I don't know about ya'll out there....

A very sweet and somewhat hard to find record by Bobby LaCour. Strictly speaking it's one of three total, although there is another 45 credited to someone else on which LaCour provides minimal vocals. I've yet to find a copy of that one.

More or less my theme song at the moment. I happen to like LaCour's version better than George Jackson's original. It's a little more upbeat, the horn chart is tighter, and there are no annoying back up singers. LaCour may not have been quite the singer that Jackson was but certainly has his own special appeal. I wish he'd recorded more.

On the whole, Senator Jones' productions get little love, but in my opinion the Bobby LaCour sides are different. Notice the name John Berthelot on the label. He undoubtedly did the actual production work. Berthelot is a well respected composer/arranger/music teacher/ex-label owner who still occasionally plays jazz around New Orleans.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

He's got a thing goin' on that's all his very own...

This one goes out to Holly, who more or less requested it. It's the flip-side of one of the first records I posted on the blog.

Hep' Me was one of many small labels, including Black Patch, Jenmark, JB's, Shagg, Superdome [and probably a few others I can't recall atm] owned by Senator Jones. After the fall of Cosimo Matassa's various enterprises, Jones was one of the very few small independent operators able to make a go of the record business in the city.

By 1970, times were getting pretty tough for a lot of artists in New Orleans. The Senator deserves a lot of credit for putting out records on folks who might not otherwise have been able to record at that time......Johnny Adams, Bobby Powell, Chris Kenner, Charles Brimmer, Tony Owens, Tommy Ridgely, Chuck Carbo, Barbara George....the list is long.

But that's not all. Jones kept on issuing records on the Hep' Me and Mardi Gras labels until he died in 2008...giving a whole new generation of artists a chance to record. People like Sweet Miss Coffy, Marva Wright, George Jackson...etc...

Unfortunately, I have hardly anything on Bobby LaCour, except that he recorded one other very nice single for Hep' Me [seemingly much harder to find than this one]. I feel sure I had more info at one time but now can't seem to find it. I'm almost certain that LaCour also recorded with a group. The name of which is a total blank to me.

Anyone else got info?...

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.