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By Larry, October 25, 2011 11:58 am

Ellen McIlwaine

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Toe Hold

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Up From the Skies

Greetings all.

I was wandering (not aimlessly) through the vast expanse of digimatized music looking for something to tickle my fancy and after picking out a few particularly tasty things and setting them aside for the full blogging treatment, I tripped over something very cool indeed.

Ellen McIlwaine is another one of those artists that I read about long before I heard any of her music.

I used to see her early records (including the album she recorded with her first band, Fear Itself) were perennials on crate diggers ‘finds’ lists, and then back in the 90s I picked up a compilation of her Polydor recordings.

What that collection revealed was a very talented and multi-faceted performer.

McIlwaine, who spent her early years in Japan (her family were missionaries) found her way to New York in the mid-60s where she shared stages with a wide variety of blues and folk performers.

Like many of her contemporaries, she was less interested in being shoehorned into a single genre, instead choosing to weave her own mixture of blues, rock, jazz, soul and folk/world sounds.

The two tracks I bring you today come from her first solo album, 1972’s ‘Honky Tonk Angel’, one side of which was recorded live at the Bitter End in NYC.

The first – her cover of the Isaac Hayes/David Porter* classic ‘Toe Hold’ is a great example of how a largely acoustic band can still manage to be funky (thanks in large part to McIlwaine’s guitar playing).

McIlwaine is also a particularly talented and interesting singer who manages to kind of sail all over the map without ever losing her way. While I was digging for information about the record I happened upon one of Robert Christgau’s old Consumer Guide reviews of this album where he makes the point that while at first impression her vocals might seem ‘overambitious’ she manages to succeed by virtue of the power of her instrument.

I’ve never been a big fan of ‘oversingers’ but I have to agree with the old sage that unlike so many others (especially in these times where vocal acrobatics seem to be the go to substitute for soul), McIlwaine has the wherewithal, balancing talent with taste, to stay just inside the lines.

The second track is a particularly groovy cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience track ‘Up From the Skies’. It always bugs me that so many people seem to forget that Jimi had a soulful side. McIlwaine’s treatment of ‘Up From the Skies’ taps into – and expands on – that sound.

If you can find either of her first two solo albums (or the CD comp that collects them) grab them. Her later stuff moves further into an electric/rock sound but is still pretty cool.

She still records and performs today, and her recent stuff is particularly interesting, mixing her guitar with tabla and harmonium (dig her cover of ‘Take me To the River’).

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

* Recorded by Johnnie Taylor, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave among others

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 23, 2011 11:34 am

Curley Moore

Listen/Download – Curley Moore – Soul Train

Greetings all.

How’s things?

Allow me to welcome you all to a new week here at Funky16Corners.

The tune I bring you today has something of a saga attached to it, at least in reference to the quest to acquire it.

Way back in the day, one of the comps that was instrumental in pointing me in the direction of New Orleans was an import collection on the Charly label that included two songs that would become longtime favorites, Diamond Joe’s ‘Gossip Gossip’ and Curley Moore’s ‘Don’t Pity Me’.

When I started down the long, dusty road of digging for original New Orleans 45s, I happened upon a copy of ‘Gossip Gossip’ fairly quickly, mainly because it is a record of undeniable greatness that also happens to be, how the kids say, ‘slept on’.

However, lo these many years later, Curley Moore’s ‘Don’t Pity Me’ still eludes me, in fact holding the position of the only 45 on the Sansu label that I do not own (and probably never will unless I get astoundingly lucky and find it out in the field). The few times it has shown up in the last few years it has sold for several hundred dollars, once for over a thousand! It’s one of those 45s that has dual appeal, with one side slightly funky and the other Northern-ish, so that it is not only rare, but coveted by two very eager constituencies.

That of course is neither here nor there, but to get closer to somewhere, I should also mention that the first time I heard ‘Soul Train’, it was not by Curley Moore, but rather by another New Orleans group by the name of Bobby and the Heavyweights (you can hear their cover in Funky16Corners Radio v.24).

Their version was included on the stellar Soul Jazz ‘Saturday Night Fish Fry’ comp (which is where I first heard it). Bobby and the Heavyweights slightly faster take on the song was released in 1967, first (locally) on the Mor-Soul label and then nationally on Atlantic (I’ve managed to find both).

