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By Larry, October 4, 2012 12:54 pm

Grover, rendered in oils

Listen/Download Grover Washington Jr. – Masterpiece

Greetings all

The end of another week is at hand, so it behooves me once again to alert you to the fact that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot join us at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or drop by the blog to grab yourselves an MP3 download.

The track I bring you today is an epic instrumental reading of one of my favorite Norman Whitfield/Temptations (mostly) instrumental tracks, ‘Masterpiece’.

Covered in this very space back in 2010, the original by the Temptations, on their LP of the same name, their second to last collaboration with Whitfield, is an exceptionally groovy piece of long-form wonderfulness (even if the Temps themselves are largely in the background).

It was only after I published that post that someone brought it to my attention that Grover Washington Jr. had done his own version of the song later on in 1973.

Recorded for the ‘Soul Box’ project (released as two separate records, a two-record set and eventually as a single CD), ‘Soul Box’ saw Grover, aided by a who’s who of the CTI roster – including Bob James, Hubert Laws and Idris Muhammad – stretching out on a variety of interesting material.

The best cuts from the project were included on the ‘Soul Box Vol. 1’ album, those being ‘Masterpiece’ and a side-long cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Trouble Man’.

‘Masterpiece’ takes the overall mood of the original version, removes the voices and works out a 13-minute plus soundscape that would work perfectly as a piece of soundtrack music.

The vibe is smooth – but not too smooth, or at least not nearly as smooth as Grover would get later on – but also tight, with some nice bass, drum and guitar work cementing the base under the the horns, strings and voices.

It is very cool indeed, especially if you’re out driving late at night in the rain (it’s that kind of jam).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, October 2, 2012 2:08 pm

Hugh Masekela (top) and Hedzoleh Soundz (bottom)

Listen/Download Hugh Masekela/Hedzoleh Soundz – Languta

Greetings all

I hope all is well on your end of the intertubes connection.

It wasn’t all that long ago, during one of my lucky summer digs that I turned up the 45 that you see before you today.

I’ve been a big fan of Hugh Masekela since I was a kid (Grazing In the Grass is one of my all time favorite records).

His story – and the many others that make up the South African musical diaspora of the 1960s – is fascinating, as is the music he made.

I had long heard about his collaboration with the African group Hedzoleh Soundz, but was never lucky enough to turn up a copy of the LP.

That said, I was very happy to find this 45.

Masekela – already a popular artist – returned to Africa in the early 70s with his (then) wife Miriam Makeba. It was there that he met the mighty Fela Kuti, as well as the Ghanian band Hedzoleh Soundz.

Hedzoleh mixed the traditional sounds of Ghana with western jazz and rock.

Masekela recorded the LP “Hugh Masekela Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz’ in 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria.

There’s something poetic about the process of Masekela leaving his homeland and mixing its sounds with those of western jazz and pop, only to return to Africa and re-mix his own fusion with that of Hedzoleh Soundz.

‘Languta’ the opening track of the LP (though the 45 edit is about a minute shorter than the album track) is a perfect example of Masekala’s jazz/Afrobeat fusion, with his echoplexed trumpet wailing over the Hedzoleh Soundz propulsive rhythms.

Masekela would continue to tour and record with members of Hedzoleh Soundz on several albums through the late 70s.

It’s a fantastic piece of music, and I hope you dig it.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, September 30, 2012 5:40 pm

My name is Monk. Welcome to my crib…

Listen/Download Monk Higgins and the Specialties – Big Water Bed

Greetings all

The beginning of another week is here, and the Funky16Corners fam is coming off of a very interesting weekend.

This Sunday marked the John Theurer Cancer Center Celebration of Life and Liberty at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. This is an annual event where cancer survivors and their loved ones gather together to celebrate their triumphs over their disease.

The Theurer Cancer Center (based out of Hackensack University Medical Center) does remarkable work treating a wide variety of cancers (including my wife’s leukemia) and this event is a life affirming gathering.

What it also was, was an opportunity to see the Queen of Soul, Miss Aretha Franklin perform a set of favorites – old and new – with her orchestra, which included backing vocalists led by Fonzi Thornton, who in his almost four decade career has graced albums by Chic, Luther Vandross and countless others.

