A day late with this post but never mind, yesterday was still pretty good weather wise, so here's the third installment of Summer Sundays. This is a 12" cut by U.K. producers Dobie and Howie B, who were collectively known as Nomad Soul. I'm pretty sure this is the only record they released under that moniker although they did produce a few remixes using the same name, most notably London Posse's classic "Jump Around" as well as Boo Ya Tribe's "Psycho Funk". I've got a fair few of Dobie's solo 12"s and of course, another London Posse classic which he also skillfully crafted - "How's Life In London". The guy's a gifted and highly underated producer in my opinion.
Now if you're familiar with the records just mentioned, which you should be, don't expect anything too similar from this track. It's hard to categorise "Candy Mountain". The beat I guess could be described as Hip-Hop (Steve Park's "Moving In The Right Direction" looped up over the Honey Drippers' drums) and although it's laced with sweet Female Soul vocals (courtesy of Diane Charlemagne), I wouldn't call it R&B. Don't know what you could tag it as really. No matter, it's not all that important, just file under 'good music'.
Whenever I play out over the Summer months I usually give this record an airing and more often than not get asked what it is and who it is by. All types of people seem to love it. It took me ages to find a copy back in the early '90s, after initially hearing about it, I think, through an older local DJ called Greg Tipper (although it might have been Mex, I can't remember for sure. If you read this Greg, hope you're doing well). Eventually one turned up at the bootsale in Croydon's Multi Storey Car Park for next to nothing. And the good news is, for those of you who might also want a copy, it can still be found today, nice and cheap, on Discogs and in plentiful supply. There's actually three different pressings listed but oddly none are the same as the one I have. They all include the Radio mix though which is the only version you need anyway.
Digger supreme, Kid Dyno, has just dropped a nice selection of B-Boy jams to help get things warmed up for the forthcoming Summer months - go check it out here - I'm 20 minutes in so far and it's been fire all the way!
It's funny how a little bit of sunshine can perk you up and inspire certain listening habits. I always find myself pulling out records that spark an uplifting summery feeling around this time of year and I've spent the afternoon recording some of my favourites. In the good spirit of Summer I thought I'd spread love and share them with you here, all in high quality 320Kbps format. From now until the official beginning of the season, which is July the 21st, I will upload a track on every Sunday that we have good weather. The idea is, that by the time the longest day of the year comes around you will have downloaded enough songs to burn off a nice CD to listen to throughout, what will hopefully be, a decent couple of months sunshine.
The first track I've selected was a recent-ish Boot Sale pick up and a bit of 'no-brainer' really, an absolutely beautiful cut by U.S. Soul-Funk group 'Leo's Sunshipp'. Years ago I remember Nic Bossa harping on about the album this song originally appeared on but I've yet to come across a copy in the wild. As much as I'd love an original pressing of the album I simply don't pay good money for anything other than Hip-Hop so I'm pretty resided to the fact I will probably never own it. I do however have the original U.K. single of "Give Me The Sunshine" which includes "I'm Back For More" on the flip, arguably the best two tracks on the album anyway, and on deep cut 12" grooves - nice and LOUD. If I had to pick a track that I thought best represented the widely thrown around term 'Rare Groove', then this would be it. Beautiful really is the best way to describe this song and it makes for perfect late night listening on those sweaty Summer evenings. Get your download on and enjoy, this is the obvious choice for Track One on your 'Summer Selections' CD, Track Two coming next week, weather permitting!
Leo's Sunshipp "Give Me The Sunshine" (1980 Grapevine U.K. 12")
Fairly recently I dug up a couple of obscure records that have very interesting stories behind them, which as far as I know, are not documented anywhere else on the Internet. There's a few brief references to both pieces of vinyl on various sites, but nothing that delves much deeper than the basic acknowledgement of their existence.
Now being from the U.K. it was particularly interesting for me to learn that both these records, which are by U.S. artists and were manufactured in the States, have a link extremely deep rooted within the British Isles, funding being supplied by a most unlikely source. Before I get into all that though, lets kick off with some basic info...
