Comments (2)

By Larry, January 17, 2013 11:55 am

Miss Maxine Brown

Listen/Download Maxine Brown – One In a Million

Greetings all

I’d like to welcome you all to the beginning of the post-work, pre-weekend festivities here at the Corners.

First off, I must remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will hit the airwaves (as it does every Friday night at 9PM) of the interwebs on Viva Radio. If you cannot join me at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes or grab an MP3 over at the blog.

Today’s selection is a long time favorite, and proof positive that you should NEVER limit your vinyl collecting to 45s.

Some time back I was out at the Asbury Lanes Garage Sale, and happened upon a copy of Maxine Brown’s Greatest Hits.
I already had a coulple of her 45s, including at least one duet with Chuck Jackson, and there were a lot of songs on the LP that I didn’t recognize, so I grabbed it, paid the man and took it home.

It was only when I sat down and started doing the required needle-drops that I first happened upon the song you see before you today, ‘One In a Million’.

To say that ‘One In a Million’ is an absolutely brilliant slice of sophisticated, city soul, with tempo and hooks enough to grab the most jaded soulie, I would still be selling it short.

This – as the kids say – is the shit.

Miss Brown is in rare form, and the track is just perfection, from the backing vocals, to the drums and bass, every bit of it is right on the money sonny.

The song was written by Rudy Clark, who co-wrote ‘Good Loving’ for the Olympics, and wrote ‘It’s In His Kiss’ for Betty Everett and ‘Got My Mind Set On You’ for James Ray.

I love love love this record, and only wish now that I had it on 45 as well, a form in which it is much more expensive (in the 50-60 dollar range).

That said, as your physician, I recommend that you put this one on repeat, grab your honey and cut you a piece of rug.

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 15, 2013 11:15 am

OV Wright

Listen/Download OV Wright – Working Your Game

Greetings all

I hope the middle of the week finds you all well.

The record you see before you today, all hot and ready to shovel into your ears, is yet another one that holds a place of honor in my crates, thanks 100% to my man Tony C.

Some time ago, he recommended ‘Working Your Game’ by the mighty OV Wright, which I dug, but for some odd reason was unable to lay my hands on a reasonably priced copy until recently.

Though Wright is by any measure among the first rank of southern soul singers of the classic era, ‘Working Your Game’ is especially interesting, on account of the drums.

Now when I say ‘on account of the drums’ you know that it must be something out of the ordinary, and it surely is.

Whoever is beating (and I do not use that word lightly) the skins on this record seems to be doing what Hunter S Thompson quoted the Oakland Hell’s Angels describing as  “trying to show some class”, translated as going that extra mile (and then some) to prove one’s worth in a particular situation, though since we’re transporting the phrase from the world of outlaw bikers to that of soul records, the percussionist is beating the shit out of his drum set in a studio, instead of clobbering some poor slob in a gas station toilet.

If you know what I mean (dot dot dot)…

I have no idea who the drummer is, but he is going nuts, adding a certain je ne sais quoi to an already hot record, with ringing piano, sassy backing singers and of course Mr. Wright at the helm.

Were the rest of the record even a scintilla weaker, one might think the drums a bit of overkill, but they fit nicely here and the only drag is wondering why the mystery man wasn’t wrecking drum sets for the Backbeat label on a full time basis.

The flip (‘Baby Mine’ which hit the R&B Top 40 in 1968) is also quite good, so head out and grab yourself a copy of this one for your record box.

You can thank Tony.

I hope you dig it, 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 (2)

By Larry, January 13, 2013 2:40 pm

Sunny Ozuna

Listen/Download Sunny and the Sunliners – My Dream

Greetings all

I thought I’d get the week off to a very mellow start.

About a month ago there was a discussion on an internet message board I frequent about favorite b-sides.

One of the records posted was a disc that I recognized immediately as having already owned.

The catch being that I had never listened – all the way through anyway – to the side that was posted.

The record in question was ‘My Dream’ by Sunny and the Sunliners.

I do not recall exactly when (or how) I bought the 45 in question, but I do know that I picked it up for the (actual) b-side, a funky cover of Tender Joe Richardson’s ‘Hip Huggin’ Mini’.

