- The Sons Of Truth – A Message From The Ghetto (Raro classico funk-gospel album primi anni ’70!) The ultimate funk and gospel amalgam. One of the greatest examples of religious grooves meeting big 70s funk rhythms. Released on CD for the first time.
When we started the BGP Funk & Jazz Classics series earlier this year we had an idea that we would put a few albums out, and that would be that. But as we reach our third batch of five we have found that there is a whole world of sought-after original albums, which for a myriad of reasons have failed to turn up in the reissue racks. This time we have come up with something very special, digging deep into the Stax Records vaults to rescue five of the most collectable albums on the label.
The Sons Of Truth LP appeared on Stax’s Gospel Truth subsidiary. The group look like they could be in Funkadelic, while their music is a blend of compelling funk and harmony soul that doesn’t appear to be based on traditional gospel in any way. Cuts from this album have started to be played in progressive soul clubs.
- John Zacherle – Monster Mash + Scary Tales (2 colonne sonore di popolari film horror in 1 cd + bonus tracks)Operating out of Philadelphia, Cameo-Parkway was among the most successful independent record companies of the early 1960s, turning out a veritable production line of teen-friendly singles by artists such as Chubby Checker, the Orlons, the Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and Bobby Rydell. This month sees the release on Ace of the latest batch of collections from the vaults of Cameo and sister logo Parkway in the shape of twofers from Dee Dee Sharp, the Dovells and self-appointed “Cool Ghoul” John Zacherle.
John Sebastian did the notes for the John Zacherle set. Yep, that John Sebastian, he of the Lovin’ Spoonful. It seems he was a bit of a Boris Karloff fan, which is how he first became aware of John Zacherle, who hosted re-runs of old horror movies on WCAU-TV out of Philadelphia in the late 1950s. The craze for scary movies spread to the record biz, which led to Zacherle reaching #6 with ‘Dinner With Drac’ in 1958. (OK, we’re a bit late for Hallowe’en with this release, but hey, there’s always next year.)
- Ernie Hines – Electrified (Super rare funk masterpiece feat “Let’s straighten it out”) Super-rare Stax funk masterpiece, a big favourite of Pete Rock who sampled it on his classic ‘Let’s Straighten It Out’.
When we started the BGP Funk & Jazz Classics series earlier this year we had an idea that we would put a few albums out, and that would be that. But as we reach our third batch of five we have found that there is a whole world of sought-after original albums, which for a myriad of reasons have failed to turn up in the reissue racks. This time we have come up with something very special, digging deep into the Stax Records vaults to rescue five of the most collectable albums on the label.
Ernie Hines “Electrified” was recorded for Stax’s We Produce subsidiary. Hines had been signed to the label by Al Bell on the recommendation of the publisher of Jet magazine. The album is a fantastic piece of southern soul, with a couple of funk tracks, including ‘Our Generation’, a politically-edged call to arms, that became very sought-after when it was sampled by Pete Rock.
- The Goodes – Condition Red (‘60s girl group culto con inediti e rari singoli)As 1968 drew to a close the golden age of girl groups had seemingly been and gone. The Shangri-Las, the Ronettes and the Chiffons hadn’t had a sniff of a hit record since 1966. Then along came the ominous ‘Condition Red’, a cleverly-produced psychodrama enacted by the Goodees, a trio of foxy teenagers from the roster of Stax Records’ small rock-oriented Hip offshoot. The group comprised childhood pals Sandra Jackson, Judy Williams and Kay Evans, all residents of the Sherwood Forest neighbourhood of East Memphis, Tennessee.
The group’s previous single, ‘For A Little While’, penned and produced by Stax’s top songwriting duo Isaac Hayes and David Porter, was one of the last sessions to feature the original Bar-Kays, who perished alongside Otis Redding in that fateful plane crash in December 1967.
Production duties then shifted to the Detroit-based team of Don Davis and Freddie Briggs, the brains behind ‘Condition Red’, which brilliantly re-cast the group as ladies in waiting to the Shangri-Las. The success of the single led to the release of the girls’ “Candy Coated..Goodees” LP, a mix of original material with covers of familiar numbers. To hear the lyrics of the Swingin’ Medallions’ ‘Double Shot’ sung by girls must have raised a few eyebrows at the time.
