Digging Across America

We began the story of our trip digging for records across America in Seattle.

Details of the next place, a very special pilgramage in record digging to come shortly.

Listen to the tracks that were uncovered on our trip across digging the Highway 45,

Highway 45 - Diggin Across the USA by Thesoulfulstrut on Mixcloud

Tracklist

Jackie Wilson, I Believe I'll Love On
Syl Johnson, Ode To Soul Man
The Capitals, Cool Jerk
Ray Charles, Don’T Set Me Free
Alvin Cash Feat The Registers, Diff'rent Strokes For Diff'rent Folks
Syl Johnson, Different Strokes
Dennis Coffey, Scorpio
James Brown, Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved Pt 2
Marva Whitney, Things Got To Get Better
The Mighty Marvelows, Talkin‘ Bout Ya, Baby
Betty Everett, Take Me
Herman Griffin & The Boys In The Band, Are You For Me Or Against Me
Tyrone Davis, Can I Change My Mind
O'Neal And The Dean Brothers, Don't Give Up
The Knight Bros, Temptation ‘Bout To Get Me
Jerry Butler, Just Because I Really Love

Double trouble: Anti Radar Funk #6 and #7

Hot damn! The royal wedding must have sent the Soulful Strut loopy! Tomorrow we're unleashing not one but two cassettes of vinyl goodness upon the masses of the metropolis that is London town. Check the tracklists below and join us in prayer that these analogue treasure chests fall into safe hands.

Oh, and #7 contains a little treat for any fans of the Soulful Strut's favourite comedy of the moment, Eastbound and Down. It's going to be well received – I can feel it down in my plums...

Anti Radar Funk #6
Side A
Tubby Hayes, Voodoo, Trunk
Rusty Bryant, Fire Eater, Prestige
Preston Love, Cool Ade, Kent
Gene Williams, Whatever You Do, Do It Good, Forte
Otis Clay, Good Lovin’, Elka
Hank Ballard, I’m A Junkie For My Baby’s Love, Chess
Ray Charles, Something Inside Me, ABC
Betty Lavette, Your Turn to Cry, Atco
Marvin Gaye, Trouble Man, Tamla
Ray Bryant, Up Above The Rock, Cadet
Tyrone Davis, Can I Change My Mind, Dakar
Jimmy James & The Vagabonds, No Good To Cry, Atco
Nina Simone, Ain't Got No, I Got Life, RCA
Flint Executives, Wheel Of Faite, Star Route
Alan Trajan, Speak To Me Clarissa, MCA
Mouse & The Traps, Sometimes You Just Can’t Win, President

Side B
Count Yates, At The Soul Inn (Part 1), New Bag
Cinnamon Suns, Party Time, Ida
Jack Jacobs, I Believe It’s Alright, Libra
Menahan Street Band, Make The Road By Walking, Dunham
Eddie Bo & Inez Cheatham, Lover And A Friend, Seven B
Lee Moses, Diana (From NYC), Lee John
Bill Wright, You Got A Spell On Me, Tragar
Franciene Thomas, I’ll Be There, Tragar
Mickey And His Mice, Cracker Jack, Marti
Barbara Lynn, I’m A Good Woman, Brave
Gene Chandler, In My Body’s House, Checker
Freddie Scott, I’ll Be Gone, Shout
Jim Manns & The Blackmailers, Messing With The Kid, Mel
Dynamic Walter B And The New Breed Band, Before I Fall In Love, New Breed Records
Nina Simone, Save Me, RCA
Gloria Walker And The Mighty Chevelles, You Hit The Spot Baby, Flaming Arrow
Count Yates, At The Soul Inn (Part 2), New Bag

