The Soul Corner - Clarence Carter "Slip Away"

I saw my man and WYMA favorite Charles Bradley this week, and he and his great band tore it up as usual. Fantastic show.

A highlight was a perfect cover of the 1968 classic "Slip Away":

"Slip Away" was recorded at Rick Hall's FAME studios with the great Muscle Shoals house band shortly before that band left to found its own studio a year later.

I dig the wah wah guitar here and love that the silky smooth sound of the song nicely offset its rather nasty lyrical intentions.

Clarence Carter was one of few soul singers of his time who was a college graduate, earning his degree from Alabama State College in 1960 after studying at the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega.  

Carter performed for decades and never failed to include "Slip Away".  

 

I can't believe I waited this long to include this one in the Soul Corner - thanks for the suggestion Charles Bradley! And here is the one and only Mr. Bradley performing "Slip Away" earlier this year:

The Soul Corner - Otis Clay, "That's How It Is"

Otis Clay was born in Mississippi in 1942, moved to Chicago as a young man and resides there to to this day. He had some minor hits, and then became a reliable club performer, and later an effective community activist on Chicago's West side.

The vocal on "That's How It Is" is a favorite of mine. Hard to believe this 1967 song is not better known:

Love the name of the record label - "One-derful! Records". With that name, too bad it didn't become a major force like Stax or Motown.

The Soul Corner - The Spinners "I'll Be Around"

The Spinners, one of the most beloved of all the soul music vocal groups, have been recording and touring for 50 years. They hail from Detroit, started their career with Motown, and were known in Europe as the Detroit Spinners to avoid confusion with a British folk group.

But their zenith occurred in the 70's when they recorded in Philadelphia for Atlantic Records, and were produced by Thom Bell.

Here's "I'll Be Around" from 1972:

So many songs either feature someone who moans that their life is over because their girl/boy left them, or else we find the dumpee bitterly telling the dumper what a giant mistake they made. But in "I'll Be Around", co-written by Thom Bell, silky smooth lead singer Bobby Smith not only keeps his cool, but takes the high road, "bows out gracefully," but lets her know that if she changes her mind she can come back - "I'll be around." Good strategy my man.

"I'll Be Around" was the first in a mid-career string of mega-hits for the Spinners: "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", "One of a Kind (Love Affair)", "Mighty Love", "Then Came You", "Games People Play" and "The Rubberband Man".

The Soul Corner - "Sweet Inspiration"

The Sweet Inspirations were backup singers to a long list of major acts, most famously Elvis Presley, and including Wilson Pickett, Jimi Hendrix, Solomon Burke and Aretha Franklin. They can be heard on the Dusty Springfield classic album Dusty in Memphis, as well Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl".

The Sweet Inspirations also had a few hits of their own in the late-60's. My favorite is "Sweet Inspiration" from 1968, written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham:

At this point the group consisted of Cissy (Drinkard) Houston, Estelle Brown, Myrna Smith and Sylvia Shernwell. Various other members came and went though the Sweet Inspirations long career, which started in the late 1950's. They continued recording through 2005, and have performed even more recently.

But the composition, musicianship and and most of all vocals on "Sweet Inspiration" are just perfect, a powerful love song.

The Soul Corner - "Skin Tight"; Ohio Players

Sly's birthday yesterday got me thinking about the great rock'n'soul era. And low and behold, the team at the Soul Corner research institute worked through the night to uncover this magnificent video, which has more good things going for it than I can list here - crazy Sun Ra/priest outfits, Japanese subtitles, the horns, the hair, the phrase "skin tight britches". Feel free to add your own favorite element here in comments below.



The Ohio Players were the party. [aside: I would feel so much better about the whole "the Ohio State University" nonsense if I thought they lifted it from the Ohio Players, but I'm guessing not]

The Ohio Players formed in 1959 and toiled away until a string of hits starting in 1974 - "Skin Tight", "Fire", "Love Rollercoaster", etc.

Further evidence of the industrial Midwest as home to the best mixologists of guitars and beats. Dayton is in the Soul Corner today.

The Soul Corner - The Chambers Brothers "Time Has Come Today"

Here at the Soul Corner, we love that place where soul music and rock'n'roll meet, as highlighted by artists and songs featured on many previous Fridays - Solomon Burke, Sly and the Family Stone, The Tempts' "Can't Get Next to You", etc.

One of the all-time great rock and soul jams is "Time Has Come Today" in all its 11 minute, psychedelic, LA, freak out, funky cowbell glory:



The song was recorded live in the studio in a single take and became a smash hit in 1968. Since then it's been sampled and used in more than 100 movies, TV shows and ads. Yet the Chambers Brothers never saw much at all in the way of royalties due to the shady business dealings that were all too commonplace in those days. Oh how the Chambers Brothers could have used a righteous label like Merge Records and a capable, honest manager. Here is Lester Chambers' own recent handwritten statement:

NK:

This video by Lester's son Dylan Chambers launched an as yet unsuccessful campaign to get the Chambers Brothers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, though maybe 2013 will be their year.

