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By Larry, August 12, 2012 11:32 am

Carl Davis

Clockwise from top left: Major Lance, Walter Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Billy Butler
Below: The Artistics

Listen/Download Billy Butler – Right Track
Listen/Download Billy Butler – I’ll Bet You
Listen/Download Major Lance – Too Hot To Hold
Listen/Download Walter Jackson – Funny (Not Much)
Listen/Download Jackie Wilson – I Get the Sweetest Feeling
Listen/Download The Artistics – What Happened

Greetings all and welcome to another week here at the intersection of all things soulful.

It was near the end of last week that I heard that the great producer Carl Davis had passed away.

If you’re a fan and/or collector of classic Chicago soul, his is a name that looms large (and appears constantly at the bottom of 45 labels).

Davis was one of the first black A&R men and one of the most important producers involved in soul music during the 60s.

He produced countless classic sessions for the Okeh and Brunswick labels, both crucibles for the development of the Chicago “sound”.

While I would not classify myself as an expert on Chicago soul, I am without any shadow of a doubt a huge fan and devotee thereof.

Many of my favorite soul 45s came out of the Windy City, and Carl Davis was the producer on many of those.

Davis worked with a wide variety of performers, solo artists and groups, and his style was marked by the ability tomake records that were simultaneously lush and economical.

Few had Davis’s ability create records so full of life and dynamic range yet utterly uncluttered.

He could layer rhythm sections, horns, strings and vocals and still manage to have the various elements inhabit their own distinct spaces.

His productions were bright, exciting and sometimes even explosive.

Though Davis produced some of the biggest hit records to come out of Chicago, I’d like to feature a couple of lesser known killers as well.

Davis worked extensively with Major Lance and produced ‘Um Um Um Um Um’, but my fave Davis/Lance collab is ‘Too Hot To Hold’, which made it into the outer reaches of the R&B Top 40 in 1965. Check out the way the smoothness of the female backing vocals almost (but not quite) clash with the over-the-top-ness of the male voices, especially the ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’s.

Billy Butler has always been the connoiseur’s choice when it comes to Chitown soul singers. While never as successful as his older brother Jerry, he did manage to place four sides into the R&B Top 40 between 1965 and 1971.

‘Right Track’, from 1966 is rightly regarded as a soul anthem. It features a unstoppable arrangement that builds gradually, never overwhelming Butler’s vocals.

A year later, Butler would record one of the best versions of the oft covered George Clinton/Sidney Barnes/Theresa Lindsey classic ‘I’ll Bet You’. Whereas later versions (Funkadelic, Jackson 5) take the song at a slow, almost sinister tempo, Butler’s version moves along at a brisk pace, which made it a favorite on Northern Soul dance floors. The production is wonderful, but the recording of the drums especially is remarkable. Limited largely to the closed hi-hat and the snare (with occasional handclaps and congas) , Davis kept the drums high  in the mix, allowing them to drive the record without smothering the rest of the band.

It remains one of my favorite sides on Brunswick.

Davis also did a lot of work with balladeer Walter Jackson. Though he’s not as well remembered as many of his contemporaries, Jackson chocked up a significant number of R&B hits between 1964 and his untimely death in 1983.

I first heard ‘Funny (Not Much)’ some years ago on a comp, and promptly fell in love with it. I’m not surprised that the record – from 1966 – didn’t chart. The jazzy, supper club arrangement sounds about 10 years past its prime, but is undeniably beautiful. The arrangement is lush with strings, yet Davis lets the piano, guitar and vibes pop up into the mix just enough to lend the record an air of intimacy. Jackson’s voice is remarkable, yet just flawed enough to be interesting.

The best known record featured today is a longtime favorite, Jackie Wilson’s ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’. Grazing the R&B Top 10 (as well as the Pop Top 40) in the summer of 1968, ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is the biggest hit of the Davis productions on this list.

‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is two minutes and forty three seconds of absolute perfection. One of those soul records that is soulful yet almost pure pop, lush yet also danceable, and featuring one of Jackie Wilson’s finest vocals. ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is also an example of a perfectly produced side.

Davis brings in the vocals, strings, drums, backing vocals and horns, maintaining the perfect amount of space between them all, allowing Wilson’s voice to ride effortlessly atop the whole thing. The record is bright and open, without ever going over the top, restrained without ever making you think your missing something.

Like all of the finest records, the ultimate intersection of art and craft.

