I love the feel of this song and wish I knew a lot more disco in this vein-- warm, melodic, totally spaced out. Harry Ray and Al Goodman, both of the Moments and later Ray, Goodman & Brown, are all over the credits and I'm guessing the backing track is from Wood, Brass & Steel.
Since I see Jimmy Mayes's name in the credits on the (nice) ballad on the flip side, I'm pretty sure Mill Street Depo is the same group who cut this rare slice of Chicago funk a few years earlier:
Jimmy Mayes & the Mill Street Depot" "Monkey Shine" (De Caballero, 19??)
I like just about any riff on "Monkey Time". This one is definitely the rawest I've heard. According to his not-logged-into-in-the-last-2-years Myspace page, Jimmy Mayes is performing.
I don't generally spend much time listening to other DJs' mixes or radio shows because they cut into the time I have to seek out new music. When I make exceptions, they're for stuff friends have done or mixes which I think can turn me on to something I want to know.
Chairman Mao's monthly radio shows for Spine Magazine, the Spine Blowing Decisions series, are both. In case his reputation doesn't precede him, Mao is a longtime NYC DJ and rap writer whose knowledge is as deep as his taste is good. His shows focus on obscure soul, funk and disco and usually have a theme or style (e.g., disco raps, Halloween music, tortured ballads). They always include at least a handful of things I wish I knew or had forgotten about and am delighted to be reminded of. His dry, occasional voiceovers are a nice touch, too.
This week I finally got around to listening to Mao's December show and it really knocked me out. The episode centers on late 70s/early 80s sounds: disco, modern soul, boogie, funk and the selections are uniformly great. There were songs I hadn't heard in too long, songs I'd never heard before but instantly wanted to hear again and even some songs I'd been saving to build mixes of my own around (damn you, Mao!). It's the best collection of soul sounds I've listened to in a long time.
There's no track listing per se, but Mao scatters some clues throughout the mix and also his blog features scans of some of the songs he included, like the following:
(One track that's not pictured is the Gospel Soul Revivals' awesome Slave knockoff, "If Jesus Came Today". The track is featured on the Numero Group's new and wonderful Good God! Born Again Funk, which came out Tuesday and which I can't recommend highly enough.)
But uh, back to the lecture at hand. Spine Magazine doesn't host older shows and the episode of Spine Blowing Decisions is no longer available from Spine's site, so with Mao's permission, I've uploaded the show:
The Real Sound of Chicago is a 2-CD collection of disco and boogie tracks compiled by the two guys who run Chicago's Peabody's Records, which I'm told is a great store. Their selections are all really obscure and rare; several are great to boot. The comp is a little frustrating because the liner notes are uninformative and (as is too often the case with BBE releases) completely illegible, but it's worth copping if only for Martin L. Dumas, Jr.'s insanely great "Sun Goddess" rip-off.
Kinda in the same vein but not remotely as rare as anything on The Real Sound of Chicago, I thought I might as well throw this up:
Heaven & Earth were also from Chicago, although I think this may have been cut in Philly because it features PIR ace Dexter Wansel.
I don't generally mess around with a song this great, but I've edited this track ever so slightly. It's a small thing, but the original version comes in with a fill that confuses the shit out of me every time I try to play the song. I snipped it off. This is still a little tricky because it comes in on the 3 but to me it's way more comprehensible.
In this season of long, cold nights, various versions of "I'll Keep My Light in My Window" have been spending a lot of time on my turntable.
"I'll Keep My Light in My Window" was co-written and first performed by Leonard Caston, who had been a member of the 60s-era Chicago soul group the Radiants before joining Motown. There, he had his greatest success working with Eddie Kendricks; Caston co-produced Kendricks's biggest hit, "Keep On Truckin'" and co-wrote and co-produced the untoppable "Girl You Need a Change of Mind", among other things. Caston and his wife, Carolyn Majors, cut one LP, a self-titled flop that included their recording of "I'll Keep My Light in My Window".
The song was co-written by Terri McFaddin, who had collaborated with Caston on some songs for Kendricks and later went on to co-write Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots".
I don't know how the song became a staple; as far as I can tell, no version of the song ever charted. Nonetheless, it's been recorded many, many times, both by gospel artists (e.g., the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Shirley Caesar, etc.) and secular ones (Diana Ross, Eruption, etc.). Here are five of my favorite versions.
