dave cortez FUNKY ROBOT

another pick from austin, tx's BACKSPIN RECORDS, located in possibly the most ridiculous strip mall south of the mason-dixon.  i borrowed my friend's bike and quickly managed to snap one of the brake cables enroute.  rather than be a good guy and get this fixed, i opted for the above, admittedly of equal price to having the brake cable fixed.  was it worth it?  no, i'm not even that in love with this song.  but i digress.  what this single does afford us, though, is a look into one of the more promising "do the (x)" dance numbers.  i imagine this dance to be a discreet application of brownian motion performed, after a few cocktails, by buckminsterfuller and isaac asimov.

dave cortez was an organist who had some success in the late 50s and early sixties before joining ALL PLATINUM RECORDS, a humbly named, nj-based label run by sylvia robinson.  before launching the inimitable SUGARHILL RECORDS in the late seventies, robinson performed and wrote a number of interesting protodisco tunes, charting with her 1973 performance of PILLOW TALK, a tune she tried to sell to AL GREEN.  she is also credited with writing one of the first international disco hits, SHAME SHAME SHAME, for the group SHIRLEY & CO in 1974.  five years later, robinson released RAPPERS DELIGHT, bringing east coast rap to a commercial audience (worth exploring KOOL HERC in the future).

electric ladies KING KONG

question- was soul music to have existed in 1933, might FAY WRAY have promulgated eugenicists final nightmare assisted by the tender troglodyte mitt of an over-sized brow ridge and stunning sagittal crest?

a meager digital dossier exists for THE ELECTRIC LADIES, and even less of the evidence confirming subsequent offspring.  MAINSTREAM RECORDS has about as much of a paper trail, too.  establishing themselves as a jazz label, MAINSTREAM adapted to the soul market in the early seventies, pressing artists like FREDDIE SCOTT & AFRIQUE.  the original b/w of this 45 is entitled NOTHING BETWEEN US, however, this copy is the mono and stereo mixes of the same tune.

sadly, all licensing of the mainstream catalog is owned by cultural/intellectual hegemytes, sony.

little sister YOU'RE THE ONE PT.1

a suitable valedictory dispatch following a recent trip through the well-stocked record shops of the amiable austin, tx produced this white label promo cut that's about as amazing as operating on one's kidney via a small incision in the belly button.  STONE FLOWER was a short-lived press fueled by san fran-based SLY STONE and distributed by ATLANTIC that released four singles: two from LITTLE SISTER, one from 6ix, & one from JOE HICKS.  YOU'RE THE ONE is the only single of the four to not use the MAESTRO RHYTHM KING drum machine (a device worth trying to take through airport security) that SLY would use on on his 1971 full-length THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON.  i think this label is of interest because not only were these singles among the first to use a drum machine, they were also helping to codify the grammar of psychedelic soul formalized by NORMAN WHITFIELD at MOTOWN with groups like THE TEMPTATIONS and THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH, as well as by FUNKADELIC on their first two full-lengths.

LITTLE SISTER is effectively the FAMILY STONE sans SLY on the mic.  vaetta, mary mccreary, and elva moulton honed their craft with THE HEAVENLY TONES before joining vet's bro sly and family.

screamin lord sutch I'M A HOG FOR YOU

more than twenty minutes at delilahs in chicago and/or four ounces plus of stronger-than-ajax-johnson-and-johnson-adhesive-duran-duran-duran inland, sea-breezy scotch generally results in a limbic isolation of insipid rationality and a deft squashing of said such, not unlike a polanski-led honduran day camp coup.  action!

before there was alice cooper, before there were those things at walgreens that as you walk by them they scare the shit out of you, before there was the icp, there was the founder of the official monster raving loony party LORD SUTCH (think purple people eater).  a disappointing name from his folks, david edward sutch, this thin strips of bacon nibbling earl managed to balance a life of running for public office in obscure english constituencies and performing music dressed as one of nero's bi-curious infantry.  in fact, many of his concerts were the financial power enabling sutch to campaign, so and so.

whatever the manic narrative from a man of an assumed effervescent, peety peerage,  his debut album on atlantic in 1970 featured jimmy page, john bonham, jeff beck, nicky hopkins, and noel redding (where the fuck is al kooper?!).  it seems there was a lot of confusion surrounding this record and ultimately forced sutch into a different kitchen, one with loads of black hairs, monsters, trains, and jack the rippers.  think garrison keillor at a chilling mn state fair in october...

i'm a hog for you baby was written for the coasters by jerry leiber and mike stoller, two ridiculously productive dudes who co-wrote tunes like hound dog (for big mama thornton) in '53 and jailhouse rock in '57.  the kinks released their cover in '63 along with the surfaris.  and....the inimitable earl of zydeco clifton chenier!  and....dumpy's rusty nuts (for real)!  i'd prefer to get a can of bacon bits, a sack of cheese curds and drink a few ice cold ones to this rendering, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD3t_kzE0D8