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By Larry, February 4, 2014 1:01 pm

Promo badge for Duke Williams and the Extremes

Listen/Download Duke Williams and the Extremes – Chinese Chicken

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is one of those 45s that – in a manner of speaking – unfolds like the petals of the storied lotus.

I was familiar with Duke Williams and the Extremes’ ‘Chinese Chicken’ as a breakbeat/sample favorite from its inclusion on the ‘Ultimate Breaks and Beats’ series.

When I finally got my hands on the 45, I assumed (remember what Felix Unger said about assuming?) that they were part of the Southern Rock scene, due to their presence on Phil Walden’s Capricorn label, home to the Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Captain Beyond and others.

It was only when I started digging for information that I discovered that Duke Williams and the Extremes were not Macon, GA homeboys of Gregg and Duane, but rather originated in that funky burgh, Trenton, NJ!

Duke Williams (born Chris Holmes) had been a member of NJ garage faves the Galaxies IV (‘Let Me Hear You Say Yeah’, ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind’) back in the 60s, and had been working in and around Trenton and Philadelphia for years when he put together the Extremes.

The group recorded two albums for Capricorn, ‘A Monkey In a Silk Suit Is Still a Monkey’ (1973) and ‘Fantastic Fedora’ (1974).

‘Chinese Chicken’ appeared on the first LP as well as being issued as a (now sought after) 45.

The Extremes played a funk/rock hybrid, mixing their originals with a fair amount of soul cover material (‘Funky Broadway’, ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now’) with the group being joined in the studio by a who’s who of Philly sessions heads.

‘Chinese Chicken’ opens with a funky guitar before the band (with a wailing organ) drops in. The tune is funky enough, but turns a corner at 1:39 when that drum beat drops.

Do yourself a favor and slap on the headphones for this one and listen to the way that kick drums hits.

Very groovy, indeed.

Though the Extremes didn’t record after 1974, they continued to play into the early 80s, at one time including a young, pre-Bon Jovi Richie Sambora in their ranks.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, February 2, 2014 11:02 am

Gus Jenkins

Listen/Download Gus Jenkins – Chittlins

Greetings all

A while back I was reading the always excellent Echoes In the Wind blog and I saw that my man Whiteray had posted a very interesting looking song.

As an inveterate soul 45 hound, I am constitutionally unable to pass by a song entitled ‘Chittlins’ for any reason, so I had to stop, unsheathe my ears and have a listen.

Good thing I did, too, on account of the fact that Gus Jenkins’ ‘Chittlins’ is a little slice of late night, smoky, uptown bar perfection.

Jenkins was a pianist/singer who had an earlier hit (as ‘Gus Jinkins’) in 1956 with the tune ‘Tricky’ on the Flash label.

A lo-fi affair, with Gus’s piano dueling with an organ and some groovy guitar, ‘Tricky’ sounds like it could have been recorded at any time between 1945 and when it actually hit the charts.

Jinkins/Jenkins appears to have recorded a handful of 45s for Flash in the late 50s, one for Pioneer International in 1960, and then a few years of radio silence before a couple of discs for Tower in 1964.

‘Chittlins’, which made it into the R&B Top 30 in November of 1964 is the kind of thing you’d expect to hear on the radio during a late night road trip.

The production is much better than his earlier hit, and the piano and the guitar (especially the guitar) sound as if they’d been woven in and out of a skyline full of electric lights and clouds of cigarette smoke.

The flip side – ‘You’ll Be The One’ – is a pretty straight ahead blues vocal with some nice horn backing and a great vocal by Jenkins. Once again, the guitarist is outstanding (I’d love to know who it was).

Jenkins went on to record one more 45 for Tower, and then a couple of sides, including the funky ‘Funk With a Feeling’ for the General Artist imprint (it seems ‘Chittlins’ was either reissued, or rerecorded for General Artists at some point).

