Listen: I Can’t Turn You Loose / The Chambers Brothers
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Right at their commercial peak, when ‘Time Has Come Today’ was pretty big even at Top 40, The Chambers Brothers swung through Syracuse for a concert. I had some of their early gospel singles, was already excited to be hearing them on the radio so frequently and therefore anticipated the live show for weeks. Damn if I can remember why, but I went along with my parents to the airport earlier that afternoon to collect a relative, I’m guessing.

In the 60′s, airports were not full fledged shopping malls with restaurants and bars that would compete for one’s plans on a Saturday evening out. Instead, and especially in the case of the Hancock Airport in Syracuse, it was a lonely, empty building with uncomfortable seating on a good day. But on this particular afternoon, The Chambers Brothers flew in. From afar, I spotted a flock of floppy hippie hats and put two plus two together fast. So I barreled down toward their gate, and walked along with them back toward the outdoor pickup area, enthralled to be talking to these guys who made such raw soul records. I had a ton of questions.

Well the looks on my parent’s faces were priceless. Here their young son had in one moment dashed off toward an arrival gate, and in the next was walking back toward them surrounded by half a dozen black guys twice his height, all dressed in loud prints and colors. My Dad pretty quickly lit up though, figuring it out. He being a longtime jazz fan was forever telling me stories of seeing Billie Holiday and Miles Davis during his Air Force years, and now was familiar with bands like The Chambers Brothers from the music overflow that poured nonstop out of my bedroom. Plus, he was dropping the gang and I off at the show later that night. He held a particularly great conversation with Willie Chambers, this I remember well.

Their version of Otis Redding’s ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’ was the highly anticipated followup to ‘Time Has Come Today’. Appropriately housed in a full color sleeve, as all confident followup singles were over at Columbia, it’s shocking to accept the single’s soft landing at #37. The vocal performance so powerful it must have scared off pop programmers. In one way, I’m surprised Columbia didn’t insist on polishing it up for airplay, thereby possibly prolonging their ascent. In hindsight though, I’m glad it was left to rip, despite still being bitter about the band’s commercial profile gradually sagging thereafter.

Listen: Dog (Part 2) / Jimmy McCracklin
Dog

‘Dog (Part 2)’ was the second of eight singles Jimmy McCracklin issued between ’67 and ’70 on Minit, a sister label of Imperial, where he’d been signed since ’62 and had an additional seventeen releases. All in all, twenty five 45′s during an eight year run with basically one label group, Liberty Records, of which both Minit and Imperial were imprints .

At 90 years old, he can boast a recording career that began in 1945, continuing until most recently, 1999. Yes, 54 years. Given that he performed during 2010, his recording days may not be over yet. I would sure like to shake this guy’s hand.

Like the A side, ‘Dog (Part 1)’, this flip is largely an instrumental style backing track. For all we know, those female voices just may have been The Ikettes. Remember, Ike & Tina Turner were on Minit during this period as well.

Having co-written the Otis Redding and Carla Thomas hit, ‘Tramp’ with Lowell Fulson, released in ’67, and this having been issued around that same time, maybe ‘Dog (Parts 1 & 2)’ were the formative demo beginnings of ‘Tramp’.

Regardless, a great jukebox filler on a winter Sunday afternoon, and a needed artifact, if only for the title.

Listen: I Put A Spell On You (’66 Version) / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
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“Let me tell you one thing, a leopard don’t change it’s spots.”

That’s what Screamin’ Jay Hawkins had to say about Little Richard’s then recent denouncement of drugs and sex. This was ’85, and he’d just done his first New York show in a long, long time at some short lived venue near Chinatown. He was at a career low. After the performance, he and his wife came out to the front bar for a drink with Eric and Mel, and Corinne and I. The four of us were about the only folks who showed up. We’d looked forward to it for weeks. How could this public indifference be possible?

Didn’t matter to him, his show was full on. Came out of the coffin, the whole ten yards. We sat for a good hour, Eric and I just pouring questions on him, learning that he kept all his stage props at his son’s place in New Jersey when not in use and that included the coffin. I was enthralled with Little Richard since seeing him on The Dick Cavett Show in the late 60′s at which time he was making a bit of a comeback, having just signed to Reprise and was more flamboyant than ever. Just hysterical, really camp and out of control, most likely cocaine fueled. By ’85, Little Richard’s whole drill was about finding God and denouncing his old ways. So I asked Screamin Jay if he knew him, and had he really given up all those fun things. And that was his response.

Having been ripped off royally for publishing and record royalties when ‘I Put A Spell On You’ was originally released in ’58 (it’s rumored to have sold 1M copies for which Screamin’ Jay Hawkins saw zilch), he decided to re-record it for US Decca in ’66, giving it an Otis Redding/Bar Kays soul review rave-up. Not a widely known version, it’s here for a listen.

Listen: Voodoo / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Voodoo

Around ’74, he did a one-off for RCA, ‘Voodoo’. No info on this or if any other tracks were recorded. Who at RCA would have signed him, and why? But thanks still to that brave, unknown A&R executive.

Listen: Heart Attack And Vine / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Heart

In ’93, his version of ‘Heart Attack And Vine’, from a UK album BLACK MUSIC FOR WHITE PEOPLE, was used in a Levi’s campaign and charted at #42 in the UK. It was his only ever chart entry there or anywhere. At least he got to experience some justice prior to getting into that coffin one last time.