Anti Radar Funk #7
Side A
Gene Ammons, Jug Eyes, Prestige
Ahmad Jamal, Minor Moods, Cadet
Mike Hanks, The Hawk, Spartan
MaseQua Myers & Jami Ayinde, Black Land of the Nile, Jazzman
Dave Cortez & the Moon People, Happy Soul (With a Hook), Speed
Saints & Sinners, Cayuco, Capri
Tubby Hayes, Voodoo, Trunk
The Organics, Foot Stumping, Compose
Betty Harris, There's a Break in the Road, SOS
Irene & the Scotts, I'm Stuck on My Baby, Smash
Rated X, Rated X, Vanco
Bob & Gene, Your Name, Mo Do
Salt & Pepper, A Man of My Word, Kent
Willie Wright, Right on for the Darkness, Hotel
Johnny Starr, Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do, Mala
D Isaac Andrews, You Gotta Love Me, Switch
Ernestine Anderson, Keep an Eye on Love, Sue

Side B
The Turtles - Buzzsaw, White Whale
The Castaways, Goodbye Babe, Soma
The Bittersweets, In the Night, Original Sound
Mouse & the Traps, Beg Borrow and Steal, Fraternity
Flesh and Blood, Natural Man, UA
The Gestures, It Seems to Me, Soma
NGC-4594, Going Home, Smash
The Citations, Moon Race, Sara
Big Maybelle, That's a Pretty Good Love, Savoy
Titus Turner, Big John, Wing
Dave Hamilton, Beatle Walk, Fortune
Freddie King, Going Down, Shelter
Little Daddy Walton & Sons, Highway Blues, Big Hit
Travis Wammack, Scratchy, Ara
The Masonics, Call It a Day, Interphon
Rudy Greene, Juicy Fruit, Ember
Gloria Irving, I Need a Man, Cobra
Jessie Crawford, Please Don't Go, Ru-Jac
Stormy Gayle, Flipsville, Staff
Charlie Feathers, That Certain Female, Rollin' Rock

Anti Radar Funk #5: yours for 99p!

To mark official Record Store Day 2011, this afternoon we dropped another Type II funk bomb at a chazza in north London. Packed with vinyl-sourced curiosities and obscurities (see previous post for tracklist), this Pandora's box of delights could be yours for 99 English pence. Love me again, indeed!

Top 5: Eddie Bo

There should be no introduction needed to this fantastic Nola pianist, singer, songwriter, producer and arranger who sadly passed away in 2009, leaving a legacy that bears comparison with that other colossus of soul music, Curtis Mayfield. Like Mayfield, Eddie's work and influence stretches far beyond the records he sang on, encompassing fine compositions, productions and arrangements for the great Mary Jane Hooper and Johnny Adams among many others. Featuring funk, soul and R&B, our Top 5 Bo 45s is testament to the man's genius.

(Click on the title to hear the song on YouTube.)

5. Check Your Bucket, Bo Sound

4. From This Day On, Seven B

3. Hook and Sling – Part 1, Scram

2. Lover and a Friend (with Inez Cheatham), Seven B

1. I Found a Little Girl, At Last

Anti Radar Funk #5: Record Store Day special

It may be official Record Store Day on 16 April but don't think the Soulful Strut will be doing nothing other than purchasing LPs and 45s. Oh no. To mark a day devoted to vinyl records we'll be dropping, er, a cassette (well they don't have a Cassette Store Day, do they?) of vintage tunage at an unsuspecting charity shop in the capital.

Packed with 45-shaped obscurities (you know the score by now), this latest tape drop comes with a special new feature: after foisting several compilations of undisclosed music on London punters, from here on in we'll be posting the track list of each Anti Radar Funk mix on this blog a couple of days before they hit the shops. So without further ado, here are the soul, funk and R&B rarities that made it on to our 5th tape. Happy hunting.


Anti Radar Funk #5
Side A
Count Yates, At The Soul Inn, New Bag
Dale Serrano, Ou We Man, Stix
Josephine Taylor, Is It Worth A Chance, Twinight
Hank Ballard, I’m A Junkie For My Baby’s Love, Chess
Sheila Skipworth, Look What You Have Done To Me, Enyx
Bobby Hebb, Evil Woman, Crystal Ball
Flint Executives, Wheel Of Faite, Star Route
Rhetta Hughes, You’re Doing It With Her, Tetragrammaton
Philharmonics, I Need Need Your Love, Soulin
Loneliness, Ray Frazier & the Shades of Madness, Stanson
Nelson Sanders, This Love Is Here To Stay, La Beat
Banny Price, You Love Me Pretty Baby, Jewel
Nathaniel Mayer, I Had A Dream, Fortune
Big T Tyler, King Kong, Aladdin
Ann Cole, Each Day, Baton
Varetta Dillard (pictured above), That’s Why I Cry, RCA
Otis Rush, My Baby's a Good 'Un, Cobra
Floyd Dixon, Ooh Little Girl, Ebb
Eddie Bo, I Found A Little Girl, At Last

