monkeyfunk

under the influence mix, may 2008

2008-05-31T14:02:00.005+01:00

I've set up a monthly mixtape over at my new blog, ultra-colour.

This is a little sidestep away from posting up individual tracks which I found a little wearing, and also because I'm hooked on long-players at the moment. In these distracted times, and in the iTunes zeitgeist, bitty individual songs are littered everywhere, and I for one really miss the structure and discipline of mixes and albums. I'll still post up occasional tracks here though.

here's the first mix of hopefully many - good for your sunday morning : some gospel, folk, jazz, psyche and a little rocksteady. tracklisting to follow.

click the links below to download.

mp3 file
105mb

stuffit file
105mb, will download straight to your computer, but you'll need the latest stuffit to uncompress...click here for windows free expander and here for mac

feedback is everything !

Jimmy Reed - Christmas Present Blues

2007-12-21T16:36:00.000Z

Well, a little seasonal sign off by the mighty Jimmy Reed for you, the incomparable and utterly shitfaced flip of his tough blues, "Crying Blind".

Happy Christmas all.

I've got a little compilation waiting in the wings for 2008, plus a Jazz collection, and some really heavy jump blues that is currently causing a redhot dancefloor down here.

Jimmy Reed - Christmas Present Blues mp3

Still Listening ?

2007-11-21T12:30:00.000Z

An enforced absence due to some heavy work, but we're almost back...Thankyou for your patience, and the charming emails asking for some more.

Post up a note if you want early notification of a couple of new mixes we're prepping up - because one they're gone, they're gone. or drop me a line - h u g o at m o n k e y f u n k d o t n e t

Incidentally, what do you reckon about me putting up a mix once a month instead of a track once a week ? Good, bad, indifferent ?

RIP

2006-12-31T15:19:00.000Z

James Brown - World mp3

The devil now really has got all the best tunes.

Happy Christmas

2006-12-23T19:10:00.000Z

Monkeyfunk Winter Mix mp3

Album Cover PDF

A little mix designed for the long Christmas drive...Happy Christmas, safe journey.

If you like it, I'd appreciate it if you could sling a few dollars or pounds into this paypal account : slyguy_auctions@fryer-mantis.co.uk

It's a paypal fund for the family of Gloucester-based funk and soul DJ and fan, Simon Bendle who was tragically murdered a week ago.

RIP.

Blog Roll (of Honour)

2006-09-08T11:18:00.000+01:00

It's been awhile since I let you know who I tune into. Blogs come and go so fast, sometimes it's hard to know who's left, or for that matter who you're missing. Apologies therefore to those I've left out.

Let's start with the grandaddy's, the hardest working people out there, who certainly influenced me to set this up. These three rule supreme :

Soul Sides : Oliver Wang continues an extraordinary run that for many years has been the benchmark for music bloggers everywhere : great music, tight liner notes, sharp contributors, and ever-regular posting. Chasing top soul and fine hiphop, we wish him well for his recent move across the West Coast, and would still like to prise the Mary Lou 45 out of his hands.

Funky 16 Corners : Larry Grogan knows music. If you put him and Martin Soulgeneration together in a room armed with a bunch of their New Orleans 45's, then my friend you would have a ton of knowledge...

Home Of The Groove : ...and if you added Dan Phillips, then you would have one hell of a party. Again, favouring that supertough New Orleans R&B sound, Dan's blog continues to open ears with killer sounds.

Moving to a more diverse sound, these bloggers continue to surprise :

Number One Songs In Heaven : Lee's dual interests of music and design come together in one of the prettiest of blogs, and always has an interesting range of musical styles. Plus he's a Chelsea boy.

Aurgasm : Paul Irish brings us "your favourite music you've never heard" - a mix of everything from popcorn soul, edgy electronica, Norwegian folk, French pop. Prepare to be surprised.

Freemotion Hiphop : Oustanding hiphop blog, and again scores major points on looks, let alone sounds. Currently thinking about chucking it all in, head over, and try to convince them otherwise.

Earfuzz : A fine example of a collective of conbtributors making a blog work - not only do you hear the most diverse of sounds, but also ensures the blog's survival. Heads up for the hard workers, Maru, Junior, Matt W, Still Life et al.

Diddywah : Adam has killer taste in music, tracing strong 60's rock and soul, including fellow postee Tim Rose. So good you can even forgive his recent diversion into Yacht Rock.

Funk & Soul : A label scan, the track , maybe a cursory comment from contributors Pete Beaver, Nick Cope, Euan Fryer, Brent Goodsell & Others. But with music this good, and often rare, you should be grateful for scraps.

The Of Mirror Eye : Currently hosting some wonderful gospel funk from Numero Group's recent releases, and has a keen ear for some leftfield soul, jazz and psyche. One to watch.

Soul Shower : AK's blog maybe veers a little close to the mainline for me, but there's some good knowledge and sounds being dropped here.

The B Side : Red Kelly's blog is all about the flip, charting the best flips of the greatest records, and favouring more of that soul and funk we love, including recent posts on Barbara George, The Meters, Charles Brimmer and the mighty Bennie Spellman. Great concept, great music, terrible banner.