The Soul Corner- "Expressway to Your Heart"

I cautiously wade into the pool they call "blue eyed soul". I had vowed to myself not to go there with the Soul Corner, eager to keep it real, as it were. But when this song came on the radio today, I realized it is such an all-time favorite of mine that it'd be unfair to let skin pigment stand in between this 1967 classic and the Soul Corner:

"Expressway to Your Hart" owed a great deal to the biggest and best blue-eyed soul band of the era - The Rascals, as well as the vocal stylings of the Righteous Brothers.

The song has a place in soul history as the first hit for the Philadelphia-based team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who wrote and produced the track. Gamble and Huff went on to form the Philadelphia International Records label and became major hitmakers in the 1970's for the O'Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and many others, racking up 170 gold and platinum records in their career.

And here's a fine cover of "Expressway to Your Heart" by a white guy named Bruce who knows a thing or two about soul music:

The Soul Corner- King Floyd "Groove Me"

Got a request for this one and I thought hell yeah.

New Orleans' soul man King Floyd with his 1970 smash hit "Groove Me". It put "awww sookie sookie now" into the lexicon of soul.

The Soul Corner- Stevie Wonder "Higher Ground"

I was thinking this week, which artist most deserves the biggest gig in the world, the 20 minute Super Bowl halftime? So I looked at the list of who has performed and there was one glaring omission - Mr. Stevie Wonder.

Who doesn't like and respect Stevie?

And who can't groove to this?:

Special bonus to anyone who can identify the drummer in this clip. I'd love to know who is kicking it so colossally back there on the skins.

The Soul Corner - Don Cornelius (Soul Train)

The death of Don Cornelius this week is sad at a great many levels.

But today let's celebrate the immeasurable contributions that Mr. Cornelius made to black music and American culture. Every Saturday morning from 1971-2006, Soul Train presented not only the best in soul music, but great interviews, with candid insights into black culture at a time of rapid social change in the US, plus awesome fashion and dancing. It allowed a white kid like me in the 1970's to sneak behind the racial curtain, into the black club, the black church, the classroom at the black college. It was as educational as it was wildly entertaining.

There are so many great Soul Train clips on You Tube, I urge you to dive in there, you'll be amazed what you will find.

But here's a few to get you started. First, a terrific interview with Curtis Mayfield when Superfly was released:



One of the remarkable elements of the show was how the superstar artists were right in the thick of the studio audience, literally up close and physical with them, as here when Marvin Gaye lip synchs "Let's Get It On":



Here's The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, doing a live vocal over the recorded track; this song goes out to one of our great WYMA writers:



And finally, the famous Soul Train dance line, this time featuring Don Cornelius himself in one of only two times he joined the line in the history of the show, with Mary Wilson of the Supremes, to the sounds of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown:

The Soul Corner - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Not one, not two but three hit versions by different major artists. That's a song. One of the best by the legendary Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong Motown songwriting team.

First up, Gladys Knight and the Pips 1967 release. Motown is known for its polished pop-flavored singers like Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. But it's the rough hewn ones like Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin and Gladys Knight that I love most. And this recording, which reached #1 on the R&B charts and #2 on the top 40 charts, is one of Gladys Knight's very best. This arrangement is said to have been inspired by Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect". The lip synching here is well worth putting up with to get that great dancing by the studio guests:



My man Marvin Gaye's 1968 version was actually recorded before Gladys Knight's rendition but released a year later. A much silkier approach, with the Funk Brothers house band being backed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. It was a huge #1 smash hit.



Then the rock'n'roll swampy cover by the great Creedence Clearwater Revival from 1970. This release of such a well known black music hit by a white artist actually caused CCR to be banned from some radio stations in Alabama and have bookings there cancelled. I can't find a good You Tube of the full on 11 minute version but here's the 4 minute radio single version:



But the first version of the song was by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, not available in a format I can link here.

The Soul Corner - Fontella Bass - "Rescue Me"

Fontella Bass, from St. Louis, had a few R&B hits, but certainly none as memorable as her 1965 smash "Rescue Me".

Here's the recorded version featuring session drummer Maurice White (who later went on to form Earth, Wind and Fire) and a then unknown young singer, Minnie Ripperton, on backing vocals:

We like this song so much we'll also give you a live TV version where Ms. Bass looks a bit nervous yet fabulously stylish - especially that fine hat that you Soul Corner ladies out there should emulate and start wearing today.

The Soul Corner - Ike and Tina Turner, "A Fool in Love" -

One of my all-time favorites, from 1960, "A Fool In Love", Tina Turner's very first record:

Here's a live performance from the Shindig! TV show in 1964, with Tina and the Ikettes dressed uncharacteristically conservatively, no doubt to please the uptight TV network dons:

The Soul Corner - "99 and a Half (Won't Do)"

We are an apolitical forum here, so this is offered without much commentary. For me, it's a slamming musical moment with no need for further embellishment or any contextual analysis be that contemporary or historic.

My principal message today is that Mavis Staples is an American treasure, as good as it gets.

Play this loud.

