I wanna thank you...

I'd like to thank every one who's stopped by the blog in these first few months, with special thanks going out to those who've bothered to leave comments. It's nice to know the effort is appreciated.

Extra special thanks go out to my fellow bloggers who have universally been very helpful and kind. I half expected ya'll to boo me off the stage, and thus am more than pleasantly surprised by the response.

Up till now I've kept a tight reign on comments, emails, and such....but I'm going to loosen that up a bit as my biggest problem so far has been friends and family members trying to post comments rife with the written equivalent of embarrassing baby pictures.

In short, I'm still having a good time pumping out the tunes...and am throughly pleased that anyone out there enjoys what I post.

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Normally, I'd offer up both sides of something like this, but Part 2 is only an edited version of Part 1.

So, ya'll are stuck with 6 minutes and 21 seconds of some of the purest funk around [boo hoo].

Have a nice holiday, ok?

Baby don't do it!

Here's one of four Don Covay sides on Rosemart, which as far as I know were the only four sides ever issued on the label. Appearances suggest that the label was set up by Atlantic records as part of a scheme to channel money to a powerful DJ of the day [he was listed as label owner-of-record, Atlantic distributed the singles nationally].

Those who've heard both 45's will know that not only did the Rolling Stones cover one of the Rosemart sides note for note [Mercy Mercy], they also straight-up lifted Covay's entire sound for their more soul-inflected period, circa 1965-66. Those who haven't heard the records before may be in for a shock as the sound is so very 'Stones-like'.

...from 1964, Please Don't Let Me Know

Do you believe baby?

This one goes out to a very special guy. He's away at the moment and I'm missing him.

So if you got a sweetheart, maybe ya could give her a little spin to this song?...ya know, just for me? Cause tonight, I'd sure give a lot to have just one slow dance with my boy.

Enjoy

Love is nice when it's understood..

Oh, what the hell....might as well let the big dog out of the yard.

Watch it...sucka will knock ya down and steal your wallet.

I never knew what love could be..

Here's the first version of what most people know as, Come On [Let The Good Times Roll].

Cosimo Matassa issued it on his short-lived Rex label in 1959, only to see King re-work the song and put it out, again, on Imperial, one year later.

The Imperial version is, of course, definitive...but this earlier recording has it's own charm, not the least of which is a waaay cuter title.

Enjoy

Wipe these tears comin' out my eyes..

This is one of those records I'm amazed I actually own. Partially because I don't remember where I got it. Which is odd.

Most of my records have a little story attached to them....unfortunately, most of the stories are pretty boring and not worth the telling.

Believe me, I do my best to shield ya'll from having to read such nonsense.....I mean, does anybody really care if the sky opens and a 45 sails from the heavens to land gently at my feet? Even if it's a great 45? Even if it's a daily occurrence?

Ya'll should read this piece on Jackie Opel. I doubt that there's any better.

Enjoy the tune, hope it gets ya through the mid-week hump.

I just wants to be around...

Wouldn't matter if this song was 30 minutes long, I'd still be shakin' the whole time.

It's just one of those 45's that short-circuits the soft, jello-like center of my brain.

I think that means it swings.

Enjoy

That's the end of the line....

The Chick and Chuck Carbo story is complicated.

They started out singing in church with a gospel group called the Zion City Harmonizers [Zion City is a New Orleans neighborhood], which soon changed it's name to the Delta Southernaires.

In 1953, the group came to the attention of Cosimo Matassa and he coaxed them into recording a couple of R&B songs along with two gospel sides.

The two secular sides, I Didn't Want To Do It/You're The One, were released on the Imperial label in early 1954 under the name 'The Spiders'. Both songs were hits. I Didn't Want To Do It went to #3 on the R&B charts, You're The One peaked at #5 that year.

Almost immediately, things started to go sour. Within six months, 'The Spiders' were outed to the gospel community, who promptly ostracized them....Lew Chudd at Imperial made a move to get Chuck to go solo, which po'ed the rest of the group....at least one member left because of the heavy touring schedule...and tragically, Chuck's young son died, after which he effectively left the group as well....

