Please Forgive My Heart

The Mack is Back!!...Legendary soul singer Bobby Womack's first Album in 13 years is due for release on the 11/12th June on XL Recordings, produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell and titled  'The Bravest Man In The Universe'. But the news is sadden a little with the diagnosis of his 1st stage of colon cancer and pneumonia recently. Prayers going out to the Mack for a speedy recovery. Here's the first single from the LP...


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mixtape - natural blend

artwork by angelo empirio

While on the road in bella italia i mixed up this blend of tunes from last year and yesteryear for my own enjoyment..so i'd like to share it with you peeps....hope ya'all Njoy!

(download - 192kbps - 86.55mb)

Copa do mondo

So just 10 days to go to the greatest show on earth and the anticipation felt around the world is gathering excitement by the hour...As readers will know we at mt@o are avid followers of the beautiful game...or as our friends in the US would say 'what that game with 22 grown men kicking a ball around'...yes my dear cousins that game which is truly GLOBAL and brings people together like no other. Now for the tunes to go with, Next Stop Soweto Vol.2 is the second in STRUTrecords three-part compilation series showcasing ‘underground’ South African music of the 60's and 70's. Thanks to several years of painstaking research and vinyl archaeology by compilers Duncan Brooker and Francis Gooding they've uncovered some rare gems of SA soul, funk, R&B and psych sounds from a time when these unknown musicians plied their trade under an oppressive apartheid regime during the years before the tumultuous Soweto uprising of 1976...We're dropping 2 tracks from the comp a quality funky groover from the Soul Throbs with a track called 'Little Girl' and some uptempo boogie bizniz from The Heroes with 'Come With Me', just wish the tracks were longer, re-edits anyone?... An overall amazing collection of obscure South African music....An essential purchase to enjoy head-nodding during those half-time brakes,

(Download)



(Download)

Things ain't right.

Dropping a dope funky soul/jazz floorfiller from Esther Marrow, or Queen Esther Marrow on the legendary Fantasy records 1972...with, get this!..Bernard Purdie, Jimmy Johnson and Idris Muhammad on drum duties, Richard Tee piano, Cornell Dupree on guitar, and Ralph McDonald on congas, what a line up!..going out to my man CV in Barcelona.

(download mp3)



1.women in the window
2.ghetto
3.trade winds
4.turn on to jesus
5.rainy night in georgia
6.thing ain't right
7.ask me to dance
8.and when i die
9414

She's so good

Yep! you know what day it is, so get out there and love up your lady or man whatever way you can..Released in '79 here is Solid Gold Revue's "she's so good" featuring Ray Crumley on vocals, originally released on CASTANET Records an in demand rare little 7", but given a well earned rinse on the bbe's Soul Spectrum compilation...Njoy!

Teddy Bear R.I.P.

Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass, Sr. March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010

One of the most amazing soul voices of all time has passed on yesterday....R.I.P Teddy Bear, Truly blessed!

R.I.P Jacko

1958-2009

I Miss Those Apples & Bees!

I haven`t yet blogged a Techno track or artist as such yet, but this is an exception to the rules...I remember this dropping into Atlas Records, the record shop i co-founded & owned back in the 9T`s in London`s, SoHo district and a copy was quickly snapped up and stashed in my personal cubby hole in the back of the shop...Most customers were interested in the more banging affairs on this 4 track Ep "Dream Not Of Today" released on the UK`s Peacefrog label, but it was the 2nd track on the B-Side that cut right through my soul.....From that Purveyor Of Fine Funk himself Dan Curtin. A native of Cleveland, Ohio who grew up with all the funkiness of hip-hop, new wave & electro sounds swirling around in his head. It`s no wonder he would produce a track of such groove and simplicity. With it`s vocal sample hanging in the air throughout, dragging me back to dancefloors past!....The latin percussion pulling me along for the ride and the spacey strings lifting me ever higher, this is one slice of techno soul that`s right up my street...Enjoy!

Anyone care to spot/comment on the vocal sample? Or is that too easy?

Dan Curtin - one evening at mrs. applebees

More 2 Step Classics

A quick post to get back in the swing of things. A couple of steppers for you the first Produced by Keith Sweat on the New York label 'Sutra' in `85, this was a absolute monster on the London soul & funk dance floors of the 8T`s. Ms.Gilliam never made an album but sung on numerous tracks for different producers...including the 1991 track 'workout' with the Chicago house legend that is Frankie Knuckles.

Soulful sweetness!