Side B
Trevor Dandy, Is There Any Love, Numero
Means of Persuasion, One Way Street, C&J
Juggy, Soul At Sunrise, Sue
Margie Joseph, One More Chance, Volt
Lee Moses, If Loving You Is a Crime (I'll Always Be Guilty), Dynamo
Mitch Mitchell & Gene King, Never Walk Out On You, Prix
Johnnie Mae Matthews, Got To Be On (The Case), Art
Catherine Howe, In the Hot Summer, Numero
Dorando, Didn’t I, Music City
Jean Plum, Look At The Boy, Hi
Betty Wright, Circle Of Heart Break, Alston
The Royal Esquires, Our Love Used to Be, Prix
Marvelle Hampton, I Know How It Feel, Piggylo
James Polk & The Brothers, Stick-To-It-Tive-Ness, Sonobeat
Arthur Ponder, Dr Strangelove, Capricorn

Digging Across America

For most of this winter you'd be forgiven for thinking that the only diggin' going on was the shovelling of snow – from the streets of London to downtown LA. But while the world lay under a blanket of white, the Soulful Strut took a trip across the United States, visiting independent record shops in search of funky nuggets squirrelled away until spring.

Taking a journey along the west coast, and from the deep south up to New York, we went looking for rare, unusual or just downright brilliant funk, soul, r'n'b and gospel music. Our quest took us to some great independent record shops, and we came away with some amazing spoils, the best of which we are going to reveal over the coming weeks...

Bop Street Records,
2220 NW Market St, Seattle, Washington - (206) 297-2232

There are a number of great record shops across Seattle, each with an impressive range of styles and stock (including, surprise surprise, grunge). Bop Street Records was one of our favourite spots, and we spent a whole afternoon diggin' there. Located in the city's funky Ballard neighbourhood, the shop is an Aladdin's cave of vinyl, superbly laid out, floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves of records.

Upon entering you're met with an impressive sight: the store recently relocated from around the corner and has been fitted with shelving so high it's reminiscent of the sliding ladders you'll find in the British library or, perhaps, the Batcave.




The afternoon we visited was unplanned; we were in the area and happened across the store by sheer luck. Finding the jaw-dropping array of vinyl in front of us, the rest of the day was immediately put on ice in favour of delving into the crates.

With so much variety it was hard to choose where to begin, but the helpful guys behind the counter offered a friendly welcome and were on hand to guide us around the shop (they even helped us look for some records too – thanks again Bob and Davin).

The large top floor is dedicated to boxes and boxes of 45s, and there are a couple of listening posts tucked away to sample the bounty.



We spent a frantic four hours at Bop and still didn't get through even half of the vinyl at our mercy. This is truly one of the biggest collections on the west coast, as well as a really cool place to dig (even Radiohead are known to pop in now and again to spend the night browsing for inspiration).


One of our finds from the day at Bop Street Records:

Ray Charles - Don't Set Me Free

We're currently busy assembling a killer mix of the best music we found during our trip, so watch this space!

Some other good stores we found in Seattle:
Silver Platters
Easy Street Records
Holy Cow Records
Sonic Boom Records

Anti Radar Funk #4

As our all-time favourite MC, Rakim, said: "It's been a long time/ I shouldn't have left you/ Without a dope beat to step to."

And so it was with the Soulful Strut's Anti Radar Funk cassettes, which have been gathering dust in our north London pad for months rather than pumping from the speakers of some stranger's 80s ghetto blaster. So today we put things right by depositing our fourth installment of every analogue fan's wet dream in a charity shop on our favourite London street, home to the best Italian restaurant in the capital as well as two of the finest clothes shops and, er, our dentist.

