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By Larry, July 4, 2013 10:59 am

James Young (left), Bobby Patterson (right)

Listen/Download – James Young and the Housewreckers – Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Listen/Download – Bobby Patterson – My Thing Is Your Thing

Greetings all.

The next couple of weeks will be jam packed with events here at Funky16Corners central, so I’ll be republishing some of my favorite tunes from the Funky16Corners Archives. I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back soon.

Don’t forget to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio!

Larry

Originally posted 03/17/2006

>>At last, it’s Friday.

I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s St Patrick’s Day, and as an American of Irish descent I’m proud to say that I will once again refrain from participating in the huge, pulsing public nuisance that has come to mark this holiday.

I’ve been to Ireland, and it’s a lovely place, filled with equally lovely people.

It in no way resembles the St Paddy’s day crowd at TJ McDrunken-fucks, spilling green vomit on each others shoes while U2 plays in the background.

Do yourself a favor. Grab a corned beef sandwich (a wonderful reflection of the Irish/Jewish concord in my own marriage), a bottle of Guinness (or Harp, or Smithwicks, or the delicious hard cider of your choice), rent a copy of ‘The Commitments’ and realize that the Irish really do have soul (literal and figurative).

It’s also the good ole end of the week, which of course signifies that we have two days of leisure before us in which to catch up on lost sleep, family time, old movies, reading or whatever it is you like to do to relax.

A hearty HUZZAH to the inventor of the weekend! In celebration of this time honored institution, it’s time to whip out – as I am prone to do – a couple of bangers worthy of a celebratory Friday.

Today’s selection both hail from the once great state of Texas, now home to all manner of insane, Bible-banging, creationist shit-heels.

I know that there are still plenty of good folk in the Lone Star state, but really folks, it’s time to either get the crackpots under control or move to higher (philosophical) ground.

That said, no amount of religious hysteria can mask the fact that Texas has produced a very impressive musical lineage, running from the days of the territory bands, western swing, a grip of wailing “Texas Tenors” (running from Arnett Cobb, to Illinois Jacquet, to the mighty Booker Ervin), blues giants like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lightnin’ Hopkins, right up to giants like Sir Doug Sahm and the 13th Floor Elevators.

On the soul side of things, you can’t do better than Bobby Patterson and James Young & The Housewreckers.

My first encounter with the music of Bobby Patterson was back in my early 80’s college days and heard the Fabulous Thunderbirds cover ‘How Do You Spell Love’.

I didn’t know it was a Bobby Patterson tune for years, but when I found out, and started digging for more I realized that ‘How Do You Spell Love’ was only the tip of the iceberg.

A few years ago, when someone (I don’t recall who) hepped me to ‘My Thing Is Your Thing’, I was blown away. After a few moments of chimp-like marvelling at the clear yellow vinyl, I managed to get the disc on the turntable, and things really started smoking.

Opening with a wobbly, phlanged sounding guitar, the horn section punches its way into the tune and gets the ball rolling.

Bobby drops in with a wailing vocal, dropping funky “UHNN”s here and there, right up into the anthemic chorus. The wah-wah guitar, and snapping drums move things along nicely, making ‘My Thing Is Your Thing’ a hot slice of Dallas funk.

While Bobby was steaming things up on the Jetstar label, James Young & The House Wreckers were, uh, wrecking the house on it’s sister label (both Huey P Meaux related) Jetstream.

Originally known as “Big Sambo” & The House Wreckers (there are pressings of ‘Barking…’ that list him as ‘Big Sambo’), the band originally came to prominence with the original version of ‘The Rains Came’, later a hit for the Sir Douglas Quintet.

This later 45 is a funk classic.

Featuring Young’s screaming sax and wild vocals, the drummer is in the pocket, and the guitar is bluesy.

A very tasty groove indeed.

If you happen upon a copy (not cheap, mind you), flip it over to hear the band rip off Jean Knight’s ‘Mr. Big Stuff’ with an instrumental version entitled ‘Funky Butt’.<<

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, July 2, 2013 11:14 am

The Mirettes

Listen/Download Nate Turner and the Mirettes – Sweet Soul Sister

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is something very cool I picked up at a garage sale a few years back.

I have no idea why I haven’t featured it here before, other than it got lost in the shuffle.