This was the first version I heard, thanks to Chi Ali. I love the guitar part. This version was arranged by Tony Silvester from the Main Ingredient and the ubiquitous Bert "Super Charts" DeCoteaux.
The New York Community Choir was a group that included Phyllis Joubert and Benny Diggs; both made a bunch of great music that bridges the gap between the church and the disco. There are three versions of this recording: a truncated album version, a punched-up disco 12" version and this one, which is my favorite.
This was from of those eras where the Temptations were lacking not just in fashion sense but also in star power-- they had no Eddie Kendricks, no David Ruffin, no Dennis Edwards, not even a Damon Harris. Even so, their vocal and the arrangement are great.
I'm pretty happy with what he did with it. Credit for choosing the sample probably goes to co-producer Jack Splash, who was in Plantlife and more recently has produced enjoyable retro-ish singles for Alicia Keys, Estelle and others. I tend to think of him along the same lines as Ryan Leslie or Will.I.Am-- undeniably talented producers who I admire when they're not trying to write lyrics, rap or sing.
The other day I opened the mailbox and was geeked to find an advance promo of Edan's new Echo Party CD. I admire a lot of Edan's previous releases both as a rapper (Primitive Plus, Beauty & the Beat) and DJ (Fast Rap, Sound of the Funky Drummer, his radio show), but this is something else altogether.
Echo Party is a 29-minute mastermix of dozens or maybe hundreds of late 70s/early 80s lo-fi disco and disco rap tracks drawn from the catalogs of labels like P&P, Paul Winley, Chocolate Star, Sound of New York, etc. Apparently Edan got access to everything licensed by Traffic and, in some cases, multi-tracks.
He then proceeded to freak the shit out of everything, with liberal use of vintage echo, sampler, keyboards, and a lot of stuff I wouldn't know to recognize. (Every song and effect he used and what he did with them is described in the liner notes to the full CD release-- I suspect I could spend a long time nerding out on those notes.) My head hurts just visualizing the work that went into this.
I usually hate mastermixes and cut-and-paste records-- even Double Dee & Steinski's lessons really have never moved me-- but this is mind-blowing. It's so vast, so detailed and weird that it makes me feel like a really shitty, lazy DJ.
Stones Throw has pre-orders on limited-press vinyl with custom sleeves by Edan. According to their site, CDs are already sold out. I really, really recommend it.
Today's one of those perfect Bay Area fall days, so bright, warm and clear it almost makes up for the fact that we don't get real summers. This sounds right:
This week I play a mix of dance music that kicks off with late 70s/early 80s disco, funk and soul, shifts into some current stuff (including new tracks from the homeboy DJ Eleven and the folks at Solid Bump!) and then loops back around to a few classic favorites. No talking, no drops, just music for dancing. The tracks I play are these:
1. Too Sweet: You’ve Got to Find Yourself
2. Idris Muhammed: Could Heaven Ever Be Like This
3. Candido: Thousand Finger Man
4. Kenix feat. Bobby Youngblood: There’s Never Been No One Like You
5. GQ: This Happy Feeling
6. Tony Silvester & the New Ingredient: Cosmic Lady
7. Sir Bentley: Street Shuffle
8. One Way: Music
9. Radiance: You’re My Number One [Dub version]
10. George Clinton: One Fun at a Time
11. Aaron Broomfield: Polyphase
12. Casper: Casper’s Groovy Ghost Show
13. Alton McClain & Destiny: It Must Be Love
14. Cloud One: Don’t Let This Rainbow Pass Me By
15. Final Edition: I Can Do It (Anyway You Want It)
16. Duck Sauce: aNYway
17. Laberge: We Don’t Know
18. DJ Eleven: Dance Our Way
19. Domu: Worldwide [Solid Groove’s Wednesday at Midnight mix]
20. Ultramagnetic MC’s: Poppa Large [Matthew Africa’s Switch RMX]
21. Dan the Automator: Rapper’s Delight [Tepr RMX] feat. Casual & Chali 2na
22. Malente: I Like It [Riva Starr Snatch! RMX]
23. The Juan Maclean: Happy House [Chateau Flight RMX]
24. Soul Central: In-ten-city
25. Fred Falke: Back to Stay
26. SoulPhiction & Move D: The Limelight [Trusme RMX]
27. Status IV: You Ain’t Really Down [Jazzanova RMX]
28. The Rolling Stones: Under My Thumb [Todd Terje dub]
29. U-Tern: Without You
30. Toby Tobias: In Your Eyes [Tensnake RMX]
31. Dayton: We Can’t Miss
32. Heaven & Earth: I Really Love You
33. Starpoint: Don’t Leave Me
I'd been on a little bit of a Tommy Stewart jag lately-- I put two of his productions on my recent Soulful Disco mix-- so when I saw that there was a new compilation of his productions, I had to cop it:
Tommy Stewart is an Atlanta musician, producer and arranger. He cut one album under his own name, 1976's Bump and Hustle Music, as well as a couple LPs that were largely his work, like the Spirit of Atlanta's 1973 The Burning of Atlanta and 1979's Musica Negra. He also cut an album by The Counts' frontman Mose Davis and one-off singles by a range of relatively anonymous acts: Cream de Coco, Mad Dog Fire Department, 3rd World Band, the Final Approach, etc.
