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By Larry, August 26, 2011 2:10 pm

The mighty Volcanos!

Listen/Download – The Volcanos – Storm Warning

Greetings all.

This is a previously unplanned post, but it was spurred on by some unplanned, meteorological happenstance, that being hurricane Irene.

I’ve mentioned the location of the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault in general terms, but in a more specific geographical pinpoint, we are, how do they say, close to the ocean.

Not close enough (yet) for mandatory evacuation, but close enough that the onset of the hurricane has presented us with a fair amount of worry and put us in serious prep mode.

We spent yesterday afternoon procuring non-perishable supplies, and today dismantling everything on our deck (screen tent, furniture, gas grill included) and locking it all in the shed.

We’ll be making another pass early tomorrow to make sure that any bric-a-brac that might turn into a missile in 85MPH wind is secured, but aside from that we are basically sitting and waiting.

In fact, it’s bright and sunny outside as I write this, though 24 hours from now the rain will most certainly have begun, and shortly after that the wind.

As I was mulling this all over, it occurred to me that I have never posted one of my Top 10 soul 45s here at Funky16Corners, at least not in a stand-alone post.

Sure, the Volcanos ‘Storm Warning’ has popped up in mixes (live and otherwise) and the group has been written about many times (check out the long form article at the web zine), but what better time to pull it out of the record box than in light of an actual storm warning.

It is – in the briefest description possible – a truly amazing record, and a landmark in the sound of Philadelphia.

I hope you dig it, and if you’re in harm’s way, that you take all necessary preparation and stay safe.

Make sure to tune into tonight’s edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show over at Viva Radio, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 25, 2011 8:06 am

Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson

Listen/Download – Marlena Shaw – California Soul

Listen/Download – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell – California Soul

Listen/Download – Undisputed Truth – California Soul

Listen/Download – Tamba 4 – California Soul

Listen/Download – Steve Allen and Oliver Nelson – California Soul

Greetings all.

Before we get started I’d like to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the air this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio. You can also pick up the MP3 download of the show here at the blog (click on the Radio Show tab in the header) the day after the show airs.

This has been another one of those exceedingly sad weeks when musical giants seem to be falling whenever you turn around.

This particular week has been an especially bad one when you take into account the loss of not one but two exceptional songwriters, first Jerry Leiber, and then the mighty Nick Ashford.

Though he’s known to a generation or two as part of the singing duo of Ashford and Simpson (with his wife and writing partner Valerie Simpson), soul and R&B fans know him first and foremost as part of the team that wrote a long list of certifiable soul music classics.

During the mid-to-late 60s, Ashford and Simpson (sometimes with the help of Jo Armstead) composed a series of hits for artists like Ray Charles (Let’s Go Get Stoned and I Don’t Need No Doctor), Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, You’re All I Need To Get By), Diana Ross (Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand), and Chaka Khan (I’m Every Woman), before hitting as a performing duo, from ‘Don’t Cost You Nothin’ in 1977 to their biggest hit ‘Solid’ in 1984.

Both Ashford and Simpson had recorded as solos in the 60s, including Ashford’s original versions of ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’ and the song we remember today ‘California Soul’.

The first time I remember hearing (and falling in love with) ‘California Soul’ was in 1969, when my Mom was playing the hit version by the 5th Dimension (also the first place I ever heard a Laura Nyro song).

Many years later, when I was digging for funk and soul and became enamored of the work of the genius Richard Evans, it was the version by Marlena Shaw that I sought, after hearing is chopped by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist.

The song has become my favorite Ashford and Simpson composition for a number of reasons, but mainly the chord changes and the lyrics.

It harkens back to a time when California held a special place in the American imagination as a spot on the western horizon filled with the promise of a new, sunshine-filled life and prosperity (though it would be very interesting to juxtapose any vocal version of this with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s less optimistic ‘Black California’).

Like Jerry Leiber, Nickolas Ashford was the main lyricist in the songwriting duo, and ‘California Soul’ is a fantastic example of his prowess in the regard, especially the following stanza:

They say the sun comes up every morning
And if you listen oh so carefully
The winds that ride on the high time
Whistle in melody
And so the people started to sing
And that’s how the surf gave birth untold
To California soul, California soul

Collecting versions of ‘California Soul’ became something of a hobby, and over the years I’ve found several, many of which I bring you today.

First and foremost is the Marlena Shaw take. I’ve spun this out at funk and soul night’s many times, and while the appeal may start with that stellar break (Morris Jennings Jr) it only grows when Miss Shaw starts singing. Hers is by far the most powerful version of the song I’ve heard, from her own voice to the brilliant arrangement by Charles Stepney and production by Evans. It simply kills from start to finish.

Next up we have a couple of takes from the Motown stable.

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s version, while not as dynamic as Shaw’s features their fantastic vocal blend, so it is definitely worth hearing.