Though it’s entirely possible I dropped the needle on the other side of the record, I’m sure I lifted it again as soon as I heard that it was a ballad, an act of sacrilege that places the acquisition of the 45 many years in the past, when I was still prone to doing unpleasant things like that.

Anyhow…my curiosity piqued, I dug out the 45, placed it upon the Edison machine and was promptly poleaxed.

First and foremost because the music coming out of the victrolinator was a very smooth, very groovy bit of low-rider soul, but also because I had not noticed (this story being a long string of ignorant moves) that this side of the record – ‘My Dream’ – was also a cover, this time of the tune by the Harvey Averne Dozen (another unjustly ignored b-side already in my crates).

Sunny and the Sunliners (connected to The Sunglows but ultimately a different band, see Ana-B’s comment below) were a mostly Chicano R&B/soul band from San Antonio, TX that hit the R&B charts three different times in 1963 and 1964.

Though they were away from the national charts after that they continued to record through the 60s and 70s.

Led by vocalist Sunny Ozuna, they cooked up a very tasty stew of R&B, soul, rock and even a bit of funk, not at all unusual in 1960s Texas, but done especially well in their case.

It seems that ‘My Dream’ charted locally in 1968 (the original versions of both sides were released that year), and then again, two years later in Hawaii!?!

‘My Dream’ is el supremo, back seat makeout music, with some sweet falsetto backing vocals and some especially nice lead guitar.

It’s one of those records that you’ll find yourself listening to over and over again, digging into the sound and appreciating something new every time.

I hope you dig it too and I’ll see you all 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, January 10, 2013 12:05 pm

Bill Deal and the Rhondels

Listen/Download Bill Deal and the Rhondels – Tuck’s Theme

Greetings all

I hope that the end of another week finds you well.

As Friday is upon us, I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today has been languishing in my crates for a long ass time, mainly because of a bad case of lost-in-the-shuffle-it is.

I picked up my 45 of Bill Deal and the Rhondels ‘Tuck’s Theme’ years ago and for no good reason at all, forgot all about it.

I say for no good reason because once you hear ‘Tuck’s Theme’ you will – as would any sane person – realize that it is a superb bit of funk with a big, fat, swaggering drum break.

The name Bill Deal may be a familiar one, especially if you have access to oldies radio here on the East Coast, the further south the better.

Deal was a keyboardist and bandleader out of the Tidewater area of Virginia who – along with the Rhondels – hit the charts a number of times in the late 60s with their rollicking brand of brass-inflected, blue-eyed soul (covering cuts by artists like Maurice Williams and the Tams).

The band recorded half a dozen 45s (and an LP) for the Heritage label (also home to the Show Stoppers), of which ‘Swingin’ Tight’ b/w ‘Tuck’s Theme’ (released in 1969) was the fourth, it’s A-side grazing the Top 40 in a number of regional markets.

The cut features Deal working it out on some kind of clavinet-like electric keyboard, backed by the brass section, with a fuzzed out guitar eventually chiming in.

Things really get cracking when drummer Ammon Tharp lays down that big, swinging break.

It’s really is a killer, one of those that’ll have your head nodding as you get into the groove.

The record has ben sampled a few times, by groups like Jurassic 5 and People Under the Stairs.

Bill Deal and the Rhondels became an institution on the Beach Music scene, carrying on in one form or another until Deal’s passing in 2003 (though a version of the group, billed as Bill Deal’s Band still tours today).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (6)

By Larry, January 8, 2013 1:00 pm

Listen/Download Cal’s Tricks – Who’s Gonna Take the Weight

Greetings all

Before we get things started today, I should let you know that I was asked to put together a list of crucial 45s for the new Deserted Island blog. You should pop on over and check it out when you get a chance.

The track I bring you today is something I picked up whilst grazing at the last Allentown All 45 show.

It’s hard not to be overwhelmed in a room packed to the gills with 45s, but since a lot of the dealers (and the kind of stock they bring with them) have become familiar to me over the years, I try to maintain a s small amount of focus.

These days my “want list” (as it is) isn’t very long.

There are a couple of very crucial things that I’m always on the lookout for, but outside of those, I tend to cast a pretty wide net. The old frame of reference is sharp enough that I come away with more gold that gravel, and the record you see before you today is evidence thereof.

