Titres-Artistes&Label 60'

CAN YOUR MONKEY DO THE D– RUFUS THOMAS – 1963 London Records
LOUIE LOUIE – THE KINGSMEN – 1963 Pye International
MADNESS – PRINCE BUSTER – 1963 Blue beat
MOCKINGBIRD – CHARLIE AND INEZ FOXX - 1963 Sue Records
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS – PRINCE BUSTER – 1963 and 1965 – Bluebeat
AINT LOVE GOOD AINT LOVE PROUD – TONY CLARKE - 1964 – Pye International
DADDY ROLLING STONE – DEREK MARTIN – 1964 Sue Records
DIMPLES – JOHN LEE HOOKER – 1964 - Stateside
DO THE DOG – RUFUS THOMAS – 1964 Atlantic
GO NOW (Original) – BESSIE BANKS – 1964 Red Bird
GONNA WORK OUT FINE – IKE & TINA TURNER – 1964 Sue Records
HURT BY LOVE - CHARLIE AND INEZ FOXX - 1964 Sue Records
HI HEEL SNEAKERS – TOMMY TUCKER – 1964 Pye International
I CANT STAND IT – SOUL SISTERS – 1964 Sue Records
I'M THE FACE – THE HIGH NUMBERS - 1964 Fontana
IT’S IN HIS KISS – BETTY EVERETT – 1964 Stateside
JUMP BACK – RUFUS THOMAS – 1964 Atlantic Records
KEEP ON PUSHING – THE IMPRESSIONS – 1964 HMV
LAST MINUTE – JIMMY McGRIFF – 1964 Sue Records
MERCY MERCY – DON COVAY – 1964 Atlantic Records
MY GIRL SLOOPY – THE VIBRATIONS – 1964 London Records
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK – THE VELVELETTES – 1964 Stateside
NIGHT TRAIN – JAMES BROWN - 1964 – Sue (originally released on London 1962)
OOH BABY (WE'VE GOT A GOOD THING GOING) – BARBARA LYNN – 1964 London
PAIN IN MY HEART – OTIS REDDING – 1964 London Records
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME – JIMMY REED – 1964 Stateside
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING – HOWLIN’ WOLF – 1964 Pye International
SO FAR AWAY – HANK JACOBS – 1964 Sue Records
SOULFUL DRESS – SUGAR PIE DE SANTO – 1964 Pye International
THE JERK – THE LARKS - THE LARKS - 1964 Pye International
UNDER THE BROADWALK – THE DRIFTERS – 1964 – Atlantic Records
WHY YOU WANNA MAKE ME BLUE – THE TEMPTATIONS – 1964 Stateside
YOU'RE A WONDERFUL ONE - MARVIN GAYE - 1964 Stateside
AL CAPONE – PRINCE BUSTER – 1965 - Blue beat
BOOTLEG – BOOKER T & the MGs – 1965 Atlantic Records
EL PUSSYCAT – MONGO SANTAMARIA – 1965 - CBS
INCENSE– THE ANGLOES – 1965 Fontana
HARLEM SHUFFLE - BOB AND EARL - 1965 Sue Records
LETS STICK TOGETHER – WILBERT HARRISON – 1965 Sue Records
LITTLE PIECE OF LEATHER – DONNIE ELBERT – 1965 Sue Records
MR PITIFUL – OTIS REDDING – 1965 Atlantic Records
MUSTANG SALLY – WILSON PICKET – 1965 Atlantic Records
MY GIRL – THE TEMPTATIONS – 1965 Stateside.
RESPECT - OTIS REDDING – 1965 Atlantic Records
SEE SAW – DON COVAY – 1965 Atlantic Records
SHOTGUN – JUNIOR WALKER – 1965 Tamla Motown
THE ENTERTAINER – TONY CLARKE – 1965 Chess Records
THE IN CROWD – DOBBIE GRAY – 1965 London Records
THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO - THE TEMPTATIONS – 1965 Stateside.
TREAT HER RIGHT – ROY HEAD – 1965 Vocation
TWINE TIME – ALVIN CASH – 1965 Stateside
WATCHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT - SMALL FACES – 1965 Decca
WOOLLY BULLY – SAM THE SHAM – 1965 MGM
634-5789 - WILSON PICKET – 1966 Atlantic Records
AINT THAT A GROOVE – JAMES BROWN – 1966 Pye International
AINT TO PROUD TO BEG - THE TEMPTATIONS – 1966 Tamla Motown
LETS GO BABY (WHERE THE ACTION IS) – B side of “BAREFOOTIN’ – 1966 – Sue Records
BANG BANG - THE JOE CUBA SEXTET – 1966 – Pye International
BAREFOOTIN – ROBERT PARKER – 1966 Island Records.
BILLY’S BAG – BILLY PRESTON – 1966 Sue Records
BOOGALOO PARTY – FLAMINGOS– 1966 – Phillips
COOL JERK – THE CAPITOLS – 1966 Atlantic Records
HEARTBEAT Pts 1 & 2 – GLORIA JONES – 1966 Capitol Records
HOLD ON I’M COMING – SAM & DAVE – 1966 Atlantic Records
I CAN’T TURN YOU LOOSE – OTIS REDDING –1966 Atlantic Records
I SPY (FOR THE FBI) – JAMO THOMAS - 1966 Polydor
MIDNIGHT HOUR – LITTLE MAC & THE BOSS SOUNDS – 1966 Atlantic
OPEN THE DOOR TO YOUR HEART - DARRYL BANKS – 1966 – Stateside
SHOTGUN WEDDING – ROY C – 1966 Island Records
YOU DON’T KNOW LIKE I KNOW – SAM & DAVE – 1966 Atlantic Records

