I have a special place in my heart for obscure B-side throwaways, such as this mid-sixties Don Covay tune that crams in as many references to hit tunes and dances as he could in two minutes and twenty seconds. More Don Covay can be found at Flash 1964 di Generizioni e "Pick-up".
The 5 Stairsteps and Cubie were an also-ran entry in the sixties/seventies family musical group sweepstakes. Not sure what role two-and-a-half year old Cubie played in the band besides adorableness, apparently that was not enough to get them a big hit record.
It's a shame they never really caught on, I think Papa Stairstep (below) could have given Jackson 5 Papa Joe a run for his oddball patriarch money. Images and bio information about the band found here.
Here's a real oddity: a soul ballad car accident tune. The Unifics are one of my favorite 70s soul groups and "The Beginning of My End" starts at the end: the funeral.
No video, just audio.
"I wasn't too sure at first just what the doctor meant/when he informed me that there had been an accident."
My radio focus these days consists of drive time sports chatter or the local oldies station that play the usual suspects (Beatles, Motown, Gloria Gaynor, etc.) Occasionally I'll slip in a treasured Baikinange CD on my piece of shit car stereo for some "culture", but basically I'm a lazy ass, content to mull over the merits of yesterday's hits and misses.
Driving home this evening, tired of hearing the "Bulldog" ragging on the Buffalo Bills, I flipped over to Legends 102.7 and caught the opening notes of one of my all time favorite tunes, "I'm Your Puppet".
Pull the string and I'll wink at you, I'm your puppet I'll do funny things if you want me to, I'm your puppet......
From the all knowing Wikipedia James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966...."I'm Your Puppet" was written by Spooner Oldham plus Dan Penn and produced by Penn, who introduced Purify to Moore. The record spent 14 weeks in the U.S. chart, and sold an estimated one million copies. It was released in September 1966.
The duo continued into the 1980s, with no other big hits, but remained popular on the tour circuit.
The song was covered by a boatload of souless, white people including Donny Osmond, Elton John, The Box Tops and The Drive By Truckers. All fail miserably. Enjoy.
(I wantcha to) TELL mama....all about it....tell mama....what you neeeed...tell mama....what ya want....Tell MAMA! and I'll make everythin' awl ri-i-i-ight....
If you need to repent for your sins (yes I'm talking to YOU Miss Donna-Lethal-Nudist!) have a listen to this swinging soulful tale, if MY Sunday School had been this interesting I might have paid attention......
MP3 File Gene "Bowlegs" Miller - Frankenstein Walk - Hi Records #2161 - 1969 This Jukebox Mafia chap is rockin' it at least 3.74 ways on his blog. Today's selection is this gem which has an this wonderful candid give-and-take between Frankenstein and his lady friend as a prelude to "gettin' down". For more facts, and unlike so many in the 'sphere, he claims to be lazy about them go to Jukebox Mafia
In just the past few days, two of the most recognizable musical voices of the '60s (even if they weren't household names).
On Friday, Levi Stubbs died. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the Four Tops, who helped popularize the distinctive Motown sound. All that was achievement enough, but he also voiced Audrey II in the 1986 film-version-of-the-Broadway-musical-of-the-schlock-original of "Little Shop of Horrors," which makes him even cooler in my book. And this is one of my favorite Tops songs:
And just because, here's Billy Bragg doing "Levi Stubbs' Tears" at this year's SXSW:
Over at Funky 16 Corners, there's another fine tribute, along with a tune.
Meanwhile, we also lost Neal Hefti recently. He was a prolific jazz trumpeter/composer/arranger/etc. whose career started in the 1940s while working with Woody Herman's band. He later played with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra as well. You may not recognize his name, but you know his work -- he composed one of the most instantly recognizable (and swingingest) pieces of music to bubble up out of pop culture:
He also composed the theme to "The Odd Couple." To give you a taste of his non-television work, here's "Repetition" from 1947, featuring Charlie Parker on alto sax:
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