‘Sweet Soul Sister’, co-written by Quincy Jones and performed by Nate Turner and the Mirettes appeared (as did its b-side ‘Rap Run It On Down) on the soundtrack to a 1969 Sidney Poitier movie called ‘The Lost Man’.

I haven’t been able to track down any information about Nate Turner (I’m pretty sure it’s not the Chicago-based blues musician) but the Mirettes are in fact THE Mirettes, featuring Vanetta Fields on lead vocals, who recorded a number of excellent records for labels like Mirwood, Revue and Uni. I’ve featured their epic reading of ‘Take Me For a Little While’ here at Funky16Corners a few years ago.

The Mirettes – all former Ikettes (it seems like every other female soul singer of a certain vintage did some time with Ike and Tina) – had a Top 20 R&B hit with their version of ‘In the Midnight Hour’, just skimming the outer reaches of the Pop Top 40, in 1968.

‘Sweet Soul Sister’ is a slow, sexy groove, with Turner taking the lead vocal and the Mirettes working the background.

The song features a cool, repeated guitar riff, subtle organ and horns. It was arranged and produced by  Jones.

I have yet to track down and watch ‘The Lost Man’, but if any of you have seen it, and remember how the songs feature in the film, leave me a note in the comments.

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, June 30, 2013 11:01 am

Ray Charles

Listen/Download – Ray Charles – Sticks and Stones

Greetings all.

The next couple of weeks will be jam packed with events here at Funky16Corners central, so I’ll be republishing some of my favorite tunes from the Funky16Corners Archives. I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back soon.

Larry

Originally Posted 12/01/2009

>>Greetings all.

The week is well underway, and I am currently immersed in an object lesson on how no schedule ever goes un-F’ed-with, ever.

Not that I had a lot on my plate anyway (nothing hard and fast) but I sit here with not one but two sick children, and I have just been informed by the plumber that the existing shower apparatus needs to be replaced (not a small job).

I had a nice hot cup of coffee, and peeled a couple of delicious clementines, but not even those gustatory wonders have proven powerful enough to set things right.

It is in that spirit that I bring you not the song I was planning on posting today, but rather something I was listening to on the MP3 delivery device last night as I was struggling to get back to sleep (sick child related). The song in question is something I digimatized last year, and promptly forgot about. I tend to record vinyl in lots (as they are amassed in the wholly disorganized “new arrivals” pile) and then transfer them onto the iPod, organized in playlists. Once they’re in place, I listen to them as much as possible to “explore” the music, deciding what I want to post and when.

So, last night I’m prowling around inside some older playlists to see if there was anything I had neglected, and lo and behold Brother Ray pops his head up, admonishes me for passing him over and giving me a (figurative, and soulful) smack upside the head.

The odd thing is – and this has happened before – Ray Charles is a musician that I pretty much worship, and the likelihood is that I failed to post ‘Sticks and Stones’ sooner, not out of neglect but because I was waiting for a slot to open that would do a record like this justice. I over-thought the matter, and forgot all about it (until last night).

It bears mentioning that the first time I heard ‘Sticks and Stones’, it was not as performed by Ray Charles, but rather as a cover by the great mod revivalists the Secret Service sometime around 1985/86, not doubt on the stage of the legendary Dive in New York City.

Unlike some of their more Jam-influenced brethren, the Secret Service drew heavily from the sounds of soul and R&B as previously recycled by the first wave British Invasion acts. It was via their playlists that I first heard Rodge Martin’s ‘Lovin’ Machine’ (which they picked up from an Easybeats video), and today’s selection, which they no doubt heard via the 1964 cover by the Zombies.

‘Sticks and Stones’, written by Titus Turner and Henry Glover (though only Turner is credited on this 45) is a classic, and a stellar example of how Ray Charles – seldom thought of as an out and out soul singer –  was one of the (maybe THE) most important transitional/formative figures bridging R&B and soul. Released in 1960, his version of ‘Sticks and Stones’ is a powerhouse, with a rolling quasi-latin beat (see ‘What’d I Say’) and an electric piano solo that sounds like so much lightning shooting from the master’s fingers.

It’s a brilliant performance, and proof once again that any self respecting fan of music (any genre) needs to get some Ray Charles in their life (and ears).

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Friday with some funk.<<

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 (0)

By Larry, June 27, 2013 12:01 pm

Shuggie Otis, Delmar Evans, Johnny Otis

Listen/Download – The Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl

Greetings all.