Photos by Jennifer Grogan

It was great to see Aretha and to have my sons see her as well. She was in rare form with her voice as remarkable an instrument as it has ever been.

It was a rare pleasure.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are a collector of records, and an inveterate reader of label – like yours truly – then the name Monk Higgins has surely passed before your eyes.

Higgins – born Milton Bland – got his start in his home state of Arkansas. Folowing his graduation from Arkansas State University, he moved to Chicago to study at the Chicago School of Music.

He eventually went to work as a teacher and a social worker before devoting himself to music full time.

Higgins worked as a saxophonist, composer, producer and arranger on a wide variety of sessions before making it into the R&B Top 40 in 1966 with the instrumental ‘Who Dun It’.

His productions for the One-Der-Ful, St Lawrence and Chess labels (among others) included sessions for Freddy Robinson, Alvin Cash, Cash McCall, Etta James, the Vontastics and many, many others are all worth seeking out (though he was so prolific you won’t have to do much seeking).

The track I bring you today hails from his 1972 LP with his band the Specialties, entitled ‘Heavyweight’.

I picked up a sealed copy of this killer was back in my early digging days in the strength of the Higgins “brand” as it were.

I’ve gone on in depth about the value of reading labels and lodging those ubiquitous producer/arranger/writer credits in your brain. If you do enough of that the connections start to make themselves and before you know it your crates have grown in both size and quality.

‘Heavyweight’ produced Monk Higgins second hit under his own name, ‘Gotta Be Funky’, which grazed the outer edges of the R&B Top 20 in the spring of 1972.

However, it is another, equally groovy track that I bring you today, ‘Big Water Bed’.

‘Big Water Bed’ starts out smooth, with some mellow organ and electric piano, but soon gets funky with the percussion and of course Higgins sax-o-mo-phone. You even get a crazy whistle, as well as some ladies chanting the title of the song, in case you forgot what it was all about.

If the sax sounds familiar it’s because the song was sampled by none other that Big Daddy Kane on his own ‘Ain’t No Half-Steppin’ in 1988.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 27, 2012 12:43 pm

The Vibrating Vibrations!

Listen/Download The Vibrations – Expressway To Your Heart

Greetings all

The end of the week is finally here, and so then must be the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which magically appears on Viva Radio every Friday night at 9PM. If you have other plans at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or drop by the blog to pick yourself up an MP3.

The tune I bring you today is one of those familiar song/unfamiliar source deals I like to whip on y’all every now and again.

This is another example of a record that I swept up almost indiscriminately back in the early days of my Philly obsession. Drawn in by the (Gamble/Huff) Neptune label and the familiar name of the Vibrations, I grabbed this 45, and while I can’t say that my memory is 100% reliable in this instance, it is likely that I thought that what I was getting was the “original” version of the song that was a huge hit for the Soul Survivors.

I was (of course) incorrect…

That tune, ‘Expressway To Your Heart’ was among the earliest Gamble/Huff chart hits (maybe THE earliest) in 1967, with the Vibrations version not hitting until two years later.

The Vibrations have one of the longest, most interesting histories in all of soul music.

Hailing not from Philly but from Los Angeles, they got their start in the 1950s as the Jayhawks. It was under that name that they recorded the original version of ‘Stranded In the Jungle’.

They also recorded under the name of the Marathons, with which they hit in 1961 with ‘Peanut Butter’.

Reconstituted as the Vibrations, they spent most of the 1960s recording for Checker and Okeh – with a brief stop at Epic in 1968 – before signing with Neptune in 1969.

They recorded three 45s for the label, including their remake of ‘Expressway’ in 1969.

The Vibrations had worked with Gamble and Huff during their time at Okeh (G&H produced the group’s 1968 hit ‘Love In Them There Hills’ for the label) and member Carl Fisher had some of his songs (like ‘Storm Warning’ and ‘(It’s Against) the Laws of Love’) covered by Philly groups like the Volcanos.

The Vibrations version of ‘Expressway to Your Heart’, arranged by the great Bobby Martin, is taken at a slightly slower, grittier pace than the Soul Survivors OG. You get lots of electric piano, organ, some very cool guitar work and lots of great harmonies by the group.

It’s a very groovy record indeed, and one that ought to be better known.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, September 25, 2012 4:48 pm

Curtis Knight

Listen/Download Curtis Knight – Love-In

Greetings all

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

The tune I bring you today is something groovy from the slightly later, post-Jimi period of Curtis Knight’s career.

