Makes me feel so good...

A lot of Lee Dorsey singles go for pocket change....and perhaps tellingly are often worn out, virtually played to death. It's awful hard to keep a good record off the turntable, isn't it?

But ya know, price doesn't always reflect scarcity...and certainly it has no bearing at all on how good a record is or how much you might enjoy it.

Me?...I love Lee Dorsey, and am proud to own even his most overplayed, common as dirt singles. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I take it as a bonus if a record I love can be had for under $5.

$2 is even better.

I doubt very much that this Dorsey record is rare, but it took me longer than I expected to find a copy. I play it almost every day. It cost me $4.

As a side note, I'm often struck by how closely Toots Hibbert of the Maytals must have listened to Wonder Woman.....it sounds far too similar to much of Toots' post-prison output to be a coincidence.

Enjoy

The Question

How could such a great talent could get stuck recording for small Louisiana labels? It's a mystery to me, but then again, the same or similar could be said for a number of other great artists.

I buy everything of Bobby Powell's I can find and have yet to be disappointed.

I tend to disagree with those who assume all of his early sides were recorded in Baton Rouge, but then that's just my opinion. I've no proof otherwise. My ears simply tell me it ain't so and I usually trust them.

After all, how hard is it to drive the seventy odd miles between Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

Enjoy

Come back to me...

Prince La La only released four sides on the A.F.O. label before he died at age 27 (two more unreleased songs showed up on a comp in the 90's). This song, Come Back To Me, is one of his less commonly heard recordings.

Those lazy horns get me every time.

I'm offering up one of the unreleased songs as well, Need You, which Harold Battiste credits as the forerunner of the impulse behind the Dr. John, Night Tripper recordings...and he ought to know as he produced all the sessions in question.

Moanin' and Screamin'

Diamond Joe Maryland shares the 'Great Lost New Orleans Soul King' crown with Eldridge Holmes. Every one of the seven singles he cut with Allen Toussaint is killer.

This is his first and creepiest release. I bought this copy for cheap and have never looked for another as I think the crackles and pops only add to the darkness. No sense in denying it.

My regards to Mr. Hernandez, he obviously cared about this record a lot.

From 1961...Moanin' and Screamin' Pt's 1&2

What makes you so cold?

Lula (not Lulu) Reed is a now largely forgotten early R&B artist. Personally speaking, I find some of her 1950's sides hard to take. She relied just a bit too much on a 'baby girl' voice in a vain attempt to sound like Dinah Washington. As far as I'm concerned, her later sides are more interesting.

Here's something from 1961 on the Federal label.

Hope ya like.

W-O-M-A-N-L-O-V-E

To my mind, Albert Washington pulled off a blues/soul/funk fusion so pure that it renders comparison with anyone else virtually meaningless.

Woman Love, on Fraternity Records out of Cincinnati.

Enjoy.

Thou shalt love no other one...

Here's a record I think most folks buy for it's great B-side, Hippie Joe.

Just so happens I bought it for it's stunning A-side, Commandments Of Love.

Hope you like it.

There's no substitute...

Eldridge Holmes is one of my favorite artists. I hope someday to own everything he ever recorded. Actually it's more than a hope, it's a mission from God. ........................................................................................................................................................................ One of the problems with trying to start up a vaguely New Orleans-centric soul music blog is that between Larry Grogan at 'Funky Sixteen Corners', Dan Phillips at 'Home of The Groove', and Red Kelly at 'The B-Side', the bases are pretty much covered. By and large the rest of us are left to express the 'gee whiz, ain't this a cool song' aspect to record collecting and then provide a link to a post by one of the three mentioned above. This is not a complaint, I'm a HUGE fan of all three blogs, I have learned a great deal from reading them...imho, the world is genuinely a better place because these blogs exist....no shit.

My point being that there's really no point to providing info on the recordings when all anyone has to do is google the artist/record to get the straight stuff. Case in point: google Eldridge Holmes, check out the links to Home of the Groove, and Funky 16 Corners. See what I mean? These guys are so good that by default everyone else comes off as an amateur. And maybe I am. .............................................................................................................................................................

Ok, i can live with that. More than anything, this silly girl likes to dance. It would be dreamy if someone would dance along. Nuff said.

I don't hear you...

Here's a record that always makes me laugh. Jessie Hill, taunted by his 'children' on the Chess label. Oddly enough, I don't know anyone who's bothered to seek out a copy. To my mind it's one of his more interesting releases.

My copy is a one-sided DJ pressing. Since I've never seen a regularly issued 45 of the record, I have no idea what the flip-side is. Huey Meaux is listed as producer. Hill and Mac Rebenneck share writing credits.