Funk my Soul

Another week, another obscure treasure - dug up and dusted off for your pleasure. This week, it is a wonderfully gifted troupe, Creation, who had been Leon’s Creation on their debut in 1970. Headed by Leon Patillo - who later went on to solo success as a progressive gospel singer in the eighties - this their follow-up album has all the hallmarks of a band ready to make the big time - with so much virtuosity crammed into the grooves. However, Leon’s untimely departure to join Carlos Santana’s band left another monumental ‘what if ?’ in the chapters of Soul Music. What we can enjoy is the potential that lay at the feet of Creation. Listen and wonder.

This is a @320 vinyl rip of the original Atco LP including covers

Tracks
A1 Facts 3.58
A2 Burnin’ Out My Youth 2.38
A3 Wastin My Time 3.14
A4 Joy 2.20
A5 it’s Gotta Be This Way 2.28
A6 I’m In Love 3.59
B1 Nothing Can Stop Us Now 3.34
B2 Spirit 3.02
B3 Trial and Error 3.38
B4 It’s Gonna Be Alright 3.38
B5 Survival 3.41

Review by Trakbuv

Creation is another throwback to those spiritually and musically entwined heady days of the sixties and early seventies. Freely mixing male and female leads/harmonies, seemingly no defined production notes, with each verse having its own character and anticipation. The perfect definition of jamming in the studio - oh, how wannabe producer heads could take note ! Creation is in fact an incarnation of Leon’s Creation who had released a tremendous LP in 1970 entitled “This Is The Beginning” - and bless Nikos, he has it available here in his very own back pages. The ‘Leon’ tag referred to Leon Patillo, their lead vocalist and primary songwriter. He was also an accomplished keyboardist, playing with the likes of Funkadelic on their “Standing on the verge” LP. However, although things were looking up for the energetic septet and their Sly & the Family Stone workprint, Leon had caught the attention of another rising star, Carlos Santana. For Leon this was an opportunity too good to miss, and he left the band to support Carlos on the 1975 “Borboletta” LP and subsequent tour. Personally, I feel this experience was not the greatest conduit for Leon’s warm but limited vocals, with him only sounding comfortable on the tracks “Practice what you preach” (something that sounded like it could have come from his own pen, but was actually written by Carlos) and his very own “Mirage” (taken from the Leon’s Creation debut LP, and weaker than the original in my humble opinion). I suspect that the follow-up LP to “This is the beginning” lost the ‘Leon’s‘ to announce his subsequent departure from the band. But as an LP, he is very much centre stage on ‘Creation’.

The band were as follows : Carol Stallings (violins & vocals), Orlando Stallings (guitar and vocals), Gerry Peterson (reeds), Billy Gerst (trumpet), Jimmie Calhoun (bass), Leon Patillo (keyboards and vocals), Lenny Lee Goldsmith (keyboards and vocals) and Barry Frost (percussion). The line-up appears slightly different from the 1970 LP back cover, retaining only Leon, Billy, Jimmy and the feisty vocals of Carol. A significant coup was the inclusion of Lenny Lee Goldsmith who had fronted the band Sweathog (responsible for the vibrant vocals on the righteous ‘Halelujah’ hit - I believe Gerry Peterson may have been in the band too). As a consequence, Lenny added another dimension, and not just to the band - he also provided four of the songs, the remainder coming from Leon. The album cover poses the notion of the eight piece band as a blend of pastels available to an artist’s palette. And in doing so, the artist has left no colour unused. A vibrant mix of the rhythm and blues, funky ochres, gospel ultramarines, gritty umbers and dramatic firereds.

My particular favourites include the anthemic “Survival”, a real crackerjacker sing-a-long-a-tracker with great use of violin, and the intricate and exquisite “I’m in love”, both absolute top drawer to these ears. I’m familiar with “Wastin’ my time” from somewhere so I am guessing that this is crowd pleaser - and rightly so with its important message amply supported by a sensitive arrangement. Great stuff. Carol really burns up the vinyl on “It’s gotta be this way” with more than a hint of the Mavis Staples - electrifying. And the rocky, steel guitar jangle-lead “Trial and error” is also a major success, with a fabulous vocal performance (Lenny Lee ?).

The album is full of hooks, great lyrics, ingenuity, spontaneity, and brimming with charisma. A real joy from top to tails and another sublime addition to the annals of Funk My Soul.

————————————–

Buy the vinyl from Εbay and since there’s no available video on the album enjoy “Μirage” from 1970’s “In The Beginning” album.