The Undisputed Truth’s version of the song, produced by none other than Norman Whitfield is a tiny bit funkier, and most definitely more atmospheric. I really dig the bass, as well as the background vocals. This is the moodiest of the versions I’ve heard.

The most unusual take on the tune is the rare promo-only version by Brazil’s Tamba 4. Recorded in 1969 for an LP that was never issued, Tamba 4 take the tune at a brisk pace and feature the electric piano.

The last version of ‘California Soul’ that I’ll bring you today is my most recent find, from a 1969 album by Steve Allen and Oliver Nelson. While Allen’s contributions to the sessions seem to be limited to his celebrity and some keyboard noodling, the arrangement by Nelson is (as always) top notch.

It’s a fantastic song no matter how you look at it (or hear it) and it is really worth hearing it interpreted several ways.

I hope you dig it, and raise a glass in memory of Nick Ashford.

See you on Monday.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 23, 2011 11:57 am

Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber

Listen/Download – Alvin Robinson – Down Home Girl

Listen/Download – The Coasters – Down Home Girl

Listen/Download – The Coasters – Soul Pad
Greetings all.

Sweet weeping jeebus I am bummed, on account of last night, as I was settling in for my rest word came down that one of my all-time musical idols, Jerry Leiber had passed away.

If the name is not immediately familiar, pair it with that of Mike Stoller, and then step off the curb into an abyss of rock’n’roll, R&B and soul history, where the pair stand astride the past 50 plus years as a mighty colossus of songwriting and production.

To say that Leiber/Stoller songs were a huge part of my musical mindset would be a giant understatement.

As I sit here writing this tribute, with the Coasters version of ‘Down Home Girl’ playing on a loop in my headphones, tears welling up in my eyes, I think of how much Leiber and Stoller’s work, from the Coasters on up through Miss Peggy Lee (see Iron Leg next Monday) has meant to me.

Though both of them hailed from the East Coast, Leiber and Stoller came together in Los Angeles in the early 50s where their songwriting empire (using that word to denote a kingdom as opposed to merely a financial construct) came into being, where their earliest successes formed a veritable cornerstone of 50s R&B, with ‘Kansas City’ and ‘Hound Dog’ (the proceeds of which probably yielded enough hundred dollar bills to compact them into solid blocks and build a literal foundation).

They went on to work with the Robins, which begat the Coasters for whom L&S created almost two dozen chart hits, on to the Drifters (There Goes My Baby, On Broadway), Ben E King and countless others.

The pair also had their own labels for a time, with the Red Bird/Blue Cat/Tiger axis that brought us the Dixie Cups, Shangri Las, Alvin Robinson, Ad Libs, Bessie Banks, Evie Sands, and many more.

The thing that always grabbed me about their best work as songwriters/record crafters was the fact that they were almost unequalled in the amount of gritty joie de vive that they could pack into the grooves of a three-minute record.

Though the Coasters were always known for the comedic feel of their 45s, the records they made with L&S were far more sophisticated than “funny”. They were kinetic, explosive, sexy, and manic, layered with heart and soul.

Though their collaboration (which often expanded to include other songwriters like Artie Butler, Phil Spector or Mann and Weil) could be described as symbiotic, the lion’s share of the lyrics were created by Jerry Leiber.

Of all the classics they created, none resonates with me more than ‘Down Home Girl’.

I first encountered the original recording by Alvin Robinson many years ago on a comp of New Orleans soul and though I came away from that record wanting to know more about many of the artists, none of the songs kicked me in the ass like ‘Down Home Girl’.

I can’t think of a finer bit of pop poetry:

Lord I swear the perfume you wear
Was made out of turnip greens
And everytime I kiss you girl
It tastes like pork and beans
Even though you’re wearin’ them
Citified high heels
I can tell by your giant step
You been walkin’ through the cotton fields
Oh, you’re so down home girl

Everytime you monkey child
You take my breath away
And everytime you move like that
I gotta get down and pray
Don’t you know that dress of yours
Was made out of fiberglass
And everytime you move like that
I gotta go to Sunday mass
Oh, you’re so down home girl

Oh, you’re so down home girl

I’m gonna take you to the muddy river
And push you in
Just to watch the water roll on
Down your velvet skin
I’m gonna take you back to New Orleans
Down in Dixieland
I’m gonna watch you do the second line
With an umbrella in your hand
Oh, you’re so down home girl

I’m with ya baby
You’re so down home
Ow! Yeah, too much
Outta sight
You’re so down home girl

The fact that Leiber and Stoller thought to have Alvin Robinson, an obscure New Orleans guitarist and singer (who just happened to have a remarkable voice) deliver such a vivid, lascivious, funny set of lyrics is one of the great musical intersections of their long, stellar career.

It’s a record that these many years later I still find new things to love every time I listen to it. Robinson’s vocal is up to the task (and then some) of delivering one of Leiber’s finest lyrics, packed with subtle twists and turns.