And now after hearing that you are out there saying, wow JD, nothing can equal that. But you would be wrong because here is the 1965 original version of "99 and A Half (Won't Do)" by it's co-author (Wicked) Wilson Pickett, and featuring WYMA Hall of Famer Steve Cropper on guitar:

The lyrical turn that Mavis gave it in her version is fantastic. But love, liberty, respect, it's the same - 99 and 1/2 just won't do. Just won't get it.

The Soul Corner - Irma Thomas

By request (thanks Frank!), let's cue up Irma Thomas, one of the great all-time soul singers, and the pride of the musical mecca of New Orleans.

I found this amazing video, can't tell when filmed, of Irma Thomas singing her classic single "Time is On My Side". Even by New Orleans standards, this is some band, including Dave Bartholomew on trumpet and Allen Toussaint on piano:

Irma recorded the song in 1964 and upon hearing it, the Rolling Stones immediately then recorded their version.

Here's one more classic, the recorded original of "It's Raining" (1962)

Irma continues to sing extremely well and do excellent work today. This is a 2010 live recording of Irma just killing the Bill Withers song "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh":

Irma Thomas' recorded version of "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh" appeared on I Believe To My Soul, a criminally underrated 2005 CD produced by WYMA favorite Joe Henry, featuring various soul artists (Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, Billy Preston, Allen Toussaint, Ann Peebles). Very highly recommended to all Soul Corner readers:

http://www.amazon.com/Believe-My-Soul-Joe-Henry/dp/B000BNKZ0Q

Artist web page: http://www.irmathomas.com/

The Soul Corner - Sam Cooke

The Soul Corner is coming up to the end of its calendar year run, and looking for the essential artists or songs we may have overlooked.

No one sang sweeter or with more feeling than the great Sam Cooke. The 1964 classic "A Change is Gonna Come" represented a significant stylistic change for Cooke. Legend has it that hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowing the Wind" while Cooke himself was being denied entry into Southern motels while on tour, inspired him to move away from his pop style hits like "Twisting the Night Away" to write something topical and from his heart. The vocal here is so weary, so heartfelt, so true:

And here's another of my Sam Cooke all-time favorites:

If you have a request for these final editions of the Soul Corner, please post them in the Comments section here or track me down. I'll be posting a survey soon on what we should do on Fridays in 2012.

The Soul Corner - Harlem Shuffle

Here's a great song that needs no introduction, though I suspect many of you have never heard this original version:

George Harrison reportedly called Bob and Earl's version of "Harlem Shuffle", released in 1963, his favorite song of all time. The song was arranged by a then unknown musician named Barry White who had been the bass player for Bob and Earl in earlier bands.

Love that groove. I appreciate the Stones bringing this song to a larger audience. Here's their version, wonderful, true to the original, but not better in any way in my view:

Shake a tailfeather baby!

The Soul Corner - The Flirtations: "Nothing But a Heartache"

I've long been a fan of this song, but not until today did I find this video, which is awesome beyond words, perfect and then some.

The Flirtations were a trio from South Carolina - Viola Billups and sisters Ernestine and Shirley Pearce - who signed with Deram Records in England. "Nothing But a Heartache" became a prime example of the "Northern Soul" of England that united mods and R&B fans and became the rage of cool teenagers across the UK in the late '60s-early'70s.

I showed this vid to my 12 year old daughter and she flipped over the fashion. Good taste, that kid.

The over-the-top production here is so great - the piano intro, the big build ups and work out, and the ever increasing drama and high pitch of the vocals: Nothing but a heartache everyday!"

The singer may be miserable but this song can make us in the Soul Corner feel so good.

The Soul Corner - "Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton

It is impossible to say what was the first "soul" song. Some cite Ray Charles' 1954 hit "I Got a Woman" though the term "soul music" didn't come into play until 1961.

But for my money, this 1952 recording is as good a place as any to start: Big Mama Thornton singing the original version of the Leiber-Stoller penned, 12 bar blues classic "Hound Dog". It was released as a 10" 78 RPM single and reached #1 on the R&B charts.

I love the vocal phrasing here, the emphasis on different words each time through.

"Big Mama" was born in Alabama, but got her start in Houston. She was an accomplished drummer and harmonica player. She died in 1984.

Did you know that the song was later covered by some white guy from Memphis? But these lyrics pack a whole lot more power when sung by a woman to a man. I mean, c'mon seriously, who acts like a "hound dog," the fellas or the ladies?

The Soul Corner - The Meters

The Soul Corner has spent a lot of time in Detroit, Memphis, Chicago, but not nearly enough in the great musical city of New Orleans. This must be remedied.

So let's go straight to the top of the fabled Crescent City food chain -- The Meters --the first family of New Orleans soul and funk brothers.

Formed in 1965, and splitting up in 1979, the band still occasionally plays a one off show. The lineup: Art Neville (keyboards, vocals), Cyril Neville (keyboards), Leo Nocentelli (guitar), George Porter Jr. (bass), and the incomparable Joe "Zigaboo" Modeliste on drums.

They have served as the band for numerous New Orleans legends including Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Lee Dorsey, as well as Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Robert Palmer and many others.

It's good for the body and good for the soul.