Thanks all

2006-08-28T22:02:00.000+01:00

...For your generous comments both on this blog and privately re. the summer comp. Glad it hit the spot, and full respect to The Singleman Affair who have garnered many intrigued customers, and who's forthcoming album promises great things, if you're a fan of that fuzzy acoustic Tim Hardin soaked sound.

I'm out for a few weeks : a rough, torrid summer that has seen my father go into intensive care, and thankfully re-emerge has meant less posts for you lucky people. Meantime, you might want to head to Moistworks, who have posted consistently interesting tracks for many a year now, not least Miriam Makeba's heavyweight Quit It.

See you in a fortnight. Meantime this is what the last of my summer will sound like.

1. Quit It - Miriam Makeba
2. An Earthquakes Coming - Black Velvet
3. Head And Heart John Martyn
4. Sirata Habib Koite
5. In The Name Of Love Kenny Rankin
6. No Expectations The Rolling Stones
7. Helpless Buffy Sainte-Marie
8. Didn't I Darondo
9. Midnight Confessions Phyllis Dillon
10. 10. Jitterbug Waltz Dizzy Gillespie
11. Reasons Minnie Ripperton
12. Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother! Sufjan Stevens
13. Eyelids in Light The Singleman Affair
14. The Lamb Ran Away With the Crown Judee Sill
15. The One I Love Ken Boothe
16. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [Demo-Version] Bob Dylan
17. Jewel of the Evening Kelley Stoltz
18. Sinner Man Annette Clarke
19. The Queen's Suite: The Single Petal of a Rose Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
20. Moonshiner -Tim Hardin

Summer Comp !

2006-08-03T09:44:00.000+01:00

Some fuzzy jazz, soul and good Monday morning stuff. All Gone.

Johnny Jenkins RIP

2006-07-01T14:59:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

Johnny Jenkins, left-handed guitar ace, close friend of Otis Redding, and inspiration to Jimi Hendrix died on the 30th of June.

Obit, from bluebytes :

"Jenkins' band, the Pinetoppers, was the stuff of local legend during the late 50s and early 60s and featured a young Otis Redding as lead vocalist. Otis, who was also serving as Johnny's valet, recorded his first hit, "These Arms of Mine" (with Jenkins on guitar), using the remainder of a Jenkins session for Stax Records in 1962.

Stax first envisioned Redding and Jenkins as a duo (Otis on vocals, Johnny on guitar), but Jenkins declined, ironically, because he didn't like air travel.Jenkins' guitar work and showmanship also left a lasting impression on a young Jimi Hendrix, who caught his act while visiting relatives in the Macon area.

In 1970, Jenkins recorded Ton Ton Macoute, accompanied by assorted members of the Allman Brothers (some of the tracks were originally intended for a Duane Allman solo effort). It received rave reviews, but Capricorn was shifting it's focus to the suddenly successful Allmans. Jenkins recorded another album in 1975 which was never released and, frustrated by the music business, he returned to Macon to be with his family. In 1996, Jenkins resurfaced to record Blessed Blues on the newly reformed Capricorn label. This effort, more blues-based than his first, was nominated for a Handy Award. Several other albums followed."

I Walk on Gilded Splinters, his dark voodoo funk from the afore-mentioned Ton Ton Macoute features the heavy slide guitar from a young Duane Allman, and is his masterpiece. Memorably covered by Paul Weller, and sampled for Beck's breakout hit "Loser". RIP

Farewell to the Black Stars

2006-06-28T08:58:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

Ghana were finally knocked out of the world cup yesterday by a lacklustre Brazil, despite spending what felt like 70% of the game in their half. Lacking their midfield general Michael Essien, and suffering Asamoah Gyan's sending-off they still showed that it is only a matter of time before an African team will win the tournament, and I cannot wait for that day to come.

Ghana's proclaimed "King of Highlife" ET Mensah was the superstar of the Ghanian music scene for the best part of 35 years, eclipsing all in his wake, and memorably performing with Louis Armstrong at the ceremony for Ghanian independance form British rule.

By the early 60's, US soul and R&B had wildfired around the world, hotwiring with mento and calypso to spark the birth of Ska and nascent Reggae in Jamaica, and defibrillating the skiffle and folk scenes in Britain to ignite the rhythm and blues scene.

Washing up on the shores of Africa, it's snapping breaks, insistent riffing and crafted Western structures would in turn add to the already potent mix of hot jazz, afrocuban rhythm's and tribal folk songs that formed the basis of highlife, to form a whole new sound of funk, fusion and soul - afrobeat.

I'm only starting to find my way into this sound, and at times it's like standing on the precipice and staring into an abyss. However, with a couple of decent guides, you can start to get the picture.

Many thanks to Duncan Brooker for this one. And see you in 4 years, Black Stars.

2006-06-21T12:15:00.000+01:00

I'm prepping a summer compilation at the moment - some jazz, dub, soul and other indefinables, perfect to accompany a hot day with a cool breeze.

Like the last comps, it'll be on a first come first served basis, as I've only got 20 GB of bandwidth a month. But if you want an early head-up on it, drop me a line (hugo at monkeyfunk.net, replace the at with @), and I'll give you advance warning for when to expect it. I'll use the email for this purpose alone, unless you want to opt on for periodic updates....

RIP Billy Preston - It's Alright Ma...