The Goodees’ third 45, ‘Jilted’, was another intriguing and complex number, but was there a market for a four-minute opus about a knocked-up teen dumped at the altar? That there wasn’t soon became apparent and this rich slab of Southern Gothic sank without trace. Their final single ‘Goodies’, written and produced by giants of Southern soul Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, went the same way, just as the girls hung up their rock’n’roll shoes.
This collection contains every known recording the Goodees made, 18 of which are making their CD debut. In addition to the complete “Candy Coated..Goodees” album are four sides drawn from non-LP singles and seven previously unissued titles. ‘Show Me How’, ‘Last Of The Good Guys’, ‘Have You Ever Hurt The One You Love’ and the alternate version of ‘Didn’t Know Love Was So Good’ all emanate from the trio’s early Memphis sessions with Hayes and Porter. Produced by Penn and Oldham, ‘Angry Eyes’ and ‘Love Me Love’ were cut in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The final track ‘Love Pill’, to the best of Sandra’s memory, was recorded as a demo at American Studios in Memphis. The set comes with a booklet featuring notes based on an exclusive interview with Sandra, illustrated with a host of rare memorabilia and gorgeous photographs from her collection.
- Mel & Tim – Omonimo (Secondo raro album di questo duo funk-soul targato Stax)Mel & Tim’s super-rare second album for Stax. A beautiful amalgam of funk and soul with some folk elements, much sought-after for the classic ‘Keep The Faith’.
When we started the BGP Funk & Jazz Classics series earlier this year we had an idea that we would put a few albums out, and that would be that. But as we reach our third batch of five we have found that there is a whole world of sought-after original albums, which for a myriad of reasons have failed to turn up in the reissue racks. This time we have come up with something very special, digging deep into the Stax Records vaults to rescue five of the most collectable albums on the label.
This long-player from Stax’s 1974 schedule was Mel & Tim’s second for the label. An astounding slice of southern soul, this is particularly in demand these days because it includes the folk-funk classic ‘Keep The Faith’, but it is consistently good from start to finish.
- John Gary Williams – Same (Memphis soul album ’73 + rari singoli dall’x Mad Lads)Classic Memphis soul from the former Mad Lads man. Full to the brim with great tracks, plus two bonus titles. LP’s first time on CD.
When we started the BGP Funk & Jazz Classics series earlier this year we had an idea that we would put a few albums out, and that would be that. But as we reach our third batch of five we have found that there is a whole world of sought-after original albums, which for a myriad of reasons have failed to turn up in the reissue racks. This time we have come up with something very special, digging deep into the Stax Records vaults to rescue five of the most collectable albums on the label.
First is John Gary Williams’ 1974 solo album. The former Mad Lad’s soul masterpiece was issued just as Stax started to fall apart and so it sold very poorly. The magnificent ‘The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy’ is one of the stand-out tracks, but the set is a classy affair from start to finish. We have also included the non-LP single ‘Come What May’, which was probably recorded at the sessions for the album.
- Roy Lee Johnson & The Villagers – Same (Funk-soul targato Stax primi ‘70s)This album has been in-demand since the late 80s for its uncompromising blend of funk and sample-friendly numbers. Here on CD for the first time.
When we started the BGP Funk & Jazz Classics series earlier this year we had an idea that we would put a few albums out, and that would be that. But as we reach our third batch of five we have found that there is a whole world of sought-after original albums, which for a myriad of reasons have failed to turn up in the reissue racks. This time we have come up with something very special, digging deep into the Stax Records vaults to rescue five of the most collectable albums on the label.
Roy Lee Johnson & The Villagers brilliant LP was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama. Johnson is famous as the man who wrote ‘Mr Moonlight’, as covered by the Beatles in 1964. By the early 70s he had developed an incendiary live act, which prompted Muscle Shoals Sound’s Jimmy Johnson to sign him to Stax. The result is one of the most consistent funk albums of all time. Worth the price of admission is the astounding ‘Patch It Up’ and ‘The Dryer’, but every cut is good or better.
