Soul / Funk

“Genius Black Musicâ„¢”

The Intentions – Dig It (Shovel)

This is an interesting soul/funk 45 out of Chicago that would appear to date from about 1969/70. Not much is known about the group & I have been told by different people that they were & weren’t the same group that recorded for Blue Light as the Intensions, so that just really confuses things. It […]

Joe "Youngblood" Cobb – It’s L.B. Time

Joe Cobb was a well known radio DJ on Chicago’s WVON for many years in the 60s & 70s. He cut this 45 for the local Ex-Pect-Mo label in 1972 & it was then picked up nationally by Cutlass out of Nashville who gave the record the much more colorful label & slightly altered X-Pect-Mo […]

Quincy Conserve – Epitaph

It seems that when you start out collecting records you are magically drawn to find specimens in your preferred genre which were created by local musicians. The problem you often encounter when collecting relatively niche genres is that the local examples you find will usually be pretty sub-standard compared with what you get from overseas. […]

‘Thesda – Sourced Out

B: Where’d you get this copy? N: thanks nate! please paypal $600 to ebay@cocaineblurnts.com. make sure to note what you ordered and your mailing address. B: I wasn’t asking if I could buy it, I was just curious where you got your copy? N: That’s an odd question but ok. B: Are you going to […]

Ray Brown & The Whispers – Respect

Australian band The Whispers were probably the best & most successful blue eyed soul group in Australia during their original run of success from 1964-66. The band really loved the burgeoning soul scene coming out of the US at the time & laced their live sets with choice covers. They also had the fortune to […]

The Sinceres – Girl I Love You

Pzazz was a small label out of Hollywood that released a real variety of stuff in the few years it was in business. It was the baby of Paul Gayten who was a music industry veteran having been a force in the 1950s New Orleans R&B scene as a musician, bandleader & talent scout. Gayten […]

Big Daddy Crimson – Leave My Woman Alone

If you’ve ever been sitting there watching Sesame Street & thought “damn, wouldn’t it be cool if Cookie Monster fronted a funk band?” Then this is the 45 for you, not only do you get two sides of nice Monk Higgins arrangements, you also get it all topped off with Big Daddy Crimson’s gruff, half […]

Herbie Goins & The Nightimers – No.1 In Your Heart

American singer Herbie Goins found himself in London after leaving the US armed forces in 1963. In 1964 he formed a band called the Nightimers & set about bringing soul music to the UK. Herbie’s first documented recordings that I can track were a guest spot as a featured vocalist on Alexis Korner’s “Live At […]

Funky Sounds from Central Africa

I guess this is the kind of record that would scream “grab me” even to the most casual of record browsers so I feel extra lucky it fell into my greedy hands. This is a very rare compilation released in the Netherlands by some forward souls at Philips. The bulk of the 12 tracks, although […]

Kevin Clark Group – On Saturday

Mid-70s jazz/funk out of New Zealand, released on the local Ode label. The Kevin Clark Group were the resident band on local television’s “On Saturday” show & this album showcases some of their varied repertoire for the show.  There are a mix of covers & originals on here & it really criss-crosses a number of […]

Exuma – Penny Sausage 1979 Inagua Records

At the end of an Era of Disco and the dawn of the Key-tar comes pure genius from the eccentric Exuma. Backed with over 21 credited musicians, 17 Background singers and 4 recording Engineers Exuma brings you a unique mix of Island, Funk and Folk/Rock. Amongst the musicians credited are Bernard Purdie (Drums) and Wilbur […]

Soul Messengers – Sweet Land Of Mine 1976 (Kingdom)

From what I have been told the Soul Messengers were a group of Americans that immigrated into their chosen holy land of Israel in the 70’s. This makes sense as the title track is a blatant Neil Diamond rip off but the writing is credited to “The Soul Messengers”. Despite the comical religious reworking of […]