The Funk Brothers

The Funk Brothers est le nom d'un groupe de musiciens studio de Detroit (Michigan) qui a participé à l'enregistrement de la plupart des albums du label Motown entre 1959 et 1972, date à laquelle la Motown s'est établie à Los Angeles (Californie). Les Funk Brothers apparaissent sur de nombreux hits Motown, comme "My Girl", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Baby Love", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", "The Tears of a Clown", and "(Love is Like a) Heat Wave".

En 2002, le documentaire de Paul Justman 'Standing in the shadows of Motown' retrace l'épopée du groupe, d'après le livre éponyme d'Allan Slutsky. Dès le début, le film annonce la couleur : "les Funk Brothers ont joué sur plus de hits n°1 que les Beatles, Elvis, les Rolling Stones et les Beach Boys réunis"...

Histoire

Membres

La toute première formation regroupait son leader Joe Hunter, Earl van Dycke (piano), James Jamerson (basse), William Benny Benjamin et Richard Pistol Allen (batterie), Robert White, Eddie Willis et Joe Messina (guitare), Jack Ashford et Eddie "Bongo" Brown (percussions), Jack Brokensha (vibes, marimba). Hunter quitte le groupe en 1964 ; il est remplacé aux claviers par Johnny Griffith et à la tête de la formation par Van Dyke. C'est à cette époque qu'un troisième batteur rejoint le groupe, Uriel Jones.

En 1967, les guitaristes Dennis Coffey and Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin (l'initiateur de la pédale wah-wah qui marquera les productions de soul psychédélique de la Motown) rejoignent le groupe. Benny Benjamin s'éteint l'année suivante, et Bob Babbitt commence à remplacer James Jamerson sur plusieurs enregistrements. Les Funk Brothers sont pour la plupart noirs-américains ; Messina, Brokensha, Babbitt, et Coffey, eux, sont blancs.

