Talk about my love for you..

Time for another semi-obscure Eddie Bo 45.

This side was released under Bo's own Blue Jay imprint...one of five known releases on that label.

I'm pretty sure it's from 1964.

Enjoy

I think of no one else...

I don't know anything about Vikki Styles [don't know that anyone else does either].

She put out one other single, a northern soul thing, which I find pretty uninteresting. Funny, cause that record sells for serious cash, while this one goes for cheap.

I think I paid $5 for my copy.

Hits me right in the heart, it does.

Hope it hits you too.

Why can't I be like you?

By way of an apology to Danny White for a previous, uncalled for, dis...

Why Must I Be Blue...

Enjoy

Dumb...luck

This is what a record looks like after it's been very gently cleaned of what you might call, generalized ambient mold.....mold born of 'generalized flooding'.

In other words, it's a Katrina record which never suffered direct contact with water, but still looked like a forgotten three week old pizza after the water receded.

In case you can't read the label, the record is The Word Game, by Benny Spellman, on Alon Records....written and produced by Allen Toussaint.

Good thing water doesn't affect vinyl.

Enjoy

I got that stuff all over me...

This is one of the early singles put out on the 'Instant' label before it was called Instant.

Jack Banashak, who also owned Minit records, originally called the label Valiant but was sued by another company already using the same name...thus the change.

Ya got that?

Truth is, I don't know squat about Joel Moore, but it's a cool song....and there is something very familiar about the chording used by the piano player on this record.

Lets put it this way....what New Orleans pianist always sounds just a tad more sophisticated than he has to, even when pumping out the simplest of tunes? Never too fancy, often in the background, but always dead-on?

Hope ya enjoy

I like what ya do, but a litte dab goes a long way..

I tempted to say these are the flip sides to two of my favorite singles, but that's not quite right. Ya see, they wouldn't be favorite singles without these two songs on the flip. Perhaps ya get my meaning?

I'm not sure whether the basic track common to both songs was recorded before Allen Toussaint went into the army, and was thus pulled out of the vaults for re-cycling in his absence, or Toussaint himself knowingly re-used the track later.

Either way, it's hard to imagine not liking any song with such a sweet groove and ultra cool sax part...

Funny thing is that I bought both these records on the same day with no idea at all that the b-sides were related.

Enjoy

[The Dorsey side has a tiny skip. Scratches are one thing, skips another...]

My work is never done...

Speaking of cool songs..

One of the small blessings of life is that Mable John 45's go for cheap.

I've never heard a one which didn't crank me.

Enjoy

Every night...party

Cat's got my tongue at the moment.

Let's just say....this is one of the coolest singles ever, and leave it at that.

Turn it up

All my friends, they laugh at me...

As I've said before, if you want more info on any of the artists I post, best to google the name and look for any links to Home of the Groove, Funky 16 Corners, or The "B" Side [I should include The Hound Blog as well]. That's where you'll get the real scoop.

Me? I'm just playing records, having some fun, and expressing the occasional unsupported opinion.

Normally, I don't provide direct links to artist info [I'm supposed to do all the work?]....... but in this case, Dan Phillips at Home of the Groove did such a marvelous job of researching Lee Diamond/Wilbert Smith that it deserves link after link after link. It's as close to being definitive as you'll find.

Check it out, Tracking Lee Diamond.

Here ya go, a great slow dancer from Lee Diamond, circa 1960.

Enjoy

I didn't want you to be no angel...

According to every account I've ever read, Guitar Slim was the original Rock Star.

An outrageous showman. The first guitarist to use a distorted electric guitar sound. Women loved him. Dead at the age of 33. What else defines a Rock Star?

This is one of the sides he cut at Coz Matassa's studio in 1954 with Ray Charles...before Ray Charles was, well...Ray Charles.

It's also the only Guitar Slim record I'm aware of on which he doesn't play guitar.

Enjoy

It do me good....

I love this record.

It's a total sleeper, sounds sappy at first, and then goes into a killer call and response thang...

One of Huey Smith's projects with Brenda Brandon on the Instant label....the record was released in 1966, which I can only imagine was well past the due date for a Stroll-type record.

At least that's what I do to it, a version of the Stroll mixed with a smidgin of Second Line. Which probably means the song did well in New Orleans, if nowhere else.

While Pt.2 sounds very similar to Pt.1, it actually swings just a bit harder.

Enjoy

I can't put a finger on it...

Mary Jane Hooper, real name Sena Fletcher, recorded a handful of songs with Eddie Bo in the late sixties. As far as I know only five sides were released, rumors of another extant single notwithstanding...[has anyone actually ever seen a copy of, I've Got What You Need?]

I Feel A Hurt is the flip-side of, That's How Strong My Love Is, as issued on the World Pacific label. The original pressing on the Power/Power Pac label is backed by a version of Jeeanie C. Riley's, Harper Valley PTA.

I doubt anyone has ever said Hooper was the strongest singer in the world....but there is a quality to her voice, a vulnerability, that's very appealing.

I think of her as someone of limited talent who nonetheless gave her all when she sang....pushed her vocals as far as she possibly could.

In that way, I don't think the power of her recordings lies in her ability to express the feeling of a song, but more in the way she, herself, lays it all on the line.

Anyway....it's a beautiful song, written and produced by Eddie Bo.

My copy of the 45 is pretty rough, so sue me.

Bless your pea pickin' soul...

Time for more Eddie Bo....

The man did produce an awful lot of very fine recordings, and I'm thinking I'll get swamped with choices if I don't keep up a steady flow of offerings.

This one's off an original pressing on the Arrow label. Most of the copies ya see and hear were issued on Chess, who distributed the record nationally.

Enjoy

I'm just in love, some people say...

Been there, done that..

Enjoy

There's no other man...

Is it possible to over-play Betty Harris? Hopefully I'll never find out.

I really don't understand why this record wasn't a hit. It gets played constantly in this house. So much so, that I try to pick up all the player copies I can just to spread the wear around.

This is another record which, as far I can tell, suffers from either a botched original recording or a lousy pressing. Harris' voice is distorted on every copy I've ever heard, something which makes even the cleanest 45 sound as though it's worn.

Not that I'm a such a stickler for clarity, but it would be nice if there were just a bit more sparkle to this yummy bit of ear candy.

Anyway, this one goes out to girlfriends Jolie and Amanda. They're my fellow [imaginary] back-up singers on this song. I'd post a clip of our routine, purely as a joke mind you...but I'm thinking the ensuing death threats might get annoying.

Enjoy

Cracked up over you...

I'm not a 100% fan of Danny White's recordings....but I have to admit that my conclusion is born of missed opportunity rather than any specific lack of talent.

There's no doubt that the man was talented. His band rocked the hell out of New Orleans for years.

If only White had spent the sixties recording with Allen Toussaint, instead of lesser talents, things might have been quite different. Toussaint is on record as saying that several songs recorded by Ernie K Doe were written with White in mind. Yeah that's right, Mother-In-Law, A Certain Girl....you get the picture.

As it is, the two only collaborated once, on Natural Soul Brother, released on the SSS International label.

Sucks to say, but there only three Danny White recordings I care about. The Twitch on the Frisco label, Natural Soul Brother, and this song, Cracked Up Over You.

The song was recorded in Memphis. Al Jackson Jr. is on the drums. The whole Stax crew is most definitely on-board.

[correction: this record was not recorded at the Stax studio, but at the Hi studio....many of the players were Memphis heavy-weights who moved back and forth. Gene Miller, who is listed as producer, started at Stax, worked with the Fame gang in Muscle Shoals, and then moved to Hi.]

Enjoy