2006-06-07T15:37:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

Billy Preston died yesterday. A master of driving keyboard and fierce hammond, Billy's early breaks with Ray Charles and Little Richard brought him into contact with George Harrison, who promptly signed him to Apple, and then hired him for the Beatles' Let It Be album sessions, and rooftop gig.

Preston recorded a bunch of albums in the years following, often a long way from his R&B roots, and often struggling to catch up with the changing sounds of black music ; just the man, then, to be hired by the Rolling Stones for their honky take on disco, "Miss You", on which Preston's boozy Rhodes lights the fuse.

A familiar tale of drink, drugs, fraud and moral charges through the late eighties and nineties wound up with some kind of redemption recently. Preston recently toured with Clapton, The Funk Brothers, Steve Winwood, and even recently appeared on the US TV's show Pop Idol, before signing off on the sessions for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' recent album, and Neil Diamond's Twelve Songs.

Preston's mean take on "It's Alright Ma" is taken from his otherwise expendable "Everybody Likes Some Kind Of Music", though I'm a huge fan of his "Billy's Bag" 45, available for peanuts, and sporting a tremendous sprawling hammond take on John Barry's flip on the reverse.

Oscar Sulley - Bukom Mashie

2006-05-26T18:30:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

And if you don't know this, then my friend you are in for some serious thrills.

Ghana Soundz 1& 2 available here
Afro Rock vol 1 available here
Benn Loxo Du taccu's perennially excellent African blog here

Photo : Malick Sidibé's "Fou De Disque", 1973, all rights reserved by the photographer.

Carl Dawkins - Satisfaction

2006-05-15T11:32:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

Christopher Porter's excellent blog The Suburbs Are Killing Us ran a post on Carl Dawkins last year, singling out his tracks "Dr. Rodney" and "Pluggy Brown".

He quoted from Colby Graham's Vintage Boss reggae fanzine, which had an interview with Dawkins from 2002 :

"I'm a user but not an abuser of no substance that society tends to push people aside for, when they are users too...My father [Joshua Dawkins] was a drummer with Sonny Bradshaw Big Band, and I used to go with him to help pack up the drum set when he played at Shady Grove and Glass Bucket. At that time he was based in Spanish Town. My Daddy eventually left for England and then to Germany..... I remember I was living in Allman Town when we had the 1951 storm [Hurricane Charlie], and my closet friends were the Sterling brothers [including the Skatalites' Lester]. I went to Allman Town Primary and then to Senior (Kingston) School where I would sing at school concerts along with the likes of Slim Smith, Marcia Griffiths, and Samuel Barton.

"I used to play football and cricket, and I was very close to Slim Smith [later of the Uniques], Fredrick Waite [the father of bassist Patrick and drummer Freddie Jr. of Musical Youth], Winston Riley [of "Stalag" riddim fame], and Franklyn White. That group eventually became the Techniques. I wasn't a member of the group, but we were all close and I helped to choreograph their stage act in the mid-'60s.... Slim Smith was my idol, and whenever the group finished doing their thing at the end of each day I would take the guitar and go off on my own and play. As boys we used to go down to Hunts Bay by the sea, and one evening when we were returning home the group went to audition for J.J. [producer Karl Johnson]. While there Slim Smith said to him that I have some 'hit songs.' He laughed at me like Santa Claus: ho ho ho! I sang my first songs, one called "Run Your Shoes Off," then "Baby I Love You' and 'Hard Times.' Man! J.J. loved the songs and they became hits."

"I went to Richmond Farm Prison, and lots of other artists were there, too, for smoking the weed. You had Lord Creator, Toots Hibbert, Bunny Wailer, and more. At Richmond we had celebrity status, and we wrote lots of songs while there."

"One day we played some football and smoked weed, and I felt nice. I had a guitar and I started playing with my friend Milton. I said to him that my heart was beating fast and Milton started making a beating sound. So I said to the weed man, 'Boy, mi satisfy, tell you the truthfully, you weed good yu see.' I then put words to the event and came up with 'Satisfaction.'"

Tim Rose - Morning Dew

2006-05-03T17:38:00.000+01:00

In the rock pantheon, two of the most covered songs remain "Hey Joe", and "Morning Dew". And Tim Rose claims he wrote both.

He didn't. "Hey Joe" was probably penned in the early 60's by Billy Roberts, but when Rose performed his edgy, lethally slowed down version at the Cafe Wha? in New York to an impressionable Jimi Hendrix, and subsequently watched as Hendrix sold buckets of a similarly slowed down version, Rose made an audacious claim as author : he re-recorded Hey Joe in the 1990s, re-titling it Blue Steel .44 and again claimed he wrote it, influenced by similar folk songs from his childhood.

Morning Dew was originally penned by Bonnie Dobson. She leant it to Fred Neil, who took it round the New York circuit - and Rose snapped off the smooth folky melancholic edges, replacing it with a snarling, apocalyptic, reverb saturated blast. He somehow managed to secure a writing credit through this appropriation, and the song went on to be covered ad nauseam till the present day. Worthy mentions go to the ever dependable Nancy & Lee.