So turn down the lights, pour yourself a drink, and give this one a spin or three.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 31, 2014 12:10 pm

Listen/Download The Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Special Tribute)*

Greetings all

The word came down yesterday that James Shaw, better known as the Mighty Hannibal had passed away at the age of 74.

Hannibal was a master (as well as a charter member of the Turban Hall of Fame!), recording some remarkable soul and funk 45s in a career that lasted – with some detours along the way – more than 50 years.

His 1965 opus ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ has a secure place in my Top 5 soul 45s of all time.

It is – much like Rex Garvin (eulogized in this space less than a month ago) and the Mighty Cravers ‘I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor)’ – a killer diller and a floor filler. A 45 so powerful that it held a place of honor in my play box, where it would be held in reserve for just the right moment, when it would be whipped on the crowd, taking them and leading them to the promised land.

It is far from the only incredible tune that the Mighty one laid down, but it is the one against which all others must be judged.

The record opens with his voice:

And then immediately drops into the hypnotic chank of the rhythm guitar which forces even the most stolid members of the audience to start moving, from their heads to their feet.

Then Hannibal stops things again and asks:

After which everyone in the room that knows what’s good for them (and hasn’t already collapsed) starts stomping, because when the Mighty Hannibal suggests (nay, demands) that you do something on the dance floor you put your drink down (or not) and do it.

There’s an incredible video of Hannibal performing ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ on ‘The Beat!!!’ that has to be seen to be believed.

There stands Hannibal clad in a white silk tunic, bell bottoms, silver Beatle boots and a gold turban, with two go-go dancers behind him, surrounded by brightly colored giant plywood exclamation points, ampersands and asterisks, calling the shots, doing the jerk, walking the dog and just generally being bad-ass.

There are some crazy video artifacts out there, but this is like a transmission from another galaxy, where Hannibal is just now returning to his throne after dropping a lifetime of cool onto the earth.

The Mighty Hannibal did not have an easy life, and never really got the kind of shine that the creator of such amazing music deserved.

Fortunately, late in his life, thanks to devoted friends, fans and record hounds, he was able to return to the stage where he would bask in the adoration of the faithful once again.

He was a master.

He will be missed.

Rest in peace Mr. Shaw.

Keep the faith

Larry

* The file above includes an unexpected namecheck for the Mighty Hannibal that blew my mind the first time I heard it.

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 30, 2014 12:24 pm

Listen/Download Lee Calvin – You Got Me

Greetings all

The weekend is almost here, and so is this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show, which fires up at 9PM each and every Friday on Viva Radio. If you are unable to join me at airtime, you can keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

A while back I was digging through my crates looking for something groovy to whip on you when I happened on a grip of New Orleans 45s that hadn’t yet been featured at Funky16Corners.

You all know that I’m a huge fan of soul music from the Crescent City, with an extra special place in my heart for the sounds associated with the mighty Allen Toussaint.

My favorites in his oeuvre all hail from the catalog of Sansu records.

Active in its first (and best) incarnation from 1965 to 1968, Sansu released some of the most amazing music ever to come out of the south, let alone New Orleans.

The brainchild of Allen Toussaint, the Sansu label features his production, arrangements and many of his finest songs, brought to life by some of the Big Easy’s finest singers (native and adopted).

Lee Calvin is one of the lesser known artists on the label.

Thanks (once again) to Sir Shambling’s Deep Soul Heaven, I now know that Lee Calvin was one of a couple of stage names used by a singer named Calvin LeBlanc.

LeBlanc, who also performed as a member of a group called the DelRoyals, recorded four 45s for Minit, Sansu and Josie between 1962 and 1969.

The credits on his 45s all seem to suggest that he operated out of New Orleans exclusively.

‘You Got Me’, a Toussaint-penned number is a fast moving number featuring prominent horns, a pulsing bass and some nice ivory-tickling by Toussaint himself.

Calvin had a high tenor voice with a slightly scratchy feel to it that comes through nicely on ‘You Got Me.

I haven’t heard any of his ‘Calvin Lee’ 45s, but I will certainly be on the lookout for them.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 28, 2014 1:44 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Boot-Leg

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, in which we endeavor to assist you in your journey over the hump.