It was only a few years later that I discovered that Curley Moore had done it first in 1965, at which point I set out to get myself a copy.

Here’s where we take a turn down Easier Said Than Done Street.

While Moore’s version of ‘Soul Train’ was released on two different New Orleans labels, first on Hot Line and then on Nola, it is fairly hard to find, especially in good condition. My first copy (on Nola) was exceedingly over-graded (@!!?%$) and not suitable for either home listening or posting here on the blog.

It was a few more years before I finally got myself a decent copy (on the groovy, if incredibly faded Hot Line label), which you see and hear before you today.

Curley Moore was the owner of one of my favorite soul voices to come out of the Crescent City, a little bit thin, kind of high pitched, but possessed of a tremendous amount of soul.

He recorded a 45 for Nola, three more for Sansu, at least one for Teem (which I’ve never heard), one for Scram and the excellent (drum heavy) ‘Sophisticated Sissy’ for Instant. He was also the voice heard at the beginning of Eddie Bo’s (billed as Curley Moore and the Kool Ones) House of the Fox 45 ‘Shelly’s Rubber Band’.

His version of ‘Soul Train’ is a positively sublime bit of soul with the tiniest pop edge to it. Arranged and produced by the mighty Wardell Quezerge, the instrumental backing is fairly spare, with piano, bass and very understated drums, with a subtly arranged horn chart that bubbles under, breaking in periodically for emphasis.

The record was pressed at least three times (I’ve seen two Hot Line variations and the one on Nola), so I’m guessing that it must have had some local success, but as my man Dan Phillips at the Home of the Groove notes, the record has a kind of odd, underlying sadness to it which makes it so special, but might have kept it a connoisseurs choice, falling short of chart success.

It was definitely worth the years it took to track it down, and I hope you like it too.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 20, 2011 11:43 am

Freddy King

Listen/Download – Freddy King – San-Ho-Zay

Greetings all.

The end of yet another week has arrived which means it’s time for me to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back pulsing through the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio with the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all engineered to keep your ears wiggling and your feet sliding across the floor. If you can’t make the soiree, fall by this very blog on Saturday to pick up the show in easy to use MP3 form to be listened to at your leisure.

I come to you today to tell you that Freddy King was a mighty man.

Nine feet tall, hands like country hams, feet like canal boats and a high, shiny conk that outshone the sun whenever he picked up his tiny guitar.

Of course none of that is true, but were this a just world Freddy King would stand astride the world of the guitar the same way Paul Bunyan towered over any run of the mill forest.

He was a master of the guitar, but not in any of the teenage wet dream virtuoso way of so many of those he influenced.

Freddy King made it look easy.

I have to thank my buddy the Bluesman, who lo these many years ago hit me up with a handful of cassettes (remember those?) of cats like Slim Harpo, Albert King and of course Freddy, all of which helped me lock into the blues, at least enough so that I could proceed on my own.

The thing I remember most, especially with Freddy and Albert (no relation) is how much of the UK rock ‘masters’ I realized had appropriated their sounds and styles. Had either of these gents succumbed to a childhood illness old Slowhand would still be mopping up a chip shop somewhere instead of rolling around naked in piles of hundred pound notes.

That said, I don’t dig out my Bluesbreakers albums much these days, but I do find myself dialing up Freddy King on the old iPod, digging the way the power of his guitar solos rise up and transcend the pops and crackles of the 45s they were recorded from.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I pick up JBs 45s wherever I find them, and the same goes for Freddy King. While some of his rarer discs have evaded me, I have all the bigguns, and they don’t get any bigger than the mighty ‘San-Ho-Zay’.

He laid down today’s selection for the good folks at Federal in Nineteen and Sixty One, and though he barely hit the pop charts, ‘San-Ho-Zay’ was a Top 5 R&B hit. It wasn’t his biggest (the influential ‘Hideaway’ would hit Top 5 R&B and Top 40 Pop that same year) but it’s among his boldest, led by his axe in a way that guitar instros just don’t seem to be capable of anymore.

Interestingly, ‘San-Ho-Zay’ might also ring a bell because it was, how do they say, borrowed from a couple of New Orleans cats (see Dan Phillips great article on the history of the tune at the mighty Home of the Groove blog).

