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By Larry, October 18, 2012 11:35 am

Gabor Szabo

Listen/Download Gabor Szabo – Rambler

Listen/Download Gabor Szabo – Reinhardt

Greetings all

The end of the week is finally here and that means that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be taking to the airwaves of the interwebs this (and every) Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. Please remember that if you are unable to join us at the time of broadcast that you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or if you just want an MP3 download you can come by the blog on the Saturday after each and every show.

The tune(s) I bring you today are two very cool, slighty later entries from the discography of the mighty Gabor Szabo.

Though the Hungarian-born guitar master is well known to the crate diggers and soul jazz fans, his notoriety amongst the rest of the world is generally limited to the fact that he was the composer of the song ‘Gypsy Queen’, made famous as part of the ‘BlackMagic Woman/Gypsy Queen’ medley by Santana.

That aside, Szabo was a guitarist and composer of considerable depth, who worked (often with an acoustic guitar) in a mixture of jazz and folk styles.

He emigrated to the United States in the mid-50s, eventually hooking up with Chico Hamilton’s quintet, with which he stayed until the mid-60s.

Szabo recorded several excellent albums for the Impulse label in the 60s, eventually co-founding the Skye imprint with Cal Tjader and Gary McFarland.

He recorded for Skye from 1968 to 1970, after which he worked with Blue Thumb for a few albums, settling down with CTI in 1972.

He recorded the ‘Rambler’ album for that label in 1973 (released in 1974), filling it almost exclusively with tracks written by his bass player Wolfgang Melz.

Both of the tracks I bring you today – ‘Rambler’ and ‘Reinhardt’ – were among that group.

They both have the clean, smooth Creed Taylor sound, dabbling in funky rhythms and synthesizers (played by CTI standby Bob James).

Both songs run in excess of five minutes, giving Szabo and his band space to stretch out.

There’s still a slightly spacey edge there that Szabo would eventually drop when he moved on to Mercury records in the mid-70s.

They are both very groovy tunes and I hope you dig them.

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, October 16, 2012 3:37 pm

The Tams

Dobie Gray

Listen/Download The Tams – Untie Me

Listen/Download Dobie Gray – Rose Garden

Greetings all

The day of the hump is upon us, and so I feel that it behooves me to provide a soundtrack to push us all up and over the top.

Since his passing back in the beginning of September, I have been deeply involved in a rediscovery of the music of Joe South, through his own recordings and via other artists versions of his songs.

Though he is best known to most as a writer other people’s hits – folks like Billy Joe Royal, Lynn Anderson and the Tams – South was an incredibly solid artist in his own right. The records he made between 1968 and 1972 for Capitol are a remarkable mixture of soul, country, rock and even psychedelia that deserve a much bigger audience.

It was during the process of digging into those albums that I was amazed not only by South’s own versions of his most famous songs (I’d say without hesitation that his is the definitive version of the oft-recorded ‘Hush’) but also pleasantly surprised to discover that he had written a couple of songs that I already loved in versions by other artists (like the Tams ‘Shelter’ and Billy Harner’s ‘She’s Almost You’).

The two songs I bring you today are two more excellent, soulful covers of great Joe South songs.

The first, the Tams ‘Untie Me’ represents both that group’s first hit, as well as South’s initial success as a songwriter.

‘Untie Me’ scraped the edge of the R&B Top 10 in the Fall of 1962, and it’s not only a great song but a great record as well. Produced (and with piano) by Ray Stevens, ‘Untie Me’ struck me the first time I heard it as a perfect tune to be turned into a beat ballad. Once I did a little digging I discovered that it had indeed been covered by Manfred Mann in 1964.

The tune is a great showcase for a restrained vocal by the mighty Joe Pope, and the arrangement is fantastic.

The second cut today is something  previously unknown to me that I happened upon while digging.

I’ma huge fan of Dobie Gray’s mid-60s Charger sides, and certainly knew of his later hits, but had no idea that he had recorded three singles for the White Whale label in 1969 and 1970.

Among these was an excellent take on South’s ‘Rose Garden’, two full years before it would be turned into a mega-hit by Lynn Anderson.

Gray’s version is subtly funky – a little more so than South’s original – and sounds to me like the kind of record that should have been a pop hit (it does seem to have gotten some play in a few regional markets in the East and the South).

