Goin' to New Orleans, BRB. Sadly I regret to inform you there will probably be no posts for another week and possibly up to two weeks. I'm taking a trip to NoLA and then moving my girlfriend's stuff as well as my own into our new apartment in Bushwick. Things will be a little hectic for a bit. Good news is I plan on procuring tons and tons of records in New Orleans and Richmond, most of which will sooner or later make it to this blog for all y'alls listening pleasure.
In honor of my journey I bring you two sides from an Earl King cut that I happen to absolutely love. According to The Singing Bones these songs were from a session that involved Earl, Allen Toussaint and The Meters (how's that for some a-game shit). The session was originally slated to go to LP but wound up being ditched with only a handful of singles ever being released. Fortunately this is one of them. These should do the trick and compel you to clap your hands and dance like an uninhibited maniac. Zigaboo's drumming alone, whoooooooooooooooo hot damn. Hope y'all like these two and I'll catch you when I return and I shall return.
I feel slightly embarrassed that I've yet to feature any PENN-OLDHAM tunes on here. I've been kind of avoiding it because all the ones I love seem obvious at times and although I'm not trying to be obscure for the sake of any kind of pretentiousness I just prefer to feature songs that are less accesible.
For those who aren't familiar with who Dan Penn and Spencer Oldham are it's very likely you're familiar with some of the songs they've written. The songwriting duo are responsible for some of the most exemplary songs in the American pop music songbook, some which include but are certainly not limited to: "Dark End of the Street" (actually Chips Moman and Penn but I'm including anything that one or the other or both have credit for), "Do Right Woman" (again Moman & Penn), "Cry Like a Baby," and "I'm Your Puppet" just to name a couple. The two, collectively and individually, helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and to me represent the absolute best in American Soul music, hell the studio they did their best work in was Chip Moman's American Sound Studio in Memphis.
Spencer Wiggins seems to have been lost for the most part in the flurry of Memphis singers during the golden age. Comparatively you don't hear his name too often despite his capabilities as a singer that are equal to or rival the best of his contemporaries. This song is a perfect example. Even in the year of its release, 1967, it failed to make charts although Laura Lee's version on Chess hit the charts as well as Solomon Burke's. His performance is just as good as any James Carr had to offer and yet somehow his name has been lost over the years.
Arthur Conley - Funky Street - ATCO Lee Dorsey - Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley - Polydor Dyke and The Blazers - Funky Broadway Part 1 - Original Sound The Bar-Kays - Copy Kat - Volt Bobby Byrd - Never Get Enough - Brownstone Joe Tex - Cat's Got Her Tongue - Dial The Da-Kars - Shot In The Dark - Josie The Dapps featuring Alfred Ellis - There Was A Time - King Milton Marlon - Here I Yam - Soul-Po-Tion Records Lonnie Youngblood - African Twist Part 1 - Loma Wilson Pickett - Funky Factory - Atlantic The Maskman & The Agents - One Eye Open - Dynamo Lou Courtney - Rubber Neckin' (Chick Check'N) - Verve
Alright so I've missed posts the past couple days but only because I've been occupied with work and gearin' up for my trip to New Orleans. I've also been working on this mix or at least compiling in my head songs I want to put together as well as a loosely defined concept, "Filthy Funky Broadway" which is basically just some low-down dirty raw funk tunes. I also recently received an invitation to guest DJ at the weekly Lost and Found Soul/Funk night @ Savalas in Brooklyn so this mix is kind of an exercise for that even though that isn't happening until August 17th. If you're in the NY area and don't have anything to do on a tuesday night y'all should come.
Arthur Conley was Otis Redding's protege of sorts, Otis wrote and produced a handful of his material and even started a label (Jotis) where he released a couple of Arthur's 45s. This has got to be the funkiest of all his songs.
Next up is an amazing Lee Dorsey track with a KILLER drum break intro. The song is written and produced by Allen Toussaint and there's no way in hell the backing band is anyone but The Meters. That's a recipe for some tasty New Orleans funk.
The following track is a lowdown funk tune by Dyke and The Blazers which according to wikipedia maybe the first funk single with the actual word "Funky" in the title, an accolade well deserved. The concept for the mix comes from a lyric in this track.
"Soul Finger"? Nah, "Copy Kat". I much prefer this tune to The Bar-Kays more known hit. Both songs feature little kids yelling and screaming, a concept that I think works well especially with "Copy Kat" which has a more aggressive sound.
Bobby Byrd will probably always be known as James Brown's right hand man for the majority of his career but he certainly was no second fiddle. This track is a perfect example of a killer exercise in JamesBrownian funk. Byrd kills it on this one.
I honestly laugh on occasion at Joe Tex's infusion of ridiculous theatrics in his songs, this one cracks me up the most, right next to the song "Looking For My Pig." Don't get it wrong though, even though the little kitten noises he makes are hilarious and the lyrics are hysterical the song is killer with some SERIOUS drum breaks.
I don't know much about this band, The Da-Kars. I bought the record because it was on Josie and the A-side is a cover of "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay." I was seriously happy when I heard the B-Side, a tight-knit funk track with amazing horn lines.
"There Was a Time" is without a doubt one of my favorite JB related tunes. The energy of this track is basically unmatched by any other JB tracks. That first drum count of each measure with the bass drum slammin' so hard is one of the heaviest things ever and Pee Wee Ellis playing his ass off the entire song knocks you right down. Who plays drums on this one? Anyone know?