I’d never heard of Cal’s Tricks, or the Secant label, but as soon as I noted the presence of a groovy Kool and the Gang cover, I placed the disc on the keeper pile and kept digging.

Once I got the record home I was very happy with my selection, and moved on to digging for information.

There’s not a lot out there, but what I have found is interesting.

It would seem that the Secant label was active in the Washington, DC/Maryland area during the 70s, releasing a wide variety of styles.

The DC Soul Recordings site noting that only three of their releases seemed to fall into the realm of soul and funk, two of them being records by Cal’s Tricks.

‘Who’s Gonna Take the Weight’ – taken here at a slightly faster, dare I say discofied, tempo than the OG – was the second 45 by Cal’s Tricks, released in 1976.

The band’s name seems to be a variation of the name of producer Caltrick Simone.

I don’t think this track or any of Cal’s Tricks tunes have been comped.

I hope you dig the track, 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, January 6, 2013 2:42 pm

Jimmy McCracklin

Listen/Download Jimmy McCracklin – Dog Pt1

Greetings all

Welcome to the new week.

As we discussed last week, as we marked the passing of both Marva Whitney and Fontella Bass,  2012 proved to be a severe kick in the pants for fans of soul music.

In the space of a week we lost those great singers, and the man who’s song I bring you today, the legendary Jimmy McCracklin.

McCracklin’s name first came onto my radar when the UK band the Inmates had a NY area FM radio hit (circa 1980) with their cover of his 1958 hit ‘The Walk’.

Later on (years after I first heard the record) I realized that McCracklin had co-written Lowell Fulson’s ‘Tramp’, which went on to be a big hit for Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, as well as the template for the Mohawks’ ‘Champ’.

McCracklin – who was born in the midwest but settled in the San Francisco Bay area – made his first record in 1945, but wouldn’t hit the charts until ‘The Walk’. Through the 40s and 50s he recorded for labels like Modern, Irma and Peacock, finally setting up shop with Imperial in 1962.

He waxed the record I bring you today – the very Tramp-like ‘Dog’ in 1967, a year after his last brush with the R&B charts (he had 7 R&B top 40 hits between 1958 and 1966).

As I mentioned, ‘Dog’ follows the ‘Tramp’ lead (with the addition of a female interjecting during the tune), with McCracklin rapping over a funky bass/drum line and a groovy sax solo.

Though the foundation of his sound was the blues, McCracklin was always willing to whip some soul onto the plate as well.

McCracklin continued to record with Imperial/Minit until 1970, but he kept recording for a variety of labels (and touring) into the 1990s.

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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, January 3, 2013 11:23 am

Miss Fontella Bass

Listen/Download Fontella Bass and Bobby McLure – Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing

Greetings all

Since the end of the week is upon us it behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show is as well, airing each and every Friday night at 9pM on Viva Radio. If you can’t fall by at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

We have to start off 2013 in much the same way as we did 2012, that is eulogizing the fallen greats of funk and soul (Miss Marva Whitney a few days ago and Jimmy McCracklin this coming Monday).

Today we mark the passing of Miss Fontella Bass.

Those that know me have heard my complaints about Ms Bass’s biggest hit, 1965’s ‘Rescue Me’ as a song so ubiquitous that I would feel safe never having to hear it again.

This is of course no fault of hers, but rather the tastemakers/compilers of oldies radio and movie soundtracks who have made that particular record an all but inescapable shorthand for 60s soul, much like James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’, or the Four Tops ‘(I Can’t Help Myself) Sugar Pie Honey Bunch’, all in their way great records, but beaten so soundly into my brain as to have sucked all the joy out of the music.

Every time ‘Rescue Me’ is cued up it just conjures up images of ‘The Big Chill’ and makes me want to strangle a Baby Boomer with a tie-dyed shirt. And the remarkable thing is that it’s not even on that soundtrack, but rather just another house picked up by and forever swirling around inside of that horrifying tornado of nostalgia.

Though I have owned a copy of ‘Rescue Me’ for years, I have not pulled it out of the crates to play it, and for all intents and purposes, Fontella Bass was well off my radar.

That was, until one lazy day, when I was sprawled on the couch channel surfing and happened upon a soul documentary that while generally unpromising, was light years better than everything else on the tube.