For our purposes, there's one big detail here. It's a great song, but it's the breakbeat drumming and colossal chops that counts : stand up one Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.

mp3 removed

Mandingo - Black Rite

2006-04-03T18:26:00.000+01:00

mp3 removed

In the 1970's, a bunch of no-nothing money-grabbing exploitationist executives from EMI sat around and took a long look at where the tidemark was. Back then bands like Osibisa, artists like Manu DiBango and Fela were at the vanguard of an African diaspora, that was being latched onto in the mainstream. Not in any grand way -this was really just an extension of the 50's exotica scene, a quick plunder of a sound in response to a vogue, incongruosly perpetrated by middle-aged jingle writers in leafy North London suburbs.

Keen to capitalise, the EMI boys pulled in a large stash of the prodigiously talented session musician scene, threw them in Abbey Road, locked the doors, and told them and their ringleader Geoff Love to knock out some African ripoff schtick. The result was four albums, respectable sales, and a monumentally badly packaged "Best Of", pictured.

But.

Out of this misguided nonsense came the monstrous "Black Rite". Snarling fuzz guitar, reams of percussion, huge horns and a downright nasty groove. Who's playing here is unclear - but Martin Denny, Alan Hawkshaw and others have largely been fingered by the estimable Vinyl Vultures.

Ten or so years ago this stuff had a huge resurgence - the Easy scene saw records like this dusted down, sold for healthy sums, and consequently clutched to many a grown man's chest. First and foremost amongst those was Martin Green, who featured this on the seminal compilation The Sound Gallery. For anyone interested in this sound, this is the touchstone compilation.

2006-03-24T15:50:00.000Z

Sorry for the total lack of posting here. My bandwidth was exceeded 20 days ago, so I've just been holding out till next month's allowance kicks in.

if you're not already, you should be keeping a close eye on Mr Grogan's magnificent
Funky 16 Corners Blog. There's none finer, and right now he's hosting one of the killer 70's funk 45's, Johnny Otis' Watts Breakaway.

See you soon.

2006-03-08T20:22:00.000Z

There, all gone now. 20GB in 36hrs flat. You sure move fast - but did you like ?

For those that missed it, it may reappear phoenix like, if nuist.com come through with the goods, or if any nice person out there wants to donate space.

Till then

The Next Installment : Monkeyfunk March compilation

2006-03-06T19:48:00.000Z

All Gone
Download album artwork

Thanks for all your comments, and notes on both the quality of the music, and of the sound. Duly noted.

So here's some psych, french pop, R&B, soul, and other bits and pieces...bundled into over an hour long mix, 192 kbps MP3, with a few clips and spoken pieces bridging the gaps.

Again, my bandwidth is probably only as good as it lasts, so if in doubt, stream it, rather than downloading it.

Always appreciate the feedback, so pass 'em on.

jacques dutronc - le responsable
chris farlowe - moaning
kaleidoscope - lie to me
rosco gordon (with dewey phillips intro) - booted
baby ray - there's something on your mind
fats domino - if you don't know what love is
wynonie harris - lovin' machine
happyland singers - swingin' on the golden gate
little willie john - leave my kitten alone
ernie k. doe - gotta pack my bag
dale hawkins - tornado
beverly pitts - up and down
george benson - footin' it
jj cale - let me do it to you
grant green - windjammer
jerry coombs band - i've been there
percy mayfield - louisiana
the apostles - six pack
radio city (feat.bajka) - the hop
veneice - 18 days
blues busters & byron lee - i won't let you go
lucille borden - a tribute to the men of the sixties
chick carbo - two tables away
crescents - come back baby
champion jack dupree - strollin
carl dawkins - satisfaction
junior parker - tomorrow never knows
the revells - midnight stroll
toussaint mccall (with wolfman jack outro) - nothing takes the place of you

testing

2006-03-06T16:47:00.000Z

Last Orders for the warmup

2006-02-28T13:37:00.000Z

Thanks all for the feedback - for those that missed it, here's the mix in full again, now that the bandwidth has eased up a bit...

Fresh music coming at the end of the week...

Mix ?

2006-02-20T11:05:00.000Z

So, 60 of you downloaded the mix, and yet not one piece of feedback ?

Monkeyfunk : The Warmup album

2006-02-10T18:30:00.000Z

All Gone

Thanks for your patience. Thought I'd try a little something for you, it's a warmup CD I did for a friend. Easy, langurous soul, a bit of lazy jazz, and some other aural goodness.

In order to stave off bandwidth detonation, it's on a first come first served basis, so help yourself. Feedback is important on this, as i'll only do this again if you all want it, so let me know.

Enjoy. And oh, I put the wrong version of "Sneaking Up on You" on - it should have been Elaine Delmar's.

Wilson Pickett - Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9 & RIP

2006-01-23T12:12:00.000Z

Wilson Pickett - Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9 (Pts.1&2) mp3

Wilson Pickett sadly died of a heart attack last Thursday, January 19th, aged 64.

This giant of the soul scene was born in Alabama. Raised in gospel, he picked up early work with the Falcons, before signing as a solo artist with Atlantic Records in 1965. Nicknamed "Wicked" Pickett by Jerry Wexler, he moved to detroit, and then Memphis, where he was one of the foremost front men for the Stax sound, backed by the MG's. Co-writing "In The Midnight Hour" with Steve Cropper brought him overnight fame, and his sessions with both the Stax and Muscle Shoals studios developed a roster of gritty, sweaty out-and-out soul shouters that blazed a trail for contemporaries and those who tried to follow.