The next couple of weeks will be jam packed with events here at Funky16Corners central, so I’ll be republishing some of my favorite tunes from the Funky16Corners Archives. I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back soon.

Don’t forget to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio!

Larry

Originally Posted 12/08/2009

>>Greetings all.

I hope the middle of he week finds you well.

It finds me cold (what the hell?!?) but happy, since I hit the Allentown record show this past Sunday and grabbed some heat of the 45RPM variety. Bagged me some funk, Northern Soul and other good stuff, all of which will be appearing in this space, as is the custom here in the Funky16Corners organization.

I’m also hard at work on a couple of new mixes for the Funky16Corners Radio thang.

The tune I bring you today is a funky, crunchy, and greasy like a truckload of sizzling bacon. If’n you’re not already hip to the sounds of the might Johnny Otis (and his many compadres) may I suggest you read up on your read ups, since he was involved in some of the finest R&B, soul and funk to come out of the West Coast for the last half a century. On his own, with his son – the legendary Shuggie, of course – and working with folks like Preston Love, Johnny Otis really knew his shit (as the kids say).

Today’s selection is of a 1969 vintage, and like the equally awesome ‘Watts Breakaway’ (featured here three years back) it is a cooperative effort between Johnny, Shuggie and Delmar ‘Mighty Mouth ‘ Evans. ‘Country Girl’ is easily identifiable as part of the ‘Tramp continuum’, started by Mr. Lowell Fulsom, and carried on through Otis and Carla, Brian and Jools, the Mohawks and countless others.

The tune features vocals interplay between Johnny and Delmar (and booming guitar courtesy of Shuggie) in which they rhapsodize about the outstanding physical attributes of the titular woman (“great big ole healthy country girl”). As songs written in tribute to big butts, ‘Country Girl’ is the ne plus ultra (apologies to Sir Mix-A-Lot).

It’s easy to get lost inside a groove this heavy, but make sure to pay attention to the lyrics, especially the warning that ‘You can take foxes out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of foxes’.

Bing, bang, and of course, boom.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back to close out the week with something tasty.<<

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 (2)

By Larry, June 26, 2013 11:38 am

Jackie Shane on ‘Night Train’

Listen/Download – Jackie Shane – Any Other Way

Listen/Download – Jackie Shane – Sticks and Stones

NOTE: This is a very special edition of ‘The Best of Funky16Corners.

Word came down this morning that the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act.

This is a MAJOR move in the right direction for our LGBT brothers and sisters.

Though there’s still a LOT of work to be done, and there are bound to be fights all over the country as the forces of regression fight to turn back the clock on human rights across the board, this is still a great day.

The post i’m restoring (with the addition of the flip-side ‘Sticks and Stones’, because, figure it out) is a 45 by a pioneering gay/trans artist, the mighty Jackie Shane.

As I say in the post, there is much more Jackie Shane music out there to be heard, and it is outstanding.

My hope is that today’s SCOTUS decision will go a long way to making the lives of any future Jackie Shanes a much easier thing.

Dig the sounds, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Keep the Faith (and keep on keeping on)

Larry

PS Dig the cool art by Shepard Fairey!

Originally posted 10/28/12

>>Greetings all

Welcome to another week here at the home of digital soul.

We are under threat of what promises to be a nasty storm. Our hatches are battened, our larders filled with supplies, so keep your fingers crossed that the folks here on the East Coast make it to the other side of this one intact.

The tune I ring you today is one of those great discoveries that happens when you flip over a record expecting nothing and realize that what you’re hearing is the real “top” side of the disc.

If memory serves, my initial encounter with the story of Jackie Shane was a lucky accident.

Before I was fortunate enough to pick up the record you see before you today, I had only heard his voice via a single, blurry performance clip from the TV show ‘Night Train’.

Shane was, during the 1960s a popular club singer and recording artist, who was an out, gay man who in many ways, lived and performed as a woman.

He was nothing if not enigmatic.

Born and raised in Nashville, but with the bulk of his career spent North of the border in Canada, Shane had a life seemingly lifted from a screenplay.

Starting in the early 60s Shane recorded and performed R&B and soul based out of Toronto, CA . He layed down sides for a few different labels, often backed by Frank Motley (also an American) and the Hitchhikers (who went on to record some sought after funk records).