Given enough time, it wouldn’t be hard to put together a mix or two of Joe South covers, but these two will have to suffice for now.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

* Simtec and Wylie were having their hits for the Mr Chand label at the same time as the Krystal Generation, and Simtec Simmons very own T-Box’s band provides the backing on this 45
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, October 14, 2012 2:38 pm

The Shirelles

Listen/Download The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle

Greetings all

Welcome to another week.

The air is suddenly a touch cooler (especially at night) and so the music I bring you shall also be (at least metaphorically).

The vinyl gods have been especially kind to me of late, whether digging via the interwebs, or out in the field.

I picked up some very groovy stuff this summer, and had an exceptional day at the Allentown All-45 Show a few weeks back.

I find these days that my digging style (if such a thing can be said to exist) has become more refined. This is due in part to it being hammered into shape by experience, but also by the fact that I often enter the fray with somewhat lighter pockets.

I find myself taking more time, returning a lot more stuff to the boxes that birthed them, and in the end taking home a much richer stack of vinyl.

This is not to say that I’m not taking any chances out in the trenches, but rather that by using my head, I take home a lot more diamonds and a lot less gravel.

I only mention this to whet your appetite for the records yet to come here at Funky16Corners.

Oddly enough, the record I bring you today came into my hands not through any field work, but rather through some lucky listening.

This summer a friend passed along about ten hours of vintage airchecks, some soul, some rock and pop.

If you listen to the Funky16Corners Radio Show you’ll already know that I’ve been mining these for all kinds of drops and vintage ads.

What I’ve also been picking up on is several groovy songs that I was either completely ignorant of, or had heard of, but never really heard before.

Today’s selection is one of the latter.

The Shirelles are one of those great groups that populate the transitional period of late R&B/early soul.

Though many people would classify them as part of the ‘girl group’ period, I’d say that many of their best records are unquestionably soul sides (i.e. ‘Baby It’s You’ and ‘Boys’, both covered by the Beatles).

What I did not know, is that the Shirelles, much like the Platters, were another “early” group that carried on making excellent records well into the “classic” soul era.

The remarkable ‘Last Minute Miracle’ is one of those.

The bulk of the Shirelles hits fall between 1960 and 1964, but they managed to hit the charts one last time (#41 R&B, #99 Pop) in 1967 with today’s selection.

Written by George Kerr and Gerald Harris (and originally recorded by Linda Jones  – at a faster tempo – on Loma), and arranged by Richard Tee, ‘Last Minute Miracle’ is one of those records that has ‘Northern Soul Anthem’ written all over it.

Marked by a propulsive dance beat, delicious pop hooks and a remarkable lead vocal by Shirley Alston-Reeves, ‘Last Minute Miracle’ moves from a hard-charging verse into a chorus that builds dramatically.

It is both exceptionally well-written and well-performed.

This is one of those records that after I heard it once, I knew I had to have it. It took me a little while to get myself a copy for my box, but when I did I listened to it over, and over again.

The record also sports an excellent flipside in ‘No Doubt About It’.

The Shirelles would continue to record for Scepter, Blue Rock, Bell and United Artists between 1968 and 1974 but ‘Last Minute Miracle’ was their last date with the charts.

I hope you dig – and dance to – this record, 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.

Comments (2)

By Larry, October 11, 2012 11:54 am

Dorothy Morrison performing at the Big Sur Pop festival

Listen/Download Dorothy Morrison – Rain

Greetings all

The end of another week is at hand and that means that once again the airwaves of the interwebs will be shot through with the sounds of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you are unable to join us at airtime, know that you can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes or pick up a straight MP3 download here at the blog.

This’ll be a quick one since I wrote most of what you need to know about Miss Dorothy Morrison last year when I posted her version of ‘Spirit In the Sky’.

The short version is that she was a San Franciso Bay area-based gospel singer (part of the Edwin Hawkins Singers of ‘Oh Happy Day’ fame) who also did a few years of secular recording.

The song I bring you today is ‘Rain’ from 1970 (there was also a promo/stereo release of this single in 1972).

On its own merits it is a rousing but of gospel-inflected soul with a great bass/percussion intro, gospel choir in the background and a lead by Miss Morrison herself.

it was co-produced by guitar wizard Lonnie Mack and arranged by Don Gallucci.