INSTANT
	Art Neville "Hook Line And Sinker" / "Buy Me A Rainbow" INSTANT 3276 In 1966 Eddie did a brief stint with one of Joe Banashak's label's - INSTANT. Joe Banashak had started out in the industry as the owner of the influential A-1 Record Distributors in New Orleans, in 1959 he decided to start his own label and established MINIT (a label he later sold onto Lew Chudd in 1963 when his main A&R man and hit maker Allen Toussaint left for the army) from the success of MINIT he opened INSTANT in 1961 before going on to found several smaller labels such as ALON, SEVEN-B, CHANNEL ONE and BUSY B. Banashak was a tough business man who was constantly pushing his A&R men to create hits, often telling them what stye of track to write and record. It seems that there are very few artists who have a good word to say about Banashak and the dodgy deals he offered his artists and A&R men. Eddie had started working for Banashak's SEVEN-B label the previous year and had become an in-house A&R man, writing and arranging songs for himself and other acts and was quickly brought on board at INSTANT to work with some of Banashak's artists. One of these artists was Art Neville, one of the Neville brothers, a musically talented family consisting of Aaron, Art, Charles and Cyril, he started his career out as a member of the Hawkettes, (who will always be remembered for the wonderful 1954 recording "Mardi Gras Mambo") before embarking on a solo career under the wing of Banashak and Allen Toussaint. The song he cut under Bo was "Hook Line And Sinker" - a non stop dancer bearing no relation whatsoever to the massive Smiley Lewis track of the same name, his voice sounds really similar to Skip Easterling's who oddly penned the delicate ballad "Buy Me A Rainbow" on the flipside, Skip recalls how he wanted to recall this himself but Joe B. insisted on Art having it. "Hook Line & Sinker" is one of Eddies stand out recordings of this period.
	Chris Kenner "I'm Lonely Take Me" / "Cinderella" INSTANT 3277 "Im Lonely, Take Me" is a great deep soul vocal, strikingly different to anything I have heard by Kenner before, it was recorded in 1966. "Cinderella" is outrageously good! A wild shotgun inspired Rn'B wailer with more balls than a randy bull!!!! Chris Kenner was a popular male singer in New Orleans who recorded for a variety of local labels froim 1955 onwards such as BATON RECORDS, IMPERIAL and RON before moving on to INSTANT where he really made an impression, working with Allen Toussaint he penned "I Like It Like That" which reached the national top ten in 1961 and was later made famous by the Dave Clark Five in 1965. He also penned "Something You Got" - a big hit that was later covered by a whole host of artists such as Alvin Robinson, Barbara George, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown, and Bobby Womack. His signature tune however was to be 1962's "The Land of 1,000 Dances" which subsequently became a huge hit for Wilson Pickett. The two 45's he cut for Eddie Bo on INSTANT and his Bo colaboration released under the pseudenym "'Candy' Phillips" for ATLANTIC are in my opinion his only truly brilliant records but alas none are considered masterpieces yet, perhaps as they were never as successful as that early sixties body of work. Kenner fell from grace in 1968 when a girl he was with turned out to be underage and he was charged with statutory rape, he never quite got his popularity back after this and combined with the serious alcohol problems that had grown worse throughout the sixties his career really did slip. He died in 1976 of a heart attack.
	Chris Kenner "All Night Rambler Pts 1 & 2" INSTANT 3280 Also recorded in 1966, one of my favourites by Chris Kenner and devilishly tricky to find, I am still without a copy but searching all the time. A cool RnB dancer with all the right ingredients, classic mid sixties Bo production that starts to hint at the funkier edge coming to the front.
	The Rainbows "Key To My Heart" / "Good Thing Goin'" INSTANT 3291 Released in 1967 this is incorrectly listed on Eddie Bo's website as being an Eddie Bo release on the SEVEN-B label, "Key To My Heart" is a really muddy production with a great gospel / soul song underneath it, The Rainbows sound a little similar to The Crescents who recorded for SEVEN-B in the same year. But the vocal here sounds just like Bo. "Good Thing Goin'" is another great soul recording with a group sound, Bo's voice is buried slightly under the female backing but the more you listen to it the clearer it becomes that it's him in there.
	Lee Bates "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" / "Key To My Heart" 3321 Hmmm, a very poor outing from Lee Bates who released several great soul stormers towards the end of the sixties, "Key To My Heart" is a rather average version of the Bo penned song of the same name by The Rainbows, whereas the cover of "Sittin' On The Dock Of A Bay" is very poor. Eddie did so much stuff, come on the guy's allowed one or two slip ups! I know there is one more Eddie Bo collaboration with Lee Bates on INSTANT as I owned and sold it a few years ago but can't for the life of me remember what it was?
Martin Lawrie www.soulgeneration.co.uk