Live performances garnered equal fame for the same level of intensity and hord working showmanship. With a catalogue that now included "Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway", Pickett soared, until an ill-advised signing with RCA started a dwindling of hits, and consequently fortunes.

Before that happened, Pickett worked with Gamble & Huff at Sigma Sound Studios, where Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9 was laid down in all it's sweat-drenched, dirty glory in 1970.

RIP.

Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con Video

2006-01-13T16:18:00.000Z

link removed

Bit of a treat for you, and for a limited time only, it's from the Serge Gainsbourg DVD that's out at the moment - little more than a collection of his music videos, or at least disc 1 is. This is a clip taken from the 1968 movie Le Pacha, and it is magfuckinificent.

The Blues Busters - I Won't Let You Go

2006-01-06T17:13:00.000Z

Blues Busters / Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - I Won't Let You Go mp3

Phillip “Boasy” James and Lloyd “Lloydie” Campbell started their careers duetting on the showboats that anchored in the harbours of Jamaica. Working up a brassy style that owed more to the blues shouters than the Inkspots-style doowop, it was inevitable that such talent caught the ears of one C.S. Dodd Esq.

Linked up with Byron Lee and his super-tight Dragonaires, massive hits lit up the dancefloor : "Behold", "Wings of A Dove", but it was the Dragonaires' journey to the International World Fair in New York that really created it all. While there, they laid down the tracks for their debut LP in Atlantic Studios, engineered by the legendary Tom Dowd.

And this session is where our track comes from. Magnificent, strident soul that starts off like a theme for a lost Western, and then breaks into glorious harmonies, utterly crafted arrangement and a loping rhythm. Truly the moment when ska met R&B and created a whole new level of soul.

(The MP3 is taken from the original vinyl. I wouldn't have it any other way, to be honest - as the WFMU byline states, "surface noise runs deep", but if you're an ADD DDD kid, then hoist yourself off to go and score the venerable Trojan Record's "Behold! The Blues Busters Anthology". You will not regret it.)

RIP RP 2...

2005-12-16T16:51:00.000Z

mp3 removed

Photo © David Strick, all rights reserved www.davidstrick.com

RIP RP

2005-12-12T12:47:00.000Z

Tim "Love" Lee - Wack Wack

2005-11-21T13:23:00.000Z

Tim "Love" Lee - Wack Wack mp3

One of the UK's most prodigious producers, and head honcho of Tummy Touch Records, Tim Lee has long tampered with the aural unexpected.

One of the greatest advocates for facial hair in the UK, Tim Lee released Confessions of A Selector in 1997, on an otherwise unsuspecting public. One-time hammond player with Katrina & The Waves, Lee soared to fame with his killer "Again Son" track that featured on the Coldcut & Chemical Bros mix cd's, topped off with the Peace Feast releases, his three LP releases, and now extensive fame and international status with the Tummy Touch nights and label.

His name has become a byword for musical unpredictability - as this track amply illustrates...

Tummy Touch Record Label

Benn Loxo Du Taccu / Jorge Ben

2005-11-04T17:38:00.000Z

Benn Loxo Du Taccu is currently hosting one of Jorge Ben's greatest songs - Ponta de Lança Africano.

As a little show of solidarity, here's another :MP3 link removed

Keep up the great work Matt.

The Three Degrees - You're The Fool

2005-10-28T16:04:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed

Time to get some more of that sweet Sisterfunk. The term was coined by the venerable Ian Wright, scourge of Essex, and evil sniper-supreme of eBay, on his excellent eponymous compilation from a few years ago.Unavailable now, but worth scouring for, not least for the fact that it has the unbelievable rare "Chauffeur" by Monica.

This I don't think was on the comp, but it deserves to be on the sequel. The Three Degrees' "You're The Fool"is a masterpiece. Sassy attitude, heaps of front, killer harmonies, backed by sharp horns, underpinned by one giant bassline...

All together now..."HAH !"

Sheila Ferguson, one of the Three Degrees, and now resident in England, wrote a great cookbook, "Soul Food", available here

Rumours persist of a Sisterfunk 2 soon - lobby BBE intensively now

Donny Hathaway - I Believe To My Soul

2005-10-09T22:43:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed

The album "Everything Is Everything" by Donny Hathaway is one contentious album : those who have it, treasure it, and get fairly righteous on those that don't.

It's a $7 album, you can score it easily, and many have, simply to own the soulful conciousness, and utter groove of "The Ghetto". But every track, and I mean every, is a stonecold bonafide beauty. It was hard fidgeting over which to pick, and I've chosen "I believe", as it captures the...

...ahh fuckit. Have two. I can't leave either of them off. Just do me a favour - snap up the album, and everything you can find by this prodigious talent.

Donny Hathaway - Voices Inside (Everything is Everything) mp3

Two facts : King Curtis tried to poach Hathaway for his crack session band over at Atlantic, that he was assembling to back Aretha and everybody else ; Hathaway turned him down to maintain focus on his solo output.

And on January the 13th, 1979, Hathaway carefully removed the pane of glass from his window, and jumped. He was 33.

Percy Mayfield & Crescent City All-Dayer in London

2005-09-23T18:38:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed

Well, as Rita looks like she's going to veer East and take a part of Texas, a small recap on the NO situation over here. The Funk45 auctions have raised nearly $1600 for Eddie Bo, Irma Thomas and others.

