If It Rotates We Can Control It

Last week we saw how "the groove" is found in recordings all over the world - it's only natural that you can find it in gospel recordings, too.  In fact, since so many secular soul and funk artists came from gospel backgrounds, you could argue that it just might be the source.  This week, I've got 3 groovy gospel tunes for you.

First up - Brother Samuel Cheatam, with 'Troubles of the World' from a 45 on Chicago's One Way record label (he has an album on One Way, too, called 'Stranger in the City').  This is a slow, brooding track with a deep and continuous groove.  There's another edition of this 45 on the Cora label.

Brother Samuel Cheatam - Troubles of the World

Second - on the Stax subsidiary label 'The Gospel Truth', the Rance Allen Group giving us practically the opposite - upbeat, snappy, and those great gospel vocals on top.  Some parts remind me of Sly and the Family Stone.  The Rance Allen group has several albums on Gospel Truth, and this track, 'I Got To Be Myself' is available on 45.

The Rance Allen Group - I Got To Be Myself

Lastly, also on the Gospel Truth label, Charles May and Annette May Thomas' amazing 'Keep My Baby Warm'.  You may have heard this before, because it's been comped a few times, but it's still worth hearing again... this is the most like a soul track - female vocals, a deep groove, but, at the end there's a great part where the music drops out and just the vocals let you know that it's gospel! There's an album on Gospel Truth called 'Songs Our Father Used to Sing', and this song is also available on 45.

Charles May and Annette May Thomas - Keep My Baby Warm

PS - Next week - straight up funk, I promise!

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From Italy to Poland to the USA, three examples of the groove that all funk fans are after.  The first track is by the Polish band Breakout, from their 70s album NOL on the Muza record label.  This is actually a killer LP, with several great tracks.  The one I chose, 'Sluchaj Rytmu', opens with a big open break before an opening that sounds like Beck could've sampled it.  Because they're a rock band, there's the requisite guitar solo, but still, the track's a winner:

Breakout - Sluchaj Rytmu

The second track is by a popular Italian duo Wess & Dori Ghezzi.  Actually, Wess was from the US originally, but was a big star in Italy.  He also put out some storming funk numbers as Wess and the Airedales, most notably that great cover of 'Vehicle' that was on the Kings of Digging comp.  Anyways, the track that I include here, 'Sentimento Sentimento' actually has a terrible chorus that really ruins the song, but the opening (and middle) is pretty sweet.  It would be nice to have an edit to cut out those parts... it's from a 1973 single on the Durium label.

Wess & Dori Ghezzi - Sentimento, Sentimento

Finally a dope track by the Left Rev. Eugene McDaniels, from his 1970 Outlaw LP.  He took a lot of heat for this LP, because it wasn't soul, or rock, or any kind of established genre.  This track, 'Cherrystones', like the track above, also has a chorus section that I'm not that fond of.  Unlike the Wess & Dori track, however, you can play this one out!

Eugene McDaniels - Cherrystones 

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When you think of funky music, the first name that comes to mind is definitely not this week's entry... known as the Velvet Fog, it's Mel Torme!  Yup, he was a teen idol in the 40s, on Nightcourt in the 80s (remember?) and, it also turns out that he had some damn cool records.  First - from his 60s LP 'Mel Torme - Right Now!' check 'Comin' Home Baby' (which, as a side note, appears to have been written by Bob Dorough, of Multiplication Rock fame) for some serious big band funkiness!  Also, from his 1974 LP Live at the Maisonette, dig his version of Stevie's 'Superstition'!

Mel Torme - Comin' Home Baby (from Mel Torme - Right Now!)

Mel Torme - Superstition (from Live at the Maisonette) 

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So I'll get back to playing some full shows soon, but there's a few more subjects that I've felt for a while deserved a post of their own.  This post is a couple of unexpected reggae covers that I really loved.  I say unexpected covers, because the songs covered aren't ones that you would typically expect. 

First up - Price Blackman's cover of 'Rapper's Delight', here titled 'Rocker's Delight', in which he lets us know that a good man is a rasta man, and not to trample his collie field...!  The Prince was also from Toronto, which is cool, and the record came out on 12" on the Solar Sounds label (no date, but probably early 80s).  What's funny is that this isn't the only, nor the most famous, Jamaican cover of Rapper's Delight!  That honour goes to another group by the name of Xanadu and Sweet Lady.

Price Blackman - Rocker's Delight

Next is an amazing track - Derrick Laro and Trinity and their reggae cover of Michael Jackson's 'Don't Stop Till You Get Enough'.  Now, DSTYGE is a pretty unstoppable song in it's own right, and playing this reggae version always turns heads (when they realize what it is).  It came out on a Joe Gibbs 12" (the flip is 'And Even Then Keep Going') in 1980.  Check the toasting at the end!  Genious.  I love this tune.

Derrick Laro and Trinity - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

When I get around to it, I'll also post up the Hindi (!) version of DSTYGE, by Usha Uthup...  next time.

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First of all, a big Happy New Year from me to all the good folks out there.  I hope you had a good holiday, and had a chance to rest and see the people you love.  Now we're back in the new year, and I've got lots of cool music to share with you... this week - Ethiopia!

 Ethiopia is a country rich in musical tradition.  During the 1960s and early 70s, the capital, Addis Ababa was known as 'Swinging Addis' for it's vibrant nightlife.  A military coup and the fall of the Emperor Haile Sellassie I and the subsequent curfews put an unfortunate end to this very creative time.  For this episode of the If It Rotates podcast we take a look at some seriously funky Ethiopian music.

For fans of this kind of music, the best way to listen to it is on the Ethiopiques series of CDs put out by the french label Buda Musique.  Now, for vinyl fans, the L'Arome label is picking some choice tracks for release.  They've released two LPs, 'Ethiopian Urban Modern Music' volumes 1 and 2.  The first is a compilation of tracks from artists such as Mahmoud Ahmed, Ayalew Mesfin, Hirut Beqele, and more, and the second is devoted to a great Ethiopian artist Alemayehu Eshete.

For this episode, I've got three tracks for you to sink your teeth into - the first, from Ayalew Mesfin is a real rocking number, the second is the great Alemayehu Eshete, and the third is by Asselefetch Ashine. 

Ayalew Mesfin - Hasabe (from Ethiopian Urban Modern Music vol. 1)

Alemayehu Eshete - Feqer feqer new (from Ethiopian Urban Modern Music vol. 2)

So I hope this gives you a little taste of Swinging Addis, and I highly recommend the Ethiopiques CDs as well as these new L'Arome LPs, they're great!

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