Shane performed in drag – though what little biographical information I’ve been able to turn up suggests that this was more than a drag persona, leaning more in the direction of a full time transgender life. That he was also openly gay (or as open as the times allowed) was – as my friend Jason Stone aka the Stepfather of Soul said in a 2007 post – unusual, but not unheard of, considering the careers of Little Richard, Esquerita and Sylvester.

His cover of William Bell’s 1962 hit ‘Any Other Way’ – a significant Canadian hit, almost reaching Number One – was a fairly dramatic re-casting of the original.

Shane’s delivers the song’s lyrics – full of regret – in a much more melancholic setting. Where Bell’s approach is aggressive and upbeat (at least as far as the tempo is concerned) Shane’s is almost elegiac.

Though he delivers the song in its original gender, it’s hard not to read something into it (and I’m hardly the first to make note of this) when Shane sings:

Tell her that I’m happy
Tell her that I’m gay
Tell her I wouldn’t have it any other way

…the line seems to take on more meaning.

I initially grabbed this record for the version of ‘Sticks and Stones’ on the flip, but soon fell in love with this cut.

Shane’s discography is spare. His 1963 recording of ‘In My Tenement’ (recorded a year before Roosevelt Grier’s version) is sought after by soul fans, as is a fantastic live record, which, though dated “Live ‘63” on the cover was clearly recorded a few years later, since it includes covers of songs that wouldn’t be released until 1966.

Once you’ve listened to his relatively small – yet undeniably powerful – catalog, it becomes obvious that Shane was a versatile and dynamic vocalist and performer.

He was a powerful soul shouter, but was also capable of something approaching fragility when working a ballad.

The cool thing is, though Shane’s records run from moderately rare right on into wallet-wrecking hen’s teethery, you can go on iTunes and grab a fairly comprehensive collection of his 45s and the ‘Live ‘63’ album for about six bucks each! I assure you in advance that this will be money well spent.

The singles are all excellent, and the live album is a revelation.

Shane was a bold, uncompromising stage performer, strong in voice and persona, and the Hitchhikers were an extra-tight backing band.

The album deserves to be much better known, and is worth having if only for the extended monologue during his cover of Barrett Strong’s ‘Money’.

Apparently Shane was still alive (though seemingly inactive as a performer) as late as 2010, having returned to his birthplace of Nashville, TN.

Make sure you check out the CBC radio documentary about Jackie Shane ‘I Got Mine: The Story of Jackie Shane’ over at Soundcloud.

I hope you dig the record, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday with some Halloween goodness.<<

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 (2)

By Larry, June 25, 2013 11:21 am

Art Neville

Listen/Download Art Neville – Bo Diddley Pt1

Greetings all

I hope the day finds you well.

The tune I bring you today is a storming bit of funky, Crescent City soul from one of that burgs leading lights.

Art Neville has been waxing groovy music for almost 60 years (?!?), starting with the Hawketts ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’ in 1954, recording a number of solo singles for a variety of New Orleans labels (Specialty, Instant, Cinderella and Sansu) before co-founding the mighty Meters.

Though he found himself behind the keys in the Meters, he was no slouch in the vocal department. His excellent Eddie Bo written/produced ‘Hook Line and Sinker’ from 1966 is a lost classic, as is the tune I bring you today.

Neville recorded two 45s for Sansu, both in 1968, right near the end of that label’s first incarnation.

The tune I bring you today was the first of those, his raucous reworking of Bo Diddley’s epic, 1955 debut, ‘Bo Diddley’.

Interestingly enough, Art dispenses with the standard Bo Diddley beat (it’s in there, sort of, but sped way up). Backed by the guys that would shortly become the Meters, he rips through the tune, skirting the edges of funk like a Second Line on fast-forward.

The arrangement is credited to Allen Toussaint. As wild as this 45 is, considering the flights of rhythmic imagination the Meters would soon embark on, they (especially Zig) almost seem restrained.

Nevilles follow up 45 (and his last for Sansu) has an even more traditional bent, with a cover of Raymond Lewis’s old-school NOLA classic ‘I’m Gonna Put Some Hurt On You’.

It is a groovy 45, and especially interesting considering that the Meters would blast off a year later.