The first record is by a group called The America Poeple (sic) on the Attack label out of Richmond, Virginia. This was the only release by the group and although the small print states both sides are 'from Attack LP 6910', it never saw the light of day (more about that later). Side-A's "Give It Up If You Can't Do Nothing With It" is a funky Soul cut that sounds like it was recorded in a garage. This isn't a bad thing, if like me, you dig that gutter raw production approach. The band aren't the tightest in the world and the singer lacks a certain spark, but the song itself is one catchy number that I find myself playing on a regular basis. The B-Side is an instrumental take (always a bonus) with added party atmosphere - people chatting, laughing, drinking and generally sounding like they're enjoying themselves. This record is one of my favourites from a small batch of very similar 45's I picked up at the Boot Sale last Summer. All on tiny labels and all possessing that same 'homemade' charm. I might write about a few more on a later date but for now enjoy the rips of both sides below, a little crackly I know but hey, that's the world of obscure Funk 45s for ya!
The America Poeple "Give It Up, If You Can't Do Nothing With It"
Prince Charles & The Royal Guards "Funky Bootie"
The second record, again a one off label release on 'Rolls Royce Records' is a Rap 12" by The Two Fresh Brothers featuring Easy El & Chilly D, from 1986. The twelve includes four tracks in all - "She's Fine" (Club, Radio and Dub versions) and "Don't Even Try It". "She's Fine" is an OK-ish sparse drum machine cut, typical of the period with The Two Fresh Brothers trading lines back and forth, sounding like a cross between Run DMC and Black Rock & Ron. This track doesn't do a great deal for me. The subject matter, the odd tale of a supposedly fit girl that eats a lot and then moves on to the next man, isn't particularly interesting and doesn't get any better after repeated listening, but never mind, the bonus flip side cut "Don't Even Try It" is dope. Like the old saying goes, "B-Side wins again". Credited as an accapella, it's actually a Beatbox (courtesy of Easy-El) backed battle/brag rap, with The Two Brothers, again, trading lines back and forth, this time coming off far harder and even more reminiscent of Black Rock & Ron (or The Vicious Four as they were known at that time). Funnily enough one of the lines refers to them originating from Hollis, Queens so the Run DMC influence is obviously close to home.
If you can track down a copy of this 12" then it's well worth copping for the B-Side alone but check out both cuts below...
The Two Fresh Brothers "She's Fine"
The Two Fresh Brothers "Don't Even Try It"
So there you have the records, now here comes the really interesting part, the story behind them. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the name 'Prince Charles' credited on both labels, I'm sure however you haven't made the connection yet. 'Prince Charles' is actually the Prince Charles. The Prince Of Wales or, as he's less well known - Charles Philip Arthur George. That's right, just like the also very unassuming snooker wiz Steve Davis, turns out old Charlie boy is a massive Black music lover. Rumour has it that one of the wings in Clarence House was specially converted in the early '80s to house his ever increasing Northern Soul and Funk collection. And even more amazing is the fact that before The Princes Trust got off the ground, Charles was lending financial support to budding musicians across the globe who were struggling to make the break.
At the tender age of 23, whilst serving in the Royal Navy, a brief post in Richmond, V.A, gave him exposure to a bubbling Black Music scene in the underground clubs across the city. One particular group playing regular late night spots caught his attention and a meeting was arranged, the result being the Royally financed release of the America Poeple's "Give It Up If You Can't Do Nothing With It" 45. In honour of the Prince's commitment to the band they decided to credit the B-Side as 'Prince Charles & The Royal Guards' and the label was apparently named 'Attack' as a tongue in cheek nod to a higher ranking officer in Charles' fleet - 'attack' being his favourite phrase when at sea and confronted with unknown vessels. Unfortunately due to a short notice re-posting Charlie was unable to follow through with promotion duties that were lined up and the single sunk without trace, subsequently the planned album which had already been recorded was never released.
Some 25 years later a chance meeting with long time friend Larry Joseph led to another vinyl venture for the Prince who'd been looking to release a 'Rap' record since first hearing 'Planet Rock' on a trip to New York in the early '80s. Much like the America Poeple 45, only brief financial support was supplied before Charles' ever growing family commitments took hold and the group were left to fend for themselves. Despite the Prince managing to attract further financial support from the prestigious UK car company Rolls Royce, the record received poor promotion and minimal radio play, resulting in little more than a very minor local hit. You'll notice a similar reference to Charles on the label credits - 'The Prince Charles Crew presents...'. By the time this was released he was married to Diana with both William and Harry in tow, so the term 'Crew' was adopted, cheekily applied by Chilly D to help give the family's 'street cred' a boost.
So there you have it, the story of Prince Charles, the Funk 45 and the Hip-Hop 12". Who would have thought it ay? Of course it's all a load of b*llocks that I just made up to keep myself amused whilst I'm rained off from work. It does tie the two, otherwise completely unrelated, records together quite nicely though.
Being snowed in and with no work yesterday finally gave me the opportunity to record this here album which I'd been meaning to for ages.