Rapidshare

Zshare

Let’s see your replies brothers and sisters.

Bookmark this post to:

Mr.Moo is back with an Excellent Atlantic soul LP from Don Covay!

Don was one of the label’s biggest soul talents in the mid 60s and he not only cut some great work on his own, but also penned some tunes that have become some of the most enduring soul numbers of his generation, like the cuts “Mercy, Mercy”, “Sookie, Sookie”, and “See Saw” - all of which are on this LP!

After the first handful of listens, See-Saw gives the impression of being a top-loaded LP with the fun songs like “Everything Gonna Be Everything,” “See-Saw,” “The Boomerang,” and “Fat Man” being the early favourites.  Given a wee bit of time, See-Saw reveals itself as the total package.  The aforementioned fun songs (include the album’s closer, “Sookie Skookie,” in that list) teaming up with the slowburners like “Precious You” and “Iron Out The Rough Spots,” and the midtempo chillouts like “The Usual Place” makes for a flat-out cool groove.  There’s a reason Mik Jagger took it upon himself to emulate Don Covay’s up-front delivery, and the weird-falscetto backing vocals pre-date Tom Waits’ stab at it by about 20 years.

This is a @320 vinyl rip (supplied by Mr.Moo) of the original Atlantic LP including covers.

Tracks
A1 See-Saw 3:00
A2 The Boomerang 2:03
A3 Everything’s Gonna Be Everything 2:33
A4 Fat Man 2:35
A5 Precious You 2:43
A6 Iron Out the Rough Spots 2:56
B1 Please Do Something 2:51
B2 I Never Get Enough of Your Love 2:46
B3 The Usual Place 2:08
B4 A Woman’s Love 2:37
B5 Sookie Sookie 2:45
B6 Mercy, Mercy 2:26

Review by Soulmakossa

Don Covay… the man who was being funky when funk still was a bad word. The pleasantly crazy Wildman of Soul, the inventor of dozens of the genre’s classics and an ecclectic, spellbinding guitarist who recorded some of the rawest, least polished slabs of down and dirty Soul. No matching suits here, nor synchronized dance steps.

The Don’s second Atlantic LP, ‘See Saw‘, is a masterpiece pure and simple. While not a huge hit upon its release, the LP has rightfully been reappraised since.

Wacky as ever, Covay struts through “See-Saw” providing his own - hilarious, full-throttled, turky-like - backing vocals. Aretha Franklin’s cover, recorded two years later, may have been the big hit, but it’s Covay’s original version that you’ll want to check out first.

The title-track is followed by the sped-up, fastpaced dance hall favorite “The Boomerang“, another perky ‘n’ quirky Covay original that starts out with the ‘is it a bird, is it a plane?’ catchline and is gradually immersed in thick layers of Chi-sounding brassy goodness (also, two verses of Martha & the Vandellas huge “Dancing in the Street” are snuck in, heh!)…

Maintaining a mid-tempo, loping beat on the funky and fierce “Everything’s Gonna Be Everything” (that tambourine is hittin’ something nasty), Covay launches into another high-energy soul romp with “Fat Man“, namechecking one of his heroes, Fats Domino, in mid-song.

Donning the balladeer’s hat, Covay gets sweet ‘n’ sensitive Percy Sledge-style on the slow-grinding “Precious You”, featuring his snappy guitar pluckings, only to put the mood into a decidedly bossa-nova by way of Stax Studios groove with the smouldering “Iron Out the Rough Spots”.

Hard sockin’ tambourines, punishing horns and a relentless backbeat provide another funky background for the Don on “Please Do Something“, after which he dips into one of his most beautiful ballads, “I Never Get Enough of Your Love“, co-written with Steve Cropper, whose inimitable guitar style is all over the tune.

Country-esque guitar noodling accompany Covay next on the all-out belter “The Usual Place”, while “A Woman’s Love” probably is the most sophisticated ballad here.

The Don goes out on a rawkus, however… Aside the “Mercy, Mercy” classic, his first hit that was added here for good measure, it’s the fiery, stompin’ gutbucket proto-funk of “Sookie Sookie” that musta raised quite a few eyebrows back in ‘66. I mean seriously, that tune is just outta there…

Don Covay Came, See-Saw and Conquered with this peerless collection of rougher-than-rough, earthy and sweaty Southern Soul.

———————————

Biography and discography on Wikipedia and Allmusic.