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 (3)

By Larry, June 23, 2013 10:37 am

Mr. Toussaint McCall

Listen/Download – Toussaint McCall – Shimmy

Greetings all.

The next couple of weeks will be jam packed with events here at Funky16Corners central, so I’ll be republishing some of my favorite tunes from the Funky16Corners Archives, mixed in with some new posts. I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back soon.

Larry

Originally posted 01/11/2006

>>Are you ready?

No you’re not… It’s Wednesday, the middle of the work week.

You sit there, your coffee getting cold and you wonder how a stylish, intelligent cat like yourself ended up but one thin cubicle wall away from the herd of glassy-eyed apple polishers that are clogging up your office like so many beached whales. Maybe you are ready. I ‘m only hesitant to drop today’s selection, because I know how you feel, and if I were sitting there, my nerves shredded like evidence at the Republican National Committee offices, I might prefer to be massaged gently back into sanity, as opposed to shaken violently like a can in a paint mixer.

If you want a gentle massage, tune it to Oprah. If you want to get with the program, and restore your late lamented self-respect and inner H-bomb, you need only click on the link above.

Because my friends, by doing so you will release into your MP3 player a slice of gritty, paint peeling, ass-shaking funky soul so brutal, so elemental, so….so…cool, that you will never be the same (unless you’ve already heard this song, in which case you already know what I’m talking about).

The cut I speak of is “Shimmy” by the mighty Toussaint McCall.

It was several years ago when I first heard ‘Shimmy’. It had been reissued on a couple of different compilations around the same time, but the one that sticks in my mind is the absolutely essential ‘Vital Organs’ comp. There, on one unassuming disc were packed some of the finest Hammond funk and soul 45s ever issued, all gathered together by the soul mavens soul maven, Matt “Mr. Finewine” Weingarden of WFMU.

Displaying outstanding taste, ‘Vital Organs’ included everything from ultra-rarities like “The Hatch” by the TMGs, semi-rarities like Louis Chachere’s “The Hen”, to “Shimmy” which is comparatively a very common record. How it got to be so common is an interesting story.

To the few people that know who Toussaint McCall is, he is remembered not as a purveyor of slamming organ instrumentals, but rather as a deeply soulful balladeer.

His biggest success (and only hit) was 1967’s ‘Nothing Takes the Place of You’ which was a Top 10 hit in the spring of 1967. A slow, heartbreaking plea that can stand proudly with the best Southern soul of the era, “Nothing Takes the Place of You” later appeared on the soundtrack to John Waters’ movie ‘Hairspray’ (in which McCall himself has a cameo role). Aside from its own merits as a great record, “Nothing Takes the Place of You” was also a kind of Trojan horse, as it carried “Shimmy” on its flip side.

One can only imagine the surprise when people that bought the 45 for the hit, flipped it over, and soon flipped their wigs. “Shimmy” is a brilliant piece of minimalist soul power. Featuring (as far as I can tell) only McCall’s Hammond organ and a drummer, it manages to deliver an entire soul revue’s worth of energy. Opening with pounding drums and an unrelenting organ chord, McCall soon begins to solo over the top.

The second run through the melody contains one of the great, surreal moments is all of Hammond-dom. In comedy, there’s a concept (which I’m sure has a name, but I don’t know it) where a gag is played out past its logical conclusion, and then even further, until it passes right through unfunny, all the way into hilarious. By pounding the gag into the ground, it takes on a new level of power*.

One minute and two seconds into “Shimmy”, Toussaint McCall dispenses with elaborate soloing, and holds down a single key on the organ for 19 seconds. Now 19 seconds doesn’t sound like a long time, but play the track and count it out to yourself. It’s INSANE. You can almost picture Toussaint in the studio, depressing the key on the organ for a few seconds, until he’s transported into a reverie that only 19 continuous seconds of the exact same note can satisfy.

Of course it’s entirely possible that he was merely bored/distracted and was using his other hand to eat a sandwich or dial the phone, but the power of the track makes that scenario seem unlikely. Either way, it starts out cool, rolls into the realm of the absurd, and passes right on through into genius. That one-note solo is the axis on which this powerful instrumental turns.

Played side by side with “Nothing Takes the Place of You”, it makes you wonder if McCall was in some way suppressing a dark side to his talent that he only released on the b-sides of his 45s. If you take a listen to all the 45s he recorded for Ronn, it becomes evident that the “Nothing Takes the Place of You” / “Shimmy” 45 was some kind of an aberration, presenting on its two sides the extreme light and dark, yin and yang of his sound.