I was giving some thought to how it must have sucked for Knight to be known only via his intersection with Hendrix, but then I thought about how much energy he expended in attempting to capitalize on that connection, and forgot all about it.

Knight was working in NYC with his band the Squires when Hendrix, who had already taken part in what in retrospect seems like a marathon effort to make cameos in the careers of as many other performers as he could before breaking on his own.

As a live performer, Jimi worked stages alongside Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, the Isley Brothers, Carl Holmes and the Commanders, and in the studio with Lonnie Youngblood, Billy LaMont, Don Covay, King Curtis and many others.

He hooked up with Knight and the Squires when he finally landed in New York City in 1965. He recorded sessions with Knight (some legit, some jams) during ’65 and ’66, until he formed his own band, and was eventually spirited off to the UK by Chas Chandler.

Knight and his facilitators spent a lot of time repackaging pretty much anything he recorded with Hendrix (often deceptively), making a great deal of hay (and not a little money).

This is not to say that Knight was without talent himself. He had played and recorded in a variety of R&B, rock and soul settings through the 50s and 60s.

The tune I bring you today hails from a 1969, UK-only (?!?) 45 he recorded for RCA.

The record is an interesting microcosm of Knight as Hendrix mentor-turned-acolyte (parasite?), with a slightly psyched-out number ‘Fancy Meeting You Here’, complete with heavy guitar and echo appearing on the flipside.

The side of the disc we concern ourselves with today is the funky ‘Love In’.

The arrangement and production is very cool, with lots of wah-wah guitar, some oddly echoed horns, sassy female backing vocals and a great performance by Knight (I really dig the bridge too).

I’d love to know the story behind Knight getting a UK only record deal, though I have seen a few later LPs that seem to have only been released in Europe.

As it is, the vast majority of the records released with Curtis Knight’s name on them, had Jimi Hendrix’s right next to (or on top of, or under) it.

I hope you dig the cut, 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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 23, 2012 11:25 am

Gil Scott-Heron

Listen/Download Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Johannesburg

Greetings all

I first heard Gil Scott-Heron, and today’s selection at exactly the same time, that being sometime after 11:30PM on Saturday night December 13, 1975.

How – you may ask – am I able to pinpoint the moment?

Well, my inquisitive friends, it is because both of these things entered my consciousness via an early episode of Saturday Night Live, broadcast (thanks to the interwebs for the info) on that very day, wherein the host of the show was none other than Richard Pryor.

I was a young lad of 13, but even then I knew a good groove when I heard it, and ‘Johannesburg’ is a good groove indeed.

Recorded – with his musical partner Brian Jackson – for the ‘From South Africa to South Carolina’ album, ‘Johannesburg’ was a call to arms about the apartheid regime years before it became a major cause celebre.

The performance on Saturday Night Live predated the release of the album by a month but the single had already been out, hitting the R&B Top 30 in October of 1975.

Gil is in rare form and the lyrics really hit home:

They tell me that our brothers over there
are defyin’ the Man
We don’t know for sure because the news we
get is unreliable, man
Well I hate it when the blood starts flowin’
but I’m glad to see resistance growin’
Somebody tell me what’s the word?
Tell me brother, have you heard
from Johannesburg?

Gil lays it down on electric piano and the rest of the band – especially the percussionists – is extra tight.

Scott-Heron placed a number of tunes in the R&B charts between 1975 and 1984, as well as appearing as part of the No Nukes concerts in 1979.

He continued to record, on and off for the rest of his life, spending much of that time in a tragic struggle with addiction and poor health.

He passed away in 2011.

See you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 20, 2012 2:00 pm

Joe Simon

Listen/Download Joe Simon Band – Oon-Guela (High Life) Pt1

Listen/Download Joe Simon Band – Oon-Guela (High Life) Pt2

Greetings all

The end of the week is within our grasp, which means that the Funky16Corners Radio Show (brought to you every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio) is nigh. Perk up your ears, dial up the old crystal set and drop by for the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from vinyl. If you cannot join me at the time of broadcast you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 download over at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a real gasser, hepped to me by my friend Don Waller, who sent it along on Facebook as a birthday wish.