- The Dovells – For Your Hully + You Can’t Sit Down (2lps in 1 cd per questo gruppo vocale nei primi ‘60s)Operating out of Philadelphia, Cameo-Parkway was among the most successful independent record companies of the early 1960s, turning out a veritable production line of teen-friendly singles by artists such as Chubby Checker, the Orlons, the Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and Bobby Rydell. This month sees the release on Ace of the latest batch of collections from the vaults of Cameo and sister logo Parkway in the shape of twofers from Dee Dee Sharp, the Dovells and self-appointed “Cool Ghoul” John Zacherle.
In blue-eyed proto-soulster Len Barry, the Dovells had themselves another great singer. The Cameo-Parkway stable ruled the airwaves in dance crazy Philly – all over the USA, in fact. Between them Chubby Checker, the Orlons and Dee Dee Sharp had the market for Twist, Limbo, Mashed Potato, Bird, Watusi, Crossfire and Shimmy records all sewn up. The Dovells grabbed a piece of the action too with their first hit ‘The Bristol Stomp’, which shot to #2 in 1961, spawning further hit 45s such as ‘Do The New Continental’, ‘Hully Gully Baby’ and ‘The Jitterbug’. By the end of 1963 the quartet had racked up eight chart 45s, following which Barry quit for a solo career. Their debut LP, issued to cash-in on that initial hit, was recorded in a bit of a rush. No worries: here we get their second and third albums, both of which were assembled with a bit less urgency, and were all the better for it. Gene Sculatti supplied the notes for this package.
- Dee Dee Sharp – It’s Smashed Potato Time / Do The Bird (2lps in 1 cd per questa vocalist dei primi ‘60s)Operating out of Philadelphia, Cameo-Parkway was among the most successful independent record companies of the early 1960s, turning out a veritable production line of teen-friendly singles by artists such as Chubby Checker, the Orlons, the Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and Bobby Rydell. This month sees the release on Ace of the latest batch of collections from the vaults of Cameo and sister logo Parkway in the shape of twofers from Dee Dee Sharp, the Dovells and self-appointed “Cool Ghoul” John Zacherle.
Gospel-trained Dee Dee Sharp had three years experience in the record biz by the time she made her first showing on the charts singing anonymously alongside Chubby Checker on ‘Slow Twistin’’ in 1962, having paid her dues providing background vocals on records by artists such as Freddy Cannon, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, Lloyd Price and Fabian. Her first solo single, released when she was just 16, zoomed up the Hot 100 too, as did a clutch of others over the next couple of years. When the Beatles came along, the hits dried up for Dee Dee, but she was soon snapped up by Atlantic Records, only to find herself in competition with Aretha Franklin. Sometimes life just ain’t fair. Here on this paring of her first two long-players, you get three of her biggest charters, some original tunes from the Cameo song factory plus knockout versions of other hits of the day. To hear her wail Ted Taylor’s ‘Be Ever Wonderful’ is a joy to behold. The booklet contains an essay by Ed Osborne featuring some fun quotes from Dee Dee herself.
- Barrance Whitfield And The Savages – Same Album d’esordio dell’84 + 10 inediti live per questo rock &/ roll group revival di Boston)In the spring of 1985, my old friend Dave Woodhead, who had turned me on to many musical treasures, including Jim Ford’s “Harlan County”, lent to me an album he’d picked up on a trip to the States. When Dave recommended something I took notice.
The LP was the debut release of an R&B band then unknown outside of the Boston area. It was one of those moments in which I had to disagree with Bo Diddley: more often than not you can judge a book by the cover. Likewise an album. This one displayed an amateurish illustration of a cauldron in a jungle which itself carried with it a no-nonsense implication. The name of the band also advertised a record that was going to be uncompromising. Barrence Whitfield and the Savages sounds, on its own, like a declaration of rock’n’roll authenticity.
