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This is the podcast for the article you can find here.
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By Scott Freeman
Lightnin’ (sometimes spelled Lightening) Hopkins (nee Sam John Hopkins) is a blues legend, but he belongs on Funky Seoul Corner because the blues is soulful. Lightnin’ was a prodigious singer, songwriter, and guitarist from the mid-1940s until his passing in 1982. The first thing you may be wondering is how he got the name “Lightnin.” An Aladdin Records executive gave him that name when he first started recording. Apparently the exec felt that Sam was too dull. Thus, Lightnin’ was born.
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By Scott Freeman
“Across 110th Street” is a tune that I have played once while DJing, although I wound up playing it a second time that night due to an audience request—a request that I had to grant, I might add, because the song is ridiculously good. It is a classic, without a doubt, that chronicles street survival in the early 70s. If you’ve never heard it before you should listen to it here.
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By Scott Freeman
Ruby Andrews (nee Barbara Jean Stackhouse) is a soul singer based out of Chicago. She primarily recorded for the Zodiac label, also from Chicago, from 1967 to 1972. Of the fourteen 45s she recorded during this time frame, her biggest smash was “Casonova (Your Playing Days Are Over)” in 1967. This track reached #51 on the U.S. Pop charts and #9 on the U.S. R&B charts. You can easily track this tune down on YouTube.
For this installment of Funky Seoul Corner we go a wee bit later in Ruby Andrew’s career to 1970. “Everybody Saw You” is a typical offering from Ruby. You’ve got soul, you’ve got groove, and you’ve got dynamic changes within the track. This track was a minor hit in its own right, reaching #118 on the U.S. pop charts and #34 on the U.S. R&B chart.
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By Scott Freeman
Now it’s time to turn the clocks back to 1962 and go to Detroit, Michigan,USA. Dee Edwards, born Doris Jones, records her first single as a solo artist, “You Say You Love Me,” at the young age of seventeen. It would be the only single she records for Tuba, just one of the many Detroit record labels at the time; and like many of the local labels, Tuba managed to survive for just a short time, releasing about a dozen 45s in its lifespan.
Very much a ballad, “You Say You Love Me” is one of those tunes that just seem to float along. Although not strictly a doo-wop song, the listener can hear elements of doo-wop, especially with the vocals of the backup singers. While I love the tune, I never have an opportunity to play it out because it is just too mellow for most of the venues I play at, which is why I feature it here for your own perusal.
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By Scott Freeman
The Beginning Of The End was one of those early to mid seventies bands from, you guessed it, Nassau, Bahamas. One of the many sounds that was going down during this time period was island funk, music from the Caribbean that was making waves on the U.S. mainland. The Beginning Of The End was a supreme example of island funk.
The core of this group consisted of the Munnings brothers—Raphael, Liroy, and Frank.
They recorded two LPs: Funky Nassau in 1971/72 and The Beginning Of The End in 1976. (I do have a copy of the Funky Nassau LP, but alas it is only a reissue. An orginial copy would go over $100. But the whole album does kick absolute butt and is worth tracking down!!!) Several singles were also released, mostly from their first album. “Funky Nassau,” the 45 you see here, was a hit single in the U.S., reaching #15 on the Billboard Top 100 and #7 on the Billboard Black Singles Chart.
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By Scott Freeman
A couple of years back I heard this 45 on an Ebay auction—that’s what I love about Ebay is that sellers sometimes offer bidders sound samples of their items—and later bought this 45 off of a different website. Scant information of Eddie And The Atmosphere exists. I know nothing of the outfit. I have seen a couple of different 45s off of the Libra label in the past, but I have also been unsuccessful at uncovering any information about the Libra label itself.
There is a plethora of information, however, about two of the names listed of this 45: Billy Dawn Smith and Otis Blackwell. I discovered that both Smith and Blackwell were born and raised in Brooklyn. Smith was a noted doo-wop artist of the 50s and Blackwell gained popularity as a songwriter during the same time. In fact, Blackwell was noted as writing the following tunes: “All Shook Up,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Fever,” “Great Balls Of Fire.” All great hits, to be sure. So Smith and Blackwell share a hometown with similar interests in music, but I could find no specific evidence of linking them together. This 45 is the only piece of evidence I’ve got.
The post Funky Seoul Corner 13: Eddie And The Atmosphere’s ‘7 Days of Nothing’ appeared first on the3WM.
By Scott Freeman
Many years ago I vaguely remember walking into a record store and purchasing an album titled “More Power To Ya” from Charly Records (see photo), a UK record company that specializes in reissuing soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz. I bought it on a whim—it must have been cheap—because I had never heard any of the tracks before. So I listened to this record a few times and then filed it in my collection. At the time, I wasn’t even interested in collecting soul and funk 45s like I am now. But one of the tracks off that album, Don Varner’s “More Power To Ya,” had a resonating effect on me and I never forgot it.
A few years later, when I became more interested in collecting 45s, I found a copy of this 45 on Ebay and had to have it. While the 45 was issued on the Diamond label out of New York City, the song itself comes out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
You wouldn’t think it, but Muscle Shoals has had a rich tradition in music and recording studios that started back in the 1960s and continues into the present age. Just about everybody who is anybody from the music business has recorded there at one time or another, from Wilson Pickett to Aretha Franklin, from The Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan. All of this musical significance is pretty amazing for a city that boasts a present-day population just short of 13,000.
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By Scott Freeman
I’ve come to a decision. Now that we’ve come to the 10th installment of Funky Seoul Corner, I’ve decided to devote every 10th installment in the future to a 45 from the 80s. Now, when I say 80s music I don’t want you think Culture Club, Wham, Spandau Ballet and those kinds of groups. Nor do I want you to think of the 80s glam hair-bands, either. I state the aforementioned because 80s music, when we talk about it, usually has those kinds of referents. But Funky Seoul Corner is not about popular music of the 80s or about popular music in any era specifically--it’s about unknown and underappreciated music that deserves to be heard at least once, in my humble opinion.
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By Iwazaru
Seven full days into the more than 400 kilometer pilgrimage across the Korean peninsula in an attempt to trace the footsteps of 7th century Buddhist monk Wonhyo, the members of the trek have changed, the leader, Tony MacGregor, has taken a dangerous fall, Koreans have stepped forward with immense generosity and the road has provided its good share of challenges and rewards. All the while Macgregor, Chris McCarthy and Sangmin sunim, a Buddhist monk who's joined the pilgrims, have pushed on sometimes joined by professor David Mason.
On Saturday, December 10, MacGregor was happy enough to answer some questions about the journey while settling in after a dinner at Muryang Buddhist Temple in Yeongyang. Among the many things he said, one stood out toward the end of the interview when he offered that each day was a "stepping into the unknown" which he was actually enjoying.
See here for the original story about the pilgrimage and visit the official Site where the pilgrims post pictures and words each day.
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