It’s a killer record and a great start to the weekend.

I hope you dig it,and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 18, 2011 12:22 pm

Hi Rhythm

Listen/Download -Hi Rhythm – Black Rock

Greetings all.

How’s things?

Hereabout, things is groovy, aside from the fact that I am in dire need of heading out into the wild and getting my dig on. You can prowl around on Ebay all day long and no matter how many cool things you see, there’s no substitute for real world, dusty fingers digging

Unfortunately, the last couple of record shows that rolled through the area coincided with family responsibilities and the actual ‘digging’ spots within reach aren’t always worth hitting up, so I pretty much have to bide my time and be happy with the gigantic, heaving pile of vinyl I already have.

Part of that pile is the 45 I bring you today.

The way things work on the old Funky16Corners blog is that I tend to digimatize vinyl as it comes in, and if it’s something I plan on blogging, I photograph the label, tag the MP3 and stockpile it.

Many (most) of those tracks end up here on the front page in individual posts, while some end up in mixes.

However, if the gods of wax are smiling on me, I usually end up outpacing the outflux and end up with a good-sized pool from which to select what you end up seeing here.

However, as that process unfurls, I sometimes end up with things that have either been put on the back burner (for a variety of reasons, including need for further research or proximity to something similar that just got posted), or, in the case of today’s selection, plain old forgotten.

Because of that, I try to go back through the lists of things waiting to be blogged and try to move some unjustly bypassed tracks to the front of the line, harkening back to my days in the grocery profession, rotating stock for freshness.

The tune I bring you today is one of those ‘haven’t heard it but know it’s good’ deals which I picked up almost three years ago mainly on the strength of the group name and other important info on the label.

Back in the day, when I picked up my first Willie Mitchell album, the thing that hit me first was the prevalence of the surname Hodges in the credits.

This had everything to do with the fact that Mitchell’s back up band was composed in large part of a set of brothers bearing that name, Charles, Leroy and Teenie (Mabon) Hodges (organ, bass and guitar), who along with Howard Grimes (drums) and Archie Turner (keyboards) laid down that other wonderful Memphis sound.

They not only backed up Willie Mitchell, but did the same, extremely well, for pretty much everyone else who recorded for the Hi label, including (and most importantly) Al Green.

It was Mabon Hodges (composer of this very track) who co-wrote some of Green’s best songs, including ‘Love and Happiness’ and ‘Take Me To the River’.

The strange thing (for me anyway) is that for as long as the Hi Rhythm section (billed here as Hi Rhythm) was playing for so many other folks, they didn’t get the chance to step out on their own until 1975 with the release of their album ‘On the Loose’.

The single from that album, and today’s selection was the very groovy ‘Black Rock’.

While the title sounds like a giveaway, the rock side of things doesn’t come in too heavy, and when it does it’s still pretty swampy.

The overall vibe of ‘Black Rock’ is funky and it’s very interesting how a band with such a ‘trademark’ sound manages to escape that sound here.

Things chug along, with solid guitar from Mabon, group vocals and a cool, understated horn section. There’s even a crazy sound effect (heavily treated guitar?) that sounds like someone scratching vinyl!

I’m still on the lookout for a copy of the album, since the one I found a while back was crazy warped in the chip-and-dip style.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 16, 2011 12:42 pm

Lavell Kamma today. Still making music!

Listen/Download -Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Revue – Soft Soul

Greetings all.

Hows about we get the new week started with some sublimely delicious funk of the 45RPM variety?

I knew you’d dig that.

I picked up today’s selection while back from a friend’s sale list, mainly because I’d heard of it (but not heard it) and because the price was reasonable.

Naturally, there are those of you who might question the purchase of a record that one has not actually heard yet, but I would respectfully counter with the proposition that any self respecting digger that would pass up any recording by a group calling themselves Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Review, should be forced to surrender their turntables and walk away in shame.

This is not to say that every single record with a cool name is going to be good and funky, but rather that the unwritten laws of such things suggest that the law of averages would be on your side in such a transaction.

And in this case, they were (big time).

There’s isn’t a whole lot of info out there on Mr Kamma, other than the fact that he seems to have hailed from the Sunshine State (FLA) and that he recorded 45s for at least three labels, Tupelo Sound (this one), Sure Shot and Jewel, between the mid-60s and the early 70s.