The Coasters remarkable 1967 two-sider of ‘Down Home Girl’ and ‘Soul Pad’ was almost a half-decade past their last hit, and despite its obvious quality, did not return them to the charts.

Their slightly funky take on ‘Down Home Girl’ shows a more relaxed side of the group, but their old selves still manage to poke through here and there.

‘Soul Pad’ is – at least in my opinion – one of Leiber’s funniest lyrics with references to Thelonious Monk and psychedelics, and the arrangement by Mike Stoller is perfection.

Jerry Leiber may not be with us any longer, but the music he created over more than 60 years will live forever. I know that sounds like a cliché (and it is, really), but it’s also true.

You know that somewhere, long after we’re all gone, some space amoeba in the far reaches of the universe will be splitting over and over again to the reverberations of a Leiber and Stoller song, pulsing on radio waves, galloping through the ether.

As it should be.

See you all on Friday with a tribute to the mighty Nick Ashford.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 21, 2011 2:38 pm

Ken Boothe

“Hulk like sweet soul!”

Listen/Download – Ken Boothe – It’s Gonna Take a Miracle

Listen/Download – Ken Boothe – It’s Gonna Take a Miracle (version)

Greetings all.

I hope all is well.

It’s been months since I last posted any reggae, and I’ve been pouring a lot of Jamaican sounds into my ears of late, so there is no better time than now.

As you know, while I love reggae/ska/rocksteady sounds in general, I’m always on the lookout for a cool Jamaican cover of an American soul tune.

The mighty Ken Boothe last appeared in this space back in 2006 with his stellar 1973 version of Syl Johnson’s ‘Is It Because I’m Black’.

The tune I bring you today comes from a few years before that (1970), though I can’t say with certainty (as is often the case with Jamaican pressings) when this particular pressing dates from.

The song is question is Boothe’s cover of the Royalettes soul ballad classic from 1965, ‘It’s Gonna Take a Miracle’.
If you haven’t heard the OG, get yourself out and grab a copy of the 45, since it’s a killer two-sider, with a storming bit of Northern Soul on the flip that I’ll be posting here this Wednesday.

That said, Boothe’s ‘It’s Gonna Take a Miracle’ is a great bit of early lovers rock.

The backing is simple, rhythm guitar, organ and drums, but Boothe’s vocal really carries the whole enterprise.

The cut originally appeared on Boothe’s 1970 ‘Freedom Street’ LP, produced by Leslie Kong, not long after the singer broke ranks with Coxsone Dodd.

The ‘version’ on the flip is groovy too, with lots of dubby effects and a nice mix.

The pressing is a little noisy, but on the upside you get that crazy label, so it all works out in the end.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with the Royalettes.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 16, 2011 3:09 pm

Ike tries to hitch a ride…

The Family Vibes speeds by trying to act like they didn’t notice…

Listen/Download – Ike Turner Presents the Family Vibes – the Scratch

Greetings all.

Before we get started I’d like to let you all know that if you dig the pop side of the 60s, with the garage, and the psyche, and the sunshine pop and what not you might want to fall by our sister blog, Iron Leg and check out the  Iron Leg Radio Show. It’s currently anchored at the blog (no interwebs radio station, but if someone knows one with an open slot, speak up) and is now up to four episodes.

The shows run around 90 minutes and I do them once a month. The format is very similar to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, but the content is slanted along the pop side of the spectrum.

If that sounds like something you’d dig, pop on over there and pull down the ones and zeros.

So, the middle of the week is here and I figured it was past time to dig into the archives and pluck out a little bit of Ike.

Turner, that is….

Ike has appeared in this space a couple of times over the years, sometimes with the mighty Tina, sometimes without.

A few years I was out a-digging and I happened upon a permutation of the Ike Turner discography that I’d never seen before, aka Ike Turner presents the Family Vibes.

Though there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of info out there on this period, what I have found seems to indicate that the Family Vibes were in fact the Kings of Rhythm (1973 edition) with a new name and a new sound.

Though I think even the staunchest mathematician would have a hell of a time drawing, a line between ‘New Breed Pts 1&2’ and today’s selection (I think Archimedes locates the intersection of the two somewhere within the area of Ike), the song in question is without a doubt funky.

If you were a student of the funk and gave ‘The Scratch’ even a single listen, I think you’d probably be able to place it within a year or two of the correct spot on the timeline. It has within it the sound of an era where rock bands were getting funky, and funk bands were getting rock-y and the lines were getting blurred (not just by the drugs).

Even the cover art and its airbrushed pseudo-Keep On Truckin-isms are practically waving a calendar in your face.

I’m not sure why Ike was trying to rebrand the Kings (there were at least two albums under this name) though trying to glom onto the rep of another famous, funky family (the Stones of SanFran) doesn’t seem out of the question. That and Family Vibes sounds a lot more 1970s-ish with the Kings of Rhythm sounding like a bunch of cheap tuxedos on a cruise ship.