I love Stewart's productions for the way they meld soul and jazz harmonies with the light rhythmic pulse of disco, yet remain funky. Make Happy Music collects three songs from Bump and Hustle Music, one from The Burning of Atlanta and one from Musica Negra, plus nine other Stewart-produced tracks. The sound quality is good and it looks as though the compilers properly licensed the music. At the very least, they went to the trouble of tracking down Stewart and business partner Marlin McNichols to interview them for some fairly informative liner notes.
Here are a couple of Stewart tracks that aren't featured on Make Happy Music:
My man DJ Anonymous from Helsinki passed through town last week and I persuaded him to drop a live set for 2 Busy Saying Yeah. I hadn't planned on making another soul mix so soon after the Soulful Disco one, but his set inspired me to dig out some more mellow soul gems.
Several of Anonymous's selections have previously been featured on his excellent blog, DJ's Delight, which features a ton of great dance music of every stripe and is among the blogs that inspired me to do it. If it's not in your bookmarks already, jump on it.
New Yorkers can catch Anonymous tonight with the #1 homie DJ Eleven at Fam at Von Kellar or on Saturday with Chairman Mao at Grand Groove at APT. I had the pleasure of rocking with him, B.Cause and Vinnie Esparza last Friday and can tell you he really puts it down.
1. The Commodores: Oh Yeah 2. Brenda Lee Eager: When I'm With You 3. Pure Gold: I Miss You 4. The Bar-Kays: Feels Like I'm Falling in Love 5. Sylvia: Sweet Stuff 6. Harry Ray: The Next Time I See Your Face 7. Wyndchymes: Unconditional Love 8. Arawak: Acaddi A Bali 9. Isaac Hayes: Vykki 10. Dave Grusin: Either Or 11. James Ingram: Ooo 12. Ronnie McNeir: Sexy Mama 13. Tony Silvester: Verry White 14. Benny Golson: I'm Always Dancing to the Music 15. Quincy Jones: 100 Ways 16. Heatwave: Mind Blowing Decisions 17. Jimmy Sabater: Mind Blowing Decisions 18. The Gimmicks: You Can't Hide Love 19. Leroy Hutson: Never Know What You Can Do (Give It a Try) 20. Eddie Fisher: It's That Music 21. The Inner Drive: Party Man 22. Wee: Find Me, Love Me 23. Deliverance: Loving You 24. Jorge Dalto: I've Got You On My Mind 25. Vytas Brenner: Avila 26. Twilight: You Know It's Me 27. Leo's Sunshipp: Madame Butterfly INST 28. West Wing: I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby 29. Mighty Ryeders: Lovely 30. Willie Tee: Get Up 31. The 3 Pieces: Backed Up Against the Wall 32. Sunni Nash: The 3rd Movement 33. Trilogy: (K.C.) In the Ghetto 34. Side Effect: Private World 35. Willie Hutch: Love Me Back 36. Brenton Wood: All That Jazz 37. The McCrarys: On the Other Side 38. Barry White: You're the One I Need 39. Joe Thomas: Mr. Mumbles 40. Frank Walton: Safari 41. Sylvia Striplin: You Can't Turn Me Away 42. Funk Factory: Rien Ne Va Plus 43. The Nights: Hangin' Tough
As always, you can subscribe to 2 Busy Saying Yeah via iTunes or readers like Google and Yahoo.