Buy the reissue LP from Ebay or Dusty Groove and the CD from Cduniverse.

Rapidshare

Zshare

————————————

Bonus Album

You asked for more Don Covay and Mr. Moo kindly offer us another classic.

The killer first album from Don Covay, working here with his classic Goodtimers combo in a nicely gritty groove! The record really stands out from other Atlantic soul of the time, as Covay keeps things tight, and fresh, providing most of the tunes himself, and working in a style that has echoes of southern soul, but which comes off with a bit more of an east coast sort of groove!
Lots of tracks are upbeat, party soul type numbers - and the backings by the Goodtimers are totally great - just the sort of rollicking backdrops you’d expect to hear Don singing with on any of his well-travelled live dates of the time. Titles include the hit “Mercy Mercy” — plus “Daddy Loves Baby”, “Take This Hurt Off Me”, “I’ll Be Satisfied”, “Can’t Stay Away”, and “Come On In”.

Rapidshare

Zshare

Bookmark this post to:

Extremely RARE and Collectable Jazz Funk !!!!

Absolutely ridiculously hard to find ORIGINAL of this second album by the group Newban on the legendary and desirable tax scam label Guinness Records. The last one sold on Ebay for 365$ here. Check for more prices here.

Their debut was a certified classic,  a monster from beginning to end, encompassing ensemble funk (”Father Time”) to the shades of jazz on the closing track “Home With You.”

For their final release, Newban serves up more of the tight groove established on their debut.  If there is a difference between the two, it is a more pronounced jazz sensibility. Songs like “If I Could” and “Rhythm and Rhyme” feature some lyrical woodwind and horn playing, sort of like a smoother James Mason.

This is a @320 vinyl rip of the original Guiness Records LP including covers

Tracks
A1 Greenburgh 3:16
A2 Rhythm & Rhyme 4:14
A3 Find a Place 4:32
A4 If I Could (Make You Mine) 2:37
B1 Fine Woman 6:10
B2 Easin’ Through 4:33
B3 Free Your Mind 3:53

Creators of two extremely rare funk/rare groove LPs, not much was initially known about Newban, but it is now acknowledged that the group was an early incarnation of Atlantic Starr. The members included future Starr members Sharon Bryant, Jonathan Lewis, Porter Carroll and Joseph Phillips alongside Mark Slifstein, Keith Johnson, Albert Jones and Gregory Press.  Newban was produced by mentor Malcolm Addey, and they recorded their two albums for the tiny Guinness label.  Both were released in 1977, and the first Atlantic Starr album came out in 1978, leading one to speculate they recorded these albums quickly to get out of their obligations and rush over to A&M.

This lot were an earlier edition of Atlantic Star, but don’t be too harsh, this is one of the most amazing jazzy soul albums I own.  It contains tracks “If I Could (Make You Mine)” & “Greenburgh” which have beautiful vocal performances.  Plus “Fine Woman” which is 6 a minute glorious flute groove.

Problem is this album is ultra, ultra rare, and there are no plans to reissue it.  If you’re into soul, jazz and groove and you ever see this album, buy it.  It’ll cost you a few bob, but you won’t be disappointed.

Newban’s first album was recently reissued, so there is hope that the same kind people may reissue Newban 2. This album is the far superior of the two Newban albums, and really should be available for all to hear.

Rapidshare

Zshare

Bookmark this post to:

Hi everyone. To those of you who have only recently joined us and to those who have followed us since the move from Lost-in-Tyme.

IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS

Yes folks, that’s how long Nikos and the gang have been collating this glorious homage to the best of funk and soul from the 60s, 70s (and occasionally the 80s) to provide what we would like to consider one of the best of its kind. And without your continued support for what we are trying to do, it would have finished long ago - so an incredibly important thank you to all of you who have taken time to leave a comment. We would also like to give whole-hearted blessings to all the artists and their loved ones who have contacted us over the years and provided invaluable insight into their world. I think it really proves we are doing something right and I know we would all like to show our appreciation to our heros with a huge cyber round of applause.

And to our contributors who have been so instrumental in maintaining the high standard and expectancy of the posts, a humungous warm thank you to Groovy Emmanuel, Mr Moo, Trakbuv, Raphy, MsMerising, and to many others we have omitted here - ta very much for your time and commitment. And of course to the man with the masterplan, give a great big hand to the Greek Soul Daddy, brother Nikos.