It was during this program (on one of the VH-1s) that a clip came on with a song that I hadn’t heard before and my ears perked right up.

There on the screen were Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure belting out a tune called ‘Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing’.

There’s no question that my lack of interest in all things Fontella Bass was unfair, but in my defense, I had no idea that she’d done anything else, especially anything this cool.

I listen to a tremendous amount of music (especially soul and funk), much of it pulled out of dusty boxes and shoved directly into my ears, and I was, unfortunately, unaware of this record, but that’s the way things go. Despite what some people might say or think, you must be humble enough to admit that you cannot know every good record there is (and I do not, though maybe someday…).

That said, ‘Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing’ hit the R&B Top 5 and the Pop Top 40 in February of 1965.

Fontella Bass, Bobby McClure and the bandleader on the date Oliver Sain (the flipside of the 45 was ‘Jerk Loose’ by Sain and his orchestra) all hailed from St Louis, MO.

Bass had started out as a gospel singer, her mother Martha Bass being a member of the Clara Ward Singers. She got her start in the world of secular music playing piano in Little Milton’s band (alongside Oliver Sain).

She signed with Chess/Checker in 1964, had the duet hit with McClure in early 1965 and went on to have her biggest hit with ‘Rescue Me’ in September of that year, making it to the Number One spot on the R&B charts and the Pop Top 5.

Bass had three more R&B Top 40 hits in 1965 and 1966 but left the label after being denied a co-writing credit on ‘Rescue Me’.

She married avant garde jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, with whom she moved to Paris in the late 60s where she recorded two albums with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, including the sought after ‘Les Stances a Sophie’.

Following her return to the US, Bass recorded more soul sides for the Paula label through 1972 but eventually retired from music.

She returned to record both gospel and jazz later in life but suffered a series of strokes in the last few years of her life and was in hospice care when she succumbed to a heart attack.

She 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).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, January 1, 2013 3:08 pm

Miss Marva Whitney

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – It’s My Thing

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – This Girl’s In Love With You

Greetings all

It was just a few days short of Christmas (the very day that the Godfather of Soul slipped the surly bonds of earth but six years ago) that word filtered down to me that the mighty Marva Whitney had died.

Marva Whitney – one of the great divas of the classic era of the James Brown Revue – was born in Kansas City, KA in 1944, where she grew up performing gospel music.

It wasn’t until the mid-60s that she made the move to the secular side of soul, eventually joing James Brown and recording her first 45 with his organization in 1967.

During her tenure with Brown, running from 1967 to 1970, she recorded more than a dozen 45s and three albums (one unreleased) before moving on to record sides for T-Neck, Forte and Excello.

She left music for a time in the 1980s before returning to perform with various and sundry James Brown alumni, eventually working with Osaka Monauril (big ups to DJ Pari who was instrumental in her return to the studio), recording new music and touring extensively in the 2000s.

Whitney had one of the most powerful voices in the realm of classic funk.

Though she didn’t have much in the way of commercial success in her heyday, Whitney is treasured both by crate diggers, who verily worship her hard-hitting funk sides, but also by the hip hop side of things for heavily sampled tracks like ‘Unwind Yourself’.

The three tunes I’m posting today have all appeared at Funky16Corners over the years and are staples in my crates and playlists.

The first is my personal favorite. ‘It’s My Thing’ – an obvious “answer” to the Isleys – was her biggest hit, making it into the R&B Top 20 in the Spring of 1969.

It’s a killer from its opening notes, and right up there with the best singles of James Brown’s King-era. The instrumental backing is rock solid, yet fairly rudimentary, with Marva’s remarkable voice dragging the whole show behind her in the dust.

The second is another banger, which ought to be familiar to listeners of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, via the whole song, but also from the sample of her voice that graces so many drops. ‘Things Got to Get Better (Get Together)’ is a fast mover with a tasty horn chart that propels the song from the bottom up. There’s a fantastic live performance clip from he show ‘Music Scene’ in 1969, with Marva laying it down in front of the mighty James Brown band that must be seen,not just for the undeniable power of the music, but for Ms Whitney’s platinum afro, which is a thing to behold.