After years and years of doing a relatively freeform college radio show, I've been wrestling with how to adapt it to internet radio with my new show, 2 Busy Saying Yeah.
My sense is that you can't really grow an internet audience through serendipity like you can with broadcast radio-- people who happen to be switching the dial, get seduced by a song and stick around to see what else you have. Instead, I think you have to offer something really identifiable and desirable to get them to go out of their way to check you out in the first place and then, if the quality's good, maybe they'll be impressed enough to keep coming back, subscribe, etc.
Last Friday's show is a step in that direction. I wanted to create a mixtape-quality set that would merit repeated listens and hopefully some word-of-mouth. It's a live, two-hour mix of late 70s/early 80s soul music with no back-announcing and minimal talking. The selections are drawn from a bunch of sub-genres-- boogie, modern soul, disco, jazz-funk, etc. Some are obvious, some rare, others just neglected, but it's all great music.
Listen and if you enjoy it, please spread the word.
1. Brief Encounter: Human 2. The Jones Girls: When I'm Gone 3. Jean Terrell: Rising Cost of Love 4. Cream De Coco: Disco Strut 5. Donna McGhee: It Ain't No Big Thing 6. Quietfire: Makes Me Wanna Shout 7. Bill Cosby: You're Driving Me Crazy 8. Breakwater: Work It Out 9. The Sugarhill Gang: Passion Play 10. Carly Simon: Why 11. Sister Sledge: Reach Your Peak 12. Rick James: Moonchild 13. Flowers: For Real 14. Rance Allen Group: Reason to Survive 15. Raw Soul Express: The Way We Live 16. Chocolate Clay: Free (I'll Always Be) 17. Heaven & Earth: Let's Get It Together 18. James Bradley: I Can't Get Enough of Your Love 19. Hunt's Determination Band: No. 1 Lady 20. Stevo: Pay the Price 21. Leon Ware: Can I Touch You There 22. Roy Ayers: Love Will Bring Us Back Together 23. Don Blackman: Heart's Desire 24. Azymuth: Dear Limmertz 25. Junior: I Can't Help It 26. Karin Jones: Here I Go Again 27. Linda Clifford: Runaway Love 28. One Way: Hold It 29. Hipnotic: Are You Lonely? 30. The Strikers: Hold On to This Feeling
I'm super-psyched to announce my brand new weekly radio show, 2 Busy Saying Yeah!
A few months ago, my old KALX homie Mike Biggz p/k/a Big Mike approached me about doing a show for All Day Play, a new internet radio spin-off of Oakland's Youth Radio program. I got interested when he told me that the station had already signed on some local heavyweights to do shows-- Sake One, D-Sharp, the Oakland Faders, Zumbi from Zion I, etc.-- and once I saw the facilities I was sold.
For me it's a chance to do a real mix show without the technological or legal constraints of my college radio show-- I can blend and cut live, I no longer have to spend hours each week editing curses and I'm not required to break the flow of the show all the time with announcements.
I'm still figuring out the musical scope of the show. I think it'll be a little more narrowly focused (e.g., less psych and jazz) but I'll have some exciting guests and overall the quality will be better. I'm trying to make each and every episode a great listen-- something that will introduce you to some new music, but also be worth listening to next year.
There's some psychedelic funk, some slept-on rap, both new and classic, some disco, some commercial R&B I can't front on and a questionable house remix. I think it's the shit.