BLUE JAY
	Eddie Bo "Gotta Have More" / "Come To Me" BLUE JAY 154 A great group-soul dancer with Eddie playing organ and singing lead with a male vocal band - The Barons providing backing, quite a northern soul backing track on this one, superbly juxtaposed with down home lyrics and vocal style. This was possibly Eddie's first release on BLUE JAY - quite possibly there are another 4 waiting to turn up which may explain the cat number. Released in 1964, Blue Jay was his own label which tied into the launch of his own publishing company EBOVILLE MUSIC, BLUE JAY was operated out of the same suite as Eddie's other label FUN.
	Eddie Bo "Fight It" / "River Of Tears" BLUE JAY 155 For his second BLUE JAY release Eddie picked a punchy southern soul wailer called "Fight It" a fantastic record that could quite easily be mistaken for early Sam Cooke, a tale about a relationship breaking down and Eddie pleading to his baby to "fight it". "River Of Tears" is a pleading ballad with cheeky horns giving it a strange offkilter feeling. The vocals barely sound like Eddie as he adopts a singing voice closer to Tommy Ridgley.
	Eddie Bo "Fee-Fie-Jum-Bo-Li" / "Danger" BLUE JAY 156 "Fee-Fie-Jum-Bo-Li" is a really wild Rn'B shouter with a distinctive New Orleans feel to it, Bo sings the words to sound like "Fee Fie Jambola" leading me to believe that this awesome track is his personal thankyou to the mouthwatering dish that must have frequented his plate numerous times over the years. "Danger" is a really hot mid tempo bluesy ballad, or at least it would be a ballad were it not for Bo's mean and drawn out vocals.
	Eddie Bo "Our Love Will Never Falter" / "Lucky In Love" BLUE JAY 157 One of Eddie's most sought after releases and without doubt one of his best, for a while in the eighties this was thought to be an un-released track, now of course we are well aware of its existance on 45. Recorded in October 1965, "Our Love Will Never Falter" is a storming soul dancer with the coolest, funkiest and most soulful vocals Eddie ever put on 45, it is one of those true rarities - a totally perfect record - it takes you on a uplifting journey through Eddie's declaration of love for his lucky lady with some of the greatest lyrics he ever wrote, it just leaves you exasperated that this wasn't a massive hit record, I would rate this higher than any Jackie Wilson or Sam Cooke even Otis Redding. A true masterpiece that quite rightly should contribute to earning Eddie his title of The Master! "Lucky In Love" is a whistful love story where Eddie croons like a erstwhile fool - quite amusing but definately not one of his better ballads.
	Tommy Ridgely "Pretty Little Mama" / "Call On My Baby" BLUE JAY 158 "Pretty Little Mama" is a wild rocker that could easily have been recorded in '56 were it not for a few tell tale riffs and references of the time, Tommy's voice is gutsy and powerful as he howls over a ballsy rhythm n' blues jumper. "Call On My Baby" is spectacular if not only for the operatic falsetto and borderline yodelling of the female backing track. Lord knows what was going on in the studio when they cut this, Ridgley's voice is in deep blues territory here singing some killer lyrics penned by Bo. This session was just prior to the Roger & The Gypsies session when Joe Banashak pulled the pair of them into his studio to sort out Earl Stanley's session for "Pass The Hatchet". When comparing this sound to "Pass The Hatchet" it really does make you realize just what a transitionary moment that session would be for Bo. I have a near mint spare copy of this 45 if anyone needs a copy.
Martin Lawrie www.soulgeneration.co.uk