Listen: The Walk / Jimmy McCracklin
The

His biggest chart hit, ‘The Walk’, was the result of an AMERICAN BANDSTAND appearance in ’58, although the record had been released in ’57. Thus was the power of a very few, limited music outlets at the time. Then it was called television.

Dick Clark’s weekly program must have been aggressively worked for such precious exposure. To Dick Clark’s credit, many of the black acts, often who’s records were covered by white performers thus robbing the originals of the hit, were given shots. Jimmy McCracklin was one.

‘The Walk’ is a great combination of RnB and Jump Blues, which he carried over from the release of his first single, ‘Miss Mattie Left Me’ in 1945.

He went on to record for a few labels including Imperial and Stax, where with Lowell Fulson, co-wrote the massive ‘Tramp’ as recorded by Carla Thomas & Otis Redding, and as recently as 2007 played the San Francisco Blues Festival for the sixth time.

This copy came with the original jukebox tab stapled to it’s sleeve, where it shall remain.

Listen: Ob La Di, Ob La Da / Joyce Bond
Ob La Di, Ob La Da / Joyce Bond

Found yet another gem at Academy Records in Brooklyn, hysterically sitting peacefully amongst the 50¢ boxes: Joyce Bond’s version of ‘Ob La Di, Ob La Da’. A song seemingly written for the natural Caribbean bounce, it further validates the lightweight value of The Beatles. Again, I preferred The New Vaudeville Band when comparing equals.

To be honest, I had no idea this even got a Stateside release, so I admit needing to be more humble in my criticisms of the local vendors. But hey, Steel Pulse singles on MCA are not worth $10 guys.

Listen: Robin Hood Rides Again / The Joyce Bond Review
Robin Hood Rides Again / The Joyce Bond Review

Nonetheless, way more fascinating is the B side here. Policy usually meant a straight up instrumental of the single’s A side was the norm, or as the mid 70′s evolved, a dub version. Not so this time. A completely new track, instrumental, and clearly nothing to do with Joyce Bond in any way other than her label copy credit.

Produced by B. Lee. Was it Byron or Bunny? Seems Joyce Bond had musical affiliations with both.

If ever there were an expert on Ska/Rock Steady/Reggae/Dub, it’s Duane Sherwood. He’s the go to on this stuff for all things not previously grooved into my gray matter. Inconveniently in this case though, he’s not big on the pop end of the genres. Add to that, the records recorded in the UK as opposed to down the yard, of which this is one don’t grab his attention. But given, as he pointed out, Bunny Lee produced a version of Otis Redding’s ‘Mr. Pitiful’, released by Joyce Bond and Little John in ’69, one year after this issue, Duane guessed B. Lee to be the Bunny man himself.

A fun, sonically out of place on Decca or any other major label at the time, single. I can only imagine how few were pressed, not to mention, sold.

Listen: Mr. Pitiful / Otis Redding
Mr. Pitiful / Otis Redding

The last time I saw The Rolling Stones, at The Pheonix in Toronto, they played this number. The secret club show, a warm up or some such angle, kicked off their 2005 world tour on August 10th of that year. It felt unreal, in such a small place, making eye contact with The Rolling Stones.

Listen: That’s How Strong My Love Is / Otis Redding
That's How Strong My Love Is / Otis Redding

The first time I saw them, October 30, 1965, the band played this one. Like ‘Mr. Pitiful’, ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’ seems to have been an Otis Redding inspired choice.

That show felt unreal too, this little boy being transported to a seemingly far away land of British rock, yet right there before these unprepared eyes. Life’s first high, impossible to ever forget.

Listen: Shout Bamalama / Otis Redding OtisBamalama.mp3

Recorded in ’60 and issued early the next year as Otis Redding & The Pinetoppers on both the Confederate and Orbit labels, ‘Shout Bamalama’ was quickly picked up by the King subsidiary Bethlehelm. Despite these various pressings, it was a nasty process trying to find a copy. Most common is the later reissue on King proper, released simply as Otis Redding. And even that is damn scarce.

Sue UK picked up ‘Shout Bamalama’ four years later, in ’65, trading off on the frenzy surrounding his live shows and subsequent success of PAIN IN MY HEART entering Britain’s album chart. As with the US King pressing, the record was issued only as Otis Redding.

Sue UK was in full force that year, both as an outlet for US Sue masters and stray singles such as ‘Shout Bamalama’, conveniently available for licensing in England from small American blues and RnB imprints. The label’s release schedule was a jaw dropper.

Listen: Fat Girl / Otis Redding OtisFatGirl.mp3

It was no surprise to read Otis Redding sighting Little Richard as his biggest influence in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LITTLE RICHARD: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY, certainly not after having heard both sides of this single. It’s pounding, driving, stomping soul review delivery was indeed Little Richard’s blueprint.

‘Fat Girl’ sounds maybe like one of Otis Redding’s earliest songwriting attempts, thankfully not covering his tracks, and thereby parking itself next to ‘Get Down With It’, in my opinion, Little Richard’s shining moment on 7″, and a single I’ve posted previously.