The Soul Drummers- Ray Barretto
Upside Down- Carol Cool
I Ain't Coming Back- The Orlons
Why Not Your Baby- Dillard & Clark
Sinner! Don't Wait- Morgan Babb
Anyone Who Had A Heart- Tim Curry
Real Love- Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
The Soul Drummers- Ray Barretto
If you only listen to one Latin boogaloo record, make it Ray Barretto's "Acid."
Upside Down- Carol Cool
Reggae covers of pop tunes are a dime a dozen, and often terrible. But once in a while, they nail it. A tip o'the hat to my pal Whattawino for hipping me to this bit of feel good genius from Carol Cool. It's got the groove, the killer horns and the vibe.
I Ain't Coming Back- The Orlons
I could do a week on Orlons records that aren't "South Street" or "Don't Hang Up." Here's another gem.
Why Not Your Baby- Dillard & Clark
I was thinking how this track really didn't belong on D&C's debut "The Fantastic Expedition Of...," and then VR reminded me that it wasn't originally. This was a stand alone single in 1969 that got tacked on to later reissues of the record. A terrific track, nonetheless.
Sinner! Don't Wait- Morgan Babb
I have an iTunes folder titled "Bap-Tizum," a name taken from a now defunct blog that posted rare gospel tracks. I grabbed 441 of those tracks before it disappeared, and every now and then and I randomly hit a few. This one hit back.
Anyone Who Had A Heart- Tim Curry
I enjoyed those Tim Curry records on A&M. He does a fine job here on a Bacharach/David fave.
Real Love- Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
This one is for Bruce Thomas.
6 comments:
Sal:
I totally agree with you about The Orlons.
Captain Al
And I concur about Carol Cool, that one brings back memories of this non-dancer bopping around the kitchen...
You know, for such a talented, Bruce Thomas didn't really have much of a second act in terms of a musical career. I know he pivoted to writing, but you'd think that a guy like that who could play bass like that would have had his dance card filled.
A great mystery.
Bill
Wow! What a great set of music ……..
Ray Barretto – Soul Drummers – I’ve liked Ray Barretto since I was seven and El Watusi was Number 1 in Los Angeles. What a groove “Soul Drummers” has. When I was in high school, I used to dance at this club called The Wildcat. Since the club had no band, we performed to records. I did four or five dances a shift and the club let you choose your own music to express yourself. My choices were all over the spectrum. From King Crimson to Broadway. Early on, for one of my dances I chose Eric Burdon & War’s “Spill the Wine.” It went over really well. Even my boss, who was usually stingy with his compliments, told me it was totally hot. He suggested I do more songs in a Latin groove. I figured I’d work one Latin tinged song per shift. My dad was way into all kinds of jazz, so I raided his collection. That and my Santana, Azteca & Malo records. My dad had “Acid” and I checked it out. It was great but I couldn't decide on a song. I ended up picking an instrumental from an earlier Barretto album to strip with. Nevertheless, “Soul Drummers” has a great bump and grind groove with which to vamp.
Carol Cool – Upside Down - Never heard this cover before. I like it. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago my daughter tried to turn me on to a cover of this same tune. We don’t usually hear ear-to-ear when it comes to tunes. She likes Panic At the Disco and horrible shit like that. The band’s gimmick is they take pop songs and bossa nova them. Kind of a Postmodern Jukebox thing only even more limited. It is whatever. I don’t feel one way or another about it, which is usually a bad sign. Looks like Garth Algar on stand-up bass. Eldissa is what they call themselves, maybe you’ve heard of them. I hadn’t. Here’s a link-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJNpHLOkZn0
Orlons – I Ain’t Coming Back. You’re 100% right about the great “deep tracks.” When Gamble & Huff were involved in any way the tunes usually turn out to be winners.
Dillard & Clark – Why Not Your Baby – I love Gene’s inimitable vocals. Velvet Crush did a cover of this on Teenage Symphonies to God. It has a really nice long steel guitar outro. Lots of other hooky power pop on the rest of the album too.
VR
Morgan Babb – Sinner! Don’t Wait – In junior high I had a friend named Orlando. He moved to Berdoo from Tennessee. At the time my dad was pretty protective of me when it came to guys. Anyway, I invited Orlando over to my parents’ house to listen to records. When I introduced him to my folks, I could see the look of concern on my dad’s face. I don’t think it helped that Orlando was black. I mean, this was the mid-60s. I told my dad not to worry. That we were just friends. Which was the truth. I think he might have been gay. He never made a move on me the whole time I knew him. Not that I wanted him to. Anyway, throughout the course of our friendship, we often went to his grandma’s house. She was very religious. She listened to the preachers on TV and radio. She had about 25 record albums - all religious. I rifled through them all and a couple of them were Babb. I think they were spoken albums, but maybe there was a song or two on them. She always asked Orlando what he was doing hanging around with a white girl and admonished him to stick with his own kind. She said it with a half-smile on her face. She was civil and warmed over time. I liked her. At least she put it out there. SO that was the extent of my Morgan Babb Knowledge. I like the tune you selected.
Tim Curry – Anyone Who Had a Heart - Wait a minute. You were on a roll. Of all the interesting covers of “Anyone Who Had a Heart” we get Curry? Well at least he does it fairly faithfully. Sal, I’m assuming you’ve heard his wretched reggae cover of the Beatles “I Will.” And the Move’s “Brontosaurus.” They’re on the same album :) Elvis Costello did a nice cover with Bacharach on Sessions at West 54th.
Sutherland Brothers & Quiver – Back on track with a real gem. Ten thousand times better than the so-called “Beatles” song with the same title. I saw these guys four times. Three shows with Pete. They opened for Elton John in San Diego with Steely Dan. The crowd didn’t give them much attention but they were a quality act. Steely Dan had a couple of chick singers and Palmer was booted by then. Elton was already doing songs from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which wouldn’t be out for a couple of months. I used to love going to concerts when the bands were ahead of the audience. Doesn’t happen that much anymore. About a week later, SB&Q opened for Elton at the Hollywood Bowl. Then Long Beach. Last time I saw SB&Q was sans Pete at the Whisky. I was just checking my ticket stub albums. Me and Sandy were on a roll that week in late May '74. We actually went to 8 concerts in 7 days. Plus, 2 Double Features of B-Movies. We were blowing off steam after exams.
VR
Thanks for this mix!
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