And the same organisers (Fin, Liam, and also Nick) are organising an allday shindig, featuring the very best of the UK soul and funk heads. Full details on the eflyer above. Pass it on.

And to set this all off, enjoy some mean-ass country blues for Mr Mayfield.

Donate to the Salvation Army

Marvin Gaye - It's A Desperate Situation

2005-09-19T19:01:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed

Marvin Gaye had soul, and I mean that in the sense that his colossal heart bled for thousands, a sense of altruism heightened by Motown conflict, weed and finally triggered by seventies riots and homefront unease about the state of the US in the world.

So much for what you already know. Now listen this - a once-lost gem, now thankfully reissued on the excellent "Lost & Found- Love Starved Heart" compilation...

Buy Lost & Found- Love Starved Heart

Funk45 NOLA Auctions

2005-09-07T11:54:00.000+01:00

There's a bunch of very, very good records up for sale over here...all proceeds to Eddie Bo, Irma Thomas and other artists now deprived of their homes, clubs, and livelihoods...dig deep.

Frankly, where else should you be buying records from, if not from this auction, or the Soulstrut Hotrocks ?

Donate to the Salvation Army, USA

Soulstrut's Katrina Fund

2005-09-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

Soulstrut are currently running auctions where all proceeds go to New Orleans charities. Sell your record through them, donate a favourite, or over-bid on purpose to raise the best price for the very best of causes...

Soulstrut's Heatrock Auctions

Empress Antoinette K. Doe update

2005-09-06T09:18:00.001+01:00

Just heard last night that Antoinette is currently in the Mother-In-Law lounge, awaiting the arrival of a generator. Fantastic news. I'll update once I hear any more..

Donate to the Salvation Army, USA

Empress Antoinette K. Doe

2005-09-05T19:11:00.000+01:00

Ernie K. Doe - Don't Kill My Groove MP3

Antoinette, the widow of Ernie K. Doe and runner of the Mother In Law Lounge in New Orleans, is still unaccounted for. Knowing how strong, good hearted and brave she is, we hope and expect that she is safe. If you have any news please get in contact. Our thoughts are with you all.

Donate to the Salvation Army, USA

Thinking of New Orleans

2005-09-02T17:01:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed
...
UPDATE : Irma Thomas is safe with her family.

Donate to the Salvation Army

Buddy Miles - Train

2005-07-26T13:55:00.000+01:00

MP3 link removed

If acid-rinsed bluesfunk with a side order of solid rock is to your taste, then sup it up.

Buddy Miles has drummed for Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, formed the Band of Gypsies with Jimi Hendrix (and played with him at Monterey), wrote "Them Changes", played with Funkadelic, The Electric Flag, Muddy Waters, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Bowie..the list goes on. And on.

This starts with a solid drum break, tripped out vocal samples, supertight horns, and a snarling wah wah. And that's all before the vocal starts.

You should be able to pick this up for $10 or so on the Mercury label, but I'd recommend taking a potshot on one of his albums, or a best of CD if you're that way inclined...

Legend.

Buddy Miles' Website

Sweet Hiss of Summer Sprinklers No.1 : Eddie Kendricks & Rock Hudson

2005-07-14T11:35:00.000+01:00

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Rock Hudson - Hell Is Not Place Safe

Over at Soul Sides, blog meister Oliver Wang is riffing on summer songs, and since we're currently sweating in the London haze of a hot July, seems about time I let you in on some of ours.

Eddie Kendricks was the sublime tenor at the heart of The Temptations, before he struck out on his own. Releasing the bargain bucket barefaced stomp of Keep On Truckin' would be plenty for me, but try this : If You Let Me starts out with a simple three chord piano riff (here beautifully stretched by monkeyfunk favourite Paul Nice on his Soul On The Grill mixtape), before latching into a slice of soaring sweet soul. Just beautiful.

Sampling the same piano riff as it's jump off, here's Chilean downtempo outfit Rock Hudson's excellent "Hell Is No Place Safe". Pedro, their producer and DJ recently contacted me about some live dates, and while we don't have any place for live music (yet), hopefully somebody might. They're in London in early August, and maybe I can update this with some more info about dates in Europe. Last month, they received the Winner Awards of Diesel-U-Music Contest 2005 at Italy, and played at Milan with StereoMC’s, Kevin Yost & DJ Spinna. Expect great things..

Rock Hudson's Website

Steinski Interview & MP3's Up

2005-07-05T15:38:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your patience. Enjoy.

Jackie Wilson - Shake A Leg

2005-05-31T15:30:00.000+01:00

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Jackie Wilson was just the formidable soul shouter responsible for Reet Petite, Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher, Soul Galore and other such bonafide floor-filling, but overplayed numbers.

This track, released in the early seventies, is however a slab of solid funk, propelled by hard-bitten supertight horns, scratchy guitar and some very sweet percussion.

Signing with Brunswick in 1957, and staying witht the label for the duration of his life, Wilson's first claim to fame was the Berry Gordy & Billy Davis-penned Reet Petite. Gordy went on to use his royalties from the 9 songs he co-wrote for Wilson to fund Hitsville USA Studios, later to become a small struggling label more popularly known as Motown.