Uncompromising would have been a description of Barrence and the Savages that the Del Fuegos would rather not have had confirmed only a few days after Dave had lent me the LP. I was standing next to them, on the side of the stage in a huge quayside club in Boston. The Del Fuegos were the headliners that night. And the man opening for them was, at that moment, being borne around the room on the hands of a frenzied crowd, a little black ball of energy in a turban and dark glasses – honking, wailing, testifying and twisting – as his band, the Savages, some distance away on stage, ripped through the swagger of ‘Walking With Barrence’. The Del Fuegos looked like they wanted to go home.
What positioned Barrence and the band way beyond any other rock’n’roll of the era was a unique marriage of Barrence’s personality and R&B shouter elan to the bounce and insolence of Peter Greenberg’s essentially rockabilly guitar style. With the addition of much ill-mannered saxophone, we have here a band which embodied the heart and soul of rock’n’roll.
I hadn’t got to the end of Side 1 of Dave’s loaned copy before I called the number in the States on the back. It was that of Barrence’s manager, Andy Doherty. “They’re playing this Friday and Saturday,” he said. That did it. I just hopped on a plane and went to Boston for the weekend. Andy, a nice man and professional fan, put me up.
Barrence and I became instant pals and soul brothers. The source of his R&B credentials was clear on a walk with him around Boston. Barrence could not pass a collectors’ record shop and actually worked part-time in one. He knew his stuff and, unusually for a young black guy at the time, he was a real enthusiast for old R&B, soul, blues and country. Around the city, Barrence’s popularity was astonishing. Everyone seemed to recognise and adore the little bugger. If he’d run for mayor, I’m convinced he’d have walked it.
I came home to evangelise on Radio 1 about the live experience of the band whose debut LP tracks on my programme were already sending listeners daft. And I did what I could to help set up the first British dates for Barrence and the band.
Now, at last released on CD, is that astonishing album. If you were with us in 1985, you’ll welcome a replacement for your elderly Savages vinyl. If you are about to meet Barrence for the first time, be prepared to be shaken to your soul by the LP which made me hop immediately on a plane to the States and compelled one listener, another R&B screamer called Robert Plant, to track me down and phone me at home to reserve his ticket for Barrence’s first British gig. Be prepared, in fact, to be Savaged.
- Jackie Lee – The Duck (Album del ’65 con l’omonimo hit per questo eccellente vocalist di colore di L.A.)Mirwood’s style was born with ‘The Duck’, but was epitomised for the UK’s uptempo soul fanatics by the pulverising tempos and shimmering sounds of ‘Do The Temptation Walk’ and ‘The Shotgun And The Duck’. ‘Do The Temptation Walk’ was the second song to be bootlegged for the burgeoning Old Soul scene way back in 1970 before the term Northern had been coined.
Though Mirwood undoubtedly aped Detroit’s Motown machine and Chicago’s slick soul sounds, the small indie label came up with its own recognisable brand. The instrumentation was always spot on, never over-embellished, but it was those upfront, uptight, girly vocals that proved to be the Mirwood watermark. In Sherlie Matthews the company had not only a great songwriter and singer but the best and most creative backing vocals arranger in the country.
Those distinctive feminine interjections on the hit ‘The Duck’ must have been noted and by the time of the LP’s recording and the next single ‘Your P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-I-T-Y’, (interestingly not featured here) the girls’ vocals were even more to the fore. On ‘The Duck Pt 2’ and ‘Do The Temptation Walk’, Jackie and the girls are in call and response mode.
On this LP, a nod was given to Berry Gordy’s inspiration with the inclusion of ‘Dancing In The Street’ and ‘Do You Love Me’, but the subsequent Mirwood application gave those old songs (in pop terms) a new twist, that must have been both vibrant and exciting at the time. Like most US albums cashing in on a hit, it’s instinctive stuff and funnily enough it is tracks such as ‘Hully Gully’ and ‘The Bounce’, probably used to give Fred Smith some songwriting royalties, that embraced the new groove as well as any.
Coming out in 1965, I was a little too young and poor to carry this icon around at school, advertising my hipness. I’m sure a few of the old modsters will stick their hands up to that. Like Major Lance on his Okeh photos, Jackie looks the business; a hip young black guy with neat cropped hair and a sharply cut cardi to show those dance moves in. This disc will take your mind back to those halcyon days; even if your body can’t quite make the trip.