For several years afterwards a funny situation existed....Chick ran the actual touring group, basically without Chuck, while Imperial continued to release records by the Spiders which were usually Chuck with some combination of the Spiders, or Chuck himself overdubbing the back-up parts, or even Chuck with unrelated back-up singers. Of the 28 sides issued by Imperial, Chuck sings lead on 20.

Now, I'm not saying Chuck's voice wasn't beautiful, but right or wrong, my feeling is that Chick was the one who got shafted. And it's too bad, cause his voice was just as amazing as Chuck's, if somewhat different.

Chick put out seven 45's under his own name on various labels. As far as I can tell, he never released anything past 1967.

Here's one of the 4 sides he did with Allen Toussaint for Instant...from 1962.

Enjoy

Are you talkin' to me?

I have a very serious thing for Lee Dorsey.

If the man were still alive, I'd be stalking him.

Enjoy

What did that chick say?

I have no idea how to do the Twitch...but believe me, I do the best I can.

Enjoy

They're goin' ape...

Jeeze, this record is awfully hard to find in decent condition. But ya know, I do love it when folks seem to have played the hell out of certain 45's.

Can't remember where, but I recall that someone wrote how they don't think Guitar Ray's output seems particularly 'New Orleans'.....

I say, think again. Ever hear of something called a 'local accent'? New Orleans is a complicated city. Best not to over-simplify.

Guitar Ray was Earl King's cousin. Wardell Querzerque produced the record.

Enjoy

Free from all sorrow, pain, or care..

The Ward Singers/Clara Ward Singers were huge stars in their day....they were the first 'glamorous' gospel stars, the first gospel group to have a million selling record, the first female group to trade leads like the male groups.

They were hot...and I mean, really hot.

Clara was the long time consort of a certain Rev. C. L. Franklin. She mentored his daughter, Aretha.

Both C. L. and Aretha sang at Clara's funeral. Aretha's album, Amazing Grace, was meant as a personal tribute to the lady.

Here's Clara by herself, singing a song usually associated with Mahalia Jackson. It was written by William Herbert Brewster. The noticeable change in tempo, mid-song, is one of the hallmarks of his songs. A mix of old-style hymn with the still quite new at the time, gospel style.

Enjoy

Since you've been gone...

Drop dead gorgeous.

I find it disturbing that almost nobody seems to care that a pile of NOS copies of Deesu 320 have appeared on ebay....

The initial asking price was $10+shipping [cheap enough]...last I looked, it had dropped to $6+shipping [pathetic].

Yep.....I just checked, you can still buy one...so, don't be an idiot, go snag yourself a nice cheap copy while you can.

I'll be very disappointed if you don't.

I couldn't see the forest for the trees...

60+ songs posted and NO Irma Thomas?

Time to remedy the problem.

Enjoy

I don't want no light...

Started out singing in church, ended up singing in church.

It's a common enough story, but in Anna King's version of the tale there's a little matter of a couple of years spent backing-up James Brown. A time during which she recorded a genuinely classic album, Back To Soul. I'm pretty sure it's the only album Brown ever produced for one of his female singers [remind me if ya know better].

King recorded singles before and after her time with Brown, but the few I've heard do not compare with those issued in 1963-64 on Smash.

Btw, If anyone knows about any recordings King might have made in the late sixties with Duke Ellington, I'd love to hear from ya.

Enjoy

Her head started shakin'...

I figure I should go ahead and post this before Dan Philips over at Home of the Groove beats me to it. He just posted two records which were at the front of my 'to-post' list as part of his most recent installment in the Bo-Consciousness series. He's even posted the rarely heard Part2 of Timber, which is exactly what I was going to do *SOT*.

Seriously, ya'll should check it out. There will be a test later.

Here's some funky stuff from Chris Kenner, circa 1966. Eddie Bo is right there with him...

Enjoy