‘Soft Soul’, despite a title that might lead you to think you were about to travel down the boulevard of ballads, is one of the finest example of tasty, mid-tempo funk I have ever heard.

First off, those freaking drums….whoever was massaging the traps had a light and talented hand indeed, and the rest of the band were right, tight and out of sight as well. Lavell’s vocals are high and slightly raspy (in a groovy way), and whoever’s playing the guitar gets a gold star at the top of his report card as well.

The flip is quite nice as well (watch for it in an upcoming mix).

It’s also not a terribly expensive 45. There are at least three label variations/pressings I’ve seen.

Lavell Kamma is still playing today. You can check out his MySpace page for a video of him doing his one man band thing.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 13, 2011 1:28 pm

Joe Thomas ‘The Ebony Godfather’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather – Castlin’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather -Electric Godfather

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally upon us and I – for one – couldn’t be happier.

Sleep (and vinyl) deprived, I could use a serious rest, yet for some odd reason I soldier on.

That said, I still managed to get this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show assembled and ready to go, which it will (go, that is) this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio. If funk, soul, jazz and/or rare groove are sounds that make your ears happy, make sure to tune in, or if you can’t bet there, you can always fall by the blog on Saturday to pick up the show as an MP3.

The tunes I bring you today are a couple of very tasty bits of funky flute action.

I picked up the ‘Moog Fluting’ album by the Ebony Godfather sight unheard, mainly because its reputation preceded it, having shown up on several ‘finds’ lists over the years as a kind of crate diggers perennial.

It was a cheap score, so I tossed it onto the keeper stack (on account of I dig some jazz flute) and took it home, where I discovered in short order that the Ebony Godfather was in fact none other than Joe Thomas, who had used that title on an album a year or two before this one.

Though he is credited on the back of the record, I have no idea why he would go out of his way to obscure his involvement unless of course it was some sort of Superfly-era rebranding attempt.

Though the title suggests Moog involvement, what’s really going on is that Thomas is working it out on the flute in a pretty standard jazz-funk fashion, with the occasional addition of processing/effects on the instrument, none of which sounds like Moog (to me anyway).

The two tracks I bring you today (‘Castlin’ and ‘Electric Godfather’) are prime slices of early/mid-70s jazz funk, with Thomas’s exciting soloing laid over a tight electric rhythm section and horns.

It’s a little hotter than your average CTI session of the same era, while maintaining some of the same flavor and production values.

Thomas always managed to walk that fine line between jazz and commerce, working R&B inflected soul jazz in the 60s (as a sideman and leader), funkier stuff like these Ebony Godfather sessions, and the smoother disco sounds of his later sessions like ‘Plato’s Retreat’ and his cover of Boz Scaggs’ ‘Lowdown’.

His attachment to the material always seemed much more natural than that of some of his peers attempting to work the same side of the street.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 11, 2011 1:10 pm

The Chambers Brothers

Listen/Download – The Chambers Brothers – Funky

Greetings all.

You know, as we here at the Funky16Corners blog approach our seventh anniversary (oh yeah), which in blog years is like an eon or some such, every once in a while I have to lean on my Google crutch to make sure I haven’t already expounded on a particular track, so lengthy is the list thereof.

Such was the case when I started contemplating today’s selection, in which the thought process went something like this:

Did I already write up ‘Funky’?

I must have.

No, wait, I didn’t.

Are you (me) sure?

Let me check again.

Nope.

Well how about them apples?

You see, when you talk about the first time the funk hit me (deep) one must consider the day the teenaged me brought the Chambers Brothers ‘New Generation’ album home from the dusty, local flea market and dropped the needle, and got whomped upside the melon by ‘Funky’, which is as solid a ‘truth in advertising’ thing as has ever been committed to wax.

I mean, those opening bars, with the congas, the traps, the cuica and then the oddly Mexicali guitar riff and of course that earth shaking bass (really the linchpin on which the whole enterprise hangs) are as earth shattering and elemental as any funky music, ever recorded, anywhere (at least here on earth).