Wilson lived and played hard, churning out hit after hit for his manager Nat Tarnopol, while also managing to get shot by Juanita Jones, who he was two-timing his girlfriend with. He spent the rest of his life with a bullet lodged near his spine, one kidney, and a permanent limp.

Pursued by the IRS, divorced by his wife, Wilson was then caught with two white girls in a motel in South Carolina, with drummer Jimmy Smith. In a bid to stave off salacious headlines, Tarnopol arranged for him to marry his girlfriend Harlean Harris.

And yet despite all this philandering, Wilson a year later put out the unstoppable exultation of Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher & Higher & I Get The Sweetest Feeling.

Shake A Leg, recorded in 1973 defies any critic who said we'd seen the last of this colossal talent.

Wilson collapsed on stage with a heart attack, and spent the next 8 1/2 years in a coma which he never awoke from.

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Southern Funkin' Album Launch @ Monkeyfunk : 1st of July

2005-05-31T15:28:00.000+01:00

Steinski Update

2005-05-31T15:23:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the delay for those waiting for the Steinski interview. Hoping to finish the interview with him while he's over here in June, so expect it towards the end of the month.

Coming Soon : Steinski Special

2005-05-10T22:25:00.000+01:00

Currently working through a Steinski interview I've just done. What a nice man. I'll post it up here with some snippets hopefully before the weekend...

Meanwhile here's some hold music.

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Paul Nice/ Eric & The Vikings

2005-04-22T17:47:00.000+01:00

Paul Nice : Poised, yet remaining louche.

Slack slack slack. Despite my best efforts to post up here every 10 days, this simply isn't good enough. Rest assured that will change, after my suprisingly beautiful wife gave me my birthday present yesterday of 32 hand wrapped killer funk 45's.

So, thankyou for your patience. As a small token of my guilt, please accept a double helping, basically linked by some crashing funk, hard-as-nails drums, and skittering piano.

An under-rated master, Paul Nice has been serving up remixes and break albums for several years from NYC, underpinning tracks by Rasco, Mobb Depp, and many many others.

It's very difficult to pick one - his recent mixtapes (Soul On The Grill, Breaks For Days and Do You Pick Your Feet in Poughkeepsie) index a man who sucks up good music and turns out diamonds. His Fingers of Death battle breaks series are an essential, his remixes of Greyboy, Nightmares on Wax and the Beasties' "Hey Ladies" need snapping up...I could go on.

So let's get down to brass tacks. His excellent reworking of Jay Z on the unofficial Black Album, including the ludicrously good adoption of Billy Joel's Stiletto break for 99 days. Just when you thought you never want to hear that track again (as I did last summer), and suddenly you hear this essential take.

Eric & The Vikings recorded for Motown in the 70's, and were led by the sublimely named Eryke McClinton. Their million-selling "Vibrations Made Us Fall in Love" may well have taken the charts by storm, but for our purposes, the flipside, a mean, loaded instrumental is the stuff of champions, and is also one of the finest names for a song, ever.. They're still gigging and recording today, track 'em down if you can. Cheers to Greg Belson and Daddy Vegas for the original heads-up.

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Paul Nice's Website
Buy Paul Nice at Fat City Records

Matumbi - Law of the Land

2005-03-20T21:42:00.000Z

London produced many fine reggae bands in the late 60's/early 70's. In the surge of popularity at this time, it was only natural that 2nd generation of the Windrush diaspora would swing into action, proving that labels such as the mighty Trojan didn't just have to chase the Jamaican sounds, but could go a little closer to home. And amongst them was the perennially excellent Dennis Bovell's outfit, Matumbi.

Ironically, they long masked the fact that they were from London, pretending for at least the first few promos that they were from the Island. Spotted at a Stockwell talent contest, they signed a deal with Trojan when they were only in their teens, and although it all ended in tears with the major domo Brit label, they still managed to create some fine, fine music, hoisting up the Lover's Rock movement by its bootstraps.

Bovell will forever remain a legend, not just because he was the co-creator of Janet Kay's "Silly Games", producer of the Slits and longtime Linton Kwesi Johnson collaborator. Still hugely prolific, the man remain one of the true London-based reggae pioneers.

You can also hear the roots of another British Export, Cymande, in this, their excellent cover of the Temptation's hit "Law of the Land", covered under pressure enforced by Trojan to skank up any other known hits.

Pressure or no, this completely eclipses the original. Killer brass, heavy orchestral stabs over a drop dead beat. Utter class.

(Incidentally, this has just been re-issued on an interesting looking comp, Ultimate British Breaks & Beats, available here)

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Spiked bandwidth...quelle surprise.

2005-03-09T14:20:00.000Z

Thanks for listening in - a neat lesson for me on bandwidth limit...from now on, tracks will stay up for 10 days, and 10 days only.

For those of a Statto sensibility, Anne Sexton has been the clear favourite so far, with Lena Horne a close runner-up. Seems you're all of a sisterfunk mentality.

Next Mp3 will be up before the weekend...

Lena Horne/Gabor Szabo - Rocky Raccoon

2005-03-02T20:28:00.000Z

Ex-Cotton Club chorus dancer, and the first black performer to get signed to a long term/vehicle contract with one of the big studios, Horne fought hard to fight against the antipathetic tokenism of a studio as happy to play the race card, as withdraw it for the Southern audiences. Cast in a succesion of "window dressing" roles, she baulked at neat stereotypes of overtly pigeonholed, demographic-enhancing race roles, and during the war refused to play to segregated army troops - where German POW's sat in front of black US servicemen.Unable to announce her second marriage to Lennie Hayton for fear of miscegenist retaliation, Horne struggled, and eventually won.

