The Gordian Knot – We Must Be Doing Somethin’ Right

The Gordian Knot

Listen/Download – The Gordian Knot – We Must Be Doing Somethin’ Right

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is the 45 version of an absolutely wonderful song from one of the best sunshine/harmony pop LPs of the late 1960s.

The Gordian Knot was a group of a transplanted southerners who hooked up with producer/arranger/performer Clark Burroughs (see Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #65 for a deep dive into Burrough-related sounds, including a bunch of Gordian Knot tracks).

They recorded their self-titled LP in 1968 and it is one of those albums where all of the finest elements of the sunshine pop sound intersect with great songwriting, vocals and musicianship.

‘We Must Be Doing Somethin’ Right’ reminds me a lot of when I was first listening to The Millennium and other Curt Boettcher work from the same era. At first listen it almost sounds too ‘soft’, yet once you tune your ears in properly and give it a solid listen all of its wonders are revealed.

The group’s harmonies, wrapped around beautiful melodic hooks and fantastic psychedelia-adjacent (in which the passive remnants of psychedelia are introduced without much of a deliberate effort to be psychedelic) sounds combine into an absolutely stunning package.

The group’s album is packed wall to wall with great tunes (all composed by the band) and the vocal arrangements by Burroughs (a vet of the Hi-Los) are great.

Interestingly, the group’s lead singer/guitarist Jim Weatherly went on to write a number of hits for Gladys Knight and the Pips, including ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’, ‘Neither One of Us’ and ‘You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me’.

Rev-Ola did a CD reissue in 2007 and original copies of the album can be had for 25-40 dollars (and worth every cent).

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

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Odetta – My God and I

Odetta

Listen/Download – Odetta – My God and I

Greetings all.

The tune I bring to you today is one of my favorite covers of one of my (favorite) songs.

John Buck Wilkin recorded ‘My God an I’ on his 1970 album (a genuine lost classic) ‘In Search of Food, Clothing, Shelter and Sex’.

Despite the fact that theis amazing record slipped into obscurity almost immediately, a fair amount of its material ended up getting covered.

Whether this had something to do with Wilkin’s music business connections (his mother was successful country songwriter Marijohn Wilkin), the quality of the songs, or a combination of the two, I cannot say with certainty.

Wilkin’s songs were covered by Bobbie Gentry, Wayne Newton (Apartment 21), Randy Horan (the Daydream) and with ‘My God and I’, Odetta, Hedge & Donna, Bobby Vee, California Earthquake, and Newbury Park.

Odetta, who already had a serious career as a folk singer, went into the studio (in Muscle Shoals and LA) with an all-star lineup of players to record ‘Odetta Sings’, which saw her covering material by young songwriters like Elton John, Paul McCartney, Randy Newman, James Taylor, Jagger/Richards, and Wilkin.

Her version of ‘My God and I’ features piano by Carole King and guitar by Bernie Leadon, and follows Wilkin’s arrangement, if dialing down things a bit.

Hers is a great version of a song that ought to be much better known.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

The Wanted – In the Midnight Hour

Their hit 45 and their Number One chart

Listen/Download – The Wanted – In the Midnight Hour

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The record I bring you today, in addition to being a swinging bit of garage soul, is that rarest of music unicorns, something that simply cannot exist in the current environment, a bona fide regional number one record.

The Wanted were a Detroit-area band that released a half dozen singles in 1967 and 1968 on the local Detroit Sound imprint as well as a few national releases on A&M.

Their version of Wilson Pickett’s ‘In the Midnight Hour’was a big success in the Great Lakes region, charting in the Top 20 all over Michigan, Ohio, Canada, and Wisconsin and a few other markets like Kansas City, Missouri.

However, and this was not an isolated incident (see Seger, Bob and the Last Heard ‘East Side Story’) they managed to top the charts in their home town of Detroit, making it all the way to Number One in March of 1967.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t able to find a picture of the band. There’s video of them performing on Robin Seymour’s local TV show bu the video quality was too poor to pull a screenshot.

Their version of the song (produced by local hotshot Doug Brown) is a certified ass-kicker with some very solid forward motion for the dancers making it one of the more memorable versions of song that became a standard of sorts for American garage bands.

The Detroit Sound label is a gas, as well, with pictures of the band’s gear and a full listing of personnel.

The Wanted had some minor local success the following year with a song called ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ (not the Beach Boys tune) and seemingly faded into oblivion after that.

It’s a groover and I hope you dig it.

See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #88

Why hello there!

Playlist

Phil Ochs – Tape From California (A&M)
Phil Ochs – Half a Century High (A&M)
Phil Ochs – The Harder They Fall (A&M)
Phil Ochs – The War Is Over (A&M)

The Sunshine Company – Sunshine Theme (Imperial)
The Sunshine Company – To Put Up With You (Imperial)
The Hellers – It’s 74 In San Francisco (Command)
The Hellers – Button Man (Command)
The Hellers – The Mechanic (Command)

Nancy Wilson – You Don’t Know (How Glad I Am) (Capitol)
Bud Dashiell – Black Coffee (WB)
Bud Dashiell – Better Than Anything (WB)
Keely Smith – One Less Bell To Answer (Atlantic)

Anita Kerr and the Anita Kerr Singers – Happiness (is) (WB)
Anita Kerr and the Anita Kerr Singers – Wine In the Wind (WB)
Anita Kerr and the Anita Kerr Singers – Long Live Our Love (WB)
Anita Kerr and the Anita Kerr Singers – The Beat Goes On (WB)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #88 – 170MB/256kbps

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It’s Iron Leg Radio time again!

