FUNKIFY YOUR LIFE #10 - 10/9/2014

Original air date: Thursday, October 9, 2014, 1:00 PM on KRVS 88.7 FM Lafayette/Lake Charles, and online at krvs.org, with a rebroadcast Friday nights at 9:00. You can hear a podcast of this show and all the others I’ve produced so far on the website under “Programs”, anytime. They are archived by date there, down below the most recent playlist.

Speaking of which, you’ll also find basic playlists for all FYL shows there on the KRVS site. Meanwhile, these annotated playlists are now running about three weeks behind. Once again, tempus fergeddaboudit!

“Funkify Your Life” [Intro] - The Meters

“Making It Better” (W. Querzergue-M. Adams-A. Savoy) - The Barons, Ltd - from their original Chimneyville single #436, 1971.
For details about the two singles the Barons did for Chimneyville as part of their lengthy association with Wardell ‘Big Q’ Quezergue, see my 2011 post.

“Making Love To Funky Music” (R. Bell-J. Strickland) - Reuben Bell - from his original Alarm single #2118, 1977.
I’ve been cooking up a post for over a year on Big Q’s association with Alarm Records, based in Shreveport, LA, but am trying to snag a few more singles - the harder ones to get, of course. This cut by Reuben Bell, one of the principal artists on the label, is not one of those, but still not all that common.

You can learn as much as I know about Alarm by getting hold of the 2007 soulscape CD,Sound City Soul Brothers, which collects some of the best sides by Bell, Ted Taylor, and Eddie Giles, and includes great notes by Paul Mooney. From them I learned that Alarm regularly imported the Malaco Studio house musicians and backing singers for their sessions. So they are likely backing Bell on this Big Q produced/arranged track.

“Woman Don’t Go Astray” (King Floyd) - King Floyd - from his original Chimneyville single #443, 1972.
I put this single in context in Part 3 of my Big Q series.

“Before I Met You” (Marc Adams) - Marva Wright - from her Sky Ranch CD, Born With The Blues, 1993.
I wrote about Marva and this album, which I still consider her best, shortly after her death back in 2010. As I mentioned on the show, Sonny Landreth played slide guitar on this cut, and songwriter Marc Adams was on piano, along with an impressive cast of other supporting players, such as Wilbert ‘Junkyard Dog’ Arnold on drums.

“Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (Marc Adams) - The Adams-Griffin Project .- from their Sound of New Orleans CD, Choices, 1994.
Speaking of Marc Adams, here he is singing and playing piano on another original tune. This one-off album featured the band he put together with trumpeter, Tracy Griffin.

“The Mouse” (Smilin’ Myron) - Smilin’ Myron - from their CD, What About The People, 1997.
An insidiously funky little number from one of the many short-lived New Orleans funk bands of the 1990s.

“99 44/100 Pure Love” (A. Reed) - Al Reed - from his original Axe single #103, 1967.
Both sides of this record, arranged by Big Q, are keepers. Reed was more of a songwriter than a performer, though he did make a few 45 between the mid-1950s and mid 1960s. Probably his best known song is “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”, originally cut by Danny White for Frisco Records.

“Satisfied With Your Love” (Joan Parker) - Barbara George - for her original Seven B single #7019, 1968.
I did a brief tribute to Ms George shortly after her passing in 2006, and included this track, written by Eddie Bo, under one of his many aliases, who also produced and arranged it.

:Getting The Corners” (Leroy Lewis) - The T.S.U. Tornadoes - from their original Atlantic single #2579, 1968.
As I said on the air, this Houston funk ‘n’ soul band came up with an original instrumental tune that became “Tighten Up”, when Archie Bell and the Drells recorded their vocals over it. This track sounds a lot like that hit, but never took off. For more on the band, see this article from the Houston Press.

“Cocodrie” (Z. Richard) - Zachary Richard - from his Rounder CD, Mardi Gras Mambo, 1989.
Some local color from back when Lafayette’s own rootsman, ZR, was gettin’ down funky onstage and in the studio.

‘Easy Days” (C.J. Chenier) - C. J. Chenier - from his Slash CD, I Ain’t No Playboy, 1992.
A rarely heard instrumental cut featuring C. J. (son of Clifton) on flute, backed by his fine band.
I picked this song and the previous one since Festival Acadiens et Creoles was going on the weekend the show aired and both these guys were there..

“Soulful Woman” (J. Hill-M. Rebennack-A. Robinson) - Al Robinson - from his original Pulsar single #2417, 1969.
For background on Alvin ‘Shine’ Robinson’s collaborations with Mac Rebennack, Jessie Hill and Harold Battiste out on the Left Coast in the late 1960s, see my post from 2010.

“Light My Fire” (The Doors) - Tami Lynn - a track recorded in 1969/1970 for Pulsar but not issued until the Ace CD, More Gumbo Stew, 1993.
This compilation from the UK was the second of an authorized three CD series of recordings overseen by Harold Battiste, during the 1960s. He recorded Tami Lynn, who he had worked with when the AFO label was active in New Orleans, backed by the same crew of players who worked on other Pulsar projects, many of them NO expatriates. For some backstory on Tami, see my 2008 post on one of her later records.

“Bayou Cadillac” (B. Holley-E. McDaniel…...) - Beausoleil - from their Rounder CD, Bayou Cadillac, 1989.
A true hybrid of rock-blues-R&B-second-line funk-cajun-zydeco that only Michael Doucet and the ultra-fine Beausoleil could pull off so well. They, too, played Festival Acadiens this year.