This fine version of The Beatles' Rocky Raccoon is outstanding for it's smoky grandeur, elegantly underpinned by Gabor Szabo. And I'm convinced that's Bernard Purdie laying down the drop-on-a-dime backbeat

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Bobby Powell - Peace Begins Within

2005-02-23T10:37:00.000Z

Running the risk of biting, here's a call and response to the ever-excellent Home Of The Groove's most recent blog on Mr. Bobby Powell. It's the flip of this fine, cheap 45, containg two pearls of laced Baton Rouge funk, on Lionel Whitfield's Whit label.

Dan Phillips chose the sweet soul of the Questions flip, here we've gone for the buttoned down funk. Bobby Powell was a gospel-based blind pianist, who would go on to record with Excello, Hep City and others. Lush backing vocals are almost certainly supplied by Jackie Johnson (later to adopt the Lady Mem'fis title), and I'm not sure whether this came before or after Powell's breakout hit, a cover of CC Rider.

There's a fantastic cover of this on the Trojan label by Nora Dean to be blogged at a later date...

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Jimmy Smith - RIP

2005-02-21T18:38:00.000Z

Didn't have time to mount a brief Obit for the legend before we went to Germany.

What's left to say ? That he was THE single-handed revivor of an instrument that seemed doomed to the kind of queasy end-of-the-pier doldrums.

Inspired by the great Wild Bill Davis (note to self - dig out that great Caves De La Huchette live album, and blog accordingly), Smith pioneered a hard, strident sound, made tougher and funkier through the use of heavy bass pedalling. Have you ever tried to play a Hammond ? Flying a chopper would be simpler. And his long, pyrotechnic marshalling of Bernstein's theme from Walk On The Wild Side, with Oliver Nelson signalled a desire to go beyond the mere 30 organ stops in front of him.

Gone were the supine, lax, chordal-based output of many of his peers ; this was all about the note. And the silence in between. The definition of funk.

His impact was enormous, sparking Jimmy McGriff and Charlie Earland to change instruments mid-career, and his legacy after his tenure at Blue Note left a mark on the sound of labelmates Grant Green, Lou Donaldson and many others. He scorned the efforts of James Brown's hammond playing, and held a healthy contempt for those that mimicked or bit his style.

Recent concerts in London saw a tough gritty fighter - a man justly arrogant of his own impact. This was not a man of whom you could think ever took an easier path in life. Cussing like a sailor, he played the crowd like a last great showman, and took the roof off with his gnarling style.

Much missed.

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Soul Brothers Six - "(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful"

2005-02-03T22:55:00.000Z

Now, Northern Soul really isn't really my thing. This is about as close as it gets, but I've had at least with one pious soulbore who tells me that this isn't the real thing, anyway. Why ? Because it's not expensive enough ? Because you can pick it up for the price of a mild piss-up in a pub ? Because it was...commercial ?

Aah, who cares a fig for rarity. This is the stuff of champions. And pointlessly covered in a really nasty, Dinner Funk way by Joss Stone. And Grand Funk Railroad.

An Atlantic stormer from 1967, this probably featured the lineup of members Willie John Ellison, Joe Johnson, Charles Armstrong, Harry Armstrong, Vonn Elle Benjamin and Lester Peleman. John Ellison went on to release a bunch of singles on that fine, under-rate label Phil-La of Soul, but this was the breakthrough..and the exception, commercially.

By 1969, the Soul Brothers Six were split up, leaving this fine fragment plus some solid follow-ups in their wake. If you're into this, check out You Gotta Come A Little Closer, recently comped, along with another John Ellison track, on the Soul Jazz Philadelphia Roots comp over here.

This is from the 1969 UK reissue. A mere £3 in your local boot sale, fact fans. £3 for this piece of sweet, uplifting, gospel-soaked feel-good, goddamn-i-even-put-britches-on-the-right-way-round anthem ?

You was stitched up there mate.

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Ann Sexton - You're Gonna Miss me

2005-01-28T17:22:00.000Z

We start things off with some sublime, heavily soulful sisterfunk.

Ms. Sexton is probably best known for the absolute classic "You're Losing Me", which makes up the tough flip for this fine 45 on John Richbourg’s 77 label - one of those songs that now matter how much you've heard it still makes like you've got a glass jaw, and smacks you down hard. It's an evergreen, beloved by hiphop fraternity, funkheads and soul collectors.

So, why the flip ? Because we're perverse. And because there's little point in educating the educated. And because sometimes we've all made the mistake when we've depended upon one side of a 45, that we quite forgot to turn it over. And also because I for purely completist reasons, picked this up in the US as a promo same-sider, one mono, one stereo. Which is only slightly interesting.

Recently this way more mellow flipside has never been far from my turntable. We're in near-gospel territory, belying her South Carolina roots in the church, probably recorded in Nashville.

Other classics include the Northern Soul classic "You've Been Gone Too Long", "Colour My World Blue".Seems like those bright chaps at Soul Brother have a fine compilation for you, over here.

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