There are lots of groovy things to be heard in this month’s Iron Leg Radio Show including some stunning mid-period Phil Ochs, some very groovy Bow Sound/Easy things and some straight up pop!

Dig it all, and make sure to subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

Click here to subscribe to any of the Funky16Corners Radio Network shows!

See you next week!

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners f

Maritza Fabiani – O Leilao

Maritza Fabiani

Listen/Download – Maritza Fabiani – O Leiloa

Greetings all.

One of my favorite things over the oast ten years or so is pickingup vintage compilations, i.e. ones released in the 60s, from foreign countries. They are often a great source of unheard beat, garage, psyche and pop, and a wonderful gateway into new (to me) sounds.

One of the finest of these is ‘Os Novos Reis Do Ie Ie Ie – Vol3’ The New Kings of Yeah Yeah Yeah), a compilation of Brazilian pop artists from 1967.
I hadn’t heard of any of the bands/singers on the record, but at ten bucks it was worth taking a chance.

As it turns out the record was packed with a groovy cross section of Brazilian teen sounds of the era.

One of my favorite tracks, with a real au go go flair was ‘O Leilao’ (the Auction) by Maritza Fabiani.

From what I’ve been able to glean (mostly via Google translate) Fabiani performed as a child on Brazilian TV and made the EP from which this song was taken when she was still a teenager.

The translation of the lyrics seems to indicate that the song is about various suitors bidding for Maritza’s hand in marriage.

The music is groovy indeed, with a stomping beat, plenty of combo organ and Maritza’s vocals.

It appears that although she didn’t release many more records under her own name, that she stayed involved in the music industry.

I hope you dig the tune, and if you find thus record in the wild, grab it.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Cher – I Feel Something In the Air

Cher

Listen/Download – Cher – I Feel Something In the Air

Greetings all.

Welcome to another poptacular week at the leg of iron.

Today’s selection is one of those records that blew me away the first time I heard it, and I have to thank Miriam Linna for the introduction.

It was a few years back when she posted the record on Facebook and had to go out an find myself a copy immediately.

I was already aa committed fan of Sonny and Cher/early solo Cher, but didn’t happen to have a copy of her 1966 ‘Cher’ LP and had never encountered the song ‘I Feel Something In the Air’ (alternately titled ‘Magic In the Air’) before.

Written by Sonny Bono, but never released as a single in the US (it came out in the UK and the Netherlands, and there’s a clip of her performing it on the German Beat Club TV show), ‘I Feel Something In the Air’ is (at least in my opinion) Sonny’s finest bit of Wall of Sound (once removed), demonstrating that he was paying very close attention while in the studio with Phil Spector.

The instrumentation is deep and layered, with guitars, keyboards, bass, glockenspiel and castanets laying down a lush foundation over which Cher (in rare form) delivers the beautiful melody.

The lyrics are perfect teen drama, and the overall feel is like prime/eary Spector carried forward into a more od, Sunset Strip vibe.

The bridge of the song, which features some flamenco guitar, and then launches into a thundering drum break, and then a short, suite-like section, almost shifts the song into ‘teen opera’ territory.

The backing is pure Wrecking Crew, with none other than arranger Harold Battiste’s NOLA homeboy Mac Rebennack on guitar.

The album is highly recommended, with great production and Cher’s version of the Changin’ Times (who were out on tour with Sonny and Cher in 1965) ‘Pied Piper’, which I think aces out the Crispian St Peters hit.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Moby Grape – Rose Colored Eyes

Moby Grape

Listen/Download – Moby Grape – Rose Colored Eyes

Greetings all.

Welcome to a bright, hot, humid new week here at Iron Leg.

I always knew of Moby Grape (how could you miss that name), and first heard ‘Omaha’ as performed by the Golden Palominos, but it wasn’t until the Columbia Legacy 2CD Vintage – The Very Best of Moby Grape came out in 1993 that I really understood that they were far more than a goofy name.

Not only did they have a formidable line-up, but they managed to blend rock, psych, country and pop in a truly interesting way that should have put them in the first rank of 1960s California bands, instead of the list of also-rans (thanks in large part to record company miscalculations).

Today’s selection hails from their 1968 album ‘Wow’.

‘Rose Colored Eyes’, written by Bob Mosely is one of the groups finest psychedelic moments, and among my favorite West Coast psych tunes of the era.

Mixing slow, evenly paced acoustic guitar with a variety of modal/backward electric guitars, and the group’s harmony vocals, the song is dreamy, even when the pace picks up a bit toward the end. ‘Wow’ as a whole is perhaps their most interesting album, with hard driving rock, tunes like ‘Roe Colored Eyes’ and the slightly (soon to be extremely) twisted contributions of San Francisco legend Skip Spence.

Their original albums don’t turn up that often, but you can pick up all of their best stuff in reissue, so if you have yet to be Graped, dive in.

Until Next week.

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.