The final record I bring you is in many ways the most experimental, progressive 45 on this list.

The Artistics were around on the fringes of the Chicago scene, working as backing vocalists on Okeh sessions for Davis, eventually recording a handful of singles for the label.

They moved on to Brunswick in 1966 and hit the charts a few times over the next five years.

‘What Happened’ was released in 1967, and as I said when I first wrote about the record back in 2009, it is one of the finest examples of baroque, almost psychedelic touches working their way onto the soul palette. Davis (who produced with Eugene Record) brings in fuzz guitar, string quartet, organ and piano to lay down a foundation for the Artistics build their mighty harmonies on.

It never fails to amaze me that a record this good failed to chart.

Carl Davis went on to form the Dakar and Chi Sound labels, eventually working with – and making hits for – almost every major Chicago-based artist.

He was a master and he will be missed.

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, August 9, 2012 1:52 pm

Listen/Download Nicky and the Magnificents – Pasame el Hacha

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of another week here at the Corners.

I should remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the intertubes this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also pick up an MP3 of each week’s show on Saturday, either via iTunes as a podcast, or as a straight download over at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is an example of one of the oddest mysteries in the world of 45s (at least as far as I’m concerned).

It was some years back, during one of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions that my man Jack the Ripper dropped the needle on a tune that had me running up to the decks as fast as my legs would carry me.

While it didn’t grab me immediately, after about 15 seconds it was obvious to me that I was hearing a cover version of Roger and the Gypsies ‘Pass the Hatchet’.

Thing was, I had no idea that the song had ever been covered, and so the story begins.

The version he played that night, is the same one you see before you today, by a South American band by the name of Nicky and the Magnificents.

It would be years before I’d manage to score my own copy, but by then things had become even more curious.

I have gone on the record several times – in this space and elsewhere – that the OG version of ‘Pass the Hatchet’ is probably my favorite record of all time.

As far as I knew, it was probably little-heard outside of the New Orleans region when it was first released.

What I didn’t know until I was much deeper into the game, was that the Roger and the Gypsies 45 was issued again in South America in 1970, where, if bits and pieces of internet chatter are to be believed, it was a localized “hit” of some kind.

This would go a long way in explaining why ‘Pass the Hatchet’ was covered at least twice by South American groups, first by El Comite on the the Microfon label, and then later by Nicky and the Magnificents.

Though I haven’t been able to find out anything about either group, the sound of the records give up a hint or two.

The El Comite version (which seems to be Colombian Argentinian*) is closer in sound to the original recording, and seems to date somewhat closer to the 1970 SA issue of the Roger and the Gypsies 45.

Nicky and the Magnificents, in which the pressing of the record, if not the band itself hails from Argentina, dates to 1977 and sounds like it too.

If I had to venture a guess (especially factoring in the sound of the flipside, an upbeat cover of the Human Beinz ‘Nobody But Me’, en Espanol, natch) I would think that Nicky and the Magnificents were something more along the lines of a New Wave/Power Pop band.

The synthesizers and the flanged guitar, as well as a somewhat more laid back feel (my inclination would be to pitch it up +5 if I were playing it out) have a much later sound.

Either way, it’s fascinating to me that a record out of the Southern US, which was never a hit of any kind, managed to get released a few years after the fact in South America, and then get covered at least twice.

If anyone with deeper South American crates/knowledge has any more info to flesh out this saga, I’d love to hear it.

Until then…

Keep the faith

Larry

*Brian Harris aka DJ Midnite Cowbwoy informs me that El Comite were in fact from Argentina

NOTE: The authorship credits on the songs/labels are reversed, with Theriot, Oropeza and Leon getting credit for ‘Nobody But Me’ and “R. Osley”/ Isley  getting credit for ‘Pass the Hatchet’.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, August 7, 2012 1:45 pm

Clydie King (top) with the Raelettes:
(clockwise from top left) Alex Brown, Clydie King, Gwen Berry, Merry Clayton.

Listen/Download Clydie King – ‘Bout Love

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another glorious week.

The tune I bring you today is a longtime favorite of mine, by a singer that you’ve probably all heard (whether you knew it or not).

As a youngster, back in the days of LPs and album covers, I – and my friends – used to spend a lot of time perusing record jackets, and after memorizing band line-ups, registering (almost subliminally) the names of what might, for lack of better term, be called the “support staff”, i.e. backing singers, horn sections, percussionists and producers (among others).

