{"id":1977,"date":"2011-10-23T11:34:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T16:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1977"},"modified":"2012-02-22T12:33:14","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T17:33:14","slug":"curley-moore-soul-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1977","title":{"rendered":"Curley Moore – Soul Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Curley Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Listen\/Download – Curley Moore – Soul Train <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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

How\u2019s things?<\/em><\/p>\n

Allow me to welcome you all to a new week here at Funky16Corners.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tune I bring you today has something of a saga attached to it, at least in reference to the quest to acquire it.<\/p>\n

Way back in the day, one of the comps that was instrumental in pointing me in the direction of New Orleans was an import collection on the Charly label that included two songs that would become longtime favorites, Diamond Joe\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Gossip Gossip\u2019 and Curley Moore\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Don\u2019t Pity Me\u2019.<\/p>\n

When I started down the long, dusty road of digging for original New Orleans 45s, I happened upon a copy of \u2018Gossip Gossip\u2019 fairly quickly, mainly because it is a record of undeniable greatness that also happens to be, how the kids say, \u2018slept on\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, lo these many years later, Curley Moore\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t Pity Me\u2019 still eludes me, in fact holding the position of the only 45 on the Sansu label that I do not own (and probably never will unless I get astoundingly lucky and find it out in the field<\/em>). The few times it has shown up in the last few years it has sold for several hundred dollars, once for over a thousand! It\u2019s one of those 45s that has dual appeal, with one side slightly funky and the other Northern-ish, so that it is not only rare, but coveted by two very eager constituencies.<\/p>\n

That of course is neither here nor there, but to get closer to somewhere, I should also mention that the first time I heard \u2018Soul Train\u2019, it was not by Curley Moore, but rather by another <\/em> New Orleans group by the name of Bobby and the Heavyweights (you can hear their cover in Funky16Corners Radio v.24)<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their version was included on the stellar Soul Jazz \u2018Saturday Night Fish Fry\u2019 comp (which is where I first heard it). Bobby and the Heavyweights slightly faster take on the song was released in 1967, first (locally) on the Mor-Soul label and then nationally on Atlantic (I’ve managed to find both).<\/p>\n

It was only a few years later that I discovered that Curley Moore had done it first in 1965, at which point I set out to get myself a copy.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where we take a turn down Easier Said Than Done Street.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Moore\u2019s version of \u2018Soul Train\u2019 was released on two different New Orleans labels, first on Hot Line and then on Nola, it is fairly hard to find, especially in good condition. My first copy (on Nola) was exceedingly over-graded<\/em> (@!!?%$) and not suitable for either home listening or posting here on the blog.<\/p>\n

It was a few more years before I finally got myself a decent copy (on the groovy, if incredibly faded Hot Line label), which you see and hear before you today.<\/p>\n

Curley Moore was the owner of one of my favorite soul voices to come out of the Crescent City, a little bit thin, kind of high pitched, but possessed of a tremendous amount of soul.<\/p>\n

He recorded a 45 for Nola, three more for Sansu, at least one for Teem (which I\u2019ve never heard), one for Scram and the excellent (drum heavy) \u2018Sophisticated Sissy\u2019 for Instant. He was also the voice heard at the beginning of Eddie Bo\u2019s<\/strong> (billed as Curley Moore and the Kool Ones)<\/strong> House of the Fox 45 \u2018Shelly\u2019s Rubber Band\u2019.<\/p>\n

His version of \u2018Soul Train\u2019 is a positively sublime bit of soul with the tiniest pop edge to it. Arranged and produced by the mighty Wardell Quezerge,<\/strong> the instrumental backing is fairly spare, with piano, bass and very understated drums, with a subtly arranged horn chart that bubbles under, breaking in periodically for emphasis.<\/p>\n

The record was pressed at least three times (I\u2019ve seen two Hot Line variations and the one on Nola), so I\u2019m guessing that it must have had some local success, but as my man Dan Phillips<\/strong> at the Home of the Groove<\/strong> notes,<\/a> the record has a kind of odd, underlying sadness to it which makes it so special, but might have kept it a connoisseurs choice, falling short of chart success.<\/p>\n

It was definitely worth the years it took to track it down, and I hope you like it too.<\/p>\n

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

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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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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

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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

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Curley Moore   Listen\/Download – Curley Moore – Soul Train Greetings all. How\u2019s things? Allow me to welcome you all to a new week here at Funky16Corners. The tune I bring you today has something of a saga attached to it, at least in reference to the quest to acquire it. Way back in the […]<\/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":[46,14,92,69,12,18],"tags":[166,41,164],"class_list":["post-1977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digging","category-funky16corners","category-new-orleans-soul","category-original-versions","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-new-orleans","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-vT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977","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=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1983,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}