Skip to main content

Programa #130 – R&B


So, I am compelled to bring up the topic of nicknames within the world of R&B and blues music (T-Bone and Gatemouth?). Guitar Slim must have cut a trim figure – unlike Fats Domino or Two-Ton Baker – and I say more power to the man. Though what might be conjectured as a healthy lifestyle didn’t stop him from dying of pneumonia at age 32. In this playlist we also get a chance to hear what Li’l Bob was putting down, regardless of his physical stature. There’s lots of “Littles” out there, no? Walter, Milton, Brother Montgomery, etc., along with Big Mama,

Barbecue Bob, Bumblebee Slim, Cripple Clarence, Speckled Red. We’ve also got Dyke (& the Blazers) but I’m not going there. Did I mention their song title of “Stuff” wins the post-modernist critics’ award for fulsome ambiguity? Most of these tags were terms of endearment, I imagine, but I have to wonder just how short Willie Walker needed to be to warrant the “Wee”? 5’ 2” according to the historic record, though Wikipedia doesn’t offer whether or not he chafed under the imposition. Still, the fact that he’s even in this conversation means he surpassed any potential limitations and went on to a modicum of fame as a singer over the course of many years (while working a second job as a machinist or healthcare worker). You’d think that by starting off with James Brown this program was delivering all the hits from all the stars, but you’d be wrong. Sure, we’ve got Etta James, Irma Thomas, Don Covay and a handful of other better-knowns, but obscurity was my guide this time, whether in selecting artists or the song choices. Hopefully this will prompt my faithful listeners to go forth and seek out the Wee Willies, L’il Bobs and Fugis of the R&B pantheon and their musical legacies.

Runlist - Al compás del mundo - programa #130, R&B
First broadcast 5-30-24 

 01 James Brown - Let Yourself Go

02 Li'l Bob and the Lollipops – Stop

03 Junior Gordon - Call the Doctor

04 Lee Dorsey - Everything I Do Gon’ Be Funky (From Now On)

05 Wee Willie Walker - Read Between the Lines

06 Irma Thomas - Somewhere Crying

07 Spencer Wiggins - Lonely Man

08 The Experts - Wake Me When It’s Over

09 Dyke & The Blazers – Stuff

10 Ann Sexton - It's All Over but the Shouting

11 Scott Brothers Orchestra - A Hunk o' Funk

12 Guitar Slim - Sufferin' Mind

13 O. V. Wright - Henpecked Man

14 Thelma Jones - The House that Jack Built

15 Etta James - I Worship the Ground You Walk On

16 Don and Dee Dee - I Can't Stand It

17 Don Covay - Sookie, Sookie

18 Veniece – Stepchild

19 Clarence Reid - I Refuse to Give Up

20 Fugi - Mary, Don´t Take Me on No Bad Trip



 


 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

British blues of the 60s y 70s

  This has to be one of my favorite programs. The British blues scene gave us a healthy dose of reverential and, admittedly, imitative music that awakened a youthful audience suffering from pop fatigue on both sides of the ocean. Of course, the blues, as interpreted by young white musicians who couldn’t have been much further from the Mississippi Delta or the South side of Chicago, can be considered as cultural appropriation. At the same time, those involved in the scene have reminisced that playing the blues was largely a visceral reaction to a compelling combination of rhythm, lyrics and energy that was distinct from the British music scene up to that point. I don’t believe anyone at the time felt guilty playing the songs of their Southern US heroes. Does it make a difference that a number of these groups went on to earn far more money than the originators ever dreamed of? Probably, though many of the greats – Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and others – profi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Funk and Soul

  Al compás del mundo - programa #169, 2-27-25, Funk and Soul   01 The Commodores - Brick House 02 Tower of Power - Drop It In The Slot 03 Parliament - Ride On 04 Sly & The Family Stone – Frisky 05 The Webb People – I’m Sending Vibrations 06 Ruby Delicious - Rock Steady 07 Mandrill - Git It All 08 The San Francisco TKOS – Herm 09 Ohio Players - Fire 10 Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child) 11 Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie 12 Chico and Buddy - A Thing Call the Jones 13 Little Ann – Possession 14 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Time Will Tell 15 Parliament - Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam Y'all   What did James Brown mean when he said “we’re gonna have a funky good time”? This “funky” of which he spoke, was it strictly musical (and danceable), or maybe sexual, sociable, or even political? Or maybe a little bit of each? Funk, funky, funkify, funkadelic, funkalicious…all pointing at the pleasure principle…a new dialect for the “blue...
Post a Comment
Read more