This was released around the time Ike and Tina were hitting the charts with ‘Nutbush City Limits’ and probably still squeezing a little juice out of their huge 1971 hit ‘Proud Mary’ so I can understand why UA would invest a couple of albums worth of time and money in the group (that and it was the early 70s when most record companies were releasing veritable mountains of product in a coke addled haze).

That said, ‘The Scratch’ derives its funk from a loose, wobble-legged guitar line and nice fat bass line plodding along underneath as well as some nice, era-specific synth action.

It is all very redolent of bell-bottoms, cheap wine and sounds like something that might come wafting out of the window of a customized van, rocking behind a convenience store on a Saturday night.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Friday.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 14, 2011 1:21 pm

Norman T Washington (and his bow tie)

Listen/Download – Norman T Washington – Jumping Jack Flash

Greetings all.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to a new week.

Summer (at least as bracketed by the 4th of July and Labor Day) is on the wane with but a precious few weeks left before the tourists pack their bags and the kiddies head back to school.

It is however, still quite warm and vacation-y, so how about some cool sounds for your head?

I figured I’d get the week started with something exceptionally cool.

Many years ago, while in search of something by the mighty Mohawks*, I grabbed a Euro comp of Pama label stuff and stumbled upon a cut by a certain Norman T Washington.

The song in question was a cover of Robert Parker’s ‘Tip Toe’ and via the label association and a perceived accent, my assumption was that I was hearing a West Indian gent working the soul side of the street.

Though the passing years haven’t turned up a whole lot of information on Mr Washington, what I have found indicates that he recorded both soul and reggae in the late 60s and early 70s almost exclusively for Jamaican or Jamaican-associated labels like Gas, Punch and Pama.

Then, earlier this year his name popped up again on a friend’s sale list, this time on another Pama 45 performing a cover of the Rolling Stones ‘Jumping Jack Flash’. As soon as I heard the sound clip I knew I had to have it.

Washington’s take on the Stones classic (released in 1969) is a very groovy affair, with a soulful horns and organ.

The coolest part however is Washington’s vocal, which has a certain continental flair. His performance tends to remove a lot of the menace of the original, replacing it with just the tiniest bit of funk.

I’ve played this one out a few times this year, and it never fails to garner a positive response from the Mod types in the crowd (as well as pretty much everyone else).

If anyone out there has some more solid info on Mr. Washington, please share it in the comments.

I hope you dig it (I know I do) and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

*Speaking of the Mohawks, the flip ‘Spinning’ is a cool, semi-rocksteady groove with organ that sounds like it was contributed by none other than Mr. Hawkshaw himself.

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 recreational 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.

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By Larry, August 11, 2011 11:48 am

Billy Larkin (right) and the Delegates

Listen/Download – Billy Larkin and the Delegates – Agent Double O Soul

Greetings all.

The end of another long, hot, summer week is finally upon us and I have to say that despite all the sweating and sweltering, this has been a most excellent season.

There have been many prime DJ opportunities – which is especially groovy since I dig nothing more than tossing a few sets worth of 45s into the record box(es) and heading out to spin them for the peeps – a few extraordinarily lucky vinyl acquisitions, as well as a grip of the usual family-type summer hijinks.

Among the blogging-type things was the recording and mixdown of a couple of radio shows, including this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show which will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this (and every) Friday evening at 9PM on Viva Radio. This week’s show is packed with snappy new arrivals, some tasty New Orleans funk and lots of groovy Northern and othern soul. If you can’t tune in at airtime you can always come by the blog over the weekend to pick the show up in MP3 form.

One of the highlights of the last week was the arrival of an unexpected package in the post.

I went out to empty the mailbox, and I found a 45 mailer (not surprising). What was unusual was how heavy the box was.
I didn’t recall ordering any lead ingots, so I took the box inside and opened it carefully.

What I found was a surprise package from my old buddy Haim (as serious a record head as there is) filled with a nice, fat stack of jazz and soul jazz jukebox EPs.

He just “thought I’d like them”.

How about that?

I’ve known Haim for a long time and when he was resident in this part of the country we went out digging together quite a few times and he was unfailingly generous in word and deed, not to mention the fact that his wealth of musical knowledge (a big factor in the formation of my tastes at the time) made him an ideal digging partner.

It’s always cool to hit the crates with someone who has a complementary digging skill set. You know stuff they don’t and vice versa, and at the end of the day you’re very likely to come away with a grip of solid stuff that you mightn’t have discovered on your own.

That said, we are now on opposite sides of the continent and our communication is largely restricted to the on-line and postal varieties, the latter bringing this week’s bounty.

Though I have yet to reach the bottom of the stack, one of the gems I have managed to digimatize is today’s selection, a cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘Agent Double-O Soul’ by Billy Larkin and the Delegates.