As I grew older, and had years of stuffing factoids into my fevered brain, and became a collector of soul and funk in earnest, some of those names began to pop up again, and again.

Among those names, one that loomed large was that of Miss Clydie King.

Truth be told, I can seldom say ‘Clydie King’ without also saying ‘Venetta Fields’ and ‘Sherlie Matthews’ the women with whom she was often grouped in background singing duties.

As the Blackberries, they provided harmonies for Joe Cocker. Humble Pie, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, the Rollings Stones, Steely Dan, Barbra Streisand (she appears with Streisand in ‘A Star Is Born’) and countless others.

Interestingly, many of these singers, including King, got their start as Raelettes, alongside the mighty Merry Clayton.

King recorded her first 45 – as Little Clydie and the Teens – at the age of 13 in 1956.

She went on to record in groups, duets (with both Mel Carter and Jimmy Holiday) and as a solo for more than a dozen labels between the mid-50s and the late 70s.

The tune I bring you today hails from her 1971 LP for the storied Lizard label.

Founded by producer Gabriel Mekler, Lizard released titles by King, Nolan Porter, Paul Humphrey and heavy rock by bands like Frantic and Jamul.

I originally picked up King’s ‘Direct Me’ LP (with one of the greatest low-rent design jobs I’ve ever seen) because it contained a cover of a fave song of mine, Gladys Knight’s ‘You Need Love Like I Do’.

Once I got the record home, it was the track I bring you today that really grabbed me. It was several years before I found a copy of the 45.

‘Bout Love’, which has a certain amount of popularity amongst the Northern Soulies (rightfully so) builds perfectly into an anthemic chorus that packs enough power to get any lazy ass up off of the sidelines and onto the dance floor.

The album features Billy Preston on keys (King and Preston had sung together in church as teenagers and they worked together with Ray Charles) , Paul Humphrey on drums and David T Walker (who can be heard to great effect on ‘Bout Love’) on guitar.

King continued to work as a backing singer and recording with the Blackberries, and Brown Sugar.

She seems to have been out of the business for many years.

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

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

In other, most excellent news, the mighty Bo-Keys featuring Percy Wiggins have a new single (Writing On the Wall b/w I’m Still In Need) and if you can drag yourselves over to Soundcloud you can stream both sides!

You can dig it here!

Read more about the Bo-Keys here.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 5, 2012 2:53 pm

A later iteration of Tim Whitsett and the Imperial Showband:
Carson Whittsett, Bucky Barret, Jimmy Hodo, Tim Whitsett and Tommy Tate.

Listen/Download Tim Whitsett and the Imperials – Monkey Man

Greetings all, and welcome to another fine week here in the hothouse.

The record I bring you today fell into my ears quite providentially, via the sales list of an old friend who also happens to be one of the premiere mod DJs here on the East Coast.

I gave the link a click, and as soon as I heard the sounds attached therein, I sent out an urgent missive and made it the latest addition to my crates, organ 45 subdivision.

Now, when I picked up ‘Monkey Man’ by Tim Whitsett and the Imperials, my initial thoughts were something along the lines of “here’s another groovy, yet painfully obscure disc, and my seemingly endless thirst for information will never be satisfied.

Little did I know… (“dot dot dot” said aloud for full effect).

So, I set to Googling and was immediately shocked to discover that Tim Whitsett was not merely some talented footnote who stumbled into a recording studio but once and then  back out again into a thick cloud of obscurity.

Fact is, Tim Whitsett and his band the Imperials (later known as the Imperial Show Band) criss-crossed the American south through the 1960s, eventually adding singer Tommy Tate as vocalist and sometime drummer (see pic above).

They recorded the very groovy ‘Monkey Man’ in 1962 (no doubt inspired by my baby pictures…) for Johnny Vincent’s Ace label.

The tune is yet another in a long line of excellent ‘Watermelon Man’-ish discs sailing all through the ether back in the day. The Imperials manage to add their own flavor to the mix with the horns (that’d be Tim) and organ (Tim’s brother Carson) and some wicked chicken-scratch guitar.

The stories of Whitsett and his band are long and very interesting, and instead of retyping the facts, I’ll just send you to their Wiki’s via the links (Tim, the band) so that you can dip into both. Suffice to say, both stories, especially Whitsett’s are very interesting.

While doing so, let ‘Monkey Man’ roll around in your head on repeat play. You’ll thank me later.