Though I certainly knew of Joe Simon, I had no idea that there were any records released under the ‘Joe Simon Band’ name, and certainly nothing as crazy as today’s selection.

‘Oon-Guela (High Life) Pts 1&2’ was released in 1969, and it is like nothing else in the Joe Simon catalog.

What you get here is an amped up take on the Afro funk sound, with lots of hard-edged, funky guitar, percussion (there’s either a kalimba or something trying to sound like one running under the whole record) and bass that almost crosses over into psychedelic territory a few times.

This really is an unusual record, especially considering when it came out (not a whole lot of Afro anything, aside from Hugh Masekela) and that it was released in association with Joe Simon.

Simon had a long string of R&B and Pop hits from 1965 to 1981, hitting R&B #1 a few times (including once in 1969 with his version of the country standard ‘The Choking Kind’, which fell only a few catalog numbers below this very record).

‘Oon Guela (High Life)’ is waaay out of (sonic) character for Simon which leads one to wonder, what – in fact – would be the dealio.

I have not been able to discover that fact, and am currently happy just to groove on the sound of the record.

It is both groovy, and anomalous.

If anyone has anything to add, please do so in the comments.

I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 18, 2012 1:00 pm

Odyssey (Lillian Lopez, left)

Listen/Download Odyssey – Going Back To My Roots

Listen/Download Odyssey – Roots Suite (Ajomora/Going Back To My Roots/Baba Awa)

Greetings all

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

I had something else in the on deck circle, ready to go for today, but then I fell victim once again to my relentless need to read, and stumbled upon the news that Lillian Lopez, the singer of the group Odyssey had passed away at the age of 76.

Odyssey, best known for their 1977 disco classic ‘Native New Yorker’ (Top 10 R&B, Top 20 Pop) had a number of hits between then and 1982.

Lopez started a group with her sisters Louise and Carmen which became Odyssey in the mid 70s after Carmen left and was replaced by singer Tony Lopez. Lopez was with the group for their first LP (and hits) and was replaced by William McEachern by the time they recorded their second record.

The tune I bring you today is a great example of why you should always keep your ears (and options) open.

I have made mention many times in this space of how lucky I am to have had (and continue to have) a wide variety of musical “mentors”, i.e. fellow collectors and musicians who have always been generous with their time and their taste, turning me on to new sounds all the time.

One of these good people is my man DJ Birdman down in DC, a long time friend who has been a significant influence (and source) for me when it comes to dance music, specifically disco and post-1980 soul.

Birdman has always been very open about sharing his digging spots with me when I roll through DC, as well as always passing records on to me that he thinks I should hear.

Last year, when the fam and I were down in out nation’s capitol, we had ourselves a nice visit with Birdman and his family, after which he handed me a stack of vinyl, some of which I’d asked him to grab for me, and others that he was giving me to check out.

Not one to ever object to horizon-widening (especially when it comes to music) I expressed my gratitude, packed the wax in the ride and lead-footed it back to Jersey so that I might sample the goods.

One of the records in the stack is the disc you see before you today.

It was Birdman who had first hipped me to Lamont Dozier’s OG of ‘Going Back to My Roots’ and it was he that introduced me to the most excellent cover by Odyssey.

I think it’s safe to say that left to my own devices, I may very well have passed this record by.

While I knew of ‘Native New Yorker’ – and you know I dig disco – it’s not the kind of disc I’d pick up unless I was looking to stash it with my DJ stuff,  amongst my “wedding records”.

I was completely ignorant of the wider reach of Odyssey’s catalog and was pleasantly surprised when I had a chance to drop the needle on today’s selection.

Originally recorded by songwriting legend Dozier in 1977, ‘Going Back To My Roots’ was given a somewhat smoother interpretation by Odyssey. Though Dozier’s (fairly rare and sought after) OG is a 9-minute-plus epic, it failed to make it onto the charts whereas Odyssey scored in both the US and the UK.

The Odyssey version of the song is – at least in my opinion – more consistently danceable than the original, even in its extended ‘Roots Suite’ version.

Lillian Lopez continued to tour with a version of Odyssey until 2000, when she retired from the stage.

I hope you dig the tunes and I’ll be back on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 16, 2012 3:46 pm

Listen/Download The Showmen Inc. – The Tramp (From Funky Broadway) Pt1

Listen/Download The Showmen Inc. – The Tramp (From Funky Broadway) Pt2

Greetings all, and welcome to the new week!

