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By Larry, April 18, 2017 7:16 pm

The O’Jays

Listen/Download – O’Jays – Four For the Price of One MP3

Greetings all.

Today I come to with 45 in hand, offering another very familiar song in a very unfamiliar version.

Larry Williams and Johnny Watson’s 1967 ‘Two For the Price of One’ has been a HUGE favorite of mine since I first heard it back in the 80s (when my buddy Johnny and I used to duet on the song).

It was only a few years ago when my buddy Jeff hepped me to the fact that the O’Jays had done a cover of the song.

I set out in search of the record, and managed to pick one up at a record show a while later.

The 45 you see before you today was released in 1973 – it was the O’Jays final 45 for the label – but the recording is from several years earlier, having appeared for the first time on the 1968 ‘On Top’ LP.

Sporting some fake crowd noise, and a groovy arrangement (with some strings that sound like they were lifted from a Temptations sessions) the O’Jays version of the song included slightly altered lyrics (to accommodate the extra singers) and the whole thing charges along at a very brisk pace indeed (brisk enough, and with enough strings/vibes seasoning to get any Northern Soul dance floor moving).

How it ended up tacked onto a 1973 release is a mystery, but at least it allows you to have this most excellent track on 45.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 16, 2017 11:08 am

Listen/Download – Sam Hutchins – Dang Me MP3

Greetings all.

Happy Monday and all that…

The tune we open the week with is a certified Memphis burner, as well as one of the most interesting soul covers of a decidedly non-soul song.
‘Dang Me’ was written and first recorded by Roger Miller, who had a big hit with it in 1964. If you’re not familiar with the original head on over to Youtube and check it out.

If you know it, then Sam Hutchins’ 1968 cover will likely blow your mind.

Hutchins recorded a string of 45s for the Amy/Bell/Mala group between 1966 and 1969, before joining the Masqueraders and singing lead with them in the later part of their career.

His version of ‘Dang Me’ was recorded in 1968, and produced by Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill.

Hutchins takes the laconic, wry delivery of Miller and lays a whole lot of soul onto it, with a hard hitting take on the song.

The record starts out with some groovy organ before Hutchins drops in like a hammer, backed by a horn section and guitar. That would be enough for me, but right near the end of the record the arrangement takes an unexpected, and completely wonderful turn, dropping down into a much slower gospel-inflected passage that is really something else.

It’s become a fave of mine since I first heard it a few years ago, and I hope you dig it too.

Until Wednesday…

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 13, 2017 1:02 pm

Robert Parker

Listen/Download – Robert Parker – Get Ta Steppin’ MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which arrives each and every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You should subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn and Stitcher apps, check it out on Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

The record I bring you today is surely known to aficionados of New Orleans music, especially its funky side, but to precious few others.

To most people that know Robert Parker’s music, that knowledge begins and ends with ‘Barefootin’, not only Parker’s biggest hit, but one of the biggest hits to ever come out of New Orleans, having become a perennial on oldies stations, a favorite of the soulies as well as having been covered a bunch of times, and even having been used as a commercial jingle.

Parker recorded a grip of great stuff for the NOLA label in the mid-60s (including the excellent ‘Barefootin’ LP), but never really hit the charts after 1967, even though he continued to record for SSS Intl and eventually (from 1974-1977) Island records.

‘Get Ta Steppin’ was released on Island in 1974, and it is as good a slice of 1970s New Orleans funk as you are likely to find.

Written by Parker, and produced and arranged by Wardell Quezerge, ‘Get Ta Steppin’ has an impossibly heavy bass line and twangy guitar (possibly Meters George Porter Jr and Leon Nocentelli) and funky drums. Parker himself is in rare form, and the song is so catchy, so funky, that it seems a crime of sorts that it wasn’t a hit. As far as I can tell it didn’t get any traction in the R&B or Pop charts, even regionally.

After his brief run with Island, Parker seems to have (aside from a fake “live” set on a compilation) ceased recording entirely.

This is – as is the case with so many great New Orleans singers – a huge drag.

Fortunately for you good folks, ‘Get Ta Steppin’ is not a terribly well known or expensive 45, so get yourself a copy, drop the needle, turn up the bass and watch the dancers get down.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 11, 2017 10:30 am

New Birth

Listen/Download – New Birth – It’s Impossible (LP edit) MP3

Listen/Download – New Birth – It’s Impossible (45 edit) MP3

Greetings all.

A few years back I was down in DC with the fam, doing the sightseeing thing with a couple of (mandatory) digging stops. We had the Sirius ‘Soultown’ station on, and my ears perked up when the record you see before you (which I’d never heard before) came on the radio.

