Get Involved blog

Johnnie Taylor – Dance What You Wanna

During a recording career that spanned nearly half a century, Johnnie Taylor (1934-1999) covered more genres of African-American music than any other major artist. His earliest sides, in 1953, were with The Five Echoes, a Chicago doo-wop group. In 1955 he joined the Highway Q.C.’s, a Chicago gospel quartet in which both Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls had previously sung lead. Then, in 1957, he joined the Soul Stirrers, filling a role in the famous gospel quartet previously occupied by Sam Cooke. Taylor then recorded blues and soul music with limited commercial success for Cooke’s SAR and Derby labels from 1961 to ‘64. He signed with Stax Records in 1966 and over the next nine years scored a dozen Top Ten R&B hits. His biggest seller came at Columbia Records in 1976 with Disco Lady which topped both the Pop and R&B charts and became the first-ever single in record industry history to be certified platinum.

This particular track, Dance What You Wanna was penned and produced by Cooke and released in 1963, shortly after Taylor had spent a few months touring as a preacher. No matter what manner of material he wrapped his elastic low-tenor pipes around, Taylor was a song stylist of remarkable consistency and breathtaking authority – according to the biography that Stax records provided website SoulTracks.com. He considered himself a “salesman” of songs, said biog goes on. “A song is a song,” Taylor explained. “If you sing ‘Jesus’ or if you say ‘baby,’ it’s basically melodically the same. I think anything that makes people happy is good, anything that takes people’s minds off their problems.” So do we, Johnnie. So do we…

I’ve just got back from a weekend at Latitude festival up near Southwold in Suffolk – where I’ve had one of the best weekends ever. Saw some great acts – Beth Orton, British Sea Power, Malcolm Middleton, Jeremy Warmsley and Johnny Flynn were all highlights. But one performance really stood out: that of Eli “Paperboy” Reed and The True Loves - at 1am on Saturday night. The whole reason I made a point of heading to see Reed and his band is because a certain Disgracie (DJing at the next Get Involved night on 7th August) suggested, pretty strongly, that I check him out. So I bought the album (which I love) and made a note to check him at Latitude… And boy, oh boy am I glad I did.

Reed (pictured above) is just 24 years old but has a voice like Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Wilson Picket rolled into one. And he’s got the song-writing sensibilities and the band to back it up. In some ways his set was too good at Latitude. I was there but found it hard to believe it. This young, suited and booted white dude, belting out raucous, screaming R&B numbers and heart-wrenching soul ballads… But isn’t performing that kind of music just a nod to the past? Well, usually, I’d have to say yes but this doesn’t feel like an exercise in retro. Reed’s original material sounds fresh and genuine – honest, good, gritty soul music reminiscent of the output of record labels like Stax and Atco in the mid to late sixties. I guess what I’m really saying is this: If Reed and his impressively tight band are coming to a town near you - for crying out loud get a ticket. There are three dates in London THIS WEEK (although tonight’s appearance at Mojo Club at The Arts Theatre on Great Newport Street is sold out). Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s myspace page has all his gig dates and you can listen to a selection of tracks from his new album, Roll With You. To read Lois Wilson’s brilliant review of the album that appeared in Mojo’s June 2008 issue, click here.

Big thank you to Gracie for the Eli Reed tip-off!

Gloria Brown – Looking For My Baby

Basically, Ski Williams at Sounds That Swing up in Camden pulled this record out for me to listen to last time I was up up there. Now I listened to a lot of records that particular Friday afternoon whilst hanging out with Ski, both of us rifling through box upon box of rockabilly, swampy sixties soul and greasy doo-wop (that’s Ski’s terminology - I love it!) looking for the kind of thing that i know gets people jumping at Get Involved and also at Gerry’s Joint. But this is the tune that makes my other purchases that day pale into relative insignificance… It’s probably the most in-your-face, raucous, stomping monster of a tune I could have hoped to find during that or any record-hunting session. The track’s lyrics reveal that Brown has just been caught kissing someone else by her lover who she’s now desperate to find and apologise to. Her raspy stayed-out-all-night voice and a delightfully frantic beat played out on a particularly tight snare drum evoke both regret and desperation in equal measures. Backing singers, horn action and a saxaphone solo thicken the gumbo nicely (more of Ski’s terminology). Ski, thank you for the introduction. Gloria, I’m glad we met. Hope you find your baby!

I tried to find out more about Gloria Brown but all I uncovered was that this record was released in 1963. And the label tells me that this tune, Looking For My Baby was written by Joy Byers and produced by Bob Johnston – a husband and wife team of songwriters who went on to write umpteen songs for Elvis Presley’s films (between 1964 and 1968) including It Hurts Me, Let Yourself Go and Stop, Look and Listen, although in recent years Bob has suggested that he wrote most of the songs that Joy was credited for… Bob Johnston made a name for himself as a producer in the 60s and 70s working with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and a host of Nashville legends.

Get Involved is officially a Kate Moss fan

Was looking through the vast portfolio site of fashion guru and photographer Hedi Slimane (www.hedislimane.com) last week and stumbled across this image of Kate Moss shaking a tambourine. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Oh, the ol’ perv is looking at her tits.” Well, you’d be half right, but there’s another reason why this image appeals, besides it being a rather fantastic shot of one of the hottest models of all time… It was actually a tambourine just like the one pictured that planted the seed for Get Involved. Yes, our good chum and much esteemed DJ colleague, Cutmaster Max brought a similar star-shaped tambourine to It’s Bigger Than (a night we used to run in 93 Feet East for a few years) one night and somehow it added a certain special something to the musical shenanigans that got us thinking… What joy a tambourine can bring!

btw Kate, you’re welcome at Get Involved any time. Wear your “tambourine outfit”, though, yeah?

I was just perusing the world wide web and stumbled across the blog of an illustrator called Linzie Hunter. As well as showing off her wonderfully jolly illustrations and hand-lettering, Linzie’s blog also shows off cool things she’s found in second hand stores and at jumble sales. She found the above record and bought it (rightly so) due to the fact she loved the illustration on the sleeve. Ah, what a wonderful world we live in! And what a wonderfully appropriate record to find in such a sleeve: Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World from 1967. Obviously the record is on HMV label and the sleeve is a Philips one - but who cares? A lovely find indeed. Linzie also links through to the site of another illustrator who also has an eye for lovely old record sleeves – to the extent that she has a site dedicated to showcasing her extensive collection of 45 label sleeves…

Check out Kavel Rafferty’s Record Envelope blog.