All music presented on this site is shared under the premise of "fair use"; this site is solely intended for the purpose of education and critique. If you are a rights holder to any of the music presented and wish for it to be removed, simply contact me directly and it will be taken down.
Since I haven't been able to post in a few days due to non-agreeable, archaic wi-fi (isn't it a funny irony that I use modern technology to present low tech music from a low tech medium? A medium which also ALWAYS works, by the way), it's only fair that I throw down an all-out, ass shaking classic, right?
Here's Eddie Bo at his finest. 'Nuff said. If you don't know Bo you're new around here. He's one of the most incredible artists to come out of the incredible city of New Orleans (see, in order to saty within the legality of "fair use" I need to present some sort of critique or history in my post)
Feel free to correct me about the year. I'm running on very little sleep and this afternoon is a blur filled with two planes, a wild ride from the airport and a mad dash to hit 4 record stores in Toulouse before closing time, so trying to figure out the exact year of release is low on my list of priorities :-)
I'm in a location with archaic wi-fi that resembles the speed of a 56K modem circa 1998, so I have not been able to post. ' It's so bad, that I probably couldn't even post a sound file of the old AOL "You've Got Mail!" voice.
Will be in a new location Monday (on the continent)that will definitely allow the posts to continue.
This was the first record that Vernon (Garrett) and Jewel (Whittaker) recorded together; the married couple released a brilliant string of duets until Jewel's tragic death from cancer in the mid 60's.
Russell Jacquet (brother of Illinois Jacquet) was a trumpeter who was calling Oakland, CA home during the recording of this record; as Vernon & Jewel were based in both L.A and Oakland, it's sa safe bet that this record was recoded in Oakland.
This brilliant record out of Duluth, MN was originally cut by The Guess Who; The mysterious "Sounds Like Us" saw the record released on the local Jill Ann label where it became a pretty good sized local hit which brought in A&R from Fontana Records who put it out for national release in January of '67 where it sank like a stone.
Here's a very nice late-period Detroit soul record; (fyi, the George McGregor listed on the sleeve is a different GmcG than the one heard a few months back on the Chicago-area record."Temptation Is Hard To Fight").
Apparently, the group heard on this record is not actually the real Gaslight group; I have read that due to a labeling error this track by Oliver Cheatham was given the name The Gaslight. Seems as though this kind of thing happened often back in the day, and I can only imagine the frustration that artists must have felt when their tracks were given over to another name or improperly credited.
Regardless, it's a truly lovely track that takes much of what made 60's Detroit soul great into a slightly funkier 70's sound but has the bedrock of a great song to give it weight.
After the Beach Boys fired him as their manager, Murry Wilson's next project was management of this clean cut California combo that hit big with a great Beach Boys inspired record called "I Live For The Sun" (a past 45 of the day, as a matter of fact).
By 1966, the group must have been spending quite a bit of time on the Sunset Strip absorbing the sounds of Love and The Leaves and other like minded combos, as this track adds some seriously punky snarl on top of their sunny harmonies. It all adds up to a seriously great record that's seemingly over before it even begins leaving us wanting MORE!
Other than the fact that "I Am In Love" is a favorite of the lowrider oldies folks (and with its dreamy, late night sound it's for good reason!) I can't dig up any information about Pretty Boy or this record.
I would assume that this is a Los Angeles record, as the label was located there, and it does have that "East Side" sound thing goin' on.
"You Are Gonna Be Sorry" is a great mid-tempo dancer featuring that "broadcasting from another dimension" sound; full of intrigue, mystery and verve.
I don't know about you, but I could put the intro on a REPEAT loop and listen to it OVER and OVER again and marvel at the absolute genius of the piano hook on top of the unbelievable drumming.
Roosevelt 'Rpsey" Grier has had a Zelig-like life; starting out as a professional athlete, Grier began cutting records while he was a star football player. After his football career, Rosey was one of Bobby Kennedy's bodyguards, and chillingly, was the man who stripped Sirhan Sirhan of his gun at the assaination. Grier went on to be a Los Angeles TV personality among other things.
On this release, we find Rosey rocking an original composition of his own that just plain and simply COOKS. His vocal delivery, while not exactly tuneful, is forceful and cool. As for that drummer- whoever he is, I'd love to give him a big hug for his genius performance on this track.
Some say the funk never landed on the moon, but I think this track proves otherwise!
Detroit's Fabulous Counts were an all-instrumental group that not only released sides on their own, but provided their skin-tight musicianship (as heard here in full effect) as back-up for touring singers who needed a pickup band.
There's a handful of names that pop up on Detroit record labels (Mike Terry, Popcorn Wylie, and in this case, Ollie McLaughlin) that almost GUARANTEE that the record is gonna be good. No disappointment here.
Since first hearing this song, I've always been struck by the URGENCY of the vocals and how important it is to have another chance.
What I didn't know until moments ago, was that the group, made up of seven singers (Reginald Haynes, Lawrence Franklin, Robert Arrington, William Dugger, Stephen Carter, Frank Heard, and Marion Murphy), were all incarcerated at New Jersey's Rahway State Prison! Somehow producer George Kerr was able to bring recording equipment into the prison to record the groups' vocals.
This was their debut (and best) record; INCREDIBLE!
Today's selection is a record that I've dreamed of owning for years; incredibly rare, I've never had the guts to snatch up one of the copies that turns up in top condition for heart stopping prices. Recently, this copy came up for sale in rough shape but I don't trip on condition. Unless there's skips, I'm just happy to have these records around in any state.
Unfortunately, THIS ONE HAD A HORRIBLE SKIP. Undisclosed by the seller who stated "excellent sound quality". Uh huh. Kinda like saying, this car is in mint condition, except for the smashed fender.
As anyone who has ever crossed over the big ponds knows, transatlantic jetlag can cause people to do odd things; for me, it means when I come home from Europe I tend to be up way too early in the morning. This particular morning, with headphones on, I slapped this platter on the turntable and just about wept when I heard the SKIP. I HAVE had pretty good success getting skips out of records, but this one was really bad and I didn't have much hope. I spent about 20 minutes on it then gave up for a while and listened to a few more discs in the "to listen to" piles. Something about my love for this song made me come back to skip doctoring, and I think if you've read this far, as soon as you hear the organ intro of this song you just might understand my insanity.
Here's what I do with vinyl record skip removal in a nutshell- first, figure out WHERE it skips. Then, I take a stylus needle and trace through the groove that I have put just a dab of dish soap (for lubricant) on a q-tip and wipe it over the groove. Odds are you when running the needle SLOWLY and lightly thru the groove, the needle will get hung up on the skip, where I'll gently rub the needle thru the groove to clear out the damage.
It took many tries (about 2 hours) but the skips (yes, after I fixed one I found another on the adjacent groove) are GONE. And when you hear Bobby Reed's voice come in so sweetly after that glorious organ intro, you will understand why. Or, you are simply in the wrong spot on the internet.
Bobby Reed is from Washington, DC and released a small handful of singles before hooking up with the amazing Van McCoy for this sublime release. Very little is known about him, although he released at least one more 45 after this one.