I didn't know who Milton Marlin was when I bought this one and I still don't. I do know that the song is called "Here I Yam" and its credit goes to Bobby Marchan and it was released in 1972, all three of those clues informed me that this is probably going to be something funky. I was correct.
I'll pretty much buy any 45 when the A-side is "Something blah blah Part 1" and the B-side is "Something blah blah Part 2." It's almost always a sure bet and 99.9% of the time you'll get something killer. This one is no exception to that rule. I have a couple of Lonnie Youngblood records but none are as funky as this one. "Swahili," I love it.
I don't think there's any era of Wilson Pickett's career that I don't actively celebrate. Just when I think I've found ever single he's released I uncover one I don't have. I found this one recently and it instantly became one of my favorites. The fuzz guitar track on the song works so well and the gospel-esque backup singers add a nice little touch.
Love the drum break intro for this track. The Maskman's brand of silly storytelling funk is always enjoyable. The Maskman, Harmon Bethea, wore a Lone Ranger mask when he performed, can't really mess with that.
First of all, I can't hear this song and not be reminded by the bass intro of "The Warning" by Black Sabbath. It's the same bass line and the tone is surprisingly similar. The song rules on that fact alone, that I can make a comparison between Lou Courtney and Sabbath. Lou's career isn't as extensive as his contemporaries but every single track I've ever heard of his is superior to almost all other's doing the same the as him at the same time. The man knew how to create a seriously dirty sounding groove.
Hope ya'll enjoy this mix. PLEASE leave feedback and comments and love or hate and suggestions.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Recently I've accepted a job in a retail store thus beginning my first delve into the wide world of retail. What is it about people with money who feel they have permission to treat other people like shit? My frustration with these kinds of people stemmed today's post.
Here's two sides from classic Texas garage/proto-punk outfit Kit and The Outlaws. I'm posting both sides because each is equally killer and I couldn't really decide. The A-side is the W. Pickett cover and although singer Jerry Colwell is not even close to duplicating Pickett's vocals they instill a different kind of urgency into an already urgent song. The guitar track is drenched in some classic 60's fuzz and the song is played in youthful zest, probably because it was performed by a group of youths. The B-side, written by Kit, is positively a angst-ridden youth anthem of the highest caliber. Although it's no Cro-Mag's "Don't Tread on Me" it's still a ripper especially considering it was written in the 60's. Instead of giving a history lesson that I don't know too much about I'll just direct you to an extensive well-written one done at garagehangover.com. Enjoy the tunes buds.
Been feelin' a Northern Soul vibe allll day and so I'm just going to go with that instinct and put up a tasty burner. Today's side is from Northern Soul staple Tommy Hunt. Originally he did time in The Flamingos and then eventually moved onto a pretty extensive solo career with records on Dynamo, Scepter, Atlantic, Capitol, and Polydor throughout the 60's and 70's. He became a huge favorite at the Wigan Casino and accepted into the Northern Soul canon. This one is from 1967 and is sure to get you movin'.
I officially declare Fridays Funky Friday here at Black Gold. I can do that because it's my blog and it's all at my discretion!
Here's one from Leon Haywood, a man with an extremely prolific yet sometimes understated career. This one is in honor of the ridiculously hot day we had in New York City today, which is a sure sign that summer is here. What's indicative of summer? BBQ's. What must you do to prepare for hosting BBQ get togethers? Clean up your yard. Listen to Leon, he knows.
Shout outs to Larry G. @ Funky16corners for mowing his lawn today. If you haven't been to f16c yet then you're missing out. www.funky16corners.com
There are two sides to the man we know as James Brown: there's his bad as hell funky side and his sweet n' soulful side. With this single piece of plastic we symbolically get the duality of JB. One side is a hard hitting tight-groove funk instrumental, "The Drunk," and the other side is probably one of my all time favorite JB songs and one of the most soulful songs I've heard to date, "A Man Has Got to Go Back to the Crossroads." For me the song is near perfect: the arpeggiated guitar, the subtle and sweet strings, the dynamic shift between the quiet verses and heavy as hell choruses with horns blaring and above all JB's untouchable vocal performance. You should probably question your humanity if this song doesn't affect you even a teeny-tiny bit. I think the philosophy embodied in this ballad applies to the state of mankind collectively now more than ever. Sometimes we need to go back and rethink where we've been to figure out where we are going. I got this record from a chill dude in Richmond named Lenny aka Chew La Rock, he's hooked me up a couple times so he deserves a shout out.
It's a beautiful night and the feeling of the impending summer affects the air. I'm tired so I don't really have much to say. This might be an "obvious" song but nonetheless a soulful one. There are a few reasons why I love this record: 1) both sides A & B are equally killer, 2) this song was recorded by Chips Moman which means it was recorded at American Sound Studio (responsible for some of my all time favorite songs, 3) The organ on the track (duh), 4) Bobby KILLS it on this one from his debut solo LP. Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
p.s. Sorry for the quality. The record was a quarter, what the hell else can you buy for a quarter.
Been sittin' on this one for minute. I picked this up just based on the fact it's arranged and produced by Allen Toussaint and the song shares its name with one of my favorite books, I had no idea who Dan Patrick was when I purchased the record for $3.00. The reason for not putting this song up sooner is because I was trying to find some, any, information on who Dan Patrick was or is. I turned up absolutely nothing. No copies of the record have turned up on eBay since I purchased this one, no blogs (as far as I know) have ever featured this track, and there is absolutely no information about the record other than it was released in 1967. I wish I knew more because this song rips so unbelievably hard. Kind of odd for a Toussaint production, no? If any of my readers (do I have readers?) have some leads please post 'em up.
