{"id":1728,"date":"2011-08-11T11:48:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T16:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2012-02-22T12:54:42","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T17:54:42","slug":"billy-larkin-and-the-delegates-agent-double-o-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1728","title":{"rendered":"Billy Larkin and the Delegates – Agent Double O Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Billy Larkin (right) and the Delegates<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Billy Larkin and the Delegates – Agent Double O Soul <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

There have been many prime DJ opportunities \u2013 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 \u2013 a few extraordinarily lucky vinyl acquisitions, as well as a grip of the usual family-type summer hijinks.<\/p>\n

Among the blogging-type things was the recording and mixdown of a couple of radio shows, including this week\u2019s Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> which will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this (and every) Friday evening at 9PM<\/strong> on Viva Radio<\/strong><\/a>. This week\u2019s show is packed with snappy new arrivals, some tasty New Orleans funk and lots of groovy Northern and othern soul. If you can\u2019t tune in at airtime you can always come by the blog over the weekend to pick the show up in MP3 form.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of the last week was the arrival of an unexpected package in the post.<\/p>\n

I went out to empty the mailbox, and I found a 45 mailer (not surprising). What was unusual was how heavy the box was.
\nI didn\u2019t recall ordering any lead ingots, so I took the box inside and opened it carefully.<\/p>\n

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

He just \u201cthought I\u2019d like them\u201d.<\/p>\n

How about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always cool to hit the crates with someone who has a complementary digging skill set. You know stuff they don\u2019t and vice versa<\/em>, and at the end of the day you\u2019re very likely to come away with a grip of solid stuff that you mightn\u2019t have discovered on your own.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s bounty.<\/p>\n

Though I have yet to reach the bottom of the stack, one of the gems I have managed to digimatize is today\u2019s selection, a cover of Edwin Starr\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Agent Double-O Soul\u2019 by Billy Larkin and the Delegates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I have been remiss\u2026<\/p>\n

In order to remedy this a-blog-mination, I bring you today\u2019s very tasty selection.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u2018Agent Double-O Soul\u2019 was recorded many times, vocally and instrumentally, but I never heard Larkin\u2019s version before this week, andI’d have to say that it is definitely among the best.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Like Toussaint McCall\u2019s<\/strong> tour de force \u2018Shimmy\u2019, Billy Larkin\u2019s \u2018Agent Double-O Soul\u2019 is a fantastic example of a Hammond-master hard at work with the bass pedals of his instrument.<\/p>\n

Here you get the classic organ trio (Hammond, guitar and drums) at work, with Larkin\u2019s feet playing a walking (no pun intended<\/em>) bass figure on the pedals of the organ.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with the set-up I\u2019m describing, set to Googling and check it out, on account of when it\u2019s done right it\u2019s truly a thing to behold.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This version of \u2018Agent Double-O Soul\u2019 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\u2019s a combo of the two) on the beat.<\/p>\n

It swings like sixty.<\/em><\/p>\n

I for one cannot wait for the opportunity to give this a spin on a nice, loud sound system.<\/p>\n

Until then, crank up the volume on your home system, grab yourself a cold drink\u00a0 and cut yourself a slice of rug.<\/p>\n

See you on Monday.<\/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

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.<\/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":"

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 […]<\/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":[58,46,14,68,66,12,18,13],"tags":[166,27,164,165],"class_list":["post-1728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-digging","category-funky16corners","category-hammond-grooves","category-instrumental","category-soul","category-soul-45","category-soul-jazz","tag-funky16corners","tag-hammond-organ","tag-soul","tag-soul-jazz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-rS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728","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=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}