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, August 2, 2012 1:09 pm

Listen/Download James Spencer – Take This Woman Off the Corner

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so it’s time for me to remind you to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Join us at 9PM this and every Friday night on Viva Radio or fall by the blog over the weekend to pick yourself up an MP3 of the broadcast.

The tune I bring you this fine day is one of those things where I “knew of” a record, whether by reputation, or another collectors finds list or some such. A few years back, when I was down in DC spinning and digging, I had a very good day at the DC Record Show where I managed to bag several long time want list items, as well as a couple of other gems, one of which you see before you now.

When I got the record home, I discovered not only a very groovy, very funky tune, but also a nice, fat drumbreak opening up the whole thing.

James Spencer had a nice, raspy voice, and the arrangement – with production by Roosevelt Jamison – is very cool.
Though I don’t know anything about James Spencer (Sir Shambling lists two 45s at Deep Soul Heaven, but acknowledges that there is some controversy as to whether or not they are by the same James Spencer) but the Memphis label has an interesting story.

My first experience with the imprint was via a non-soul group, that being the New Zealand Trading Company.

On the soul tip, Memphis released sides by Ollie Nightingale, the Girls, and most importantly (at least to this story) Billy Butler and Infinity.

As it turns out, Memphis – despite the name, and the fact that some of it’s sides were in fact recorded in that city – was co-owned by Chitown giants (and brothers) Jerry Butler and Billy Butler.

In fact, Jerry Butler would team up with Gene Chandler (as Gene and Jerry) to record their own version of this song as “Ten and Two (Take This Woman Off the Corner)” for Mercury in 1971.

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, July 29, 2012 3:17 pm

Funky16Corners Presents: All Strung Out

San Remo Golden Strings – Hungry For Love (Ric Tic) 1965
San Remo Golden Strings – I’m Satisfied (Ric Tic) 1966
Luther Ingram Orchestra – Exus Trek (Hib) 1966
Kaddo Strings – Crying Over You (Impact) 1966
Robert Walker and the Soul Strings – Stick To Me (RCA) 1967
Lebaron Strings – Now She’s Gone (Solid Hit) 1967
Soulful Strings – Burning Spear (Cadet) 1967
Soulful Strings – Soul Message (Cadet) 1968
Soul Strings and a Funky Horn – Yester Love (Solid State) 1968
Soul Strings and a Funky Horn – Think (Solid State) 1968
Soft Summer Soul Strings – I’m Doing My Thing (Columbia) 1969
Soulful Strings – Chocolate Candy (Cadet) 1969
Soulful Strings – Zambezi (Cadet) 1969
101 Strings – A Taste of Soul (Alshire) 1970 (also billed as Les Baxter and 101 Strings)
Gordon Staples & the Motown Strings – Strung Out (Tamla/Motown) 1971
Gordon Staples & the Motown Strings – Get Down (Tamla/Motown) 1971
Soft Summer Soul Strings – Theme For Soul Strings (Columbia 1969)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents: All Strung Out – 98MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at Funky16Corners.

What you see before you is the result of one of my musical obsessions, taken to the nth degree.

Longtime readers of Funky16Corners will already be hip to the fact that I am a huge fan of the Soulful Strings.

I consider Richard Evans to be a genius, and the work he did for the Cadet label, with the Soulful Strings and otherwise made for some of the finest music of the 1960s.

It was a while back, while prepping a blog post about a JJ Barnes 45, that I discovered, quite by accident that two of his sides had been redone (using the same raw tracks) as string instrumentals on a Solid Hit 45, billed as the Lebaron Strings (after label honcho Lebaron Taylor).

This got me thinking about other “strings” instrumentals, and so the search began.

I dug back into my own crates, and started to look elsewhere and was surprised by much of what I found.

The “soulful string” instrumentals can be divided into pre-and-post Soulful Strings.

The first wave, starting with the San Remo Golden Strings made its way onto vinyl in 1965.

The first of these tracks, ‘Hungry For Love’ got its start as an uncredited instrumental on the flipside of Barbara Mercer’s 1965 Golden World 45 ‘The Things We Do Together’.

Reportedly, when the instrumental started to get some airplay, Ed Wingate, using the name of an Italian town that he and his wife had been to on vacation, paired the tune with ‘All Turned On’ (featuring pianist Bob Wilson) and the San Remo Golden Strings were born.

The “group” was in fact various and sundry moonlighting Funk Brothers, backed by string players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, led by violinist/concertmaster Gordon Staples.

