake Your Rump (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

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Listen/Download Afrique – Kissing My Love

Original Release – Soul Makossa LP (Mainstream 1973) – Sampled on Bodhisattva Vow (Ill Communication LP 1994)

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Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the Corners du Fonque…

As has been mentioned several times recently most of what you’ve been reading here in the last few weeks was – due to necessity – prepared a few weeks in advance so as to facilitate the massive amount of commuting and other life-disrupting activities involved in my wife’s treatment (which, now that I mention it seems to be going well, so let’s keep those fingers crossed).

This weekend has been especially tiring, but the news of the passing of the mighty MCA, Adam Yauch could not be ignored, so as soon as we got home and rolled out of the Funky16Corners-mobile, I rolled into the record vault and got to work.

I have listened to hip hop, first passively (way back in the day) and then as a lightweight consumer with a focus therein on what I would consider dynamic use of sampled material.

You can’t really talk about that aspect of the game without giving props to the Beastie Boys.

Over the years the Beasties have played a big part in piqueing my interest in samples and by association the sounds sampled (why else would I have owned a copy of Alphonse Mouzon’s ‘Funky Snakefoot’) long before I was spinning (or writing about) funk, soul, jazz and rare groove.

Sampling/cut and paste is an art in which it’s not terribly difficult to separate the lazy slobs from the masters, i.e. being able to differentiate from someone who can lift a song wholesale and slap something new on it and someone who can hear a really interesting sound within another piece of music and re-purpose it in a way that makes your ears (and brain) perk up in admiration.

One of the dangers of trainspotting is that the listener runs the risk of getting lost in the component parts, losing sight of the forest for the digitally borrowed trees.

However, secure in the knowledge that good taste is sometimes its own reward, the best samples sound as good (or better) in their original form as they do when placed as a cog in another ‘machine’. Often (not always, obviously) groovy bits of sound are not sui generis, and are traceable back to an equally groovy “whole”, which is the case in the music I bring you today.

I like to think that the first time I had my mind blown by ‘Paul’s Boutique’ or ‘Check Your Head’ my crates (and ears) were deep enough that I recognized some of the coolest stuff, but at the same time I’m honest enough to admit that the ensuing years witnessed my recognition of some of that music for the first time (like the time my man Marshall down in DC dropped Jimmy Smith’s previously unknown – to me – version of ‘I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More Babe’ and the light bulb went off over my head).

It was in those moments of recognition that new digging targets were registered and I followed them into flea markets, record stores on onto the interwebs.

The cuts I bring you today are examples of some of my favorite Beastie Boys samples (drums, bass and guitar) out of my crates.

Some of them were things I already had, others, like the bass in ‘Big Sur Suite’ and ‘Yo Yo’ or the guitar in ‘Machine Gun’, I picked up first and discovered/recognized the sample(s) after the fact.

What all of them have in common, aside from the fact that they appealed to the Beasties, is that they are all worth listening to in their entirety.

Maybe some of you will be hearing the complete songs for the first time.

I hope you dig them all, and I’ll see you later in the week.

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).

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 (4)

By Larry, May 3, 2012 1:25 pm

Joe Bataan (center)

Listen/Download Joe Bataan – Es Tu Cosa (It’s Your Thing)

Greetings all.

The end of another week is upon us, and it behhoves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and very Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed the next day, posted in MP3 form right here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very groovy, very laid back slice of Latin soul.

I will go ahead and assume that you’re all familiar with the mighty Afro-Filipino singer and bandleader Joe Bataan.

He has appeared in this space a few times in the past (vocally and instrumentally) and is unquestionably one of the kings of the classic era of Latin soul.

Today’s selection is a particularly interesting number as it touches on a few different musical strands (if you will).

‘Es Tu Cosa (It’s Your Thing)’ is (and isn’t) a ‘cover’ of the hugely influential 1969 single by the Isley Brothers.

Though it bears no musical relation to the Isley’s tune (it sounds a lot closer to the laid back groove of Willie Bobo’s ‘Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries’), it does pretty much quote the lyrics of that song’s chorus.

The lyrics do eventually diverge from the Isley’s tune, and the overall effect suggests an after-hours club in Spanish Harlem, replacing the lively funk of that song with a relaxed soul.

When I first got my hands on this 45 I gave it a fair amount of thought.

