||||Bold Soul Brother

The (Young) Rascals - A Beautiful Morning

All throughout the time leading up to, and during, this year’s Wimbledon tennis championship the BBC were playing snippets of this tune. Hearing it again sent me digging and I pulled it, ripped it and scanned it (with the intention of posting here during that time; unfortunately work got in the way).

Better late than never (?) tonight’s offering is from a ‘blue-eyed’ soul band. The Rascals (originally The Young Rascals) were responsible for a number of singles during their first incarnation (1965-1972); with tonight’s offering from January 1968.

A Beautiful Morning is exactly as the name suggests, an up-beat offering extolling the joy of being outside (“It’s a beautiful morning; I think I’ll go outside a while and just smile; just take in some clean fresh air, boy. Ain’t no sense in staying inside, If the weather’s fine and you got the time, It’s your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day. Either way, It’s a beautiful morning when the sun is shining…“) a vocal led song with an up-tempo back-beat. The only thing I don’t like about this song is the rather harsh fade at the end – can catch you unawares.

Rainy Day on the other hand is a piano led ballad, a rather dreamy sound with an unexpected (and unwelcome) jump to some super fast violins half way through – ruins what could be a great slow-dancer.

The band constituted Eddie Brigati on vocals, Felix Cavaliere on keyboard and vocals, Gene Cornish  on guitar and Dino Danelli  on drums. Despite the apparent continued success; Brigati left the group in 1970, followed by Cornish in 1971.

After the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Celebration (1988), the Rascals reunited for a brief reunion tour; but Brigati opted not to participate. The (Young) Rascals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and for the first time in years, all four original members appeared together and in 2010 all four members of the Rascals reunited for the Kristen Ann Carr benefit.

Jesse Anderson

I’ve mentioned before how work has a habit of getting in the way, but I am determined to use these late nights in hotels to share some of my favourite tunes. Tonight’s offering is from Jesse Anderson; I bought this for the flip (his instrumental cover of the Curtis Mayfield (and Baby Huey) song “Mighty Mighty”). This version is, I believe, a very catchy up-tempo sound with some great guitar, flute and a wicked drum break.

However, when I pulled this record at the weekend I realised that although I grabbed a few copies of this (some spares to trade with if anyone is interested), I’d never really paid the A-side much attention. I’m pleased to say, having played it through a couple of times, that I love it!

“I Got A Problem” is a funky vocal, where we share Jesse’s pain at balancing his lover(s) with his wife… “my wife is number 1, my woman is number 2, but my woman will do things for me that my wife wouldn’t do…”

Manship lists this side as Northern, I can’t ever recall hearing it spun, but I remember less and less these days

Manship books this at £20, that’s quite a bit more than I paid per copy and more than we usually see it change hands for.

A recent post on YouTube suggested that Jesse is still very much alive: “Jesse Anderson is alive and well, living in Wichita, KS. He has recently released Funk N Blues, an album compilation of his songs from the 70′s. He’s working again with Gene Barge on some new material and possible record deal. ” and indeed, having dug a little deeper I see the CD is available on Amazon and thankfully includes these very tracks.

Jesse Anderson left home (Muskogee, Oklahoma) at the age of 19, in 1960, and travelled to Chicago with a band of like minded musicians to make vinyl for Federal Records. After releasing several records the group disbanded and Jesse returned to Chicago and work with a number of artists (Earl Hooker, Pinetop Perkins, Otis Rush, Jimmy Johnson and Syl Johnson) and became a recording artist under the production of Gene Barge, writing several hits together and recording for Chess Records, Thomas Records and Outta Sight Records.

Jesse co-wrote Somebody Loan Me a Dime which was recorded by Boz Scaggs and The Blues Brothers. Buddy Guy covered “I Got A Problem”, and Tyrone Davis did Let Me Back In. Jesse is an accomplished funky saxophonist and was frontman on several recordings and also plays guitar (often filling in for Earl Hooker). When rap music came into the scene, it affected many blues artists in the 70′s as radio stations wanted to get with the new sound, deserting the blues; at this time Jesse took a sabbatical.

I truly hope that this compilation brings Jesse some well deserved recognition (and money!). In the meantime, enjoy…

Billy Guy : You Move Me

A quick midweek drop to share one of my recent acquisitions with you, listed as “Billy Guy & The Coasters”. I am sure The Coasters need no introduction with a list of band members longer than my arm… today’s offering is from Billy Guy (30/06/1936 to 05/11/2002).

Born Delmar Phillips on June 30, 1936 in Itasca, (Hill County), Texas. Billy moved to Hollywood at the tender age of ten;  started acting as a child and worked in Johnny Otis’ new club The Oasis in the mid 1950s. He became very popular in the south of California, and is believed to be a one time member the Emeralds, Billy also recorded with Emmanuel Perez as Bip & Bop (Guy was Bip). He was invited to join the Coasters by Carl Gardner, who lived across the street in Watts. Billy stayed with the Coasters up to 1973 on recordings and acted lead on most of the Coasters’ later recordings – starting with Searchin’ and later The Shadow Knows, Wake Me, Shake Me, Wild One, Wait A Minute, Little Egypt, and the notorious Let’s Go Get Stoned. Guy continued his solo career for Chalco, Sew City, Verve and other companies and did singles as Billy Guy & The Coasters in 1975

Billy, who lived near Las Vegas during his later years, lost his wife June several years earlier and lived with girlfriend Vanessa Van Klyde for 30 years until his death. He was the victim of bad business advice during later years. Billy Guy died in his home at sleep (from a suspected heart attack) in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 5, 2002.

His releases appear to be:

• Ding Ding Dong/Du-Wada-Du  on Aladdin (#3287) in 1955 as Bip and Bop
• As Quiet As It’s Kept/Here I Am on ABC Paramount (#10320) in 1962
• It Don’t Take Much/She’s A Humdinger on ABC Paramount (#10397) in 1962
• Whip It On Me, Baby/Women (aka The Prophet) on Double-L (#719) in 1963
• Foxy Lady/?? on Chalco exact date unknown
• I’m Sorry ‘Bout That/Lookin’ Like A Nut Nut on GuyJim (#GJ-587) believed to be 1967 as The New Way
• Lookin’ Like A Nut Nut/Here ‘Tis on Sew City (#109) in 1967 as Billy Guy & The Odds ‘N’ Ends
• If You Want To Get Ahead, Shake A Leg/I’m Sorry About That on Verve (#10485) in 1967
• Let Me Go Getto/?? on All Platinum (#2320) in 1970
• The Ugly/Hug One Another on All Platinum (#2323) in 1971
• All I Need Is Love/Shake A Leg on Bell (#124) in 1971 as Happy (also released as Happy Cats)
• Watergate (Put Some Funk On, Cause The Money’s Been Long Gone)/Hockey-Puck on Black Circle (#102) believed to be 1970′s as Billy Guy and The Coasters
• You Move Me/Take It Easy Greasy on Sal-Wa (#1001) in 1975 as Billy Guy and The Coasters
• Ain’t No Greens In Harlem/Jumbo Bwana on Polydor (#2040-273) in 1977 as Billy Guy and The Coasters

The track in bold above is the only one in my collection (so far) and that is a recent purchase (from the ‘bay); have a listen and see what you think.