‘Hungry For Love’ was a minor hit, as was its follow-up ‘I’m Satisfied’. Another San Remo cut, ‘Festival Time’ buoyed by the Northern Soul scene, became a UK Top 40 hit in 1971.

The UK soul scene is an important link, especially in regard to the early string-laden instrumentals.

‘Exus Trek’ by the Luther Ingram Orchestra was released in 1966. It was an instrumental dub of that single’s A-side ‘If It’s All the Same To You’. Both sides of the 45 became popular spins in the UK.

The same can be said of 1966s ‘Crying Over You’. An instrumental version of Duke Browner’s vocal of the same name got its own 45 release, three catalog numbers before Browner’s version (both writing and production are credited to Browner. As with the Ingram 45, both sides became popular spins on Northern dance floors.

I haven’t been able to track down much in the way of info on Robert Walker and the Soul Strings. The involvement of producer/arranger Ernie Wilkins suggests to me that it was a Detroit record. The side presented here, ‘Stick To Me’ is classic Northern Soul and is one of the rarer 45s in this mix. The flipside ‘The Blizzard’ is a great, uptempo dance craze vocal.

‘Now She’s Gone’ by the aforementioned Lebaron Strings was released in 1967, pre-dating the vocal version of the tune by JJ Barnes by a year.

As I mentioned earlier, these tracks can largely be divided into pre-and-post Soulful Strings eras.

Though Detroit producers and musicians were ladling strings over all kinds of records (the classy sound of strings an important component of what would become known/collected as Northern Soul) Richard Evans work with the Soulful Strings was the first purpose-built example of the sound.

It was in Evans hands that the string aspect of the music became more than an embellishment. He integrated the sound of the string section with the more innovative aspects of the Cadet Records sound. That he had access to the finest musicians in Chicago had a lot to do with the artistic success of the records.

Their first album ‘Paint It Black’ was released in 1966, but it wasn’t until ‘Burning Spear’ charted, making it into the R&B Top 40 in early 1968 as well as having regional success on Chicago radio that the group had some success.

Not only was ‘Burning Spear’ covered many times, but the group must have been selling LPs, since Cadet released no less than seven albums, including a live set and a Christmas record.

Evans was no less than a visionary, taking what could have been a simple, easy listening concept and doing something entirely unexpected with it.

The first two Soulful Strings tracks included in this mix are the classic ‘Burning Spear’ from the 1967 LP “Groovin’ With the Soulful Strings’ and ‘Soul Message’ from 1968’s ‘Another Exposure’. Both are fantastic examples of the broad palette that Evans was working with.

The remainder of the tracks in the mix seem to have been following the lead of Evans and the Soulful Strings to varying degrees.

‘Soul Strings and a Funky Horn’, released in 1968 seems a direct attempt to capitalize on the sound of the Soulful Strings. Produced by Sonny Lester for his Solid State label, the record bears no other credits whatsoever (aside from songwriting).

The LP was a mixture of covers of obvious hits and more obscure numbers.

The two tracks included here, a cover of the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles ‘Yester Love’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Think’ may not be nearly as adventurous as the Soulful Strings, but the band and the arrangements are tight.

The Soft Summer Soul Strings are another mystery. Though the catalog number of the 45 seems to indicate a 1969 vintage, the music on the 45 points to a somewhat earlier time.

The first tune included here, ‘I’m Doing My Thing’ is a fairly obvious lift of the Supremes’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ and the flip (with which we close the mix) ‘Theme For Soul Strings’ applies the same MO to King Curtis’ ‘Soul Serenade’ (both 1964 records). I haven’t been able to make any connections using the info on the labels, so if anyone knows where this one is from, please drop me a line.

The next two cuts hail from what in my opinion is the finest of all the Soulful Strings albums, 1969’s ‘String Fever’. The first of the group’s albums to be composed almost entirely of original material and featuring some of the grooviest sounds of their catalog, ‘String Fever’ is also one of the hardest Soulful Strings albums to come by.

‘Chocolate Candy’ and ‘Zambezi’ are both funky, forward thinking and leave the listener wondering why the Soulful Strings weren’t much more successful.

The next cut is an aberration of sorts, since it comes not from the world of soul, but out of Exotica. ‘A Taste of Soul’ was released a few different times, credited to Les Baxter, Les Baxter and 101 Strings and just 101 Strings.