It took me a few seconds to get into the groove, no doubt caused by my mind fixating on the original hit version of the song, which was by Perry Como.

Once I got past that, I was kind of blown away.

I stopped into my fave DC record spot – Memory Lane – and asked my man Marshall is he had a copy for me. They only had one, and it was beat, but I bought it anyway.

So, I get home, decide I want the album, find one on Ebay, and get that.

Then, a few weeks later, I’m looking for something else, and discover that I already had a copy of the 45 (close to mint condition), and realize (yet again) I have way too many records.

Anyway…

The idea of a soulful version of ‘It’s Impossible’ seems…ahem…impossible (or at least improbable), but sometimes the right combination of talents can take a song and lift it right out of a familiar frame, turning it into something entirely new.

New Birth were the vocal adjunct of the mighty Nite Liters, which started out as the brainchild of Vernon Bullock and the mighty Harvey Fuqua.

Their self-titled debut LP had come out earlier in 1971 (and garnered little notice). ‘It’s Impossible’ was included on their sophomore effort ‘It Ain’t No Big Thing But It’s Growing’ alongside covers of tunes by Bread, the Five Stairsteps and the Jackson Five.

The group lays down a groove, with the vocal starting with a high female voice. Things move to the next level when a male singer comes in with a more traditionally soulful delivery, backed by the entire group’s harmonies.

Despite the ghost of Perry Como lurking in the wings, the New Birth version transcends the original completely.

It was New Birth’s first hit, grazing the R&B Top 10 and the Pop Top 40 in the Fall of 1971.

The group would go on to have more than a dozen hits between 1971 and 1979.

It’s a very cool tune (I’m including the LP mix of the song that runs almost half a minute longer than the 45 edit) and I hope you dig it.

See you on Friday

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 9, 2017 1:53 pm

E. Rodney Jones at the mic!

Listen/Download – E. Rodney Jones – R&B Time Pt1 (Vocal) MP3

Listen/Download – E. Rodney Jones – R&B Time Pt2 (Instrumental) MP3

Greetings all.

The new week is dawning, and what better way to slide into the groove than with the intersection of Chicago soul, motor mouth DJs and a certified Northern Soul classic?

We have covered the work of the mighty E. Rodney Jones here many times before, usually in connection with the oeuvre of Jerry-O.

Jones was one of the top DJs in Chicago during the 1960s, and like many of his compadres (see Funky16Corners Radio v.44 ‘Hey Mr DJ’) waxed a few records of his own.

‘R&B Time Pts 1&2’ was released in 1965 and was a minor hit in St Louis, as well as getting play in NY and Miami (why it didn’t chart in Chicago, where it was no doubt in heavy rotation, I do not know).

Fully credited to Jones (though I’d say it was a safe bet there were actual musicians involved) the tune is a hard charging dancer (thus the Northern Soul popularity) with a bizarre faux-Asian introduction and Jones rapping over the tune with instructions for the dancers. The flip is a straight instrumental dub (minus the weird intro).

The price of the record seems to have varied wildly, running anywhere from 30-100 dollars, and there is also a local pressing on Charisma that goes for big bucks.

It is a groover, and I hope you dig it.

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 6, 2017 11:36 am

Listen/Download – Steve Dixon – A Good Love Is Hard To Find MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. You can subscribe to the show as podcast in iTunes, listen on Stitcher and TuneIn (dig the show on Crusing Radio UK on Friday nights) and Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

We close out our week of ‘dead-enders’ with a great New Orleans 45 from the twilight of the mighty Instant label.

Instant released the cream of New Orleans R&B, soul and funk from 1963 until it trailed off in the late 70s.

Steve Dixon recorded two 45s for the label in 1974 and 1975 (and another for the Spotlite label in 1966) all with producer Jerry Powell.

Dixon’s real name was Dickinson, and (thanks to Sir Shambling for the info) he hailed from and (mostly) recorded in Alabama.

His Instant 45s were recorded in New Orleans, and their sound suggests the mid-60s, instead of the mid-70s.

‘A Good Love Is Hard To Find’ opens with a slow, churchy vibe, with Dixon singing backed by an organ, before a guitar establishes a shuffling rhythm and is joined by the horns (arranged by Tex Liuzza who worked on Skip Easterling’s Instant 45s). There’s a groovy organ solo (that quotes from ‘One Mint Julep’) and Dixon’s voice manages to break out into a vaguely Wilson Pickett-y rasp now and then.

It’s kind of a great, lost/overlooked 45 (the flip ‘Sunday Afternoon in Memphis’ is a nice ballad) and I hope you dig it.