Tracklist:
Pete Rock: Truth Is feat. Black Ice
Cane & Abel: Girl, You Move Me
Minnie Riperton: Every Time He Comes Around
Leon Haywood: As Long As There's You (I Got Love)
Jo Ann Garrett: Walk On By
Carl Bradney: Slipping Into Darkness
Chico & Buddy: Cracklin' Bread
Lyn Collins: Do Your Thing
D-Rock & Swift C: Let It Rip
Ray Cash: Dope Game
Juicy J: Purple Kush feat. Project Pat & Gorilla Zoe
Marc DeCoca: J's At the Door RMX feat. Backbone, Big Floaty, Don P, Rasheeda, Mac Boney & Big Kuntry
Red: I Should Tell Ya Momma On You [Dam-Funk RMX]
Young Squad: Fire Start
Loleatta Holloway: We're Getting Stronger
Whitney Houston: Million Dollar Bill
Busta Rhymes: Don't Touch Me [U-Tern's Disco RMX]
Four Below Zero: My Baby's Got ESP
Crown Heights Affair: I See the Light
Ron Hall & the Mutha Funkaz: The Way You Love Me feat. Marc Evans [Dimitri from Paris RMX]
Outkast: The Way You Move feat. Sleepy Brown [Johnny Toobad RMX]
Kurupt & Terrace Martin: You Know
Rafael Casal: Bay Area Slang Top 100
Askari X: Ward of the State
WC & the Madd Circle: Ghetto Serenade
King Tee: Ya Better Bring a Gun feat. Mixmaster Spade
DJ Quik & Kurupt: Do You Know
The Coup: Tiffany Hall
Usher: Certified feat. Pharrell
Erk tha Jerk: Right Here
R. Kelly: Take It to the Hotel feat. Clyde Carson
Redman & Method Man: Mrs. International
Hunt's Determination Band was a Detroit-area band that cut two late-70s LPs plus a couple of non-LP 45s. Both LPs contain versions of "No. 1 Lady"; the version I've posted is from Get Your Act Together!, which I believe was the later of the two. This version tones down the bass, adding clavinet, strings and a great breakdown.
I'm a long-time Chic fan but hadn't heard this until relatively recently. Norma Jean Wright was Chic's original singer but left after their debut album. Her 1978 solo LP never grabbed me but this non-LP single is one of my favorite Bernard Edwards/Nile Rodgers productions. I think it epitomizes their gift for crafting songs so smooth and funky that they sound effortless and natural even when they aren't; you don't notice how far-out they are until you start to pick them apart and seize on details.
As a bonus, here's Whipper Whip, Dota Rock & Easy AD rocking over "High Society":
Whipper Whip, Dota Rock & Easy AD: "High Society" (1980)
Although she never became a mainstream star, people who know dance music know Jocelyn Brown. She was the main vocalist on disco classics by Inner Life, Musique and Change among other acts and her 1984 hit, "Somebody Else's Guy", is as close to timeless as club anthems get.
"I Wish You Would" was her follow-up and is really slept on to me. It also happens to be the name of this blog. The version I've posted is an edit I made that trims the intro and lengthens the vocoder breaks.
One day I hope there'll be a definitive overview of the music on Miami's T.K. and related labels.
Best known as the home of K.C. & the Sunshine Band, T.K. sat at the center of a web of Henry Stone-owned labels that included Alston, Blue Candle, Bold, Cat, Clouds, Dade, Dash, Dig, Drive, Glades, Gospel Roots, International Brothers, Juana, Kayvette, Kingston, Konduko, Marlin, Scott & Sunshine Sound. The labels' sprawling discography includes everything from deep soul to electro, from pop smashes to collector's grails that seem to have only been distributed locally, if at all. For every minor hit by Betty Wright, George McCrae or Clarence Reid, it seems like there are a half-dozen great but freakishly rare releases.
Stone seems more interested in low-budget, smash & grab (but still kind of worth buying) sets like this and this than, say, putting a few dollars towards decent design, liner notes or remastering. It's a pity, because there is so much great music that's buried in the T.K. catalog.
One of the stranger offshoots of T.K. was King Sporty's Konduko label. Sporty a/k/a Noel Williams was a Jamaican DJ/musician who worked with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and co-wrote "Buffalo Soldier" before relocating to the U.S. where he recorded and produced a wide variety of sounds: soul, funk, reggae, disco and electro. Somewhere along the way he also married the princess of the T.K. posse, Betty Wright.
As a treat to myself I arranged to get my #1 homeboy DJ Eleven to come out from New York and join me in spinning at my weekly Friday party, Hubba Rock. Eleven's travel schedule and my planning skills being what they both are, it took 2+ years to actually make this happen, so I'm super-psyched he'll be there. As an added bonus, the homie Willie Maze will be joining us on the wheels, too.
