DJ's Old-Time Granny and Dyn-O-Mite spin old school soul, funk, and disco jams! The show airs on special occasions on WCOM radio, 103.5 FM in Carrboro, NC, and streams online worldwide. www.resoul.org
Thinking about Kool & The Gang today, I stumbled onto this rare groove. One of the most beautiful tributes to Coltrane I've ever heard.
From their 1973 LP Kool Jazz, produced by De-Lite Records owner Gene Redd. I was aware their jazz lineage ran deep. But I never knew that Thelonious Monk was Robert "Kool" Bell's godfather. They were originally known as the Jazziacs, formed in Jersey City back in 1964. Even though Kool was only thirteen years old at the time, over the next few years they occasionally played with McCoy Tyner and Pharoah Sanders.
But it was one of the tracks on Side Two that caught my ear. Erucu only clocked in at 1:23 on the record, yet it was a funky little Afro-Caribbean flavored breakdown, co-written by Jermaine Jackson and Don Daniels, and arranged by Gil Askey. Don Daniels had an extensive career as a writer/arranger and producer, and is probably best known for co-writing The Originals' biggest hit, Down To Love Town.
It was properly released the following year as a Jermaine Jackson single, and elevated to legendary status when it became one of Larry Levan's early Paradise Garage re-edits. On Live At The Paradise Garage, an amazing set from 1979 released by UK label Strut in 2000, it was his closing cut.
His car re-materialized, and he was so thrilled, he lost me in traffic before we could go out for lunch to celebrate. I ended up at the Pitman Street Sal's, where I picked through the leftovers from a stash I'd discovered earlier in the week. It was the first chance I'd had in several days to get back over there. After I'd looked through every piece of vinyl in their overflowing stacks, I stumbled onto this, peeking out of a pile of classical box sets. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning is the more celebrated dancefloor number from this record, but the title track blasts off to a rainbow disco in the sky.
About a year ago, I made a pilgrimage out to the Barden Family Orchard in northwestern Rhode Island, a spot from my childhood memories. And on the way back, late in the afternoon, found a nearby yard sale in full swing. It was Scituate Art Festival weekend, so there was a ton of traffic going by their house, and these cats had been slinging stuff all day. When I asked them if they had any records, they took me around the side of the house to reveal boxes and boxes of them. And more in an outside storage shed. I didn't ask any questions right then, just started digging.
Later, after I'd been there for a couple hours, I got the back story. One of the dudes who lived there had recently cleaned out a building in Pawtucket where somebody had been trying to start a resale business, but it hadn't panned out, so they left all the used furniture, books, records, everything just sitting there, destined for the dumpsters. This guy salvaged as much as he could and trucked it back to his house. So who knows where all the vinyl came from originally.
All I knew was that there was a whole bunch of crazy stuff, and I ended up with at least a hundred pieces. Probably more. And there were a ton of 12" promos in great shape, circa '79 and '80. Which I promptly shelved and forgot about for a while. Until this morning, when I pulled this one outta the stacks.
Only 500 copies originally pressed, and immediately blew up in Italy, so the promo was subsequently counterfeited. But this is an original U.S. promo copy. What a great track. Roller disco friendly and very Chic-esque. Produced by Morrie Brown for Mighty M Productions, the partnership formed in 1979 by Brown, Paul Lawrence Jones III (aka Paul Laurence) and Kashif Saleem, who was previously the keyboardist for B.T. Express. In 1981, Mighty M would helm Evelyn King's classic LP I'm In Love. Later in the 80s, Saleem and Laurence would play key roles in creating the so-called HUSH Sound through their work on many HUSH/Orpheus productions released by Orpheus Music. In 1999, "Does It Feel Good" was re-worked by British duo Phats and Small as "Feel Good," which was a #7 hit for them in the U.K.
Even if Randy Muller had long since moved on from his involvement with B.T. Express to leading Brass Construction and producing Skyy and Cameron, this track shows the late-era Express were still funksters to be reckoned with.
I think I found this Kid Creole single at the Swansea Sal's.