One of the more prolific exploit-Exotica outfits, 101 Strings created albums aimed squarely at squares, especially those with ‘hi fi’ systems.

The California-based Alshire label was home to all manner of cash-in records aimed at the rock, pop, country and easy listening markets. There were dozens of albums issued under the 101 Strings name, including classical, ethnic, exotica and pop efforts.

This material, once recorded was often issued and reissued with different covers, in different collections, getting the maximum mileage out of the product.

‘A Taste of Soul’ is itself an anomaly in the Alshire catalog. Though the cut opens with waves of strings that sound like they were lifted from a contemporary movie soundtrack, once the drums come in (and they come in heavy) you begin to realize that you’re hearing something unusual.

Where Cadet may have been casting an eye at the easy/hi-fi crowd with the Soulful Strings albums, leaving them in the hands of Richard Evans and the Cadet house band took them in another direction entirely.

101 Strings, emanating from the 99 cent bins in supermarkets, gas stations and occasionally record stores had no overt musical agenda beyond basic competence, but like any broken clock that reads the correct time twice a day, they struck gold with ‘A Taste of Soul’ (which even had a 45 release under Baxter’s name).

Gordon Staples and his compadres from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra were fixtures on all manner of Detroit soul records, for Motown as well as various and sundry smaller labels. It was in 1970 that Staples and the Funk Brothers (once again, anonymously) were paired yet again as ‘Gordon Staples and the String Thing’ (aka the Motown Strings).

Of all the tracks in this mix, Gordon Staples and the String Thing meet the Soulful Strings on their own turf and come away looking (and sounding) quite good.

The 1970 LP ‘Strung Out’ features a couple of well-chosen covers, as well as a grip of excellent originals penned by Motown arranger Paul Riser. Riser, who won a Grammy with Norman Whitfield for the instrumental b-side of ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ wrote some stellar material for the String Thing/Motown Strings.

The first cut here ‘Strung Out’ – which also saw release as a 45 – is sought out by crate diggers and is a great showcase for the Funk Brothers (dig that James Jamerson bass line).

‘Get Down’, which is a little less laid back features some excellent guitar work.

Many of the tracks from the ‘Strung Out’ album were recycled a few years later on the soundtrack to the Fred Williamson Blaxploitation flick ‘Mean Johnny Barrows’.

The last track in this mix – the only one presented out of chronological order – is the Soft Summer Soul Strings ‘Theme For Soul Strings’. As I mentioned before, it sounds as if it was written as a ‘tribute’ to King Curtis’ 1964 ‘Soul Serenade’. It’s slow, mellow, and is a great way to close out the mix.

I hope you dig this look into an often forgotten chapter of the ‘soul story’.

I’ll be back later in the week.

Until then

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 26, 2012 12:13 pm

Willie Hutch

Listen/Download Willie Hutch – Brother’s Gonna Work It Out (45 Edit)

Listen/Download Willie Hutch – Vampin’ (from The Mack OST)

Greetings all

The week is coming to a close so I’ll remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. The following day you can pick up an MP3 of the show via iTunes or over at the Funky16Corners Blog.

The tunes I bring you today are prime examples of the finest sounds being made during the apex of the ‘Blaxploitation’ era.

A few years back I was down digging/spinning at the DC record show and was lucky enough to have an exceptionally good day in the stacks, walking away with several long-time wants on 45 and LP, among them, the soundtrack to the 1973 film (one of the finest of the genre) ‘The Mack’.

The flick starred Max Julien and Richard Pryor, and had the great good fortune of having its soundtrack composed by the mighty Willie Hutch.

Born in LA but raised in Texas, Willie Hutch (born William McKinley Hutchinson) returned to the West Coast in the mid-60s, eventually finding work as an writer/producer/arranger for the 5th Dimension.

He was later called in to write lyrics for the song that would become ‘I’ll Be There’ and after the song became a hit for the Jackson Five, Hutch went to work for Motown.

While at the label he recorded several albums under his own name, as well as the soundtracks for ‘The Mack’ and ‘Foxy Brown’.

The two tunes I bring you today both hail from the soundtrack to ‘The Mack’.

The first is the 45 edit/hit version (R&B Top 20 in 1973) of ‘Brother’s Gonna Work It Out’. A great feature for Hutch as both vocalist and guitarist, it’s also hard not to compare it to Curtis Mayfield’s award winning work on the ‘Superfly’ soundtrack from the previous year.
While Hutch’s production is more dense and hard-hitting than Mayfield’s, ‘Brother’s Gonna Work It Out’ has that Curtis vibe to it.