Mr. Larkin and his compadres have appeared in a number of Funky16Corners Radio mixes but I was shocked to discover that in the many years this enterprise has been extant they have never had a post of their own.

I have been remiss…

In order to remedy this a-blog-mination, I bring you today’s very tasty selection.

The PNW-based Larkin and the Delegates recorded a bunch of albums for Aura/World Pacific in the 60s in the standard Hammond combo mode, laying down a couple of certified classics (like ‘Pigmy Pts 1&2’) in the process.

‘Agent Double-O Soul’ was recorded many times, vocally and instrumentally, but I never heard Larkin’s version before this week, andI’d have to say that it is definitely among the best.

I don’t normally do this, but I will begin by suggesting that you give this track a listen on headphones with a good bass response or a loud sound system, because you will not get the full effect of the track if you don’t.

Like Toussaint McCall’s tour de force ‘Shimmy’, Billy Larkin’s ‘Agent Double-O Soul’ is a fantastic example of a Hammond-master hard at work with the bass pedals of his instrument.

Here you get the classic organ trio (Hammond, guitar and drums) at work, with Larkin’s feet playing a walking (no pun intended) bass figure on the pedals of the organ.

If you’re not familiar with the set-up I’m describing, set to Googling and check it out, on account of when it’s done right it’s truly a thing to behold.

I remember reading an interview with Jimmy Smith maybe 25 years ago where the master stated that if you weren’t playing the top and the bottom of the organ, you weren’t really playing it at all, and Billy Larkin could play it.

This version of ‘Agent Double-O Soul’ is a prime slice of mod, dancefloor soul jazz, due in large part to that throbbing bass, and the snare drum/handclaps (I think it’s a combo of the two) on the beat.

It swings like sixty.

I for one cannot wait for the opportunity to give this a spin on a nice, loud sound system.

Until then, crank up the volume on your home system, grab yourself a cold drink  and cut yourself a slice of rug.

See you on Monday.

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 recreational 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 (2)

By Larry, August 4, 2011 2:02 pm

Listen/Download – Willis Wooten – Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here and so is a little bit of that fabled light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I’ve been running a marathon this past month (I’d get tired driving one…) and the time for a little rest and relaxation is at hand, or at least a return to normalcy.

I should remind you that this Friday night sees the return of the Funky16Corners Radio Show to the airwaves, at 9PM on Viva Radio. This week’s show is (thanks to the insane schedule of the last few weeks) an encore performance of a show from last year, so if you didn’t hit it the first time around, dig it, and if you did, check it out again.

No matter how long I dig, or how late I keep my ears open for business, there is always something new and amazing waiting out there for me.

Earlier this year, during the Funky16Corners Pledge Drive, my man Vincent the Soul Chef contributed a mix which introduced me to today’s selection, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Willis Wooten is one of those cats who’s name I knew but who’s music managed to elude me for quite some time.

I have quite a lot of Virtue 45s in my Philly crates, but the one I bring you today was not one of them, and when I heard the song ‘Your Love is Indescribably Delicious’ for the first time in Vincent’s mix, my mind was good and truly blown.

I dig funky music (you already knew that, right?) but every once in a great while a funk 45 rolls along that absolutely swings in that get your ass up out of your seat and move it kinda way, and ‘Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious’ carries that vibe like a spike driver with a sledge hammer.

The phrase ‘hard-hitting’ doesn’t really do a record like this justice, since it’s not about power as much as it is about swagger, and swing, and feeling and that certain soulful je ne sais quoi that makes you want to leap onto the dance floor for the Soul Train Line of the mind.

The drums do indeed attack solidly, but check out that rhythm guitar and the vocals (I’ll go ahead and assume that it’s Mr. Wooten) and the horns with that little touch of Memphis and resist the temptation to rise up and, how do they say, boogie.

I have not been able to track down any information on Willis Wooten himself, though the info on the label indicated that many of the usual Philadelphia suspects were involved including Ronnie Baker (who wrote the song), Norman Harris and Johnny Stiles.

It is without question an ass-kicker of the first order, and just the thing to get a hot summer weekend underway.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday.

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 recreational 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 (4)

By Larry, August 2, 2011 11:33 am

Richard Berry

Listen/Download – Richard Berry and the Pharaohs – Have Love Will Travel

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your little corner of the interwebs, as well as whatever connection any of us has to the “real” (less so every day) world.

As referenced in Monday’s post, this has been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks for yours truly as well as a fantastic example the old saw about how life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.

The Funky16Corners fam had quite a bit of planning (and travel) already penciled in on the calendar, and then a death in the family ended up sending us a few hundred miles in the opposite direction.

Fortunately the week ended on a big up note, with the Funky16Corners Mobile Sound System rolling into Philly to provide the musical entertainment for a wedding party.

I’ve spun many a night, but never before in celebration of someone’s nuptials, and it was a stone gas.

