A note from the Management....

A good many of the files are down again.

I promise, I will see about getting more bandwidth in the morning, but regardless of what I do some of the files will likely be unavailable for several days. Which totally sucks.

ana...

[Update, the files are now available]

C'mon baby!

I'm only aware of three singles by Sister and the Brothers, although there could well be others. Something makes me think there's an album too???

Anyway, as usual, I know a little more about the record than the artist. This is the original release of a 45 much more commonly seen on the Uni label. That is, if you see it at all.

It was definitely recorded at Deep South Studios in Baton Rouge. My guess is that it's from 1970. Nice of someone to write that out in magic marker on the a-side, doncha think?

Hope ya like...

Remember, I loved you best...

Yet another in my series of commonly overlooked Dorsey/Toussaint gems. Lots of people own this record but few seem to have bothered to flip it over.

It's the b-side of "Get Out Of My Life Woman".

Hope ya like...

Public Service Announcement

Oops, looks like some of the files are down. You greedy fools have used up the bandwidth.

Give it a couple of days if you're having problems with with particular tunes. Prayer helps.

Yeah, I need to reorganize the blog so it works better....so, what else is new?

[update: ya'll must a been praying pretty hard cause the bandwidth allowance was miraculously reset this morning. As far as I know, all files are now available]

They doin' it in every town...

One of the finest slabs of funk to ever come out of New Orleans. This side's wrapped so tight that, in my opinion, they should have given Warren Lee credit for 'chaotic influence' rather than singing.

In Jeff Hannusch's book, "The Soul Of New Orleans", Lee say's how he thinks local DJ Larry McKinley sat on the record....how it took money to get a record played on the radio in those days. Need I say that it went nowhere commercially?

So, what ya got here is the Meters layin' it down, thick as mud, with Allen Toussaint at the board doin' his best to keep his shoes clean.

Always a good thang.

In my heart...

I'm sure I've seen a Ray Agee discography around, but can't seem to find it at the moment. Anyway, the man had a long career, recorded quite a few singles, most of them for small labels.

This is probably the easiest to find of the lot...luckily it's also one of his best. I keep running into info saying the record was released on the Sahara label, but I'm almost certain that's just a typical All Music Guide screw-up that's been repeated/copied by seemingly dozens of sites.

There's a comp of Agee's deep blues sides available on CD. It's called "Black Night Is Gone". Unfortunately, there is no collection I'm aware of that covers his more upbeat R&B related output of the late 50's, early 60's.

....from 1963.

Don't cry mama, don't cry...

Miss Lillian Offitt recorded six singles, three for the Excello label, and then three more with Earl Hooker on Chief after she moved to Chicago in 1959.

This song is actually the slower, more bluesy, original of something I've already posted, "That Man" by Earl Hooker and the Earlettes [Chief, Age, and Class were sister labels].

While this may sound like a fairly typical Chicago blues record, you're a fool if you don't listen till the 'crying break' kicks in.

Sometimes, it's the small things which set a record apart.

Don't let your problems get you down...

I'd like to dedicate this one to New Orleans' own crate digging turntable queen...DJ Soul Sister. [that's her picture above]

Saturday night's the 6th anniversary of her Hustle! party upstairs at Mimi's [more commonly known as 'the bar']. She's also getting close to celebrating 16 years of doing her rare groove/disco/jazz/funk thing on WWOZ [8-10pm CST every Saturday night].

Ya know, for one young girl, one utterly fascinated by the record stacks in her grandmother's house, Soul Sister, herself, was nothing short of a revelation in the late 90's. Just imagine, a girl throwing down vinyl! And very cool vinyl at that.

If nothing else, she helped ease the feeling that I'm some sort of freak-of-nature for loving records the way I do.

Yeah, for that alone, she deserves my respect and gratitude. I figure the music education is free.

Wasting time with the boys is a thing of the past...

A nice one I recently got in trade. The copy's rough, but still sounds pretty good.

Hope ya'll enjoy...

Satan in his prime...

You said your love was like a loan...

Took me awhile to get my hands on this one [at the right price]. Too bad that at 1:47 it's far too short. I mean really, doncha think it would have been fairly easy to add another minute to this track?

Anyway, it's an interesting 45, made more so by the credits. Ya'll do know who Sterling McGee [or Magee] is, right?

Enjoy...

All your folks will be dressed in black...

Aaron Neville's first single.

Seeing as how some of the discographies I've been using are consistently showing themselves to be wrong, I'll make a slightly educated guess and say this is from 1960.

Enjoy...

It broke me down in tears...

Singin' Sammy Ward was one of the early, more typically R&B styled, artists on Motown. He also put out some very interesting singles as Singing Sam on a couple of obscure Chicago labels. Other than that, I don't know much about him except that I like everything I've heard.

Hope ya like it too..

Shoop...

Ya know, when I start using the phrase "pretentious idiot" in comments on the blog, even when it's not directed at anyone in particular, even when it's meant as a joke of sorts....then it's time for me to step back and take a look at myself. In this case, I think the best answer is to pull out a pin, and burst my own little bubble of pretension. What's fair is fair.

What can I say? I'm very opinionated. I've got a major league mouth on me. I try to be good. It's unfortunate that I don't always succeed.

Anyway, this the most pretentious record I own. There's no reason to own it other than it's a trophy of sorts. Ya see, I could sell it and buy two copies of the more common Capitol pressing.

That said, it's great record, I love owning it...but do I really need an original pressing? Nope.

Hope ya enjoy...it's a nice copy.

Stronger than Eddie Bo....

My favorite of Mary Jane Hooper's tiny discography. Eddie Bo wrote it, produced it, helps out with the vocals, and undoubtedly plays the organ.

Sing it sister!

Running your mouth about things you don't know...

Lots of great stuff by Jimmy Hughes on Fame. While certainly not the whole story, Hughes' output on the label is key to the development of the Muscle Shoals Sound.

There are two CD's available, "Steal Away" and "Why Not Tonight?", which together cover all his sides for Fame, including some great unreleased material. I highly recommend both.

Hope ya enjoy this one. It's credited to Huey Meaux and was a good sized hit for Hughes in 1966 [67?].

p.s. I'm trying to improve the quality of my label scans....

I heard...

Whose rubber band?

According to Eddie Bo, Curley Moore had little or nothing to do with this 45.

So, if this isn't a Curley Moore record, then what is it? Well, it's the cheapest and easiest to find of all Eddie Bo related funk jams.

Oh yeah, it's also a blatant attempt to pay-off [or pay back] Shelley Pope, a local New Orleans DJ. Notice the BS production and writing credits, not to mention the title of the cut.

Hope ya enjoy..