That said, it is a dynamite track, with classy strings (and harp!), wah wah guitar and a great falsetto vocal by Hutch.

The second cut, ‘Vampin’ (from the soundtrack album) is a change of pace, almost more of a musical interlude than a proper song, but a groovy one indeed. The horns almost have a touch of Norman Whitfield to them, and Hutch lays down some exceptional guitar lines throughout.

As I said, Hutch went on to record several albums for Motown, leaving Motown in 1977 to work with Norman Whitfield, then returning to the label in 1982. He eventually left the label and returned to Texas in the 1990s.

I hope you dig the tracks, and I’ll see you all back here 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 24, 2012 4:13 pm

Billy Preston

Listen/Download Billy Preston – Greazee Pt1

Listen/Download Billy Preston – Greazee Pt2

Greetings all, and welcome to the middle of another steamy, summer week..

The cuts I bring you today represent a record I knew of for years, but only just managed to score a copy of within the last few months.

You already know I dig the sounds of Billy Preston, from hit hitmaking era in the early 70s back through his Hammond wrangling days of the 60s.

The record we feature today goes back to the very beginnings of the first part of Preston’s career.

The song ‘Greazee Pts 1&2’ was the very first record Preston had released under his own name.

Recorded in 1963 under the aegis of Sam Cooke and JW Alexander, on the Derby subsidiary of Cooke’s SAR label, ‘Greazee Pts 1&2’ was also included on the self-explanatory LP ‘The 16 Year Old Soul of Billy Preston’.

Even at that young age, Preston was already something of a veteran, having played behind artists like Mahalia Jackson, Little Richard and Ray Charles.

‘Greazee Pts 1&2’ is a remarkably tight slice of Hammond R&B from one so young.

Part One is mostly an organ feature with Preston and Earl Palmer setting the groove in a loping waltz time. Part Two picks up the pace and grooves even harder. I’d love to know who the guitarist is trading licks with Preston.

Preston would go on to record organ features for Vee Jay (‘Billy’s Bag’ would go on to become a Northern Soul fave) and Capitol, where he worked with Sly Stone.

‘Greazee Pts 1&2’ would go on to be issued in the UK in the late 60s on Dave Godin’s ‘Soul City’ imprint.

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, July 22, 2012 1:14 pm

Ripple

Listen/Download Ripple – I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky

Greetings all.

Summer is here, and a new week is underway, and it behooves me to bring you something funky, and so I shall.

But first some important news!

At long last, after considerable -inexplicable- technical struggles, the Funky16Corners Radio Show is now available through iTunes.

Just go to the iTunes “store”, search for Funky16Corners Radio Show and subscribe.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy….

The tune I bring you today is something that I had only the vaguest memories of from my childhood, when a friend posted it up and I fell in love with it.

I was certainly aware of Ripple, with cuts like ‘Get Off/Git Owf’ and ‘Willie Pass the Water’, but their first and biggest hit (and in many ways their coolest song) had by and large escaped my notice (funny how these things work, is it not?).

Anyhoo… once I got my hands on their self-titled 1973 album – which is packed with goodness – I found myself replaying (and singing along with) “I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky” over and over again.

Ripple, who hailed from Michigan, and released a pair of albums, first for GRC and then another for Salsoul, hit the R&B charts a half dozen times between 1973 and 1978.

The group’s sound was basically funky, but with touches of rock and latin mixed in. They at times touched on the vibe of groups like War or Santana, but never so much that they lost sight of their own sound.

‘I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky’ which was their first hit, grazing the R&B Top 10 in the summer of 1973 is a tough, swinging number with a catchy chorus (so catchy in fact that it was sampled a couple of times). Hard enough to be danceable, but with enough groovy stuff going on for pure listening, the song will have your head nodding and your feet moving as well.

I don’t know anything about the history of the band, but after listening to their debut album I’m left wondering why they weren’t a bigger success. They had a tendency to bounce back and forth between funky numbers and mellower stuff, but so did pretty much every other band on the R&B charts at the time.

The band was tight, and the songwriting was pretty solid too.

Why they couldn’t keep it going for longer is a mystery.