The mighty Chambers Brothers have always taken a back seat to brother Sly  – which in terms of general funk is an accurate assessment –  since they always trod a little bit more on the rock side of the tracks, but aside from the deadly and unfuckwithable guitar/bass/drums combo of ‘Sing a Simple Song’, even the Family Stone had to step back and take notice when the Chambers Brothers lit up ‘Funky’ and took a deep drag.

Not only is ‘Funky’ great funk is the general, bad ass, ‘classic’ sense, but it also carries with it some of the Chambers unique hippie festival stomp, in that it sounds less like a ‘band’ than it does like a field full of party where everyone got themselves something to bang on, and in a once in a millennium roll of the dice, managed to all come down on the one.

‘Funky’, in addition to the basic, obvious funk power, also manages to be a veritable seven layer dip of complexity, with the cowbell, and especially that weird, bottleneck-y guitar twang that keeps bubbling up into the mix.

Had the Chambers Brothers managed to whip together a half dozen such monsters (excepting of course the sui generis ‘Time Has Come Today’ which is verily the warp and weft of the psychedelic zeitgeist) – or, if ‘Funky’ was a hens teeth rare 45 – they might be more fondly remembered by the crate diggers. As it is, you could probably get your own copy (at least of the album) for less than a dollar at any respectable flea market which in some circles is grounds for disqualification.

There is also the fact that A Tribe Called Quest thought enough of the song to repurpose a serious chunk of it for ‘I Left My Wallet In El Segundo’, which of course rules.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you all later.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 9, 2011 11:05 am

Earth Wind Dashikis Afros and Fire

Listen/Download – Earth Wind and Fire – Moment of Truth

Listen/Download – Earth Wind and Fire – Bad Tune

Greetings all.

It is now time for all good men (and women, natch) to get themselves together and ease on into a brand new week.

Fall is in full swing, with the cool air, and the leaves and all that mess and I’m feeling productive.

I haven’t been doing much fieldwork (of the vinyl variety), but what I have managed to pick up has been excellent, not to mention the products of in-house excavation, in which yours truly gets down into the crates and spends some time with unjustly neglected records.

Today’s selections are the fruit of just such a search, and their neglect was decidedly unjust (undue/unfair?).

A while back when I was fortunate to be down spinning the records in Washington I was lucky enough to slip in some quality digging time alongside my man DJ Birdman. I brought home a grip of tasty stuff that trip (DC always treats my crates well) and among the haul were the first two albums by Earth Wind and Fire.

“Earth Wind and Fire!” you say. “I can get those at my local Goodwill for the cost of a shiny quarter!”

Not these you can’t my friends, because you’re probably thinking of their CBS stuff when they were having all of those big hits we all know so well (or maybe you can but you’ll need to give me the address of your local Goodwill).

However, did you know that they did two albums for Warner Brothers in the early 70s?

Neither did I (initially) but when I found out some years ago those records went on the old want list, because if you dig some EWF, you know that an earlier, grittier version thereof would very well kick some ass.

And it (they) did.

Maurice White and Wade Flemons (who had some collectible, pre-EWF 45s under his own name) had been working together in Chicago during the 60s, before relocating to Los Angeles near the end of the decade, where they were joined by Verdine White and a large crew of others to form the first version of Earth Wind and Fire.

Their first, self-titled album was recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, and while it does display tastes of the later EWF, there’s a heavier funk at work here, crossed with progressive elements.

The two tunes I bring you today illustrate both sides of that coin.

‘Moment of Truth’ is a serious mover, with some incredibly solid bass playing by Verdine (he’s so much more than just a fine and fancy head of hair) and a horn section that won’t quit.

‘Bad Tune’ has something of a flavor of the times, with a little bit of that Afrocentric hippy thing weaving in and out of the funk (electric kalimba anyone?), opening quietly, getting heavy and then dissolving into a trippy, jazzy sound with some nice guitar by Michael Beal, before picking up heat yet again with some fuzz bass.

And – this is the cool part – they manage to pack all that into less than five minutes, displaying a shocking economy for the time.

If you dig what you hear, while the individual albums are hard to come by, after their mid-70s success with CBS, WB reissued both of their EWF albums as a budget two-fer which is a little bit easier to find.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 6, 2011 2:19 pm

Old school O’Jays!

Listen/Download – The O’Jays – Now That I Found You

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of yet another week.