Joseph – Merry Christmas To You

Joseph and I were first united in July of this year at the Salvation Army. Usually I steer clear of Christmas related titles, especially in the middle of summer, but there was something slightly endearing about the cover and synthesizer was listed on the back so I gave it a go. Ever since I have […]

Nature’s Time – The Way I See It – Far Out

I am basically posting up this 45 to see if anyone can chime in with more info about it. Apparently it is pretty uncommon & seems for me to be ungoogleable. One thing that really bugs the hell out of me is when I find a record but don’t know the story behind it. I […]

The Followers – Gospel Meeting

Normally I am not a big fan or hunter of gospel records.  The gospel field is so incredibly huge & filled with so many records that are so awful that it is pretty tough to know where to start. So I guess I am a dabbler at best when it comes to gospel records. I […]

Sweet Marie: 1

One of those bands that just really, really, really, really, really wanted to sound like Hendrix. Not that that’s a bad thing though, as there are more than a few highly enjoyable tracks on here. Take the grinding, fuzzy “Sweet Pea” for example. On the whole it’s somewhat over-exaggerated and hard to take completely seriously […]

Loving Cup

Lounge double lp by these hairy people from Michigan. Like most records of this sort there is a fair amount of totally worthless schmaltz, but unlike most, there’s also a few absolutely jaw-dropping tracks. For instance the version of “Feel Like Making Love” is just amazingly sleazy… complete with seductive moaning. I mean just imagine […]

Rojays: Tommy Ran

The rediscovery of the Rojays began modestly 4 years ago when I stumbled upon a well loved copy that was anxiously waiting to be spun at the bottom of an endless sea of Coniff and Como. From the first needle drop of this Lp, I knew that what I was hearing was going to redefine […]

Graduates: S/T

Teen/Frat-Rock lp from the south that is at least semi-known. Lots of pretty unmemorable stuff on here, like the usual ill-chosen Beatles covers, etc… but a couple tracks are full-on rad. There’s a great cover of Sly’s “Thank You” with wah-guitar, cheesy organ, and squeaky-clean harmonies. Also a killer fuzzed-out version of “Comin’ Home Baby” […]

Selah: Consider These Words

Based on the cover I got up fairly high hopes for this one pretty much immediately as I flipped to it. Unfortunately these mid-west Christian hippies only really get it together on a couple tracks here… but those tracks are good if not a bit out of step with the rest of the album. For […]

The Bag – Red Purple & Blue

The Bag were a late sixties blue-eyed soul band from the New York area that made one full length LP for Decca that incorporates enough touches of psych to get mildly sweated by people who collect that stuff. Needless to say the LP sank without a trace upon release. This song is the B-side of […]

The Dancing Machine

Obscure record offering borderline amateur renditions of okay seventies material. What’s nice about the recording is the ridiculously upfront percussion and the Curtis-wannabe falsetto singing. Even tracks like Get Dancin’ and I Got the Music In Me manage to transcent their originals ’cause of the strange mix, albeit barely. Most tracks are winners if you […]

The Younger Brothers – Coming Out

This is a Boston area blue eyed soul duo, similar to the Righteous Brothers or Tom Jones. It does have some excellent parts and I was pleasantly surprised with a few of the cuts. It is all covers and my favorites include ‘Show Me’, ‘Its a Mans Mans World’ & ‘I Thank You’. My copy […]

The James Herndon Singers – This Business of Living

I’ve bought tons of gospel records in the past few years, some good and mostly bad (or too choral or lo-fi) But this one is by far my favorite and one I come back to the most often. It just has the pefect mix to me of soulful vocals, sublime backing female vocals, solid drumming […]

Al Collie and the VIPS – The First of May

Al Collie and the VIPS was the houseband of “the IN spot in Nassau, the swinging Buccaneer Lounge at the Flagler Inn Hotel on beautiful Paradise Island.” The band played the typical mix of Calypso, almost-reggae and soul that features on so many private hand-out records from countless “In spots” on the Islands of the […]