He recorded other organ instrumentals, but while they were cool, none of them even remotely approach the sonic brutality of “Shimmy”. His vocal recordings, many with a rocking edge also show that “Nothing Takes the Place of You” was also unusual in his oeuvre. No matter how you frame it, it’s a great 45, and as a result of its popularity oughtn’t be too hard to find.

I remember once my pal Haim said that “Shimmy” was the kind of record that was so good it should be worth a lot more than it was, but was in essence damned by its “common-ness”. Don’t let its easy availability lull you into complacence. Go out and dig up your own copy now. You will not regret it.

*One such comedic example is on the episode of the Simpsons where the family is sent into witness protection, only to be pursued by Sideshow Bob. At one point Bob steps on a rake – in classic slapstick style – and gets whacked in the face. He proceeds to repeat his mistake at least a dozen times, until the shot pulls back and the viewer realizes that he’s completely surrounded by discarded rakes.<<

Keep the faith

Larry

PS This was posted so long ago that I couldn’t find the original file, so I dug out the 45 and re-recorded it
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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 (2)

By Larry, June 20, 2013 11:46 am

Little Ann

Listen/Download Little Ann – Going Down a One Way Street (The Wrong Way)

Greetings all

The end of the week is once again breathing its hot Frankenstein breath down the back of our necks, so that means it’s time for the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original viny. If you can’t check the show out at airtime, do not fret. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab yourself an MP3 of this (or any of well over 100 previous episodes) at the blog.

I should also note that over the next few weeks a deluge of events/commitments will keep me quite busy so you should expect a number of ‘Best of Funky16Corners’ posts from the archives. I dug out some very cool stuff, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that.

The tune I bring you today is a longtime fave of mine.

I am a huge fan of soul, as well as funk, but have an especially warm place in my heart for the records on which the two styles intersect well.

Today’s selection is one of those.

Little Ann, born Anne Bridgeforth in Chicago in 1945, recorded a number of unreleased tracks for Dave Hamilton (issued by the Timmion label in 2009) before having ‘Going Down a One Way Street (the Wrong Way)’ picked up and released by Ed Wingate’s Ric-Tic imprint.

The record is an incredible slice of funky soul, with a soaring vocal by Little Ann, and a booming, horn-heavy arrangement.

Oddly, this was the only 45 released in the US by Little Ann (she didn’t even get the b-side, that spot taken up by an instrumental called ‘I’d Like To Know You Better’, credited to Wingate).

She went to to record some for the Quality label in Canada, and was later rediscovered by the Northern Soul scene in the UK before passing away in 2003.

You can check out her other recordings on various comps (the ‘Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Dancers’ collections) and if you try hard enough you can still find the Timmion LP here and there.

This is a very groovy song indeed, and I hope you dig it.

See you 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 (3)

By Larry, June 18, 2013 11:26 am

Mose Allison, chilling in his far out chair, in the woods…

Listen/Download Mose Allison – The Seventh Son

Listen/Download Mose Allison – Young Man (Blues)

Listen/Download Mose Allison – I’m Not Talking

Greetings all

Have you heard about Mose?

Allison, that is…aka the Sage of Tippo…aka the smoothest badass to ever prop himself up at a piano and lay it down.

If you – like me – has made a study of the roots of rock, especially the British Invasion, or just surveyed the history of coolness, then you have certainly crossed paths with the mighty Mose.

Mose Allison has the kind of voice/manner that immediately brings to mind the black-and-white, beatnik cool of the 1950s. Jack Kerouac’s America, in which one was free to roam the highways and back roads of this great country, partaking in, and becoming part of the great tableaux, digging and being dug in equal measures.

Mose Allison – born and raised in Mississippi – sat himself down at the piano and made his first record in 1957, and hasn’t stopped being one of the coolest of cats since then.

I don’t think I heard Mose until I was all but drowning in the British beat/R&B thing, up to and including the sounds of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, which is important because if Mose Allison had never recorded a note, old Clive Powell would likely disappear from the face of the earth.

The first time I heard Mose, an overloaded socket in theback of my brain threw sparks and I realized how much Georgie idolized and emulated him, as well as all of the Brits who looked to him as a songwriter and interpreter of songs.