Please make a note in your datebook that this Friday – as all others – sees the return of the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio. We take to the air at 9PM on the East Coast (and in ensuing time zones) and can also be found in MP3 form here at the blog over the weekend.

It’s not often that I can say that I’m pleasantly surprised by anything I see on TV, but this was definitely the case when I happened upon the series ‘Unsung’ on TVOne.

Devoted to a wide variety of 60s, 70s and 80s era soul and R&B performers, ‘Unsung’ is composed of hour long documentary style features, many on artists I know only in passing. The first episode I saw was about Roger Troutman and Zapp (stay tuned for more on them) and after that I started watching the listings for episodes that interested me.

One of the better known groups they featured was the O’Jays.

Though the group’s 1970s hits were a big part of my AM radio consciousness as a kid, it was only as an adult soul collector that I had any inkling of their early, pre-Gamble/Huff work.

The first such record I encountered was their 1965 R&B Top 40 hit cover of Benny Spellman’s ‘Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)’. I had tuned into their Unsung episode in the hopes that it would include a vintage clip of the group performing this song and I was not disappointed.

Since I scored that 45, I have always been on the lookout for their Imperial and Bell label recordings, which included today’s selection, ‘Now That I’ve Found You’.

Released in 1968, and one of the few 45s the group recorded for Bell that didn’t chart at all (three of their records for the label made it into the R&B Top 40 as well as the Pop Top 100), ‘Now That I’ve Found You’ is a fantastic bit of sweet harmony soul.

It features lead vocals by both Walter Williams (who co-wrote the song) and Eddie Levert, and the arrangement by Richard Tee is outstanding. The way it alternates between a basic rhythm section (dig the great guitar work) and the addition of strings and horns is great, and the O’Jay’s harmonies are wonderful.

During their tenure with the label the O’Jays released five singles, with one other (of similar, mid-60s vintage) being released in 1973 to capitalize on their success with Philadelphia International.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Monday with something groovy.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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 (2)

By Larry, October 4, 2011 2:10 pm

The one, the only, Jackie Wilson!

Listen/Download – Jackie Wilson – Soul Galore

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your corner of the soulful universe.

As mentioned on Monday, the fam and I had ourselves a nice little vacation down in Washington, and while I did no digging whatsoever, I was lucky enough to have a buddy in the area who had done some for me, picking me up a nice stack of records (some at my specific request) which he was kind enough to pass along while we were visiting.

I got some of it digimatized already, and it will surely appear in this space, as well as on the Funky16Corners Radio Show in the near future.

That – in addition to the stuff that finds its way into the crates via the mailslot – makes for a grip of excellent material now aging in the ‘to-be-blogged’ folder, so stay tuned.

The tune I bring you today is another great example of how I sometimes need to grab my ears and aim them away from the more obscure things in my orbit and concentrate on the bedrock (as it were).

Jackie Wilson is one of the most important soul/R&B artists of the 60s, and while I have a fair amount of his 45s and LPs, I cannot honestly say that I’ve made a serious study of his oeuvre. This is certainly true of many big-name/big-talent, marquee artists of the classic soul era, but I feel especially bad about my neglect in this case, since so many people whose opinions I respect hold Jackie in such high esteem.

One such person, a good friend in records and otherwise is my man Tarik Thornton.

He was up in the hinterlands of Minnesota a while back sitting in with the Hot Pants crew, and I was listening in to his radio set remotely when I heard the tune I bring you today for the first time.

My ears are seasoned enough that I recognized Jackie Wilson’s voice instantly, yet it was immediately obvious that I had never heard the song – ‘Soul Galore’ – before.

I set out to find myself a copy post haste.

Though the tune was first issued in the US by Brunswick in 1966, my copy is a late 60s (1969?) issue from the UK, where it was pressed as a kind of ‘double A-side’ with ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’, where both cuts were big with the English soulies.

Where ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is one of the finest examples of stylish, finely honed Northern Soul (and a melodic masterpiece as well), ‘Soul Galore’ is a storming, dance floor explosion with a relentless drum beat and a powerful horn section, both of which just happen to pale in comparison to Wilson’s vocal.

What is particularly perplexing is the fact that ‘Soul Galore’ does not appear to have charted in either the US or the UK, which might explain why it escaped my notice for so long.