This probably has to do with the fact that the loving couple put together quite a wingding. In addition to requesting a soundtrack of the finest in funk and soul (me again) with a concentration of the sounds of the Big Easy (you know how I roll), the people were very cool (there were even a couple of Funky16Corners fans in the crowd) and the food was spectacular.

It’s always nice to be a part of a happy occasion (usually as a partygoer) but spinning records (there were more than a few people who were stunned to see vinyl being used) and seeing folks get down to stuff like Roger and the Gypsies and Professor Longhair was – in the words of my old man – “something else”.

If anyone else out there decides to get hitched and wants to hear music like that, you know where to find me.

That said, I pulled out a grip of “love” related 45s on Saturday night (on account of what else are you celebrating at a wedding??) but didn’t get around to spinning today’s selection, which is more a reflection of the fact that I went in loaded for bear than anything to do with the quality of the music in the grooves, which is – as usual – quite high.

However, it would have been groovy for two reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I use a spin on the title for the motto on the back of my DJ business cards (as seen directly below this sentence).

You see, if you haven’t heard the OG version of Richard Berry’s ‘Have Love Will Travel’ (which is something that can also be said about his original ‘Louie Louie’, featured here a few years back) you have almost certainly heard the song covered by folks like the might PNW garage gods the Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Black Keys, Thee Headcoatees, and Central Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.

Released in 1960 (the title is a tip of the hat to Richard Boone’s TV cowboy Paladin aka ‘Have Gun Will Travel’), and like ‘Louie Louie’ doomed to see success only in the hands of others (though in this case not much more) the original ‘Have Love Will Travel’ is a tightly swinging bit of West Coast R&B by Berry and his Pharaohs.

Opening with the “bow bow bow bow” of the bass singer and pushed along by a hard-hitting snare drum and piano, ‘Have Love…’ sees (hears?) Berry’s stellar lead sailing on top of the tight harmonies of the Pharaohs. Once heard – or danced to – it is immediately obvious why this record became an anthem of sorts.

It was already a killer, but like ‘Louie Louie’ it was ripe for seismic reinterpretations by disaffected, snotty, testosterone fueled headbangers, fired up enough to convince their audience that the title was not in fact an idle threat.

The record is sought after by both the Mod and Northern Soul crowd because it kicks all kinds of ass while retaining a stylish, dare I say soulful veneer lost in most of the later interpretations.

Not too long ago I got into a small interwebs shouting match with some thickheaded garage purist who insisted that in the case of ‘Louie Louie’ Richard Berry had been consistently outdone by most of his coverers. This goon had the poor taste to try to serve me a dish of cold “Paul Revere and the Raiders did the best version”, which I promptly sent back to the kitchen with a note that said something to the effect of “pull your head out of your ass”.

I am of the opinion that if you have any taste at all for black music, once you’ve heard Richard Berry’s originals there’s really no going back.

Those that know me (or have happened upon my other blog Iron Leg) know that I have a definite taste for (and strong roots in) garage rock (the fuzzy 60s kind) but I’m smart enough to know the real thing when it falls into my ears, and Richard Berry and the Pharaohs were/are that real thing. All following versions are reinterpretations on a theme, and that theme has strong, deep roots in R&B that are not coming out no matter how hard some pageboyed, Beatle-booted stooge yanks on them.

If today’s story had a moral, it has something to do with knowing the value of those roots and paying respect to the people that cultivated them in the first place.

So there.

Bow bow bow bow, bow bow bow, bow bow bow….

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 recreational 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, July 27, 2011 11:33 am

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Funky16Corners – Botanica 7/18 – Set 1

Earl King – Come On Pt1 (Imperial)

Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl (Kent)

Frank Frost – My Back Scratcher (Jewel)

Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)

Betty Harris – Ride Your Pony (Sansu)

Oscar Toney Jr – Ain’t That True Love (Bell)

Human Beinz – Nobody But me (Capitol)

Buddy McKnight – Every Time Pt2 (Renfro)

Eddie Bo – Skate It Out (Seven B)

Howard Tate – Stop (Verve)

Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)

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Listen/Download – DJ Hambone – Set 2 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

DJ Hambone – Botanica 7/18 – Set 2

The Interpretations – Trippin’ – Jubilee

Duralcha – Ghet-o-funk – Microtronics Records

The Soul Lovers – Gonna Have Fun Tonight – Pacemaker

Big Al & The Star Treks – Funky Funk – Double M

Big Jay Bush – Funky Horns – Vangee

Kim Melvin – Doin’ The Popcorn – Hi Records

Frank Williams Rocketeers ft. Little Beaver – Good Thing Pt. 1 – Lloyd Records

The Czars – Get Down Pt. 1 – Key-Loc

Flip Flop Stevens & his Psychedelic Soul Orchestra – Live Your Own Life – Dynamite

The Soul Machine – Twitchie Feet – Pzazz

The Meters – Ease Back -Josie

Lee Dorsey – Tears Tears and More Tears – Polydor

Gary Griffin & The Top Notes – Bootleg – HMF Records

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Listen/Download -M-Fasis – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