So a gracious Happy Second Anniversary to us and long may FunkMySoul continue to promote, educate, satiate, and proliferate. Thank you all and God bless you all.

To celebrate this prestigious occasion, we have a real rarity for you this week, provided over a month ago from one of our dear readers. We are proud to present Ike Noble’s debut LP “Fresh Start” from 1981. Heavily sought after for the crowd pleaser ‘I’m gonna miss you’, but also a wonderful LP in its own right.

This is a @320 vinyl rip of the original Connowil LP

Tracks
A1.Another Star 4.28
A2.Your Love 4.51
A3.Everybody Get Up And Boogie On Down (Y’All) 4.42
A4.I promise you 2.59
B1.Never Get Enough Of Your Love 4.39
B2.Love To Be Loved 5.28
B3.I’m Gonna Miss Your Love 4.36
B4.I’ll Love Only You 4.21

Review by Trakbuv

Mr Ike Noble - I regret to say I could find no personal information about this guy, which surprises me considering how respected a singer he is. The earliest recordings of his voice would appear to be a pair of live takes for the Ohio-based label Alley Records during the sixties, where he was backed by The Uptights. I’m guessing that The Uptights may be the same outfit that later backed Marvin Holmes on the fabulous ‘Ooh ooh the Dragon’ Northern Soul goodie, among others. The smouldering ‘She’s got to be loved’ (a great rendition of the Tyrone Davis classic ‘A woman needs to be loved’) and the spritely ‘That’s what I get’ are both welcome introductions to his slightly gruff, soulful tenor. The latter provided the b-side to his first official recording, ‘It’s bad’, an absolute storming midtempo beauty (1967, Alley Records) - check this one out ! I also managed to cite a single by Noble and the Uptights entitled ‘Don’t worry about it’ on Action Records (written by Izear Noble - the one and same ?).

In the seventies, 1976 to be exact, he released a single out on Smoke Records entitled ‘She’s all I need’ that reminds me of Tyrone Davis around this period. The b-side is also memorable with some intriguing synth injections. So far so good, for sure. Well someone sure thought so at Connowil Records on signing him for his debut long player, “Fresh Start”. For me, this is one of the first great LPs that came out of the dawn of indie soul that went on to dominate the eighties with their limited, economic use of musicians. Having said that, the musical integrity of this LP is top notch with real horns and strings, and a girl chorus still finding a place in the ever downsizing studio. The big hip track that DJ’s were leaping on to be the first to air was “I’m gonna miss your love”, a first rate rare groover that really shows off his undoubted soulfulness over a delightful arrangement. The uptempo tracks are less memorable for me, with respectable versions of Stevie’s “Another Star” and LTD’s “Never get enough of your love”. For me, the LP is wisely biased towards slower material where we really are treated some delicious retrofied delights. “I promise you” is faultless - a meticulously constructed throwback to, say, The Independents - a beautiful blend of Southern and Sweet Soul topped with a creamy girl chorus. His voice has a lovely smoothness on the wonderful “Your love”, this time reminding me of a Leroy Hutson ballad in texture. “Love to be loved” is another goodie, and on “I love only you” there is even a little of Tyrone Davis in his voice accompanied by some great harmonies.

He followed up this mighty fine LP with “Lonely People” in 1982 which combined several of the ballads on here with some more stunners, and with just two straight uptempo numbers, it had an even more mellow flavour. He released a solitary 7in funker in 1985 entitled “It’s a party”. The excellent UK-based outlet Timeless Records re-released “Lonely People” on CD and LP in 1987, but “Fresh Start” has never had a CD release. Or so I thought. There is an obscure CD release from as recent as 2008 released on the Connowil subsidiary Reppiks Records (available here). The title is “Hotter Than Heat” by The d’ Kalendars, featuring a mix of some of the key tracks from “Fresh Start”, a few nice unreleased uptempo tracks and some instrumental fillers. They also followed it up with a CD entitled “Ike Noble and friends” (available here) featuring 6 tracks by the man including the more uptempo numbers from “Fresh Start”. Some wily marketing strategies at work here, methinks.

You must be very lucky to buy this vinyl under 250$, check for the prices of the latest vinyl sold, here.  There are 2 vinyl copies available on Groove Collector from 450$. Imagine that the single “Another Star/Your Love” is on sale now on Ebay for 250$. Since there’s no CD release yet, listen to the wonderful groover “I’m gonna miss your love” and enjoy the whole album.

Rapidshare

Zshare

Bookmark this post to: