{"id":1441,"date":"2011-04-12T13:06:31","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T18:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2015-02-04T22:05:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T03:05:19","slug":"the-royal-dukes-a-first-full-of-crumpet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1441","title":{"rendered":"The Royal Dukes – A First Full of Crumpet"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keith Beckingham and his organ<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The label (above) and a Dutch picture sleeve (below)<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Listen\/Download – Royal Dukes – A First Full of Crumpet <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

The middle of the week is upon us, and I am just about keeping my eyes open.<\/p>\n

I think I may be getting to the point where the phrase \u201cI\u2019m getting too old for this shit\u201d<\/em> will be nailed securely into my vocabulary.<\/p>\n

The days where I would roll in through the front door after sunrise without a care in the world are far behind me. It seems that for every night I\u2019m out way past my bedtime spinning records, the number of subsequent days reserved for recuperative efforts grows ever larger.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that I don\u2019t enjoy spinning records, because it\u2019s just about my favorite pastime, but rather that unlike in my 20s, I am now living the life of a suburban dad with a pretty full dance card, and spending a reasonable number of hours in the land of nod is a crucial prerequisite to feeling like something besides shit.<\/p>\n

I spent last night (happily) spinning funk 45s at Spindletop @ Botanica<\/strong>. Since our host Perry Lane<\/strong> was indisposed, I was flying solo, and surprisingly enough managed to get the equipment assembled and working without any major problems.<\/p>\n

Me and my box of 45s were settled in by 10PM for no less than three full hours of musical wonderfulness, for what was a surprisingly large crowd (though the unseasonably warm weather probably had a lot to do with that).<\/p>\n

I managed to record the proceedings, and since the fam and I will be vacating next week, I\u2019ll post some of it then for you to ruminate on until my return.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

That said, please keep in mind that I\u2019ll be hitting the legendary Subway Soul Club this coming Saturday for an evening of high energy soul on 45 alongside Connie T Empress<\/strong> and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.<\/strong> If you\u2019re in the area (Brooklyn, that is) you really should make an effort to fall by as it promises to be a gas.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then (YES, There\u2019s MORE!!) after some of the aforementioned vacation I\u2019ll be spinning for two nights in Massachusetts, Friday 4\/22 in Greenfield, Mass at Sweet Exorcist @ the People\u2019s Pint<\/strong>, and then Saturday 4\/23 in Northampton, Mass at Wooly Bully @ the Basement.<\/strong> Both nights promise to be very groovy indeed, so if you\u2019re within driving distance, you should join us.<\/p>\n

The tune I bring you today is a little something I picked up many years ago in furtherance of my Hammond organ obsession.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never heard of the group or the song, but the sound clip was intriguing so I bid and won.<\/p>\n

That said, the record remained an almost total mystery until very recently, when I started scouring the interwebs.<\/p>\n

As is always the case, when nothing obvious presents itself, you have to start Googling the available info on the label, in the hope that some connection might be made.<\/p>\n

The first clue that I might be on to something came when I started looking for John and Malcolm Jackson<\/strong>, listed as producers on the label.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the brothers (I\u2019m assuming) Jackson were fairly busy running what appears to be something of an exploito music factory, casting their net rather widely, attempting to get a hit in a number of styles, including as it turns out, Hammond organ LPs.<\/p>\n

The trail \u2013 as far as I was able to follow it \u2013 sees the Johnson brothers machine working as far back as the early 60s beat boom, moving on into psychedelic pop and then into easy\/loungey Hammond records with groups like the Bunnies, the Flintlocks, Rainbow Ffolly, Tony Knight\u2019s Chessmen<\/strong> and the Second City Sound<\/strong>, with author credits often going to the duo of Thompson<\/strong> and Hancock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s selection, \u2018A First Full of Crumpet\u2019 by the Royal Dukes<\/strong>, appears to have been issued a few times (this is an Italian 45), credited a few different ways.<\/p>\n

One of those \u2018ways\u2019 led me to organist Keith Beckingham<\/strong> (with an LP appearance of the track being credited to \u2018Keith Beckingham on the Hammond with the Royal Dukes\u2019.<\/p>\n

The song itself (released in 1972) is quite interesting, with a reggae-ish backing, over which a relaxed, atmospheric Hammond carries the melody.<\/p>\n

It is in no way \u2018funky\u2019, but it carries with it a very groovy, Euro soundtrack vibe \u2013 reminiscent of some of the Peddlers<\/strong> later Hammond instros – that I dig.<\/p>\n

I had originally thought that the title of the song was the result of a typo (assuming ‘fist full’ <\/em>where it says ‘first full’)<\/em> but the spelling is repeated that way more than once, so I’ll go ahead and assume that this is the result of some impenetrable English slang construction.<\/p>\n

If any of you good people have any info to contribute, I would be most appreciative.<\/p>\n

See you on Friday.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nAlso, 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keith Beckingham and his organ The label (above) and a Dutch picture sleeve (below)   Listen\/Download – Royal Dukes – A First Full of Crumpet   Greetings all. The middle of the week is upon us, and I am just about keeping my eyes open. I think I may be getting to the point where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,14,68,66,48,12,18],"tags":[166,27,172],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dj-gigs","category-funky16corners","category-hammond-grooves","category-instrumental","category-reggae","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-hammond-organ","tag-reggae"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-nf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5515,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions\/5515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}