I picked it up in the summer and on reflection probably turned out to be my best bootsale find of 2009. Initially I slept on it after briefly skipping through the grooves but after repeat listens it's grown on me hugely. A quite unique melting pot of Soul, Jazz, Folk, Rock and in places Funk make this album hard to slot comfortably into a particular genre but one word that does spring to mind is when trying to describe it is - 'beautiful'.
There's not much I can tell you about Del Richardson that isn't already written somewhere on the internet. Popsike reveals that this album is highly in demand and various other online sources suggest it's a very hard record to turn up (as far as I can tell, it was only released in the U.K.). I imagine the fact that the L.P. is pretty tricky to categorise caused a marketing nightmare at the time and therefore probably didn't shift too many units on release.
As I mentioned above, the styles of music vary from track to track but the album retains a great consistency in sound and feel with well thought out track sequencing, making this an easy and engaging listen from beginning to end. Side-A kicks off with the funkiest cut on the album "Do What You Can" which, if I'm honest, is one of my least favourites. It has a very similar vibe to Tower Of Power's trademark Jazz-Funk sound or even vintage Average White Band which I've never been overly keen on. Don't get me wrong, both groups have turned out some fantastic material and I have a good amount of records by both but there's something, I can't place my finger on, that grates on me after a while. I'm sure a lot of people will love "Do What You Can" but it just doesn't do it for me as much as some of the others tracks on here. My personal highlights come in the shape of Jazz-Folk tinged cuts "Gypsy Girl", "Jigsaw", "Good Morning World", "Mama Jane" and "A Song For Two". All possess an ethereal beauty that touches the soul and are so warming to the ear I can't imagine a single person not liking them.
The package comes complete with 'icing on the cake' - sleeve artwork deigned by revered illustrator Roger Dean who produced a heap of classic album covers from the late '60s through to the late '90s. Breaks collectors will be familiar with his work on staple pieces like Babe Ruth's "First Base" ("The Mexican") and Atomic Rooster's "In Hearing Of..." ("The Rock") plus some harder-to-find gems such as Nucleus' "Elastic Rock" or Lighthouse's "One Fine Morning" (the U.K. release on Vertigo). Strangely the actual labels on the record credit the artist as Dell (instead of Del) Richardson and the album title as "Pieces Of THE Jigsaw". The labels are standard company design so I can only assume that someone at M.C.A. supplied the wrong details to either Roger Dean for the sleeve, or the person working at the pressing plant for the labels. Which one is correct I don't know but it does amaze me when big corporations like M.C.A. (who were manufactured by Decca in the U.K.) make f*ck-ups like this!
Enjoy the complete album below - I don't usually do this. The rip was really only intended for digging buddy Nic Bossa who passed by it whilst suffering from a severe hangover one early Sunday morning. After plodding round the rain soaked booty for an hour or so we decided to call it a day. Just as we were leaving I spotted a car with records still in the boot. Nic half-heartedly flicked through a couple of boxes and, I think, pulled out "Troubleman" before giving up. It was in one of those boxes that "Pieces Of A Jigsaw" turned up and was amongst a handful of about eight other L.P.'s I eventually bought, averaging out at around £2.00 each after a 'bulk-buy' discount.
If Nic had been clear headed that morning I'm sure he would have bought it without hesitation and I do feel a bit guilty so don't mind sharing something that, on another day perhaps, I would have missed out on...
A day late with this post but never mind, yesterday was still pretty good weather wise, so here's the third installment of Summer Sundays. This is a 12" cut by U.K. producers Dobie and Howie B, who were collectively known as Nomad Soul. I'm pretty sure this is the only record they released under that moniker although they did produce a few remixes using the same name, most notably London Posse's classic "Jump Around" as well as Boo Ya Tribe's "Psycho Funk". I've got a fair few of Dobie's solo 12"s and of course, another London Posse classic which he also skillfully crafted - "How's Life In London". The guy's a gifted and highly underated producer in my opinion. 
The first track I've selected was a recent-ish Boot Sale pick up and a bit of 'no-brainer' really, an absolutely beautiful cut by U.S. Soul-Funk group 'Leo's Sunshipp'. Years ago I remember Nic Bossa harping on about the album this song originally appeared on but I've yet to come across a copy in the wild. As much as I'd love an original pressing of the album I simply don't pay good money for anything other than Hip-Hop so I'm pretty resided to the fact I will probably never own it. I do however have the original U.K. single of "Give Me The Sunshine" which includes "I'm Back For More" on the flip, arguably the best two tracks on the album anyway, and on deep cut 12" grooves - nice and LOUD. If I had to pick a track that I thought best represented the widely thrown around term 'Rare Groove', then this would be it. Beautiful really is the best way to describe this song and it makes for perfect late night listening on those sweaty Summer evenings. Get your download on and enjoy, this is the obvious choice for Track One on your 'Summer Selections' CD, Track Two coming next week, weather permitting!