The tune I bring you today is an old favorite of mine that I recently pulled from the crates, dropped into my playbox and reappraised, as it were.

I have always dug Booker T and the MGs ‘Boot-Leg’, but it was one of those sides that I never really listened to closely, or at least closely enough that I really ‘got’ it.

The tune, which made it into the R&B Top 10 in 1965, and was one of the 45s in John Lennon’s famed portable jukebox, is classic, down and dirty Stax groove.

Written by Packy Axton (of the Mar-Keys, Packers etc), Duck Dunn, Isaac Hayes and Al Jackson Jr., ‘Boot-Leg’ opens with some remarkably distorted guitar from Steve Cropper which then drops down into a positively booming guitar/bass tandem line. The bass sound is crazy deep.

Al Jackson is – as was the norm – screwed right down into the pocket, and there’s even a groovy sax solo (not sure if it’s Packy or Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns).

It is a particularly tasty Booker T and the MGs side, and worthy of your attention.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

NOTE: Reading Robert Gordon’s Stax history ‘Respect Yourself’ and discovered that this recording has Isaac Hayes replacing Booker T (who was away at college) on organ, and features the very first appearance by Duck Dunn (replacing Lewie Steinberg) on bass!

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 26, 2014 11:08 am

Al Green(e) at the wheel!

Listen/Download Al Greene and the Soul Mates – Don’t Leave Me

Greetings all

I’d like to get the new week started with another one of those great – had it for years but never really listened to it – bangers.

I picked up the ‘Back Up Train’ 45 – Al Green’s debut (when he was still ‘Al Greene’) from 1967, years ago, and apparently – as was often the case – never flipped it over.

So, a few weeks back, I was pulling 45s for my DJ set at the David Porter tribute, looking for Memphis stuff, and I pulled the disc you see before you out of the crates.

I dropped the needle on ‘Back Up Train’, which is a very tasty ballad, but a little on the slow side, so I flipped it over to check out the b-side, which I was admittedly unfamiliar with.

Whoa, dad…

There, on the flip was a very nice, very upbeat, very Norther Soul-ish bit of gravy called ‘Don’t Leave Me’.

Where had this killer been all my life? Why, right there in the crates, waiting for me to do the right thing and listen to both sides of the record.

Written by Palmer James, who had sung with Green in the Creations with Curtis Rogers, ‘Don’t Leave Me’ (produced by Rogers and James) opens with a tasteful duet of strings and vibes.

The band lays down a pulsing beat, and the backing singers come in before Al starts the verse.

Green’s voice is recognizable, but instead of the slow, love man styling of his big hits, you get a more straight ahead delivery in a record that should have been a hit, instead of a neglected b-side.

The topside of the disc, ‘Back Up Train’ was an R&B Top 5 hit (skirting the outer limits of the Pop Top 40) in December of 1967.

Green would not return to the charts for a little over two years, returning with ‘You Say It’ on Hi in February of 1970.

‘Don’t Leave Me’ has a bit of a following with the Northern Soul crowd (for obvious reasons), with the Hot Line and Stateside issues of the 45 going for around 40 or 50 dollars.

As always, I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 23, 2014 2:08 pm

Mister Rufus Is Back!

Listen/Download Rufus Thomas – (Do The) Push and Pull Pt1

Listen/Download Rufus Thomas – (Do The) Push and Pull Pt2

Greetings all

The week is coming to a close, so it’s time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will take to the airwaves of the interwebs Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can keep up with the show by subscribing as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 at the blog.

Since the weekend is approaching, and you may – like so many of us – wish to toss back a few cocktails and get your party on, how about something funky to help get you started?

Rufus Thomas was a very solid cat.

He was one of the cornerstones of the Stax organization, a successful Memphis DJ, as well as the being billed (justifiably) as the ‘World’s Oldest Teenager’.