M-Fasis – Botanica 7/18 – Set

the wash – brenda & the tabulations – dionn

2. give me you – lee dorsey – fury

3. jungle beat – sir victor uwaifo – phillips

4. take your love (and shove it) – kane’s cousins – shove love

5. humpin’ – the bar kays – volt

6. s’cuse uz y’all – brenda & the tabulations – top and bottom

7. the stretch – detroit sex machines – soul track

8. it’s amazing – johnny taylor – stax

9. knocking ’round the zoo – james taylor – euphoria

10. hard life – motherlode – buddah

11. summertime – billy stewart – chess

12. utica club natural beer drinking song – national carbonation band – rca

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Greetings all.

This post is the tiniest bit rushed, since some unexpected and unpleasant news rendered an already jam-packed week even more jam-packier.

What you have here is evidence of a hot night at Botanica which was also (sadly) the last Spindletop.

A few weeks back the mighty Perry Lane said that he’d be bringing things to a close, and honored me by asking if I’d man the decks on the final night.

Though I was bummed – Spindletop has been my favorite place to spin this year – I agreed to helm things for the night and kept things sharp by enlisting the help of my buddies M-Fasis and Joe Cristando (aka DJ Hambone).

We had a hell of a time getting the somewhat beleaguered equipment to behave itself (the battered mixer was especially problematic) and then when we finally did, the digital recorder started to misbehave. As a result there are segments of the night that either went unrecorded, or were – thanks to technical difficulties – unacceptable for presentation herein.

I’ve decided to post one set each by the DJs and I think you’ll be satisfied with the results.

I brought a mix of soul that included a tip of the hat (via Howard Tate) to the recently departed Jerry Ragovoy.

DJ Hambone brought a grip of serious  heat including a bunch of stuff I’d never heard before, and M-Fasis dropped yet another incredibly diverse set, packed (as always) with surprises.

That said, I hope you dig it all, and I’ll be back next week.

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 recreational 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 (2)

By Larry, July 17, 2011 3:25 pm

Jerry Ragovoy

Listen/Download – Howard Tate – Get It While You Can (1)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me (2)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Try (Just A Little Bit Harder (3)

Listen/Download – Erma Franklin – Piece Of My Heart (4)

Listen/Download – Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters – Cry Baby(5)

Listen/Download – Irma Thomas – Time Is On My Side(6)

Listen/Download – The Olympics – Good Lovin(7)

Listen/Download – Terry Reid – Stay With Me Baby (8)

1 – Written/produced/arranged by Jerry Ragovoy

2 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and George David Weiss, produced by Ragovoy

3 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor, produced by Ragovoy

4 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns

5 – Written by Ragovoy and Berns as Meade and Russell

6 – Written by Jerry Ragavoy with additional lyrics by Jimmy Norman

7 – Produced by Jerry Ragovoy

8 – Ragovoy/Weiss

Greetings all.

I hope everyone is well.

I come to you this day with a heavy heart, since the news came down last week that one of the greatest soul songwriters and producers of the classic era, the mighty Jerry Ragovoy had passed away at the age of 80.

His name was probably familiar to label scanning record nerds (like myself) and soulies, but largely unknown to the general public.

The same cannot – thankfully – be said of the music he made as a songwriter, producer and arranger.

Ragovoy got his start working as a music buyer for an appliance and record store in his native Philadelphia. He eventually found work as an arranger and writer for Chancellor Records, before moving to New York and hooking up with Bert Berns with whom he wrote his first big soul hit, Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters ‘Cry Baby’ in 1963.

Through the 60s, under his own name and psuedonyms like ‘Norman Meade’ and ‘Norman Margulies’ – it’s been said that he thought the record he worked on would lose airplay if he was listed as producer and songwriter – he wrote or co-wrote a string of genuine soul classics for the likes of Howard Tate, Erma Franklin and Lorraine Ellison, and had his songs covered by the James Gang, Terry Reid and most famously, Janis Joplin.

I don’t exaggerate when I say that many records from the Ragovoy canon hold a special place of honor in my record box and my heart.

The most important of these is Howard Tate’s ‘Get It While You Can’.

One of the greatest soul ballads of the 1960s by any measure, it’s the finest thing that Ragovoy and Tate created during their time working together, and epic in every sense. Co-written by Ragovoy and Mort Shuman, ‘Get It While You Can’ is a slow building show-stopper with a brilliant lyric, delivered with both intensity and nuance by Tate (and piano by Ragovoy himself). It is a record of singular power that never fails to bring me to tears.

It would be a gross understatement to say that Ragovoy had a special talent for grand soul ballads. If the best songs he wrote were spread over the catalogs of a few different songwriters they would be hailed as masters.