Finds: January 2011

Here are three recent discoveries that we (a) love (b) know nothing about and (c) can't find out much about on the web. The D Isaac Andrews is a private soul track out of Louisiana; the Oran Ruffin Jr is a cool little r'n'b groover with a hint of mambo and a sprinkling of jazz; and the Flesh and Blood is, I think, a 60s US garage band.

Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 2)

Beat-mining the James Brown catalogue always produces great music, and in part two of our Only Built 4 Hyperlinks series we're looking at the rich seam of beats to be found with soul brother #1's stable of divas.

The irrepressible Marva Whitney and Lyn Collins - the female preacher featured on classics that underpinned pretty much the entire hip-hop and dance scenes of the 90s. From NWA to The 45 King's The 900 Number and Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, they gifted us a legacy of funk in hip-hop that keeps us digging today.

But the person in focus here is Vicki Anderson, in her original guise as Myra Barnes (later to become Mrs Bobby Byrd), and a hard funk groove that has been used in several ways in hip-hop and therefore holds many formative golden-age memories.

Listen here

Message to the Soul Sisters opens with a rousing cry for the sisters to get together and show the brothers they can get down too. It kicks in with a pounding piano loop that riffs with hard, open drums and cries of "Yeah!". It's almost as if JB intentionally wrote it to feed the hungry samplers of 90s New York.

It didn't take long for the keen ears of DJ Premier to pick it up and rock it for Gang Starr's debut album on No More Mister Nice Guy, and then, from the west coast, Above the Law asked the question: "What's a radio cut when ya can't say shit and ya can't say fuck?" – is that Freedom Of Speech?

As Bobby Byrd's head-nodding piano groove rumbles on, it's the screeching horn solos that really grab the attention, as raw funk rains down from the sky and crashes into the brass section.

The energetic chaos builds and provides backing for one of our all-time favourite hip-hop tracks, Nile Kings's Dropping Bombs, using the power of those screeching horns to maximum raw effect. Old-school UK heads can even pick out the Principle's handiwork for Caveman's intro to Streetlife, a track that had me scouring crates for years to track down the source of that infectious baseline loop and sax lick.

Running with that gritty piano loop throughout, the track was perfect for hip-hop heads the day it was written and it still stands out today as a great track. A Soul Brother #1 Classic.

Top 3: Twinight Records

My eyes always light up when I see the distinctive "T" of Chicago's Twinight label when digging through boxes of old 45s. Sadly, it usually turns out to be a common release by Syl Johnson, Twinight's only star performer, rather than one of the label's more sought-after rarities.

This remarkable little indie label, largely funded by Johnson's success – and also aided by his skills as a producer – was responsible for some of the best soul and funk 45s from a city positively brimming with them. But with such formidable competition, hits were hard to come by, and in 1972, after five years in business, Johnson left and the label folded, leaving a clutch of overlooked 45s that would eventually find their way into the hands of soul collectors many years later.

Scans of our pick of the label's output are included below, but honourable mentions must go to Main Squeeze by Nate Evans (a great record to kick-off a Saturday night), Wayward Dream by Annette Poindexter and Pieces of Peace (the Twinight house band) and, of course, Syl Johnson's genre classic, Is It Because I'm Black?.





Click to hear Satisfied

You can get the songs above, plus plenty of other choice cuts from the label, on Numero Group's superb compilation Twinight's Lunar Rotation (a reference to these criminally overlooked records largely being relegated to late-night local radio). Don't sleep!

Zerben R Hicks & the Dynamics, Lights Out (RCA)

"We've got to hold on / A little bit longer, baby / Then one day, baby / I'll be there with you / While they play Lights Out"

Wow. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I first heard this song back in 1997. The third track on Dave Godin's amazing first volume of Deep Soul Treasures, it must have taken me a full hour to get to track four, such is the magnificence of Lights Out.

Click to hear Lights Out

Sung in the first person, this tale of a soldier in Vietnam penning a letter (or perhaps reflecting on a letter he's received) to his girl back home, pleading for her to wait for him to return so they can be together while the band plays Lights Out (which I've always assumed to be a reference to Jerry Byrne's Lights Out, released in 1958 on Specialty, but I could be very wrong about this), is, for me, about as moving as popular music gets.