He made some of the most energetic, hard hitting soul and funk sides of the 60s, and it always amazes me that he was well into middle age when he did so (54 when he laid down today’s selection!).

Though many of his best remembered tunes are your basic, dance craze numbers, Rufus never let that stop him from delivering an inspired performance and ‘(Do the) Push and Pull Pt1’ was no exception.

The groove, with the bass drum hitting like a punch in the nose, pushed along by the horns, bass guitar and a chugging clavinet, is funky indeed.

The record was an R&B Number One hit in 1970 (grazing the Pop Top 20), and I was shocked to discover that it was the only time Rufus ever topped the charts! Though he made it into the Top 5 five different times between his first hit in 1953 (‘Bear Cat’) and his last in 1976 (‘If There Were No Music’) ‘(Do the) Push and Pull Pt1’ was his only Number One.

It went on to be sampled by Eazy E and Jurassic Five among others.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, January 21, 2014 3:56 pm

Listen/Download Soul East – Funky Lady Pt1

Listen/Download Soul East – Funky Lady Pt2

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is an almost complete mystery to me.

Before I scored a copy last year, I had heard of Soul East, and heard the tune ‘Funky Lady’ in a mix somewhere, but never really knew anything about the group.

Actually getting my hands on a copy of the record hasn’t done anything to improve that situation.

A quick look at the label shows that the band was barely credited (the speed of the disc and the catalog number are both in a bigger font).

It seems that the co-writer and producer, listed as ‘Bud Scott’ may in fact have been NY-based producer Buddy Scott who wrote and produced a number of records for Pat Lundy.

Whether or not Soul East were also working out of NY, or if they were anything more than a studio concoction, I cannot say.

What I can say with certainty is that ‘Funky Lady’ was released in 1969, and appears to be the only record released by the group.

The tune features chicken scratch lead guitar (cool leads on Part 1), some punchy horns and rolling piano underneath it all.

‘Funky Lady’ does not appear to have charted anywhere, but it is a very tasty, very funky side.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, January 20, 2014 4:29 pm

Martin Luther King

Listen/Download Chris Kenner – Memories of a King (Let Freedom Ring) Pt1

Greetings all

This is an extra special, unscheduled, surprise post, tied in with my chronic inability to be prepared for any special occasion on the calendar.

To be sure, this situation has improved over the years, as I’ve built up a massive store of music, pictures and information that make these things easier.

Unfortunately, my mind is – to borrow a phrase from the autobiography of the great Dave Van Ronk – like the attic of the Smithsonian, and sometimes no matter how special something is, it gets filed, misplaced or forgotten.

I mention this because I finally remembered – at the last possible minute, naturally – to dig out and digimatize the record you see before you today.

Back in 1968, not long after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Chris Kenner, his hitmaking days long behind him, wrote and waxed a tribute to the great civil rights leader.

Entitled ‘Memories of a King (Let Freedom Ring) Pts 1&2’, it is a departure for Kenner, best known for penning and recording some of the greatest R&B to come out of New Orleans in the 1960s, as well as laying down some of the most obviously inebriated records I’ve ever heard.

That said, ‘Memories of King’ is an earnest and heartfelt, and at times the tiniest bit funky, tribute to Dr. King.

While it’s nothing earth shattering, it is a little known/heard 45, and was the second to last 45 Kenner recorded before he was sent to jail later that year. It was the beginning of a downhill slide that ended in his premature death in 1976.

Give it a listen, and remember the work and life of the mighty Dr. King.

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 19, 2014 11:47 am

Alvin Cash and the Registers

Listen/Download Alvin Cash and the Registers – No Deposit No Return

Greetings all

The new week is here, so I thought I’d dust off some of that good Chicago (via St Louis) instrumental soul to get you greased up and ready to roll.

Alvin Cash (nee Weeks) and the Crawlers/Registers had a string of hits for the Chicago labels Mar-V-Lus and Toddlin’ Town between 1965 and 1968.

Cash and his brothers – basically a dance act – emigrated to Chitown from St Louis and hit the charts early in 1965 with ‘Twin Time’.