It was Mose that wrote ‘Parchman Farm’ (John Mayall and everyone else with a blues fetish), ‘Young Man Blues’ (the Who) and ‘I’m Not Talking’ (the Yardbirds) among many others, and laid down what I would consider to be the definitive interpretation of Willie Dixon’s ‘Seventh Son’.

I’m including the last three tunes here today, so that you might head out and dig for your own stack of Mose Allison records, that you can whip out and impress the ladies at your next soiree.

Both ‘Young Man Blues’ and ‘The Seventh Son’ hail from Allison’s landmark 1963 ‘Mose Allison Sings’ LP for Prestige.

‘Young Man Blues’ – clocking in at less than a minute and a half – is a laid back meditation, barely a whisper compared to the angry box of TNT that the Who detonated on ‘Live at Leeds’.

Mose’s take on ‘The Seventh Son’ is a masterpiece of relaxed, swinging Zen, every note perfectly placed, a wonder. He takes the Mississippi hoodoo boasts of the OG and delivers them in a matter-of-fact way that puts the text in boldface.

‘I’m Not Talking’, from 1964’s ‘The Word From Mose’ on Atlantic, is once again, the placid, almost dehumidified-it’s-so-dry foundation on which the mighty Yardbirds built a souped-up, nitro-fueled funny car with which they blew the doors off of the ‘For Your Love’ album in 1965.

The grooviest thing of all is that for all of the influence he pushed out, Mose himself was always more like a shadow, hanging back, just being, than anyone who took their marching orders from his records. He spent the last 50-plus years making music of high quality, crossing the border back and forth between the blues and jazz, always being more himself than anything else and that was all he ever needed to be.

If you’re not hip to Mose, get there.

That is all.

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 (2)

By Larry, June 16, 2013 10:39 am

The Turtles/Fabulous Dawgs

Listen/Download The Turtles – Buzz Saw

Greetings all

Welcome to another waxy week here at the intersection of sixteen funky corners.

The 45 I bring you today is an old. OLD favorite of mine, banging around in my ears since I was a teenager.

The day I grabbed myself a copy of ‘The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands’ at the old Englishtown Auction Sales (the needlessly fancy name for a dirthole full of dented, previously ownd merch) was a momentous one indeed.

If memory serves, I grabbed the record because it included ‘You Showed Me’ and ‘Elenore’, but when I got it home and gave it a spin, I arched an eyebrow and started dropping and re-dropping the needle all over the record.

The conceit of the record was that the Turtles had taken on the guises of several different groups, performing in several different styles, one of which was the Fabulous Dawgs.

The song they did was the brain bending ‘Buzz Saw’.

Years later, when the old Hammond organ monkey had climbed up and taken residence on my back, ‘Buzz Saw’ found a place of honor in my crates.

To say that ‘Buzz Saw’ is an anomaly in the Turtles oeuvre would be an understatement.

A band best known for jangly folk rock and pure pop, the Turtles made some of the finest sounds along those lines in 1960s LA.

‘Buzz Saw’, a deadly cross between Hammond grease and stripper pole grind is the kind of record you whip out when you want to blow somebody’s mind (like some of the garage stuff on the first Grateful Dead album).

That they released it as the B-side to the exceedingly placid ‘You Showed Me’ illustrates a twisted sense of humor that Flo and Eddie would display going forward.

One can only imagine how many synapses were fried trying to reconcile ‘Buzz Saw’ with ‘Happy Together’, some happily, some maybe not so much.

I have always wondered who played the organ on this track.

The references I’ve been able to locate with session details seem to indicate that the only people listed playing keyboards on the album were members of the Turtles, i.e. Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol and replacement drummer John Seiter (who had come from Spanky and Our Gang). I’d be pleasantly surprised to discover that it was one of those guys playing the organ on ‘Buzz Saw’, since it sounds to me like someone with more than a casual proficiency with the instrument (like someone outside the band).

If any of you know for sure who’s playing, please let me know.

Until then, I suggest that you get good and hammered and put ‘Buzz Saw’ on repeat until you pass out.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, June 13, 2013 12:36 pm

Willie “Little Beaver” Hale

Listen/Download Little Beaver – Party Down Pt1

Greetings all

The end of the week has arrived, and so has the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which comes to you this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’tbe there to hear it, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is just about three and a quarter minutes of perfection, custom made for a weekend night in the summertime.