The last track is something extra special that I was introduced to some years back when Dave Withers guested at the Asbury Park 45 Sessions.

Marva Whitney’s ‘This Girl’s In Love With You’ (a distaff remake of the huge Herb Albert hit) from 1969 is one of those records that ought to be much better known. Every time I play it out I see the same reaction that I had the first time I heard it, that being “where has this record been all my life?”.

It is in turns sweet, funky and a remarkable contrast to the harder edged stuff in Marva’s catalog. I’m not sure who did the arrangement, but it’s fantastic and the fact that this record doesn’t seem to have charted anywhere just makes me shake my head.

Though some of Marva Whitney’s old-school vinyl can be hard to come by and costly, you can find her 2006 comeback LP with Osaka Monaurail ‘I Am What I Am’ in iTunes, and most of her classic tracks can be found on the ‘James Brown’s Funky Divas’ collection (along with a lot of other indispensable music).

I hope you dig the sounds, and when you get a chance, get down in memory of the great Marva Whitney.

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, December 30, 2012 3:45 pm

Bobby Hollaway – Cornbread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins (Smash)
Ben E King – What Is Soul (Atco)
Nina Simone – Save Me (RCA)
Pieces of Eight – Come Back Girl (A&M)
Len Barry – I Struck it Rich (Decca)
Papa Don Association – Souled Out (Amy)
Vibrations – Expressway To Your Heart (Neptune)
Russell Evans and the Nighthawks – Send Me Some Cornbread (Atco)
Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle (Scepter)
Garnet Mimms – Prove It To Me (UA)
Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
Etta James – I Got You Babe (Cadet)
Billy Preston – Greazee Pt1 (Derby)
Freddie Scott – You (Got What I Need) (Shout)
Lloyd L Williams – Be Mine Tonight (ABC)
Marvelle and the Blue Mats – The Dance Called the Motion (Dynamic Sound)
The Poets – She Blew a Good Thing (Symbol)
Titus Turner – Soulville (Enjoy)
Betty Harris – Mojo Hannah (Jubilee)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (Laurie)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners 2012 Year In Review Mix – 93MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

What you see before you is the Funky16Corners 2012 Year In Review Mix, in which we take a look at the tracks that I consider to be the finest posted here since January.

You get all manner of soul and funk (mostly of the 45RPM variety), breakbeats and grooves of all kinds.

I gave this a listen the other night and came to the conclusion that this has been an especially good year.

My memories of recent digs, as well as the “to be blogged’ folder indicate that there’s a lot more where that came from.

I hope you dig the mix, and I’ll be back next week with some more groovy gravy.

Don’t forget to hit up the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, or, if you can’t be there at airtime, subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 for the archive here at the blog.

Happy New Year,

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, December 24, 2012 11:36 am

The LP (above), Miss Dorothy Ashby (below)

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings – Jingle Bells

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings feat. Dorothy Ashby – Merry Christmas Baby

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

There are also two previous years of Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Specials (12/24/10 and 12/23/11) as well as this year’s show (12/21) in the Archive.

This will be my final post for the week, so here’s hoping that those of you that celebrate have a very Merry Christmas, and that for the rest of you, things stay mellow as a cello.

This post is dedicated to the memory of the mighty Miss Marva Whitney, who passed away a few days ago. I will most definitely be paying tribute to her in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

Larry

Originally Posted 12/2007

Greetings all.

As I’ve stated repeatedly in the past, I’ve never been much of a holiday music collector. However, once in a while a personal obsession of mine also happens to have a Christmas record. In the case of Richard Evans and the Soulful Strings, their 1968 LP ‘The Magic of Christmas’ is a real gem.

The first tune I selected was the obvious choice (at least for me) because I can’t think of another version of ‘Jingle Bells’ that opens up with an honest to goodness drum break. I’m not sure who’s laying it down here (though I’m guessing that it is in fact Morris Jennings Jr.).

The second selection is a lush, sublime reading of Charles Brown’s classic ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ which features the brilliant Dorothy Ashby on harp. If you aren’t familiar with Ashby – I included her ‘Soul Vibrations’ on my collab with DJ Prestige ‘Beat Combination Pt2’ (check out the Flea Market Funk Mixes page)– she was one of the few harpists who could actually play jazz on the instrument, and the three albums she recorded for Cadet between 1968 and 1970 (in collaboration with Evans) are brilliant.