If you were to rank all of Belgium's cultural products in terms of awesomeness, the late Marc Moulin would rank somewhere between the french fry and Tintin.
He was one of those artists who managed to be way ahead of the curve not once, but several times-- first with the moody jazz funk of his early 70s recordings with Placebo, which eerily anticipated the sound of mid-90s NYC rap, and then with his late 70s recording with Telex, which were a big influence on Detroit's techno pioneers. Shit, even what little I've heard of the stuff he released in the last decade was pretty cool.
Last Tuesday I went out to 330 Ritch for the relaunch of Sake One's PST party, which had been packing the Levende Lounge on Thursday nights for the past few years. I guess Sake felt like the party was getting away from what he wanted it to be, so he took the brave step of uprooting it and starting all over again clean.
Sake did it big with guest DJ Spinna and a live performance by Goapele. There were some great moments, like seeing Chuy Gomez dancing to Moodymann, meeting SF house legend David Harness and seeing a lot of folks I don't generally see out.
I took a whole bunch of photos, although for photos that are actually good, you should probably go see Fred at Suckafreeze.
D-Sharp prowls, Chuy does the robot
Willie Maze poses with Sake One and his pants of many colors
Spinna's smile is bright, but Hakobo's shoes are electrical
Like every other time I've seen him, Spinna was great-- the guy is a master of all trades, playing breaks, house, afrobeat and even rocking a "not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good" routine in the middle of a rap classics set.
When Spinna played this, I just about ran from one end of the room to another to find out what it was:
Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9: "On a Day Like This" (Anonymous Simple & Plain edit) (www.djanonymous.fi/, 2008)
Gichy Dan was a protégé of Kid Creole who cut one LP, 1979's Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9. The original version of this song also appears on Strut's recent compilation of Kid Creole's productions. The version I've posted (which I think is the one Spinna played) is a re-edit by Finland's DJ Anonymous. I grabbed it from his excellent blog, DJ's Delight.
Anyhow, back to PST, my only gripe, which isn't really a gripe, was that a special invited guest who was in town that night and who was rumored maybe possibly hopefully to be coming didn't in fact make it through. Here's an aural love note from Rahiem to him:
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5: "Dreamin'" (Sugarhill, 1982)
It's an insanely goofy rap moment, even if it doesn't involve actual rapping.
I've been meaning to put a plug in for BBE's American Boogie Down, a compilation that came out a month or two back. It's a 2-CD set (one mixed, one not-- same songs on both) of late 70s/early 80s boogie stuff compiled by Rob Sevier, a guy responsible for compiling much of the great stuff on the Numero Group label. As usual, he digs up some pretty amazing things (Tony Cook! Visions of Tomorrow!).
The boogie genre is hard to characterize. Like Northern soul or deep funk, I think it's a category invented by DJs and record collectors and not a tag people used when the music was being made. If you were to make a Venn diagram with circles for disco and funk, boogie would probably fall pretty neatly between the two-- I think of it as blue collar disco.
Carl Davis & the Chi-Sound Orchestra: "Windy City Theme" (Chi-Sound, 1976)
Some context: Carl Davis was a music biz guy who acted as head A&R for some pivotal Chicago soul labels including Okeh and Brunswick. He's also credited with production and songwriting on a fair number of releases for those labels. In the mid-1970s he had a label deal with United Artists, which released his productions on the Chi-Sound label, including this track, credited to him.
I don't know what Davis's role in the record was-- he's credited as co-writer of the b-side-- but I suspect most of the credit goes to co-producers Sonny Sanders and Tom Tom 84 a/k/a Tom Tom Washington. Both are largely unsung but created mountains of great music as arrangers and producers.
For more info on the three, check out Robert Pruter's 1991 book, Chicago Soul. Pruter is (was?) a long-time R&B editor of the record collector tabloid Goldmine and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Chicago soul scene. As a result, the book often reads like an encyclopedia; it's organized around labels and filled with somewhat formulaic bios and recitations of chart positions, etc. What the book lacks in narrative oomph is largely made up for by the sheer volume of information Pruter draws together about figures and institutions in the Chicago scene-- it's a really comprehensive picture.
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