How’s about we get things rolling with a tasty break?

The tune I bring you today is one of those meat and potatoes breakbeat classics that I chased for a long time before finally grabbing it in one of the really big record scores of my career.

I knew nothing about the Showmen Inc., for the longest time, aside from the fact that ‘The Tramp (From Funky Broadway)’ had been sampled by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist in ‘Brainfreeze’. And of course the fact that as funk 45s go, it is a banger.

I had always assumed that it was just a double-answer-record, hitting both the “Tramp” and “Funky Broadway” fads.

What I eventually found out about the record (and the group) would prove very interesting indeed.

While I have seen some information (which I have been unable to verify from a second source, so I’ll continue to consider it apocryphal*) that would indicate that the record is a direct shot at Arlester ‘Dyke’ Christian of Dyke and the Blazers, what would seem incontrovertible is that the Showmen Inc. did in fact contain at least a few ex-Blazers, so make of that what you will.

The song was written by saxophonist Bernard Williams, organist Rich Cason and drummer Rodney Brown (with new member James Ingram) – all of whom formed part of the contingent that hooked up with Dyke in Phoenix, where (on the storied Artco label) they waxed the original version of the legendary ‘Funky Broadway’.

I have never been able to nail down when and where the various and sundry Blazers recorded with and/or departed from Dyke, but at some point the three above-mentioned gentleman became the Showmen Inc. and waxed the mighty slab of funk you see before you today.

Now Records was a Los Angeles-based concern that also released excellent asides by Ron Holden (‘Need Ya’) and Robb Fortune (‘Crazy Feelin’).

As far as I can tell the Showmen Inc. never made another record, which is too bad, since this one is so good.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though it did suggest that when Dyke talks about being called ‘Broadway Tramp’ in ‘Let a Woman Be a Woman (Let a Man Be a Man)’ he is referring to this very record, which would date it in 1968 or 1969.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 13, 2012 11:47 am

Grootna, juxtaposed with the jacket of their sole LP

Listen/Download Grootna – I’m Funky

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us, and so I thought I would whip something a little different on you all.

But first a message from our sponsor….that being a reminder that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday evening at 9PM on Viva Radio. As always, we endeavor to bring you the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from vinyl. If you cannot join me at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in the iTunes store, or fall by this very blog to grab an MP3.

That said, it was a while back, whilst out a-digging, that I happened upon a 45 by a group that while jammed securely in my consciousness since childhood, I had never heard before.

That band, Grootna was familiar to me via their many appearances on psychedelic-era San Francisco concert posters, so much so that (thanks to the hypnotic power of one particular poster) it is almost impossible for me to think of their name without also appending that of another down-bill band – Stoneground – to it.

The 45 I found – ‘Full Time Woman’ – was the very first actual Grootna record I had ever seen in person, and while interesting, is not in any way Funky16Corners material.

That said, all roads lead to Rome (or at least to funk).

While I was a-Google-ating in search of Grootna info, I happened upon a Harmless collection entitled ‘Kaleidoscopic Funk’, in which the compilers brought together a wide range of funky rock, trippy funk and all points in between by artists like Sly and the Family Stone, Rotary Connection, Ruth Copeland, Larry Williams and Johnny Guitar Watson, and – as it turns out – Grootna.

I had never heard the song ‘I’m Funky’, so I Youtubed it, dug it a lot, and set out in search of my own copy.

As it turns out, the album on which the song appeared (self-titled, natch) which was produced by none other than Marty Balin (of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship/Roachclip) is fairly hard to come by and expensive, so I dug a little but more and found a vinyl copy of the song in a much more economical package.

This is the part of the post where we take a little detour and extoll the virtues of ‘loss leader” records.

Though I figure a lot of you are too young to remember, back in the olden days, when I was a kid, you would often open up a major label album and the inner sleeve would contain an ad (or two) for what were known as “loss leaders” i.e. cheap compilations intended to draw the consumer in to the deep recesses of a label’s catalog. They would do this by including a couple of familiar tracks by the bigger names on the roster, maybe an interesting rarity or two, and then a huge heap of stuff by new artists, back-benchers and old timers hanging on for dear life.

