{"id":6275,"date":"2016-03-22T12:24:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6275"},"modified":"2016-03-22T12:24:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:24:44","slug":"the-four-larks-groovin-at-the-go-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6275","title":{"rendered":"The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Four Larks<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Listen\/Download – The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

I come to you, mid-week, with one of the greatest 45s ever made, and a story to accompany its dulcet tones.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, in the early days of the Funky16Corners<\/strong> blog, I got an e-mail from a reader (whose identity is sadly lost in the sands of time) saying how much they dug the blog, and asked for my address so that they could send me something.<\/p>\n

So, a couple of weeks pass, and then I get a package in the mail. I opened it, only to be greeted by a genuinely shocking sight.<\/p>\n

There in the package was one of my personal holy grail 45s, \u2018Groovin\u2019 at the Go Go\u2019 by the Four Larks,<\/strong> in stone mint condition, with a note saying how the sender had come across it at a stoop sale in Brooklyn, knew that I had sung its praises on the blog (mentioning of course how I had been unable to score a copy), and thought they\u2019d send it my way as a token of their appreciation for my efforts.<\/p>\n

Now, I should mention \u2013 for those of you who are not record collecting obsessives, or Northern Soul fans \u2013 that this is no ordinary garage sale\/flea market find. This is a record that regularly fetches between 200 to 350 dollars in this kind of condition (way out of my price range<\/em>) and this sainted soul dropped a mint copy in my lap for nothing.<\/p>\n

That, my friends, is what the Jewish members of my family would describe as a mitzvah. A really big mitzvah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sadly, I soon lost the box with the sender\u2019s name and address, and despite asking on the blog for contact info, have not heard from them again (if you\u2019re still out there, PLEASE drop me a line).<\/p>\n

They should know, that over the years, when I wasn\u2019t feeling the love (blog-wise), that act of kindness was a well that I could return to over and over again to restore my faith in the readership, and mankind in general.<\/p>\n

That all said, it is undeniable (at least to me and most Philly soul heads) that the Four Larks \u2018Groovin\u2019 at the Go Go\u2019 is a monument to the greatness of the Harthon<\/strong> sound specifically, and Philadelphia soul in general.<\/p>\n

The lead vocal by Vivian McDougal<\/strong> is first rate, and the backing by the Four Larks (including her then-husband, the mighty\u00a0Weldon<\/strong>), and the instrumental backing (flawless) are both among the best of the era, and the tune, written by Philly giant Thom Bell is amazing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Groovin\u2019 at the Go Go\u2019 is a Northern Soul favorite for all of the obvious reasons, including the hooks, bright pop-soul sound and that driving beat.<\/p>\n

The 45 holds a place of honor in my playbox, and when I had the opportunity to spin at the legendary Subway Soul<\/strong> night in NYC, I made sure to give it an airing.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig it as much as I do, and I\u2019ll see you all on Friday.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \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

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

The Four Larks Listen\/Download – The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go MP3 Greetings all. I come to you, mid-week, with one of the greatest 45s ever made, and a story to accompany its dulcet tones. Many years ago, in the early days of the Funky16Corners blog, I got an e-mail from a […]<\/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":[14,24,74,12,18],"tags":[166,169,177,164],"class_list":["post-6275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-northern-soul","category-philly-soul","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-northern-soul","tag-philly-soul","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1Dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275","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=6275"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6322,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions\/6322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}