{"id":5550,"date":"2015-03-01T12:59:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T17:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=5550"},"modified":"2015-03-01T12:59:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T17:59:35","slug":"darondo-didnt-i-bw-listen-to-my-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=5550","title":{"rendered":"Darondo – Didn’t I b\/w Listen To My Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Darondo<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Listen\/Download – Darondo – Didn’t I <\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
Listen\/Download – Darondo – Listen To My Song <\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

I thought I\u2019d start the week off with something very special indeed.<\/p>\n

My deep and abiding appreciation for sweet, harmony soul took a long time to take root. As has been discussed here many times over the years, my soul fandom started out with roots in rough, raucous southern soul, and I still have a decided taste for fast-moving, soul party 45s.<\/p>\n

That said, having opened my ears sufficiently, and listened (really<\/em>, listened) to what was out there, I have come to love soul balladry, and as those things go, there are few better records in the canon than Darondo\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Didn\u2019t I\u2019.<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, I remember when Darondo (full name Darondo Pulliam<\/strong>) was rediscovered, partly by Justin Torres<\/strong>, who reported the story as it unfolded on a soul\/funk message board I frequented. It was years before I actually heard his music, and when I did, I was blown away.<\/p>\n

Darondo (his name is misspelled on the 45) was a San Francisco Bay area performer who recorded three rare 45s in the early 70s, and then kind of fell off the face of the earth until Gilles Peterson<\/strong> revived interest in his music when he started playing \u2018Didn\u2019t I\u2019 on his BBC radio show*.<\/p>\n

Anyway, a while back I had some filthy lucre burning a hole in my pocket and decided that the time was right to go out and find myself a copy of the \u2018Didn\u2019t I\u2019 45 for my crates. It didn\u2019t take very long, and thanks to a friend who pointed me in the direction of a Bay Area record dealer, I was able to score the disc at a lower than anticipated price (always sweet<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the price was irrelevant, since \u2013 as you\u2019ll hear when you pull down the ones and zeroes \u2013 this is the kind of record that is worth whatever you have to pay to get it.<\/p>\n

\u2018Didn\u2019t I\u2019 is as remarkable a serving of soul as you\u2019re ever likely to find.<\/p>\n

Sublime is an accurate (yet inadequate) word for the artistry packed in the grooves of this 45. Opening with Darondo\u2019s guitar, then joined by bass, it starts off simply, but when joined by his voice and the organ and strings, its many wonders are revealed.<\/p>\n

Darondo moves back and forth between a falsetto, and an Al Green<\/strong>-like growl, and his delivery is in turns raw and exceptionally beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u2018Didn\u2019t I\u2019 is proof, once again, that high quality is no guarantee of success. Here we have a remarkably well written song, and well made record, that repeatedly surprises and delights as it unfolds, yet was met by commercial indifference.<\/p>\n

I have often written about how \u2013 at least in my approximation \u2013 a great record is like a journey in which all of the right turns are taken at the right time, moving the traveller in the right direction. Here, Darondo navigates the various sections of the song, and more than once manages to emerge in extraordinary places.<\/p>\n

One of these comes at 1:50, when the title is repeated, backed by pulsing organ and strings. It\u2019s a musical moment capable of moving me to tears with its beauty.<\/p>\n

The flipside, \u2018Listen to My Song\u2019 is also great, especially the interplay between the eerie sounding organ and the acoustic piano. It reminds me of the kind of thing Lou Bond<\/strong> was doing in Memphis around the same time.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, you don\u2019t need to drop the big bucks to dig the sounds of Darondo. You can find his stuff on CD, or pick it up via iTunes.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Darondo passed away in 2013.<\/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

 <\/p>\n

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

*Ironically, it wasn\u2019t until recently that I made the connection and realized that I already knew one of Darondo\u2019s other 45s, the funky \u2018Let My People Go\u2019, after hearing it on the Sound of Funk Vol 2\u2019 back in the 90s.<\/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":"

Darondo Listen\/Download – Darondo – Didn’t I Listen\/Download – Darondo – Listen To My Song   Greetings all. I thought I\u2019d start the week off with something very special indeed. My deep and abiding appreciation for sweet, harmony soul took a long time to take root. As has been discussed here many times over 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":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":[145,14,12,18,142],"tags":[166,164],"class_list":["post-5550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-soul","category-funky16corners","category-soul","category-soul-45","category-sweet-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1rw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5550","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=5550"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5565,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5550\/revisions\/5565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}