That said, this is the kind of jam you ought to be flowing out of your car window on a hot night.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you later in the 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, July 19, 2012 2:15 pm

The Pioneers

Listen/Download The Pioneers – At the Discotheque

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so is your weekly dose of soul with the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Join us at 9PM this and every Friday night on Viva Radio or fall by the blog over the weekend to pick yourself up an MP3 of the broadcast.

The tune I bring you today was one of those happy, completely unexpected discoveries that make record collecting such a gas.

I had long been a fan of Chubby Checker’s 1964 soul classic ‘(At the) Discotheque’.

If you haven’t heard it, don’t let yourself be put off by the name Chubby Checker. Though he’s best known for earlier fair like ‘The Twist’ (and countless iterations thereof) the Chub-ster acquitted himself quite nicely during his later years, and ‘(At the) Discotheque’ is one of his best.

That said, imagine my surprise when years after first grabbing a copy of Monsieur Checker’s magnum opus, I should stumble upon a reggae cover of the song by one of the greatest Jamaican groups (who had been featured in this space before) the Pioneers.

Known to fans of rock steady for records like ‘Long Shot Kick De Bucket’ and ‘Let Your Yeah Be Yeah’ and to soul heads for their incredible cover of the Temptations ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’, the Pioneers laid down their cover of ‘(At the) Discoptheque’ in 1973.

As far as I can tell the Pioneers excellent version of the tune wasn’t a hit anywhere, though it was released in the Netherlands (which is where my copy originated).

It’s another very cool version of cool song, and here at Funky16Corners, that’s all we need.

I hope you dig it, 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 17, 2012 1:41 pm

JJ Barnes

Listen/Download JJ Barnes – Hold On To It

Greetings all.

The middle of another week is here and I’d like to take the opportunity to drop a little high quality soul on you.

Though the name should be very familiar to soulies, the legendary JJ Barnes is probably not one of the better known names among casual listeners.

He had a few R&B hits in 1966 and 1967, with ‘Baby Please Come Back Home’ making it into the Top 10 in 1967 and recorded a few dozen singles for a variety of labels between 1963 and the mid-80s.

Barnes was not only a fantastic singer, but also wrote some of his best songs as well, and on the rare soul scene in the UK (where he has performed frequently), Barnes is rightly regarded as a giant.

I’ve featured Barnes here before, with both individual tracks, and in mixes.

His 45s, for the most part are not terribly expensive, and I pick them up when and wherever I find them because they are invariably of very high quality.

The track I bring you today is one that did not really grab me immediately, but instead grew on me slowly to the point now where I often listen to it two or three times in a row whenever it pops up.

‘Hold On To It’, released in 1968 on the storied Revilot label has a fantastic vocal by Barnes and a top flight arrangement by Sonny Sanders. The guitar is especially nice on this one.

Interestingly, the backing track was recycled a in 1971 when the tune was covered by the Limitations on the Volt label.

I hope you dig the tune, 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 15, 2012 12:35 pm

HEEEEEYYYYYY MOOOONA!

Listen/Download Bo Diddley – Go For Broke

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your corner of this funky world.

The tune I bring you today is a particularly good one from the old timers get (or attempt to get) funky file (subfile: of course this is funky because why would I waste your time with an unsuccessful attempt?).

Diddley, Bo aka Elias McDaniel was not all that old when he laid down ‘Go For Broke’ in 1971 on the LP ‘Another Dimension’, thought at 43 he was a full generation beyond the vast majority of everyone else on the bench.

The old school rock and blues cats in the Chess/Checker/Cadet stable all (with the marked exception of Chuck Berry) tried to work in a more contemporary style during the late 60s/early 70s, including Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

As these things go, Bo Diddley was – at least to my ears – more committed, if not always more successful than most.

The ‘Another Dimension’ LP was an odd mixed bag of uninspired contemporary cover material and interesting originals, of which today’s selection is one.

‘Go For Broke’ is notable, first and foremost for the very tasty break that opens the record, played by drummer John Berganti.

The song that follows basically absorbs the break – which keeps on rolling for almost a minute – and manages to be cool and jammy, if not incredibly distinctive.

The whole affair has a funky, slightly jazzy vibe, with touches of psychedelic guitar, and then the horns come in and ground things for a bit before the group settles into a Traffic-esque feel for the remainder of the cut.

It’s a mighty long way from the primal days of ‘Bo Diddley’ and ‘Who Do You Love’, but as fans of this period of Bo’s career can attest, it’s not at all out of character, and certainly worth hearing.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back later in the 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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.