And then dug up this amazing live version. This performance reminds me of everything I used to dig about BOP (harvey) shows back in the day, and makes me realize I need more Coconuts vinyl in my tree.
From Heatwave's second LP, Central Heating, comes this upbeat charmer. The Groove Line may have been the hit single off that record, and sure, it's a classic, but this track shines pretty brightly, too.
Another funky track from the same album was Party Poops, and for that one, Heatwave cooked up a particularly funky video. Of course, nothing can top their acrobatic live performance of the title track from their debut record, Too Hot To Handle.
TV One's Unsung series profiled Heatwave in 2012. It was one of the series' most memorable episodes, because of the shocking tragedies that struck Heatwave at the height of their success.
And it's a good thing it did! A driving, proto-hi-NRG track that hit #3 on the British club charts when it was released in '78. With vocals by Donna Jones, who shook her groove thing under the strobelights in a very disco-rific promo video!
The Way That You Do It, an earlier track by Pussyfoot, was banned by the BBC for its sexually suggestive lyrics when it was released in 1976, and subsequently spent eight weeks as the #1 single in the UK.
Last nite I had dinner at the Capital Club in Raleigh with a new friend. Later on, we ran into DJ's Tongue & Groove downstairs at Neptune's, when B. Shaw (aka the longtime employee and new co-owner of Nice Price Books Raleigh) was DJ'ing.
The best thing he played all night was this:
An amazing slice of gospel soul from 1971. No telling if it was off an original copy, but I wouldn't be surprised, even tho' it's a $500 record! I'm jus' sayin', that's the kind of rare grooves you run across when you work in a used record store for several years.
From their double LP Power In Numbers that dropped in 2002, this track by Jurassic 5 reminds us of everything that was positive and life-affirming about the yes y'allin' days of old school hip hop.
It sampled Prophets of Rage by Public Enemy, and an early 70s track called Look Hear by Clive Hicks, who I'd never heard of before digging into the history of this track. But apparently he was a guitarist responsible for some seriously funky contributions to the crate-digging universe.
The year after Power In Numbers came out, Jurassic 5 did a show at the Cradle, and while they were in town, three of them visited the Lost City. They were all very chill and down to earth, and bought a fat stack of records while they were in the joint.
Yvonne Elliman burst onto the scene playing the role of Mary Magdalene in the original Broadway and film productions of Jesus Christ Superstar in the early 70s. She was one of the backup singers on Clapton's version of I Shot The Sheriff. Then she released a couple of albums on RSO records and hit #1 in 1977 with the Bee Gees track she performed on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, If I Can't Have You.
But onto this track right here, which is pretty superb.
And it's the only track on her Love Me LP from 1976 (produced by Freddie Perren) that she wrote herself.
This afternoon, I was heading back from the Swansea Sal's, where I picked up a copy of Spectacular Space Hits by the Odyssey Orchestra, MC Hammer's 1st album from '88, and a 12" released by Jive Electro in '99 with Bad Boy Bill and Doc Martin doing remixes of Tribe and Kool Moe Dee tracks.
Anyway, I turned on the radio and heard a really rockin' jam fading out. The DJ piped up, said we were listening to Cosmik Radio, and next up, we should "get ready for Lady." Then the track kicked in, and I was feeling it big time.
Lady are a duo featuring former Missy Elliott protege Nicole Wray and UK singer Terri Walker, who met in New York. Their self-titled, full-length debut dropped on Brooklyn-based Truth & Soul Records back in March.
Turns out Cosmik Radio has been on the airwaves for eight whole years, during which time DJ Cosmik has served up heaping helpings of funky goodness for her listeners. A stew of "soulful r&b, hip hop and urban music that is mostly underground or unreleased, as well as incorporating some more popular artists," according to the show's official bio.
DJ Cosmik is also an artist and producer who's apparently toured with Doodlebug from the Digables. And not too long ago she interviewed Devin the Dude!
The cosmik consciousness must be spreading, 'cuz now the show's on two other local stations (WBSR and The Buzz 96.7 FM) besides broadcasting Tuesdays from 1-3 pm on WRIU! That's positive. Now that we know the score, we'll definitely be tunin' in...