Beginning with rolling, military-band drums, chugging guitar and distant horns, the song steadily rises to a crescendo, as first a choir and then an orchestra join the march, before Zerben's devastating cry of "lights out, lights out baby" brings the whole thing crashing down. If it fails to sends shivers down your spine, consult a doctor immediately: you might be technically dead.

Flip Lights Out over and you get a lovely mid-tempo number called You Make Me Feel Good, credited simply to the Dynamics, making this rare 45 a double-sided delight that's well worth seeking out.

Click to hear You Make Me Feel Good

Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 1)

Following the excellent Kon + Amir Present: The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples Of All Time, it seems dusty fingers have swapped crates for keyboards, and internet forums have been buzzing with hip-hop heads debating which samples and breaks were key in making 90s hip-hop such a formidable period in the genre's history.

Always digging, the Soulful Strut love to reflect upon our own favourite breaks and beats, and so we're chronicling them with "Only Built 4 Hyperlinks", a series exploring our most-loved funk and soul samples. Over the coming weeks we'll be revealing those rare crate-digging moments when you discover a loop on an old piece of vinyl that unexpectedly gives up a secret from hip-hop's golden age.

We'll kick things off with Bob James, a jazz fusion pianist who is pretty well-known in sampling circles, but who nonetheless created some of the biggest beats of all time. Without Bob James, would we have ever heard Run rock rhymes or Rakim's journey of the journal as a journalist, and would Nas even have picked up a microphone at that infamous barbeque?

There are several outstanding Bob James tracks to choose from, but we've opted for an absolute monster from his 1974 album, One, called Nautilus.

Click to hear Nautilus

The album features James (keyboards), Gary King (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums), the latter being a legend in his own right and worth investigating further.

Listening to this track for the first time still ranks as one of our most memorable beat-digging moments. The first few eeire bars kick in, and from the spacey void some of hip-hop's greatest artists emerge, first with Jeru and Pete Rock, before an awesome guitar lick washes up Ghostface Killah ... and we're only a few bars in!

The track races into a glittering fusion of orchestral swell and classical piano, rolling over a strong b-boy beat before plunging 20,000 fathoms of funk into a deep underwater dimension, leaving only a crashing breakbeat and haunting organ stabs that bubble into classics for Run DMC, Ultramagnetic MCs and Eric B & Rakim, with Main Source (featuring Nas) also floating in the deep soundscape.

The list, of course, goes much, much further, and it's easy to lose count of the funk flotsam and jetsam used by hip-hop all over this track, making it one of the most sampled of all time. But it is also just an unforgettable track in its own right. A real classic.

Anti Radar Funk v Home of Britpop

Oxfam, YMCA, Scope, Cancer Research, Age Concern ... NW1 might be littered with charity shops, but very few of them carry cassette tapes, making this morning's tape drop a little trickier than we had envisaged.

But, as you can see from the photo above, we got there in the end, and mixtape #3 is now in the wild! Hit 'play' on the video below to see our undercover agent, Miss Malone, making the drop ...

Joni Adams and the Fenderman 70, Las Vegas (Zodiac)

One of our favourite funk 45s, Joni Adams absolutely nails this track (hit 'play' on the video below to hear for yourself). This Zodiac label is out of Miami, not to be confused with the Chicago label of the same name (home to the Creations, A Dream, another big Soulful Strut spin).

The track is taken from a rare, privately-pressed album called Miami to Las Vegas, featuring artists and songs from, you guessed it, Miami and Las Vegas.

Flip it over and you get an intriguing medley called Going Back to Miami by Dave Taylor and the Clique, also taken from the Miami to Las Vegas LP, which manages to sandwich a brief version of the Temptations classic Get Ready between a fairly pedestrian soul/r'n'b call-and-response workout.

We don't know if Joni recorded any other tracks, but if she did, it's hard to imagine her eclipsing this funk juggernaut ...

Lee Moses: A complete discography

"Got that will to learn / Gonna be a star one day."