The hope was, that you would get this home (they were often very inexpensive considering that they were two or three album sets) dig something unfamiliar and then rush out and buy something by one or more of the artists at full price.

While I don’t recall actually buying any of these comps back in the day, I have spent the last 20 years picking them up wherever I see them because in addition to all of the crud, they often contain hidden gems.

‘The Music People’ is one such collection, which – as it turns out – also contains the song I bring you today, ‘I’m Funky’.

A fantastic example of stoned out, tie-dyed, hippie funk, ‘I’m Funky’ is especially groovy, with the flanged guitar, piano, drums and (slightly fuzzed out) bass and a fine vocal by Anna Rizzo.

Grootna released their sole album in 1971 and broke up a year later.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

Click here to go to the ordering page.

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 11, 2012 2:10 pm

Pat Rhoden

Listen/Download Pat Rhoden – Living For the City

Greetings all

It’s been a while since we addressed things in a reggae stylee here, and since I had something warming up in the on-deck circle, I thought it wise to whip it on you.

I first featured the sounds of Pat Rhoden about a year and a half ago, and – oddly enough – it was also a cover of a Stevie Wonder tune, in that case ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’.

As someone who’s always on the lookout for reggae/rock steady covers of US soul material, finding that first record was a treat. Happening upon today’s selection in the months afterward was a double secret irie treat indeed.

Rhoden was a singer who, though he recorded more than a little, seems to have receded into the mists of time.

He waxed sides for Ska Beat, Trojan, Attack and Horse from the 1960s on, as well as recording as half of the duo Winston and Pat (with the mighty Winston Groovy).

He recorded his version of ‘Living For the City’ in 1974 (Stevie took the OG to Number One in November of 1973).

Opening on an odd beat (but dropping into the reggae in short order), Rhoden’s version is slower than Wonders, but plenty funky.

I really dig the electric piano bed (there’s some acoustic piano in there too) running underneath everything and Rhoden’s vocal is very groovy.

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).

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, September 9, 2012 2:06 pm

Listen/Download The Intentions – Don’t Forget That I Love You

Greetings all

The record I bring you today has been chilling in my crates for a long, long time.

This is for a variety of reasons, the first of which being that when I bought it all those many years ago, it was for the organ instro on the flip side.

Back in the day, I used to see a record dealer named Dennis at all of the bigger record shows. I met him through my buddy Haim, and bought many records from him both in person and on eBay.

At some point, Haim informed me that Dennis had recorded a 45 in the 60s with a group called the Intentions, which happened to have an organ instrumental on it. I was in the depths of my organ 45 mania, so I sought it ought, found it cheap and grabbed myself a copy.

I gave it a listen, recorded it onto a mix CD, and that – as they say – was that.

I mentioned the instrumental to Dennis at some point and I remember him making a sour face and dismissing it.

Years later, Dennis put up a web site (now defunct) with a page devoted to the Intentions, and the other (much more interesting and important) side of that particular record, and my mind was blown.

I don’t recall if I flipped the 45 over and played ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’ when I bought it, but I suspect that if I did I probably wouldn’t have been into it.

Back then my taste in soul 45s was restricted to gritty, floor-pounding ravers, and the very idea of sweet soul (with falsettos no less) was not anywhere near my wheelhouse.

Now, fifteen some years down the line, my tastes have matured considerably, and I often find myself lost inside of soul harmony 45s.

What I discovered when I finally dug into ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’ was a superbly performed and recorded soul record.

This has a lot to do with not only the voices of the Intentions, but also the fact that the record was recorded in Philadelphia under the aegis of the House of Harthon (arranged by the mighty Luther Randolph), and written by none other that Jesse James!

I do not recall how the Intentions found their way to Philly from the Harrisburg area (though that trip had already been made by the Emperors), but that area of the state had a rich soul tradition (with the Magnificent Men and the Soulville label).

The Intentions recorded that one 45, and once again, that, was that.

Fortunately when the folks in charge of the Harthon catalog re-did the ‘Groovin’ at the Go Go’ comp for the digital age, they expanded the track list, and ‘Don’t Forget That I Love You’, as fine an example of that label’s sound as any, is now part of the package. You can get it in MP3 form via iTunes, or on CD at Dusty Groove).

I hope you dig the cut, 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).

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.