{"id":1556,"date":"2011-05-17T11:40:55","date_gmt":"2011-05-17T16:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2012-02-22T13:30:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T18:30:15","slug":"shuggie-otis-ice-cold-daydream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1556","title":{"rendered":"Shuggie Otis – Ice Cold Daydream"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Mr John Alexander Veliotes<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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Listen\/Download – Shuggie Otis – Ice Cold Daydream<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m sitting here, looking out the windows of the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault<\/strong>, looking at yet another grey, wet spring day and finding some small consolation in the fact that at least it\u2019s not also freezing out.<\/p>\n

So far the spring has been a huge letdown, with any sunshine or warmth generally coinciding with other responsibilities that preclude outdoor recreation. I know it will probably resolve itself and I\u2019ll be bitching about the heat before long, but it\u2019s just a drag.<\/p>\n

Blaarrrghhh\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2026now that I have that out of my system, I should mention that next Monday, 5\/23 I\u2019ll be taking my 45 box back up to Spindletop @ Botanica <\/strong>to join my man Perry Lane<\/strong> for some of the most excellent sounds you\u2019ve come to expect from that night. I have some interesting things in mind, so if you\u2019re in the neighborhood drop by and grab yourself a barstool and something cold to drink so that you might soak up the vinyl goodness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also looking like the acquisition of some crucial equipment is in the offing, that should make the Funky16Corners Mobile Sound System (for all your soulful and funky needs) complete, so if you have a shindig coming up for which the addition of the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove would serve as the complement to the proceedings, drop me a line.<\/p>\n

That said, the tune I bring you today is something upbeat and very groovy from the mighty Shuggie Otis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shuggie is a very interesting cat indeed. Son of Johnny, <\/strong>talented guitarist, songwriter and performer, Shuggie Otis was performing and recording at his father\u2019s side from his very early teens, playing guitar on funky jams like \u2018Watts Breakaway\u2019 and \u2018Country Girl\u2019 (as well as stuff like Preston Love’s<\/strong> ‘Cool-Aid’) before heading into the studio and recording two of the great lost classics of the 70s, \u2018Freedom Flight\u2019 in 1971 and \u2018Inspiration Information\u2019 in 1974 (in actuality his third and fourth solo albums, his earlier stuff being mainly blues).<\/p>\n

Though these records didn\u2019t make much of dent in the public consciousness at the time,\u00a0 the Brothers Johnson\u2019s<\/strong> faithful cover of Shuggie\u2019s \u2018Strawberry Letter 23\u2019 hit big on both the R&B and Pop charts in 1977, putting a little cash in Shuggie’s wallet.<\/p>\n

Shuggie was all but forgotten when, in 2001 David Byrne\u2019s<\/strong> Luaka Bop label reissued \u2018Inspiration Information\u2019 (with several tracks from \u2018Freedom Flight\u2019, including today\u2019s selection), restoring him in the public consciousness, at least to the point where he became a respected cult figure.<\/p>\n

At the time the hype machine was going full blast, with various and sundry alt-world figures hailing Shuggie as the great lost genius, and his music as some kind of \u2018whole new thing\u2019 that the world had missed the first time around.<\/p>\n

While these albums are very cool, and evidence of a serious talent, the sounds on them are not without precedent. The early 70s was full of genre splicing\/crossing artists (especially Sly Stone<\/strong>), mixing the same basic ingredients in different ways.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to take anything away from Shuggie\u2019s talent, or the quality of these two albums especially, which are both very cool, but rather an indicator that if they are new to you, they should be ingested with the hype pushed to the side.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ice Cold Daydream\u2019 was the flipside of Shuggie\u2019s original version of \u2018Strawberry Letter 23\u2019 in 1971, and it\u2019s a great example of the stew he was cooking, mixing funk, soul and rock sounds.<\/p>\n

The tune rolls over a stop\/start rhythm with a percolating Hammond organ running underneath, jumping repeatedly to an uptempo section with some groovy fuzz guitar. You can hear bits of Sly, Jimi Hendrix<\/strong> and Curtis Mayfield,<\/strong> but never so much that Shuggie\u2019s vision is obscured.<\/p>\n

Currently, of the two albums in question, only \u2018Freedom Flight\u2019 is available on iTunes, though you can get \u2018Inspiration Information\u2019 (which is out of print) fairly cheaply. Both \u2018Freedom Flight\u2019 and \u2018Inspiration Information\u2019 have also been reissued on vinyl as well.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the tune, and I\u2019ll be back on Friday.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

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

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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":"

Mr John Alexander Veliotes   Listen\/Download – Shuggie Otis – Ice Cold Daydream   Greetings all. I\u2019m sitting here, looking out the windows of the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault, looking at yet another grey, wet spring day and finding some small consolation in the fact that at least it\u2019s not also freezing […]<\/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":[20,11,17,83,14,12,18],"tags":[163,166,28,164],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dj-gigs","category-funk","category-funk-45","category-funk-rock","category-funky16corners","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-live-gigs","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-p6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556","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=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}