The first record is by a group called The America Poeple (sic) on the Attack label out of Richmond, Virginia. This was the only release by the group and although the small print states both sides are 'from Attack LP 6910', it never saw the light of day (more about that later). Side-A's "Give It Up If You Can't Do Nothing With It" is a funky Soul cut that sounds like it was recorded in a garage. This isn't a bad thing, if like me, you dig that gutter raw production approach. The band aren't the tightest in the world and the singer lacks a certain spark, but the song itself is one catchy number that I find myself playing on a regular basis. The B-Side is an instrumental take (always a bonus) with added party atmosphere - people chatting, laughing, drinking and generally sounding like they're enjoying themselves. This record is one of my favourites from a small batch of very similar 45's I picked up at the Boot Sale last Summer. All on tiny labels and all possessing that same 'homemade' charm. I might write about a few more on a later date but for now enjoy the rips of both sides below, a little crackly I know but hey, that's the world of obscure Funk 45s for ya!
The second record, again a one off label release on 'Rolls Royce Records' is a Rap 12" by The Two Fresh Brothers featuring Easy El & Chilly D, from 1986. The twelve includes four tracks in all - "She's Fine" (Club, Radio and Dub versions) and "Don't Even Try It". "She's Fine" is an OK-ish sparse drum machine cut, typical of the period with The Two Fresh Brothers trading lines back and forth, sounding like a cross between Run DMC and Black Rock & Ron. This track doesn't do a great deal for me. The subject matter, the odd tale of a supposedly fit girl that eats a lot and then moves on to the next man, isn't particularly interesting and doesn't get any better after repeated listening, but never mind, the bonus flip side cut "Don't Even Try It" is dope. Like the old saying goes, "B-Side wins again". Credited as an accapella, it's actually a Beatbox (courtesy of Easy-El) backed battle/brag rap, with The Two Brothers, again, trading lines back and forth, this time coming off far harder and even more reminiscent of Black Rock & Ron (or The Vicious Four as they were known at that time). Funnily enough one of the lines refers to them originating from Hollis, Queens so the Run DMC influence is obviously close to home.
Being snowed in and with no work yesterday finally gave me the opportunity to record this here album which I'd been meaning to for ages.
As I mentioned above, the styles of music vary from track to track but the album retains a great consistency in sound and feel with well thought out track sequencing, making this an easy and engaging listen from beginning to end. Side-A kicks off with the funkiest cut on the album "Do What You Can" which, if I'm honest, is one of my least favourites. It has a very similar vibe to Tower Of Power's trademark Jazz-Funk sound or even vintage Average White Band which I've never been overly keen on. Don't get me wrong, both groups have turned out some fantastic material and I have a good amount of records by both but there's something, I can't place my finger on, that grates on me after a while. I'm sure a lot of people will love "Do What You Can" but it just doesn't do it for me as much as some of the others tracks on here. My personal highlights come in the shape of Jazz-Folk tinged cuts "Gypsy Girl", "Jigsaw", "Good Morning World", "Mama Jane" and "A Song For Two". All possess an ethereal beauty that touches the soul and are so warming to the ear I can't imagine a single person not liking them.
The package comes complete with 'icing on the cake' - sleeve artwork deigned by revered illustrator Roger Dean who produced a heap of classic album covers from the late '60s through to the late '90s. Breaks collectors will be familiar with his work on staple pieces like Babe Ruth's "First Base" ("The Mexican") and Atomic Rooster's "In Hearing Of..." ("The Rock") plus some harder-to-find gems such as Nucleus' "Elastic Rock" or Lighthouse's "One Fine Morning" (the U.K. release on Vertigo). Strangely the actual labels on the record credit the artist as Dell (instead of Del) Richardson and the album title as "Pieces Of THE Jigsaw". The labels are standard company design so I can only assume that someone at M.C.A. supplied the wrong details to either Roger Dean for the sleeve, or the person working at the pressing plant for the labels. Which one is correct I don't know but it does amaze me when big corporations like M.C.A. (who were manufactured by Decca in the U.K.) make f*ck-ups like this!