Willie ‘Little Beaver’ Hale was an Arkansas-born singer/guitarist who laid down some of the finest grooves of the Miami scene in the 1970s.

In addition to his own records, he also played guitar for other TK/Glades/Cat artists like Betty Wright (that’s him on ‘Clean Up Woman’) and George McCrae.

He had recorded 45s for labels like Saadia and Phil-La of Soul before having his first hit (‘Joey’) with Cat in 1972.

‘Party Down’ was a #2 R&B hit in the summer of 1974. It features Little Beaver working it out on the guitar, laying down a mellow, late night, cognac groove, working in a little scat here and there while his friends make a little noise in the background.

Little Beaver waxed more than a dozen 45s and four albums for Cat in the 70s before going into retirement for years, only to reemerge in 2003 to play on Joss Stone’s ‘Soul Sessions’ album.

It is a very groovy tune indeed, and I hope you dig it.

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 (3)

By Larry, June 11, 2013 12:02 pm

The mighty Dells, Marvin Junior at the top.

Listen/Download The Dells – Stay In My Corner (LP)

Listen/Download The Dells – There Is (45)

Greetings all

The world of soul was saddened last week to hear of the passing (on May 29) of the mighty Marvin Junior of the Dells.

I have to admit that for many years I was largely ignorant of the breadth of the Dells catalog.

The groups remarkable 1968 hit ‘There Is’ knocked me on my ass when I first heard it as a kid, even though I thought I was listening to the Four Tops.

I eventually figured out the truth, grabbed myself a copy of the 45 and always dug inserting its explosive power (especially that conga break)  into DJ sets.

Other than that, and a couple of their obvious bigger hits (like the 1969 version of ‘Oh What a Night’) I knew little of their vast discography (they were together, with the original line up for over 50 years!).

It wasn’t until I grabbed a copy of the ‘There Is’ LP that I had my mind blown by their epic ballad ‘Stay In My Corner’.

I first had to grapple with the fact that I already knew (and loved) the song, as done in a more uptempo version by the Hesitations.

That, and the fact that the track is over six minutes long, practically unheard at the time outside of the rock world.

Written by Wade Flemons, Barrett Strong and Bobby Miller (the latter producing the album with arrangements by the great Charles Stepney),’Stay In My Corner’ was first recorded by the Dells in 1965 for VeeJay. That version – which grazed the R&B Top 20 – was not only much shorter (2:17) but sung with a different rhythmic pulse.

The 1968 recording, which topped the R&B charts and made the Pop Top 10, was, on both the LP and the 45, a six-plus minute epic and a master class in soul singing.

The Dells had their first hit (the original version of ‘Oh What a Nite’) in 1956, and the traces of that earlier era of R&B harmony are evident throughout ‘Stay In My Corner’.

The first time I listened to the song, the opening struck me as almost schmaltzy, but any hesitations I had disappeared as soon as Marvin Junior started singing.

Though the basic drive train of the song is an almost standard ‘late night soul ballad’ thing, what the Dells do with it over those six minutes is truly remarkable.

The song takes a couple of unusual melodic turns, which the group takes full advantage of, shifting the tone subtly but powerfully.

There’s a section around the 2:40 mark where they harmonize on the word ‘stay’ that just about shoots through your ears like a bolt of lightning.

As I mentioned before, the Dells brought bits and pieces of old school, streetcorner singing into the later soul era, and there are a number of times where Johnny Carter’s falsetto breaks out in (for 1968) unusual, and very cool ways.

The most amazing part of the record, comes at just after the five-minute mark, where Marvin Junior stretches out the word ‘baby’, holding the note for well over 15 seconds, in a move that in the hands of lesser singer would seem pretentious or operatic. Yet Junior’s voice was a remarkable, soulful instrument and you never get the impression that there’s a second of it that he doesn’t feel in the deepest part of his soul. I get choked up every time I hear that section of the song. It boggles the mind and reminds me why music is as close as I get to a religion these days.

‘Stay In My Corner’ is the kind of record you need to sit down with, slap on the headphones and really get inside of with repeated listens.

It’s that good.

The Dells were an amazing group, and Marvin Junior a mighty singer.

He will be missed.

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.