{"id":3952,"date":"2013-06-11T12:02:21","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T17:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=3952"},"modified":"2013-08-03T14:17:14","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T19:17:14","slug":"the-dells-stay-in-my-corner-there-is-bw-marvin-junior-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=3952","title":{"rendered":"The Dells – Stay In My Corner \/There Is b\/w Marvin Junior RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\"
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The mighty Dells, Marvin Junior at the top.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"
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Listen\/Download The Dells – Stay In My Corner (LP) <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download The Dells – There Is (45) <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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

The world of soul was saddened last week to hear of the passing (on May 29) of the mighty Marvin Junior<\/strong> of the Dells.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to admit that for many years I was largely ignorant of the breadth of the Dells catalog.<\/p>\n

The groups remarkable 1968 hit \u2018There Is\u2019 knocked me on my ass when I first heard it as a kid, even though I thought I was listening to the Four Tops.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I eventually figured out the truth, grabbed myself a copy of the 45 and always dug inserting its explosive power (especially that conga break) \u00a0into DJ sets.<\/p>\n

Other than that, and a couple of their obvious bigger hits (like the 1969 version of \u2018Oh What a Night\u2019) I knew little of their vast discography (they were together, with the original line up for over 50 years!).<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until I grabbed a copy of the \u2018There Is\u2019 LP that I had my mind blown by their epic ballad \u2018Stay In My Corner\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first had to grapple with the fact that I already knew (and loved) the song, as done in a more uptempo version by the Hesitations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That, and the fact that the track is over six minutes long, practically unheard at the time outside of the rock world.<\/p>\n

Written by Wade Flemons, Barrett Strong<\/strong> and Bobby Miller<\/strong> (the latter producing the album with arrangements by the great Charles Stepney<\/strong>),\u2019Stay In My Corner\u2019 was first recorded by the Dells in 1965 for VeeJay<\/a>. That version \u2013 which grazed the R&B Top 20 – was not only much shorter (2:17) but sung with a different rhythmic pulse.<\/p>\n

The 1968 recording, which topped the R&B charts and made the Pop Top 10, was, on both the LP and the 45, a six-plus minute epic and a master class in soul singing.<\/p>\n

The Dells had their first hit (the original version of \u2018Oh What a Nite\u2019) in 1956, and the traces of that earlier era of R&B harmony are evident throughout \u2018Stay In My Corner\u2019.<\/p>\n

The first time I listened to the song, the opening struck me as almost schmaltzy, but any hesitations I had disappeared as soon as Marvin Junior started singing.<\/p>\n

Though the basic drive train of the song is an almost standard \u2018late night soul ballad\u2019 thing, what the Dells do with it over those six minutes is truly remarkable.<\/p>\n

The song takes a couple of unusual melodic turns, which the group takes full advantage of, shifting the tone subtly but powerfully.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a section around the 2:40 mark where they harmonize on the word \u2018stay\u2019 that just about shoots through your ears like a bolt of lightning.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned before, the Dells brought bits and pieces of old school, streetcorner singing into the later soul era, and there are a number of times where Johnny Carter\u2019s<\/strong> falsetto breaks out in (for 1968) unusual, and very cool ways.<\/p>\n

The most amazing part of the record, comes at just after the five-minute mark, where Marvin Junior stretches out the word \u2018baby\u2019, holding the note for well over 15 seconds, in a move that in the hands of lesser singer would seem pretentious or operatic. Yet Junior\u2019s voice was a remarkable, soulful instrument and you never get the impression that there’s a second of it that he doesn’t feel in the deepest part of his soul. I get choked up every time I hear that section of the song. It boggles the mind and reminds me why music is as close as I get to a religion these days.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stay In My Corner\u2019 is the kind of record you need to sit down with, slap on the headphones and really get inside of with repeated listens.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dells were an amazing group, and Marvin Junior a mighty<\/em> singer.<\/p>\n

He will be missed.<\/p>\n

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

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

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\n___________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a>
\nAlso, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mighty Dells, Marvin Junior at the top. Listen\/Download The Dells – Stay In My Corner (LP) Listen\/Download The Dells – There Is (45) Greetings all The world of soul was saddened last week to hear of the passing (on May 29) of the mighty Marvin Junior of the Dells. I have to admit that […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,14,30,67,12,18],"tags":[171,166,164],"class_list":["post-3952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago-soul","category-funky16corners","category-lp-tracks","category-obituary","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-chicago-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-11K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952","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=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4116,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions\/4116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}