That said, it is without any shadow of a doubt and ass-kicker of the first order.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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, October 2, 2011 1:58 pm

An early incarnation of the mighty JBs

Listen/Download – The JBs – Damn Right I Am Somebody Pt1
Listen/Download – The JBs – Damn Right I Am Somebody Pt2

Greetings all.

Having just returned from a little end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall sojourn to our nation’s capital, I am exhaust-o-mified.

I remember back in the day where I wouldn’t think twice about packing 10 hours travel time into a long weekend. What better time to jam on some mix tapes and chill behind the wheel?

In two decades I’ve gone from that to becoming a mirror image of my (and anyone else’s) father, fielding inquiries from the back seat, struggling to keep my eyes on the road, my hands on the wheel and my brain in one piece. It’s a whole different proposition when you assume leadership of the family caravan.

That said, a good time was had by all, with the sightseeing, and the museums and the wealth of groovy ethnic cuisine available in and around DC.

The tune I bring you today is a prime bit of mid-period (1974) J.B.s.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a tendency to pick up J.B.s 45s wherever I find them, which explains why I have doubles of several of them.

I mean, why on earth, when given the opportunity to take home a solid serving of funky grooves by one of the tightest bands that ever was, would you refrain from doing so?

This is not to say that I prefer the work of the J.B.s minus the vocalizations of the mighty man for whom they were named, but rather that sometimes an instrumental will hit the spot where a vocal might just get in the way (aside from the fact that Mr Brown is all over these records anyhoo).

Today’s selection, ‘Damn Right I Am Somebody Pts 1&2’ was the title track on the album of the same name, billed as Fred Wesley and the J.B.s, since every once in a while you have to give props to the man burning up the trombone.

Not only is ‘Damn Right…’ one of the tightest grooves ever laid down by this storied ensemble, but it carries in it just a taste of jazz, as well as one of the finest horn charts to grace a JBs record, as well as a tasty percussion breakdown in part 2.

We’ve discussed the clockwork wonders of the James Brown style in this space before, but it bears mentioning yet again. Take yourself a minute and slap on the headphones and listen to the way the warp and weft of the JBs intersect without ever colliding. The lead guitar shoots around the bass, which itself winds around the horns and the rhythm guitar and the drums, providing a deceptively simple base for the soloists (mainly Fred and Maceo) to do their thing.

It is indeed a wonder to behold.

God bless the JBs and all who sailed with them.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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 (2)

By Larry, September 29, 2011 5:27 pm

Bloodstone, in the Bloodstonemobile…

Listen/Download – Bloodstone – Peter’s Jones

Greetings all.

And so we come to the end of yet another interesting week, having one and all managed to remain on the surface of the earth despite all of the forces trying to send us flying off into space.

Since it is approaching Friday, I have to step to the side and remind you all that should your ears be available at 9PM on the day in question, you should aim them at the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio, where they will dine at a sumptuous buffet of funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all divined from shiny, black vinyl. If you cannot attend at the time of broadcast, you can always stop by the blogover the weekend and pick up the show (and all of the previous broadcasts) in MP3 form.

I knew of Bloodstone (by name only) and their first big hit, ‘Natural High’ for many years before I actually laid my hands on the album including that track.

What I didn’t know, until I sat down to write this post was that Bloodstone had a fairly nice run on the R&B and Pop charts for a little over a decade, from 1973 to 1984.

The band formed in Kansas City, MO, and consisted of a group of high school friends that had been playing and singing together since the early 60s.

I’ve posted some tracks over the last few months (and the many-yeared course of this blog) of rock bands that liked to dip their toes into funk and soul, but it’s also important to mention (and I have from time to time) that that gate swung both ways, with soul and funk groups getting their rock on as well.

This had a lot to do with the musical osmosis that was unlocked by cats like Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and George Clinton in the 60s when the freak scene was opening actual and figurative (mental, musical) doors in every direction.

Bloodstone had that vibe going strong in 1973 when they recorded today’s selection ‘Peter’s Jones’ (which also appeared as the b-side on the 45 of Natural High).

The tune – which starts out quietly – works its way into a very heavy groove, with wailing guitars, organ and gospel-inflected vocals, building a sonic bridge between Hendrix and folks like the Brothers Johnson.

It is a very heavy cut indeed and I hope it injects a little groove into your weekend.

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.