(originally posted 3/2007)
Although Belita Woods only released three solo singles, they are three records that I deeply cherish. In the later 70's Belita went on to sing with disco band Brainstorm, and had a few dance hits (driven mightily by her powerful voice) with that group.
Her first release (1967) was the incredible double sider "Magic Corner b/w Grounded"; which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest two-siders in 45 RPM history. 'Grounded' was the b-side, but it's just so damn powerful that I'm featuring it first. I'm a massive fan of the period in soul when the hard edged, funk tinged sound was coming in to more vocal oriented tracks; that sound is displayed here in an unparalleled way. 'Magic Corner' is a dreamy song, but it's no less intense thanks to the unbelievable vocal performance; Belita sings so hard that her voice distorts the tape and/ or microphone in several spots. Magic stuff indeed.
Belita Woods passed away far too young (63) in 2012; she was a touring member of the P-Funk mob for many years, a tiny little lady with a massive voice.
from 1967...
3 comments:
Belitta Woods... What a voice! "Magic Corner" is an awesome song, fantastic performance - I have no idea why it wasn't a super smash hit in'67. Maybe because it wasn't a Motown production? They ruled the R&B/Top 40 at the time...
Here's Belitta about 10 years after the recording in the post, injecting some soul into the Disco Days in ~ '77, on Soul Train no less. The video quality isn't great, and the audio is re-mastered, but the band was probably lip synching anyway (most of the acts on Soul Train lip synched with some notable exceptions - James Brown comes to mind, I don't think that man would have been physically capable of lip synching). Great vocal and energy from the band (trivia: that's Bobby Womack's niece playing percussion).
R.I.P. Belitta, so sad to hear that she passed away at such a young age.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALpJij3-GJY
Really glad to see that you have come back on!!! Is there any way you could still make these great tunes downloadable again?
Thanx..................!
There are plenty of ways to d/l off of youtube. Try the 'listen to youtube' site.
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