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By Larry, December 1, 2015 12:17 pm

The Shirelles

Listen/Download – The Shirelles – No Doubt About It MP3

Greetings all.

I should start things off today by letting you know that my inaugural episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show for SoulGuyRadio.com is up and ready to stream or download at their site (I won’t be posting it to iTunes until the end of the week).

Make sure you check it out, and the other great shows in the Soul Guy Radio line-up as well.

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The middle of the week is here, and in furtherance of getting us all over the hump and sliding downhill into the weekend, I thought I’d whip something sweet and upbeat on you.

The Shirelles are one of the more soulful giants of the girl group era, having recorded a grip of certified classics (‘Baby It’s You’ and ‘Boys’ both having been covered by the Beatles).

I featured the A-side of this particular 45, the epic, Northern Soul classic ‘Last Minute Miracle’ back in 2012.

Where as that tune is fairly hard-charging, with a spectacular, lifting chorus, today’s selection is a little bit more relaxed, with a slightly sweeter feel.

Written by Luther Dixon and Kenny Hollon and arranged by Richard Tee, ‘No Doubt About It’ is fast moving, with some great accents (especially where the piano and glockenspiel double each other), a pulsing bass line, well-applied horns and wonderful harmony vocals by the Shirelles.

Despite the fact that both sides of the 45 were excellent and filled with hooks, only ‘Last Minute Miracle’ got any airplay at all, and even then only in a few regional markets.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, November 22, 2015 11:22 am

Listen/Download – The Valtairs – Soul! MP3

Listen/Download – The Valtairs – The Ko Ko Mo MP3

Greetings all.

I have been a collector of local records for as long as I can remember, but despite the Jersey Shore’s long history, producing Bruce Springsteen among others, there isn’t a whole lot of vinyl out there.

My search for Shore area 45s began back in the mod/garage days of the mid-80s, when I first heard about local garage bands like the Inmates, the Storytellers, the Mods, and most importantly, the Motifs.

I make that qualification about the Motifs, because they were the first group I encountered on the Selsom label (leading me to today’s selections).

Formed by local musician/entrepreneur Norman Seldin (who had his own excellent group, The Soul Set), Selsom released a handful of great 45s by rock bands like the Motifs and the Jaywalkers, soul groups like the Valtairs, the Shondelles, and Tony Maples and the Naturals, and doowop by the Uniques (the group that would later evolve into the Broadways on MGM).

The Valtairs are an especially interesting case because their leader Harry Ray went on to success with the Moments and Ray, Goodman and Brown.

The Valtairs recorded two 45s for Selsom, ‘Soul!’ and today’s selection ‘The Ko Ko Mo’.

Featuring a solid lead by Ray, and some tight harmonies by the group (Gregory Henson, Kenneth Short and Joe Gardner) ‘The Ko Ko Mo’ is one of those records that seems to be sitting right on the cusp of R&B-morphing-into-soul with a decided East Coast sound.

‘Soul!’ is a fast moving tune with a live sound that bears the influence of the early Isley Brothers. Both of these 45s were recorded in 1964, and produced by Seldin. Though neither of them generated any heat outside of the Shore, their high quality, and the later success of Harry Ray show that Seldin had a real ear for talent.

Seldin put together a 2-CD comp of his various and sundry productions, including tracks by the Valtairs, the Uniques, Tony Maples, the Soul Set and many others, which you can get at CD Baby (https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/storminn).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.