If your nerves are frayed (like mine) and the consumerist madness of the holiday season has you down, give this version of ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ a listen and all will (at least for a few minutes) be well, as it is positively sublime.

I’ll be taking the next week off to enjoy the holiday with my family and do a little visiting. I will most definitely be back with something for New Years Eve, so hang tight, enjoy your Christmas and I’ll see you all soon.<<

Peace

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, December 23, 2012 12:04 pm

Clarence Carter

Listen/Download – Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

There are also two years of Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Specials (12/24/10 and 12/23/11) in the Archive.

Enjoy!
Originally Posted 12/2006

Greetings all.

As I’ve gone over a few different times, I’ve never been a big collector of (any) holiday themed funk and soul. I may pick up a piece here and there – when it turns up – but I don’t generally seek it out. This is the main reason it may take a decade or so before you see me post a Christmas edition of Funky16Corners Radio. I just don’t have the raw material at my disposal.

That is not to say that I would ever let the time of year go by unnoticed, and this time out I have a couple of excellent funky yule logs for ye, one you may have heard, and another that you almost certainly haven’t.

The former may very well be my all time favorite funk/soul Christmas record, by one of the truly great voices of 60’s and 70’s soul. The singer, Mr. Clarence Carter, the song, ‘Back Door Santa’.

First off, I suspect that someone, somewhere in the funky blog-o-sphere will be dropping this chestnut, and I don’t care, on account of I love this record, and you should too, and much like spinach and yams, more than one serving will only serve to improve your overall well being.

That said, Clarence rips it up here, whipping every last bit of funk they had hidden at Fame studios on you (as well as jingle bells and egg nog), with all the good Santa-related double (hardly) entendres money can buy. Get this on thy-Pod post haste, so that over the weekend, when some wet blanket tries to throw ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer’ (or, God forbid that thing where the dogs bark out ‘Jingle Bells’) on at the Christmas gathering, you can parry (and thrust) with this big, jangling set of Christmas balls and really get the party started.

I mean, seriously…how can your ears suck up this groovy gravy, and your butt fail to respond– in the words of the great Lee Dorsey (without whom everything you do can’t be funky) – with the make-a-shake-a-make-a-hula, or however it is you likes to shake it (but don’t break it).

By the way, if some youngster starts tugging on your scarf when this starts playing, it’s because he heard this songs very essence sampled by none other than Run DMC (It’s Christmas in Hollis Queens! Etc etc).<<

Peace

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, December 20, 2012 12:07 pm

John Lee Hooker

Listen/Download John Lee Hooker – Blues For Christmas

Greetings all

I hope all is festive in your corner of the world. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas you can still catch a wave of good will (but look out for the tsunami of consumerism) and bask in the sweet, holiday vibe.

Though I have posted tracks by blues artists in the space before, they have almost exclusively been of the soul/funk crossover variety.

This is not one of those.

The mighty John Lee Hooker is one of my favorite artists.

That said track I bring you today is not one of his finest, though it may well be his drunkest.

The Hook himself doesn’t sound all that inebriated (though he does at one point cry out ‘I’m wasted!”, so there’s that…), but the backing “band” is something else entirely.

“Blues for Christmas’ was recorded in 1959, and it sounds like Hooker finished up his 12th set of the night, started out the door and then, struck by inspirado rounded up the drunkest, least competent bunch of has-been be-boppers he could find and dragged them into the studio.

It was there that they cracked open another 50 gallon drum of atomic egg nog and set to work.

To describe the recording as “woozy” doesn’t really do it justice.

You can almost hear the horn section nodding off in the background, their eyes getting more and more bloodshot, the wind coming out of their axes potent enough to knock a buzzard off a shitwagon.

There are points where you almost wonder of the trumpet and sax players accidentally picked up each other’s instruments by mistake.

The only thing that could make it better would be a superannuated ecdysiast lazily swinging her well-padded hips to the beat (the tenor player even breaks into ‘Night Train’ for a few bars).

It may not be the merriest Christmas song around, but you definitely get the sense that a whole lot of merriment was had earlier in the evening.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday with more holiday cheer.

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.