Backed by the Registers, originally a St Louis band called the Nightlighters, Cash basically worked the same side of the “vocal” street as Jerry-O, i.e. he was more of an emcee/toaster/proto-rapper than a singer proper, spicing up several groovy instrumentals with largely spoken interjections.

The track I bring you today is – as my pockets often are – Cash-less, featuring the Registers, along with a bottle of pop, getting down.

The tune – ‘No Deposit No Return’ is credited to Joseph Delponto and Larry Nestor. I can’t find anything about Delponto, but Nestor was a Chicago-area keyboardist who had spent some time in the Buckinghams, and wrote and arranged for other Chicago artists like the Sharpees and Syl Johnson.

‘No Deposit No Return’, which opens with the sound of a bottle being uncapped (natch…) opens up into a grooving soul instro led by some soupy (Wurlitzer??) electric piano and saxophone, with enough punch for the dance floor.

Though this song didn’t chart, its flipside ‘Philly Freeze’ grazed the R&B Top 10 and the Pop Top 50 in 1966.

It is a head-nodder indeed, and I hope you dig it.

See you on Wednesday

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 16, 2014 12:08 pm

Miss Tina Britt

Listen/Download Tina Britt – Who Was That

Greetings all

The end of the week is nigh, so I will once again inform you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you have a previous engagement, you can always keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing and MP3 here at the blog.

The song I bring you today is the second and last hit that Tina Britt placed in the R&B charts.

Though she was fairly well-recorded – a half dozen 45s and an LP – there isn’t much information out there on Miss Tina.

I first found my way to her mighty voice via her powerful 1969 cover of Don Covay’s ‘Sookie Sookie’, a funky classic.

Britt, who first hit the charts with the Ashford/Simpson/Jo Armstead penned ‘The Real Thing’ in 1965 (also recorded by the Chiffons and Betty Everett), seems to have hailed from Florida. Her singing had a bluesy edge to it, displayed to fine effect on ‘Who Was That’.

An R&B Top 40 hit in November of 1968, is a funky blues, with some tasty guitar (perhaps composer James Peterson?) and a punchy drum/bass sound.

There’s an interview with Britt where she mentions that she really considered herself a blues singer, she didn’t like ‘The Real Thing’, and that Juggy Murray wasn’t forthcoming with the royalties for her hits.

Though I’m not sure when the interview was from, Britt mentions recording some new music, so be on the lookout for that.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

  _______________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, January 14, 2014 1:27 pm

The Flamingos circa 1967

Listen/Download The Flamingos – Heavy Hips

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week.

I have always been a big fan of groups that got their start in the doowop/R&B era, and managed to hang on through the classic soul era, and sometimes (as in the case of today’s artist) on into funk.

The Flamingos would be worth your time if all they had ever done was record the timeless and amazing 1959 recording of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, one of the greatest records ever made, in any genre, by anyone.

Led by brothers Jake and Zeke Carey, the Flamingos were on the charts fairly regularly between 1956 and 1960, then came back for more starting in 1966 with the soul classic ‘Boogaloo Party’.

The tune I bring you today is one of the last things they did before joining the oldies circuit.

‘Heavy Hips’ (written by Zeke Carey), released in 1975 is manages to be funny without getting (too) silly, taking a ribald tack.

Opening with the cry ‘Lawd! Sho must be Bonanza, because that sure is a whole lotta Ponderosa!’, the band (dig the bass, especially) kicks into a funky groove. The horn section is cool (the trombonist gets to fool around a little bit) and there’s a nice drum breakdown about halfway through.

The late-era Flamingos recorded a couple of LPs for the Ronze label, with ‘Heavy Hips’ also appearing on the ‘In Touch With You’ album, alongside (of course) ‘Bump Your Buns Off’.

Though most of the original members are gone (both Carey brothers having passed on in the 90s) there is still a version of the Flamingos performing, led by early member (and songwriter) Terry Johnson.

I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.