With just eight 45s and one LP to his name, Lee Moses's star shone briefly but brightly. Below you can see the sum of his output, cutting sides for Lee John, Dynamo, Musicor, Front Page and Gates, as well as a 45 and nine-track LP for Maple. In fact he almost had as many labels as he had songs.

But fleeting as his contribution to soul music was, his records – which range from raw deep funk to achingly powerful deep soul – are some of the most startling examples of the genre we've heard. His complete discography is as follows:

Lee John 618
Diana (From NYC) / My Adorable One


Dynamo 115
Never In My Life / If Loving You Is A Crime (I'll Always Be Guilty)


Musicor 1227 (Lee Moses & the Diciples)
Reach Out For Me / Day Tripper


Musicor 1242
Bad Girl (Part 1) / Bad Girl (Part 2)


Musicor 1263
How Much Longer (Must I Wait) / I'm Sad About It


Front Page 2301
Time and Place / I Can't Take No Chances


Maple 1001
Got That Will / Free At Last


Maple 6001
Time and Place (LP)


Gates 1502
Dark End of the Street / She's a Bad Girl


For detailed information about Lee, and the songs above, check out this excellent and informative article at In Dangerous Rhythm: http://indangerousrhythm.blogspot.com/2005/10/lee-moses.html

Means of Persuasion, One Way Street (1972), C&J

It's been a while since the last 45 and counting ... To get things back on track, we're posting one of our favourite recent discoveries.

This seemingly un-Googleable 45, as far as we're aware, is pretty much as rare as they come. We have no information about it whatsoever, other than what we were told by George, the chap who sold it to us. According to George, the band cut an LP (although no one seems to have seen or heard it), and the flip to this 45, Be My Friend, despite being a bit shit, got some spins on the northern scene many moons ago. And that's it.

With such pitiful context to set the scene, perhaps it's best to let the music do the talking (click play on the video below to hear the track in full).

Mixtape #2 is in the wild ...

North may be the Soulful Strut's default setting when it comes to hanging our hat, but we're certainly not afraid to venture further afield in our quest to share rare, unusual and downright funky soul 45s with unsuspecting Londoners. This afternoon we headed east to deposit our second Anti Radar Funk mixtape at one of the capital's trendiest branches of Oxfam.

We can approvingly report that during our brief stay the plaid-shirted shop assistant gave Neil Young's On The Beach album a well-received outing on the in-store sound system. Sadly our dig through the 12"s and LPs proved fruitless, but we couldn't help smile at the thought of our little addition to Oxfam's family of unwanted cassettes nestling snugly between albums by Lenny Kravitz and the Charlatans, its destiny unknown.

Anti Radar Funk tapes are go !!

Analogue fans rejoice! The first batch of Anti Radar Funk mixtapes are complete. One could be winging its way to a charity shop near you (snail not included). Inside the case you'll find a high-quality Type II Chrome cassette packed with 90 minutes of killer funk & soul 45s mixed by the Soulful Strut. So set your EQ to 70 and get hunting!

Check out the video below to see the first tape-drop taking place at an Oxfam located somewhere in the capital.

Anti Radar Funk mixtape: coming soon to a charity shop near you ...

Behold London-based funk fans, thrift fiends and cassette nerds! The Soulful Strut Anti Radar Funk mixtape is coming to a charity shop near you. That's right, we're busy making cassettes of some of our rarest and most mind-blowing 45s and, over the coming weeks, we'll be dropping them at random in branches of Oxfam, Scope, Cancer Research etc around the capital. Each Anti Radar Funk tape features a different mix of original 45s, from psychedelic soul to break-laden jazz jams to deep funk holy grails. Keep your eyes peeled and you could be one of the lucky recipients of our guerilla tape-drop project. Watch this space for updates ...

Anti Radar Funk mixtape

Anti Radar Funk - by Thesoulfulstrut on Mixcloud

Back with another one of those block-rockin' jeeps! From the east coast to the west and back again, check your mirrors then head out on a high-octane, psychedelic funk-vinyl roadtrip. Forty minutes of Anti Radar Funk to take you over the county line!