Bye bye to another golden age?

Here in the UK one of the favourite moans is the price of posting a letter. Last year there was a particularly big hike, but it is nothing in comparison to the rise about to happen in the US. I don’t know the details across the board but it’s the change in the UK equivalent of “Small Packet” postage cost that is really going to hurt. It seems the cost of posting a single 45 from the US to the UK/Europe is about to go up from about $6.90 to $12.95! The US dealers and vinyl fraternity are having kittens over at Waxidermy and desperately trying to come up with ingenious ways of mitigating the situation, but there appears to be no real answer.

Many of the 45s I have been buying in recent years have been direct from the US. I have found that if you shop around and also buy a few records at the same time the cost, including shipping, is generally cheaper than buying from a UK dealer; plus the facts that there is 1) a much wider choice and 2) my experience is the US dealers often grade their records more accurately. If you are buying an expensive record then I guess the postage cost is of little consequence, but I operate at the cheap(ish) end of the market usually and I fear this signals the end of an era for me L

We'll see what actually transpires after the 27th but it seems that getting my Soul fix is just about to get a lot more difficult. 

It’s not fair!

Dee Dee Warwick – It’s Not Fair 1969        

Simples...

A copy of  “The Beat Goes On And On” by Ripple has lived in one of my Schweppes boxes since I bought it as a new release back in ’78. 

Ripple was another manufactured name fronting a piece of irresistible Salsoul studio produced Disco goodness. At least that is what I had always thought.

… or maybe not.

More recently I have learned that Ripple were a Michigan based multi-racial group formed around 1973. They were very much a funk band then, with a percussive edge – think War crossed with early Fatback Band maybe. They released one album back then on GRC that spawned a number of singles which all made the US R&B Top 100. One of those singles, “A Funky Song”, made #41 in 1974 so cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered rare, but I had not come across it until a few weeks ago.     

In fact now,  after 35 years, my Salsoul Ripple 45 has, not one, but two new bedfellows as “A Funky Song” led me also to a copy of their first 45 “I Don’t Know What It Is, But It Sure is Funky”. And so the beat goes on and on, and the collection grows, and grows!

Ripple – The Beat Goes On And On 1978*

Ripple – A Funky Song 1974*

It’s difficult to think the same group were behind both of these records. But strip out the strings and the female vocals from the Salsoul outing and you can begin to believe it. This track was lifted from their second and final album “Sons Of The Gods”, a few tracks of which can be found on Youtube. Listening to those it is evident that “The Beat Goes On and On” was somewhat atypical and much of Ripple’s Salsoul album was rooted much more in their original sound. I still can’t help thinking that “Beat..” was a something of an implant though.

*45 issue dates.

All of Ripple’s early, GRC, era recordings, including unreleased tracks can be found on this CD.

The Salsoul album ”Sons Of The Gods” is also available on CD. 

Ain't that peculiar

New year, new plan. Well, an old plan, actually.

When Feel It was born, nearly seven years ago now(!), I never intended for it to feature exclusively soul/funk/reggae/jazz, but that’s the way it's turned out. For some time now I have again been thinking of featuring other musical genres and styles (lord knows I pick up enough other “stuff” at the boot sales and charity shops nowadays). But with Feel It now established as a sort of brand (at least in my own head!), to dilute the general “groove” here wouldn’t be right somehow. So there is nothing else for it – I have decided to start another blog. Don’t worry, Feel It will still continue but it will now have a sister site, or is it a b*stard child? J

Hmm. Last month’s Advent posts aside, I had been struggling to keep up regular posting and now, here I am deciding to keep two blogs on the boil. Ain’t that peculiar!

Drop in at A HiFi Cabinet of Curiosities for another version of “Ain’t That Peculiar”. We’ll see where this goes.

PS: Grassella Oliphant was active as a jazz drummer in the 50s and 60s. He also sounds like an anagram! No prizes, but what can you make of it? 

Have a good one

Our daughter has been laid low since Xmas Eve with something flu like so we will be staying in to keep her company tonight. No pot and pan bashing for us this year, we will be seeing in the new year with our feet up watching Jools and his Hootenanny - including Bobby Womack and Betty LaVette, and our Ruby of course.

A happy birthday to me, I'm 10 this year (: 2x5 :)  

A Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you for dropping in this year.        

Archie Bell & The Drells - Where Will You Go When The Party's Over 1976 


PS: Bandwidth almost exhausted, but another month just around the corner.

PK: a kindred spirit

Hang on - it's Friday. Holiday time always throws me. Hope you had/are having a good one. 

The eagle eyed among you may notice that the initials PK appear on the label of this record. The same initials appeared on the Cimarons 45 I featured a few days ago, although that would have been almost impossible to spot. 

The holidays are allowing me to catch up with records I picked up out in the wild this year and I have a whole batch with the initials PK on them. All from the mid 70s and all top notch soul and funk. I think I remember the boot sale and the box these came from now and that I left quite a few others behind because I already had them. PK was obviously a kindred spirit.

Today's track is a beautiful slice of mid paced soul, the B side of "Honey Bee", and the side in my opinion. It was originally released in 1972 and reissued on EMI International in 1975. 

Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon - I Don't Know Why 1972    

Door #24

And so the final door opens at this year's Feel It Advent...ure. Not a Santa or bauble in sight but I hope you have enjoyed the daily tunes this month. At least the label is red today!

To the regulars and those just passing through I wish you all a Merry Christmas.    

Happy Holidays. I hope it's a real humdinger for you.

J.J. Barnes - Real Humdinger 1966 

Door #23

Over the holidays I have resolved to stop the incessant hunt for vinyl for a few days and concentrate instead on playing more of what I already have. I pulled out a handful of jazz albums this morning which I also intend to copy onto CD for mum.  

I've featured a track off this budget label Marble Arch album before. Until now the track here had passed me by, but it's on repeat right now.

"Flame And Frost" is a great title, not least because I think it perfectly describes the feel of this track. 

I close my eyes and imagine the driving rhythmic nature of the music as a perfect soundtrack to the masses rushing (or possibly shuffling) about doing their last minute Christmas shopping - including Mrs Darce.

And as I keep my eyes closed I relax and let the effortless cool of the music wash over me.

Sshhh! Don't tell Mrs Darce.

Sonny Stitt & Benny Green - Flame And Frost 1965