I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 4, 2017 12:05 pm

Listen/Download – Dynamic Eight – Sardines and Turnip Greens MP3

Greetings all.

We continue our week of ‘dead-enders’ with one of several one-off funky 45s that came out on Atlantic in the late 60s.

The Dynamic Eight (originally James Stuart and the Dynamic Eight) were a Nashville-based blues/soul band that recorded for the J&J label, and had this 45 (with the flipside ‘Sweet Woman’ misspelled as ‘Street Woman’) picked up for national distribution by Atlantic in 1969.

It’s not hard to see why, since ‘Sardines and Turnip Greens’ is a thumping slice of harmonica-led funk.

Pushed along by a fat-assed bass, horns and the wailing harp (Stuart?), and sporting the kind of title guaranteed to lure in any self-respecting crate digger, ‘Sardines and Turnip Greens’is the kind of record that probably rocked a grip of inner city jukeboxes, but as far as I can tell never bothered the charts (R&B or Pop) in the least.

The flipside of the 45, ‘Street (Sweet) Woman’ is funky blues (as opposed to the bluesy funk on the A side) with a raspy vocal.

The group recorded a second 45 for J&J which was not issued anywhere else.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 2, 2017 9:25 am

Chuck Bridges and the L.A. Happening

Listen/Download – Chuck Bridges and the L.A. Happening – Keep Your Faith Baby MP3

Greetings all.

I was digging through the crates and decided to pull out a handful of what I like to call ‘dead-enders’, i.e. records by artists that recorded only a handful of 45s and then vanished into the ether, leaving little behind aside from the music they recorded. This should not be percieved as any kind of artistic judgment, but rather that the artists left very little in the way of a trail, other than their records.

The first of these is by Chuck Bridges and the LA Happening.

Bridges (a black singer leading an almost all-white band) recorded an LP for Vault records in 1969 (the 45 you see before you included LP tracks) and that – as they say – was that.

Their resulting, self-titled LP has since become a crate diggers favorite.

Oddly enough, though the band is called the L.A. Happening, a 1969 article in Billboard magazine suggests that they hailed from San Francisco.

The track I bring you today, ‘Keep Your Faith Baby’ is indicative of the brassy, funky sound of the band, planted firmly on the soulful side of the late 60s horn band thing.

Co-written by Bridges and Vault Records house producer Lucky Young, the tune is melodic and hard driving, with Bridges trading lines with female backing singers, and some groovy electric piano flowing underneath everything.

It’s a very solid side, and honestly, how can I pass up ANY ‘Keep the Faith’ song?

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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 30, 2017 11:01 am

Listen/Download – Obie Plenty – Beef Stew MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so it’s Funky16Corners Radio Show time again. We come to you each and every Friday with the best in soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn and Stitcher apps, dig it on Mixcloud, or granb yourself and MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

The tune I bring you today is something of a mystery.

]If you drag your ears over here on a regular basis, you know that I dig food songs, and funny songs, and funky songs as well, so when a funny, funky food song rolls along you know I’m going to grab it for my playbox.

Obie Plenty’s ‘Beef Stew’ was released in 1967, and as far as I can tell it ios the only 45 ever to come out under that name (which appears to be a play on the name of the character B.O. Plenty from the Dick Tracy comic strip.

All signs point to ‘Obie Plenty’ being and alias of Harold Thomas of the Masqueraders, who is credited with writing and producing this single.

‘Beef Stew’ is a funky (dig that rolling bass line) novelty, with the singer going back and forth with his Mom about what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner (beef stew, natch) and complaining about the repetition.

There’s not much substance (certainly not as much as actual beef stew) but the tune is groovy, danceable, and lots of fun, and probably should have been more successful (as far as I can tell it charted briefly at one station in Connecticut before fading away into obscurity).

If anyone knows the true identity of Obie Plenty, please make note in the comments.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 28, 2017 12:12 pm

Listen/Download – Clifton White and the Royal Knights – The Warm Up Pt1 MP3

Greetings all.

I haven’t been able to discover much about Clifton White and the Royal Knights, other than that they probably hailed from Louisiana, and recorded for the Goldband subsidiary ANLA in the late 60s and early 70s.

‘The Warm Up’ (released in 1968) has been in my crates for a long, long time, no doubt picked up during one of my periodic New Orleans/Louisiana vinyl dragnets from back in the day.

