{"id":4806,"date":"2014-06-01T15:25:57","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T20:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4806"},"modified":"2014-06-01T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T20:27:06","slug":"salsoul-does-the-soulful-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4806","title":{"rendered":"Salsoul Does the Soulful Strings"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Clockwise from top left, Thor Baldursson, Tom Moulton, the Salsoul Orchestra<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Listen\/Download Salsoul Orchestra – Burning Spear <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Salsoul Orchestra – Zambesi <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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

The Funky16Corners 2014 Allnighter and Pledge Drive<\/strong> is arriving Friday, June 6th!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

We have a stellar line up of selectors\u00a0contributing mixes this year, and the mixes are killer.<\/p>\n

The format will be slightly different this year, with a new mix being added each weekday from June 6 to June 20.<\/p>\n

All donors this year will receive the new 2014 Funky16Corners badge (see the left side of the banner, above)<\/strong>, as well as stickers from the archive (while they last). There will also be prizes every day (drawn at random) including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul<\/strong>, CDs from Light in the Attic<\/strong> and more!<\/p>\n

It’s sure to be a gas, so stay tuned for more details in the coming week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Today I thought we\u2019d take a trip back to the waning days of the disco revolution for a very interesting bit of crossover.<\/p>\n

A while back I was listening to the Studio 54 channel on Sirius\/XM and heard a very cool dance track, \u2018212 N. 12th\u2019 by the Salsoul Orchestra.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I set to Googling, and was shocked to discover that the album that spawned that song also included not one but two Soulful Strings<\/strong> covers!<\/p>\n

I set out in search of my own copy (which didn\u2019t take long or cost much).<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the LP in question, 1979\u2019s \u2018Street Sense\u2019 was an important transitional album for the Salsoul Orchestra.<\/p>\n

Most of the group\u2019s driving forces, most importantly Vince Montana<\/strong>, had left, and were replaced (for this album only) by uber-producer\/mixmaster Tom Moulton<\/strong> and musician Thor Baldursson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baldursson was an Icelandic keyboardist, arranger and composer who had worked with Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer, Loleatta Holloway<\/strong> and Grace Jones<\/strong> among others.<\/p>\n

Moulton and Baldursson went into the studio with a radically different line-up, with most of the Philly all-stars (with the noted exception of drummer Earl Young<\/strong>) gone.<\/p>\n

The LP is composed of two Baldursson\/Moulton originals (including \u2018212 N. 12th\u2019), the two Soulful Strings songs, a cover of the Jefferson Airplane\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Somebody To Love\u2019 (?!?) and tune by Silvetti.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two Soulful Strings tunes lend themselves to the disco sound quite well.<\/p>\n

\u2018Burning Spear\u2019, without a doubt the best known Soulful Strings\/Richard Evans<\/strong> tune had become something of a soul\/soul jazz standard in the 60s. The Salsoul take on the tune features a pounding dance beat, pulsing strings and lots of keyboards. The late-70s-specific synth sounds haven\u2019t worn well, but the arrangement and mix are top shelf Moulton.<\/p>\n

\u2018Zambesi\u2019 (co-written by Evans and Donny Hathaway<\/strong>) has long been one of my favorite Soulful Strings tunes. First appearing on the 1969 \u2018String Fever\u2019 LP (a lost classic deserving of reissue\/reappraisal), the slinky funk of the original translates well into a disco treatment. The counterpoint between the bass and the string section is preserved from the original and there\u2019s a very nice acoustic piano breakdown about halfway through the song.<\/p>\n

This appears to have been Baldursson\u2019s sole outing with Salsoul. Disco was on the decline and despite its quality, the album did not make it onto the charts.<\/p>\n

As I said before, the LP is neither expensive nor hard to find, but if digital is your thing, you can pick it up cheaply in iTunes.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the sounds and I\u2019ll see you on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

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

Clockwise from top left, Thor Baldursson, Tom Moulton, the Salsoul Orchestra Listen\/Download Salsoul Orchestra – Burning Spear Listen\/Download Salsoul Orchestra – Zambesi Greetings all The Funky16Corners 2014 Allnighter and Pledge Drive is arriving Friday, June 6th! We have a stellar line up of selectors\u00a0contributing mixes this year, and the mixes are killer. The format will […]<\/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":[58,32,14,30,12],"tags":[110,166],"class_list":["post-4806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-disconot-disco","category-funky16corners","category-lp-tracks","category-soul","tag-disco","tag-funky16corners"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1fw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4806","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=4806"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4838,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4806\/revisions\/4838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}