What takes this one from the level of interesting on its own merits to very interesting is the fact that it was a staple in David Mancuso’s highly influential Loft parties.

Mancuso included it ‘The Loft Vol 2’ mix released in 2000.

On its own ‘Rain’ might sound a little far removed from conventional ideas about dance floor classics, but it fits perfectly within the vibe of Mancuso’s Loft parties, where eclecticism was as important as danceablity.

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).

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, October 9, 2012 1:39 pm

Listen/Download The Krystal Generation – Unsatisfied With the Merchandise

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another spectacular week.

The tune I bring you today came into my record box via a chance meeting at an unexpected record digging stop a few years back.

I was out with the fam, headed in the direction of some delicious Thai food and we found ourselves with a little time to kill in the vicinity of the old Highland Park Record Sale.

I managed to grab a couple of very cool things that day, and today’s selection was one of those.

Flipping through a box of 45s, I was compelled to stop when I spotted the smiling face of Gene Chandler on the Mr. Chand label, familiar to me via a couple of very tasty Simtec and Wylie* 45s already extant in my crates.

I had never heard of the Krystal Generation before, but since I’m always on the lookout for Chitown soul, and the price was right, I grabbed the record and took it home.

When I finally had a chance to give it a spin I discovered what sounded an awful lot like an attempt by Mr Chandler et al to capitalize on the success of the Honey Cone ( a group that had a number of hits, some of them substantial, for the Hot Wax label between 1969 and 1972.

The Krystal Generation – who actually grazed the R&B Top 50 with an even more blatant grab at the Honey Cone with 1971’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’- were a femme vocal ensemble featuring the talents of Joyce Smith, Darlene Arnold, Mary Shelley and Mary Lead.

‘Unsatisfied With the Merchandise’ a very groovy side on its own merits, displays all the marks of a serious attempt to replicate the Invictus/Hot Wax sound, both instrumentally and vocally.

The history of popular music is filled with examples – somemore successful than others – with acts trying to get ahead by “borrowing” the sound and style of another, and the Krystal Generation, though competent, were a pretty obvious example thereof.

‘Unsatisfied With the Merchandise’ falls a few catalog numbers after ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, so I’d assume that it was either from late 1971 or early 1972.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

* Simtec and Wylie were having their hits for the Mr Chand label at the same time as the Krystal Generation, and Simtec Simmons very own T-Box’s band provides the backing on this 45
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, October 7, 2012 1:48 pm

Jo Armstead

Listen/Download Jo Armstead – I’ve Been Turned On

Greetings all

Welcome to another week here at Funky16Corners.

I thought it only fitting that we get things off to a start with something upbeat, a certified banger if you will.

Though I’d guess that a lot of you had seen the name Jo (or Joshie) Armstead before, I’d bet fewer of you had actually heard one of her records.

Armstead who was born in Mississippi worked locally until joining the Ike and Tina Turner Revue as an early Ikette.

She ended up in New York City in the mid-60s, where she met Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Together, the trio wrote both ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’ and ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ for Ray Charles.

When Ashford and Simpson headed to Detroit to work for Motown, Armstead and her husband went to Chicago and formed Giant Records.

The Chicago-based Giant label (there were imprints with the same name in Detroit and Texas) issued five singles by Armstead as well as sides by Fenton Robinson, Wayne Bennett, and Little Jimmy Scott.

Armstead’s Giant sides are classics of late 60s soul, moving from fast moving Northern Soul like ‘I Feel an Urge Coming On’ (which I just this weekend scored a copy of!), sweet soul like ‘Stone Good Lover’ and slamming, funky heat like today’s selection ‘I’ve Been Turned On’.

Armstead was a powerful singer who had the added benefit of also being an outstanding songwriter.

‘I’ve Been Turned On’ has a killer arrangement by Mike Terry (is there anything he worked on that didn’t turn out amazing?) and a dynamite vocal by Armstead (those opening lines are breathtaking).

The records is a great example of how funky a record can be without moving into outright ‘funk’ territory. Though there are plenty of strings keeping things classy on top, you have to slap on the headphones and check out those drums. Whoever was playing the drums was working overtime on the kick drum.

‘I’ve Been Turned On’ is one of those 45s that is as good for dancing as it is for listening, so pull down the ones and zeros and do a little of both.

I hope you dig it, 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.

Comments (1)

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.

Comments (0)

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.

Comments (2)

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.