Not only is ‘The Warm Up’ a great slice of relatively low-fi soul/funk, but it’s worth picking up for the spoken word jive as well.
You get the introductions, including the best of all, when White (I assume) decides to ‘give the drummer some’, at which point he introduces:

‘Leroy, is better known as MOOCHIE!’,

and the back and forth between White and a female singer who exalts the keyboard player,

‘Sweet Daddy Black Keys Foster playing on the white keys tonight!’.

I haven’t been able to find a picture of the band, but I did track down this 1969 clipping from a Beaumont, TX college paper about Clifton White and the Royal Knights playing a party on campus!

There’s some great, hard charging action from the band, and the musicianship has a certain roughness to it, especially the bass and drums (even the lead guitar) which – while not bad – are not exactly tight and slick, giving ‘The Warm Up’ a certain soul/garage feel that I dig.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 26, 2017 9:07 am

Dee Dee Warwick

Listen/Download – Dee Dee Warwick – Monday Monday MP3

Greetings all.

One of my favorite pursuits of the last few years has been exploring the discography of Dee Dee Warwick.

I have to be honest and say that even though I knew of her (mostly in association with her sister, the huge pop star) I wasn’t tempted to seek out her own records until I became obsessed with a cover of ‘We’re Doing Fine’ on a Chris Farlowe record.

Written by Horace Ott and first recorded by Warwick for Blue Rock in 1965, and covered by Farlowe the following year, ‘We’re Doing Fine’ (which appeared here back in 2014) is a fantastic tune.

Jumping off from the Farlowe cover, I started to chase down Warwick’s recordings for Blue Rock and Mercury between 1966 and 1969.

It was in that search that I stumbled upon the record you see before you today, her cover of the Mamas and Papas ‘Monday Monday’.

One of he great harmony/folk rock records of the 1960s, ‘Monday Monday’ was also – at least in my opinion – an unlikely candidate for the upbeat soul treatment.

That said, it is a killer.

The 1967 45 (with a flipside written and produced by Gamble/Huff) is a monster.

Warwick’s version of ‘Monday Monday’ is a storming, Northern-style mover with a relentless beat, blazing horns and a powerful vocal.

Oddly enough, despite its obvious quality and artistic firepower, neither side of this 45 made a dent in the charts, though Warwick would go on to have a number of R&B Top 40 hits over the next few years.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 23, 2017 11:59 am

The Majestics (left) and their singers, Shawne and Jay Jackson (right)

Listen/Download – Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time – Listen Here MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here and so I will remind you once again to dig the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops each and every Friday with the best of soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the Stitcher and TuneIn apps, dig it on Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com

The record I bring you today was something of a mystery, until Google intervened.

The 45 by Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time was released on Mr G records in 1969. One side was a horn-rock cop of the Joe Cocker arrangement of the Beatles ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’.

The side I bring you today is a much cooler instrumental, a cover of Eddie Harris’ soul jazz standard ‘Listen Here’.

Harris recorded the original version of the song in 1966 on his ‘Mean Greens’ LP (a very groovy take with Harris putting down his sax and playing organ and electric piano), and it was redone a bunch of times by folks like Brian Auger, Young-Holt, Valorie Keys (in a vocal), Ramsey Lewis, Freddie McCoy, and the mighty Soulful Strings.

The group hailed from Canada, and released a rare LP on Audio Fidelity, from which both of the cuts on this 45 were lifted.

Apparently most of the group, Jay Jackson (vocals), Russ Strathdee (sax), Ric Robertson (keyboards), Arnie Chycoski (horns), Bill Cudmore (sax), Orly Guerrieri (trombone), Brian Lucrow (trumpet), Jack Posluns (drums) and Chuck Vickery (bass) had played in the Toronto band the Majestics ( where Jay’s sister Shawne, who went on to have Canadian hits on her own was the co-lead singer), and Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time was an attempt to regroup and restage the band as a more timely jazz rock/psych outfit.

Their producer Tony Di Maria worked with a lot of Canadian and Upstate NY acts, including crossing paths with the Shannon/Cisco axis including the Rockin’ Rebels and Kathy Lynn and the Playboys (aka the LaSalles).

The group’s version of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ is a pretty solid 1969 reapproximation of the Joe Cocker hit, but their version of ‘Listen Here’ is different and very groovy indeed.

Taken at a slightly slower pace, with a tasty Latin edge, and some groovy, jazzy lead guitar, they really dig deep into the heart of Harris’ classic. The tastefully applied horn section adds a nice punch to things as well.

The arrangement is really nice, and the piano work by Ric Robertson is excellent.

I haven’t heard the LP (which is apparently pretty far out, as well as fairly rare) but I’ll keep an eye out for it.

I hope you dig the tune, 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.

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.