As I said before, the Isley Brother’s ‘It’s Your Thing’ was a huge hit in the Spring of 1969, going to #1 R&B and making it to #2 Pop.

It’s influence can be seen not only in the long list of outright covers of the song, but also in the list of homages to it as well, in records that borrow the main riff (like Clarence Wheeler and the Enforcers ‘Doin’ What We Wanna’) or “answer” the OG (like Marva Whitney’s ‘It’s My Thing’).

It’s not out of the question that Bataan felt that the refrain…

It’s your thing, do what you wanna do
I can’t tell you who to sock it to

…had transcended its roots as a lyric and emerging as something much bigger, the kind of statement that would find its way on to t-shirts and spray-painted onto city walls.

Either way, it is a very, very groovy record, perfect for the coming of summer weather.

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

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).

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 (2)

By Larry, April 29, 2012 1:21 pm

Miss Shirley Ellis

Listen/Download Shirley Ellis – Soul Time

Greetings all.

It’s that time again, by which I mean time to welcome you to another week here at the Funky16Corners, but also, as Miss Shirley Ellis says in today’s selection, it’s “soul time”.

Now, every single day here at Funky16Corners qualifies in some way as soul time, but with the song I bring you today it is explicitly so.

Shirley Ellis was one of the great female soul voices of the classic era and would be memorable if all she ever did was sing the oft-covered ‘The Nitty Gritty’ (1963), or for that matter ‘The Name Game’ (‘Lincoln Lincoln Bo-Bincoln’ etc) (1964) which is probably the song that most people outside of soul fandom know.

Ellis (born Elliston, the name under which she wrote ‘Soul Time’) had a powerful, soulful voice as well as a talent for writing her own material.

Though she is best known for what might be considered ‘novelty’, she managed to imbue those records with actual soul, so much so that even “those” records (especially ‘The Clapping Song’) still get spun with regularity on dance floors.

‘Soul Time’, from 1967 was her last charting hit, making it into the R&B Top 40 (stalling at #67 Pop)*.

The cut is at least to my ears the apex of her catalog, with a distinct flavor that makes it appeal to the Northern Soul crowd (dig the hooks, the vibes and the horns). ‘Soul Time’ has a rousing, propulsive beat and a brief, but anthemic chorus. It’s not hard to imagine the song pulling the dancers out onto the floor.

Ellis pretty much vanishes from the music scene after 1968, at least as a performer, seemingly content top sit back and watch her hits covered by folks like Gladys Knight, Madeline Bell (a killer cover of this very song), Ricardo Ray, Gary Glitter and much later,  Southern Culture on the Skids.

I hope you dig (and dance to) the tune, and I’ll see you later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

*Other than a reappearance of ‘The Clapping Song’ in the UK Top 100 in 1979

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).

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 (1)

By Larry, April 26, 2012 11:54 am

Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen

Listen/Download Fried Chicken – Funky DJ

Greetings all.

The end of another week is upon us, and it behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and very Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed the next day, posted in MP3 form right here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today may (should) sound familiar.

A few years back I posted Earnest Jackson’s 1974 45 ‘Funky Black Man’.

It was in that post that I mentioned that the song had been remade a few years later as ‘Funky DJ’ by a group calling themselves Fried Chicken (who were in fact a pseudonymous Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen).

Both records were used by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist in their landmark mixes, ‘Funky Black Man’ in ‘Product Placement’ and ‘Funky DJ’ in ‘Brainfreeze’.

Drummer Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen (also billed as the Lightmen Plus One) hailed from Houston, TX.

Thomas had studied under Conrad Johnson (later director of the legendary Kashmere Stage Band) and with the Lightmen released two albums ‘Energy Control Center’ in 1972 (the track ‘The Phantom’ was included on the Stones Throw ‘Funky 16 Corners’ compilation) and ‘Country Fried Chicken’.

I’m not sure how Thomas and his band came to cover Jackson’s record, but the results were certainly interesting (especially to anyone interested in sampling the phrase ‘funky dj’).

It was also co-produced by 60s pop star John Fred!

I stand by my initial appraisal, in which I stated that Jackson’s vocals are superior, but both records are certainly cool and worth hearing.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Monday with something groovy.

Keep the faith

Larry

PS This one goes out to all the funky DJs, you know who you are.

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).

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.