How surprising must it be for some people to discover that the same man wrote or co-wrote ‘Time Is On My Side’, ‘Cry Baby’, ‘Piece of My Heart’, ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Get It While You Can’, and then even more shocking when you realize that he also produced the landmark versions of many of them?

There’s the famous story of the creation of Lorraine Ellison’s ‘Stay With Me’ (co-written by Ragovoy and George David Weiss) in a block of abandoned Frank Sinatra studio/orchestra time, one of the greatest soul ballad performances ever, put together on incredibly short notice.

It is also a testament to the power of Ragovoy’s songs that they translated so well in the rock world.

The first Jerry Ragovoy song I remember associating with his name was the James Gang’s 1969 version of ‘Stop’ (originally recorded by Howard Tate), long a teenage favorite of mine which I only discovered was a cover years later when a friend played Tate’s version at a party.

The only rock take on one of Ragovoy’s tunes I bring you today has become one of my favorite recordings in any genre, Terry Reid’s 1969 recording of ‘Stay With Me (Baby)’.

Though he is not well known in the US, Reid had a brief heyday on the the underground FM airwaves of the late 60s and early 70s. he was possessed of a voice reminiscent of a somewhat more refined version of Steve Marriott and in the midst of an era filled with overkill, his recording of ‘Stay With Me Baby’ is a revelation. The instrumentation is fairly spare and restrained, giving Ragovoy’s melody full attention and is, at least in my opinion, every bit as majestic in its own way as Ellison’s version (whose 1968 original recording of ‘Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)’, another tune covered by Joplin, is also included).

For those that haven’t heard Erma Franklin’s original (1967) version of ‘Piece of My Heart’, it too should prove to be an eye-opening experience. Franklin’s approach to the song, cross-breeding lamentation and defiance and delivered in her deeply soulful voice employs a dynamic range and casual power that Joplin  – at least to my ears – never really achieved.

Also worth hearing is a great example of Ragovoy’s work as a producer, the Olympics 1965 recording of ‘Good Lovin’ (arranged, as was Franklin’s ‘Piece of My Heart’ by Gary Sherman).

Ragovoy continued to write and produce into the 70s and went on to open and run the famous Hit Factory recording studio from 1969 to 1975 when it was sold.

If the sounds herein interest you, make an effort to pick up the outstanding Ace Records comp ‘The Jerry Ragovoy Story’ which covers his best work as a songwriter and producer from the early 50s into the 70s.

He was a master, and will be missed.

Peace

Larry

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PS  – Don’t forget, Monday, 7/18 I will be sitting in for DJ Perry Lane and spinning at Spindletop @ Botanica (47 E. Houston St, NYC). I will be joined by M-Fasis and Joe Cristando, so come on by for some hot music and some cold drinks…

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 recreational 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 (1)

By Larry, July 10, 2011 3:53 pm

James and Bobby Purify

Listen/Download – James and Bobby Purify – Let Love Come Between Us

Greetings all.

I hope everyone’s head is screwed on securely and that you’re all enjoying the summer so far.

As has been discussed here many a time, I have a serious Northern Soul jones and as a result the large and throbbing ‘to-be-blogged’ file in the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault is verily swollen with it.

However, firm in the knowledge that it’s not everybody’s bag, and one must keep the stylistic lamp lit in all corners of the soul spectrum, it behooves me to let it out one small, delicious bit at a time so as not to tax the sensibilities of those who dig things on the funkier tip.

That said, today’s selection hails from a 45 that has lived in my crates since the earliest days of my soul collecting, when my mind was fixed on all things southern and I was grabbing up everything I could from the region.

James and Bobby Purify (aka James Purify and Robert Lee Dickey) hailed from the sunny state of Florida and recorded a grip of tasty soul during the 60s and 70s (when the role of Bobby was taken over by Ben Moore).

They got things rolling with a huge hit, the certified soul classic ‘I’m Your Puppet’ in 1966, following it with a string of Pop and R&B chart hits through 1968 (though the continued to record for Bell, Casablanca and Mercury through the mid-70s).

The tune I bring you today ‘Let Love Come Between Us’ was a Top 20 hit in the US in 1967, charting again in the UK in 1969.

It’s a stellar bit of semi-sweet, danceable soul with a beat that endeared it to the UK Soulies (not yet dubbed Northern). It had enough of a poppy edge to maintain their hit momentum in 1967 but remains solidly soulful in all other respects.

In an interesting footnote, ‘Let Love Come Between Us’ was originally recorded in 1966 by the Georgia-based Rubber Band and was written by two of it’s members, Joe Sobotka and John Wyker. The original version (which you can check out on YouTube) was sung by the group’s lead singer Johnny Townsend who would go on to sing lead on the Sanford-Townsend Band’s 1977 FM hit ‘Smoke From a Distant Fire’. John Wyker was later a member of the group Sailcat, and co-wrote their 1972 hit ‘Motorcycle Mama’.

Very groovy all around, and I hope you dig it.

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 recreational 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.