{"id":6568,"date":"2016-08-02T16:39:24","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T21:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6568"},"modified":"2016-08-02T16:39:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T21:39:24","slug":"the-untouchables-free-yourself-i-spy-for-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6568","title":{"rendered":"The Untouchables – Free Yourself \/ I Spy (For the FBI)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Untouchables (Clyde Grimes on the right)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Listen\/Download – The Untouchables – Free Yourself MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – The Untouchables – I Spy (For the FBI) MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

A little while back (the blog moves at a different speed during the summer due to an adjusted work schedule) I heard about the passing of guitarist Clyde \u2018City Gent\u2019 Grimes<\/strong> of the mighty SoCal mod band the Untouchables.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in the day, when MTV was still young and foolish, the video for the Untouchables \u2018Free Yourself\u2019 was a certified mindblower.<\/p>\n

First of all, it was visually arresting in a way that most videos weren\u2019t even close to. Second, it tapped into the mod soul thing (a sound I was just starting to devour) like absolutely nothing else on MTV, and the band was (unlike any other mod\/retro band of the day) mostly black.<\/p>\n

They formed in the early 80s, and their style was a very cool mix of ska, mod and soul.<\/p>\n

Though they were largely one (and a half) hit wonders on this side of the country, they were hugely important to the Southern California mod scene of the time.<\/p>\n

\u2018Free Yourself\u2019 (written by Grimes) \u2013 which I find every bit as vital today, after more than 30 years \u2013 was a Top 30 hit in the UK. It\u2019s a retro-soul banger that manages to capture, then reinvent a classic soul sound in a spectacular way.<\/p>\n

Their cover of Jamo Thomas\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018I Spy (For the FBI)\u2019 is also very cool. Produced in the UK by Jerry Dammers<\/strong> of the Specials<\/strong> for their second album (after the band had signed with Stiff) \u2018Wild Child\u2019, their version adds horns and a mod\/ska edge to the soul classic.<\/p>\n

This record is an EP released in 1985 combining their previous hit with two new cuts.<\/p>\n

Though their recording heyday was over a long time ago, the Untouchables continued (with a dwindling number of original members) for years.<\/p>\n

These are both killers, and I hope you dig them.<\/p>\n

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

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

The Untouchables (Clyde Grimes on the right) Listen\/Download – The Untouchables – Free Yourself MP3 Listen\/Download – The Untouchables – I Spy (For the FBI) MP3 Greetings all. A little while back (the blog moves at a different speed during the summer due to an adjusted work schedule) I heard about the passing of guitarist […]<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[14,121,12,18],"tags":[166,210,164],"class_list":["post-6568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-mod-soul","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-mod","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1HW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568","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=6568"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6576,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568\/revisions\/6576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}