Listen: Shoorah Shoorah / Betty Wright 11 Shoorah_ Shoorah_.mp3

I was working at Discount Records in the early 70′s when this came in. Discount was a deep catalog chain between ’65 – ’75 or so. Their stores were concentrated in the northeast, and their home office was in Scarsdale. The location on the Syracuse University campus was always a haven for the most obscure albums, all the British and west coast names you’d heard of. When I finally got a job there in ’74, it was a real win. You see, each store could buy direct from the labels. So although it was a chain, you weren’t just allocated the hits. There was serious inventory maintenance and responsibility required. This was of course huge fun.

One weekend, I really got into the old BILLBOARD magazine collection and with intense detail, compiled a many-paged list of singles to order from each of the labels. The one that really came through was London Records. Unlike pretty much all the others, somewhere deep in their fulfillment warehouse were tucked sole copies of countless singles. I opened that big shipment box about a week after placing the order resulting from said weekend, to find crazy London, Parrot and Deram singles from years prior (Them, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, The Honeybus, The Attack, Hedgehoppers Anonymous, The Cryin’ Shames, Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours, Savoy Brown). Ah, the good old days.

But back to Betty Wright’s version of ‘Shoorah Shoorah’. I was very into The Meters around this time and hence insatiable for all things Allen Toussaint. Reading that he had written this one in the BILLBOARD singles review section that particular week, I ordered myself a copy. Smart move. It was a classic. I proceeded to get in a box, and with in store play sold them through nicely. Wish I had kept a few more.

Listen: Why Can’t We Live Together / Timmy Thomas TimmyThomasWhyCant.mp3

Listen: Stone To The Bone / Timmy Thomas TimmyThomasStone.mp3

‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ may have the world’s longest intro…..one that became a hit that is. Vocal starts at 1:37. Proves it’s either the real thing or it isn’t – and this one just is. Massive Attack did a nice cover, basically staying close to the original. Despite being deemed a one hit wonder, his many followup singles lay down a great groove, even as they morphed into a more disco style. ‘Stone To The Bone’ proves ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ was so good, a re-write of it worked just fine, getting a lot of RnB play and charting at #74.

Listen: Party Down (Part 1)/ Little Beaver
LittleBeaver.mp3

Anything that lifted that ‘Why Can’t We Just Live Together’ groove sold me first listen. Seems TK and their subsidiaries patented it – and recycled the pattern with continual results (Gwen McCrae, George McCrae). I decided around ’75 that I loved playing records so much that a dj slot in an after work singles bar would be just fine, even if it was required the music be dance/disco/Top 40. Other than ‘Party Down’ and ‘Lady Marmalade’, I had no clue what to play. And everything I did play was met with an empty floor. It was like getting a job now on a mainstream Top 40 station like New York’s Z100 (yes they still are limping along grasping for air) and trying to figure out what that lowest form of life listener would want to hear. No thank you.

The sleaze of Little Beaver, right down to his name, has nicely lived on.