And lifted from the 'Chasing a Dream' Album..this has a more upbeat mood and there is more of a flavour of the heavy bass beat and synth sound of the 8T`s. Produced by Russell Simmons the creator of the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings



Roberta Gilliam - "all i want is my baby" (mp3 download)

Covers: 'Inner City Blues'

Next up in our look at amazing tracks that other artists have covered is the phenominal tune and all time classic by Marvin Gaye, released as the third and final single from his bestselling 1971 album, 'What's Going On'. Written by Gaye and James Nyx, the song depicted the ghettos of inner-city America as it discussed how the bleak situation would lead to someone wanting to holler and throw ones hands up in dispair . In thirty eight years things haven`t changed much. The song was recorded in a mellow funky style with Gaye playing piano. Several of the Funk Brothers also contributed, including Eddie "Bongo" Brown, and bassist Bob Babbitt. Here are 4 cover versons including the original to enjoy!

Marvin`s.


Placebo - 'inner city blues' - From their 'Ball of Eyes' LP also from 1971.



Reuben Wilson from his 'The Sweet Life' LP.



From his 1981 classic release, 'Reflections' here`s Gil Scott Heron`s version.


Phil Upchurch - Wonderful Jazz/funk offering from his 1971 LP, 'Darkness Darkness'.


Marvin Gaye - 'inner city blues'(mp3 download)
Gil Scott-Heron - 'inner city blues' (poem, the siege)-(mp3 download)

2 Step Killers!

A couple of mid-tempo 2 step killers for your sunday....first up is a beautiful track by Walter Jackson titled "Its Cool", pure Chicago smoothness ....Normally known for his R&B Soul tracks on the Okeh label , this was his last ever recording in 1983. WJ passed away only 3 days after Chi-Sound released the tune.

Walter Jackson - "It's Cool"


And then the unmistakable Mr Gene Harris with a jazz/funk stomper of a tune, lifted from his Blue Note album Astral signal recorded in `74 later to be reworked by Bugz in The Attic.
Enjoy!

Gene Harris - "losalamitoslatinfunklovesong"


Gene Harris - "losalamitoslatinfunklovesong" (mp3 download)

Motown`s 50th

Motown is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary and here at mytea@om we celebrate and respect the huge influence that one record label & sound has had on so many peoples live. Motown was in the 60`s'...The Sound Of Young America'

Here is some great footage of the 60`s UK Television music show Ready Steady Go, that i grew up watching with my older sister. This "Sound Of Motown TV special", was recorded at the Rediffusion studios in Kingsway, London on 18 March 1965.The Motown medley was with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (Shop Around), The Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go). Followed by the finale 'Mickey's Monkey' with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and everyone else joining in: The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield.,with the Earl Van Dyke Sextet.



The Sound Of Motown TV special was mainly Dusty Springfield's idea, to promote R&B music and artists in Britain..It's now been 20 years since anything's been heard of these TV shows. The "Rediffusion London" TV station ceased to exist after July 1968, when the franchise for commercial TV in the London region changed. Sadly, only a handful of their music shows have survived. Most of the RSG shows are now lost to history.

The UK Observer Newspaper has a three part documentary on the history of the Detroit label and talks to its stars about that golden age.
Motor city miracles: Part 1
Motor city miracles: Part 2
Motor city miracles: Part 3

Click here for a pictorial history of the label.

Tribute: Levi Stubbs R.I.P.

The Four Tops - from left to right: Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Lawrence Payton, Abdul 'Duke' Fakir and Levi Stubbs. Photograph: Harry Goodwin/Rex Features

Another sad day in mytea@om world as we hear of Levi Stubbs, lead singer of the Four Tops and the voice of Motown hits including "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)", has died aged 72. He died in his sleep at the Detroit house he shared with his wife of 48 years, Cliniece. He had not performed in recent years because of illness.
With Stubbs in the lead, the Four Tops sold millions of records and performed for more than four decades without a change in personnel. Former Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson said: "Levi Stubbs was one of the great voices of all times. He was very near and dear to my heart."

The group signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced 20 Top-40 hits over the next decade. Their biggest hits were recorded between 1964 and 1967 with I Can't Help Myself and Reach Out reaching No 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
Barry Gordy, who founded Motown, said: "It is not only a tremendous personal loss for me but for the Motown family, and people all over the world who were touched by his rare voice and remarkable spirit."
Stubbs "fits right up there with all the icons of Motown," said Audley Smith, of the Motown Historical Museum. "His voice was as unique as Marvin [Gaye's] or as Smokey's or as Stevie [Wonder's]."
Stubbs once told the LA Times: "I don't really even have a style; I just come by the way I sing naturally. When I learn a song, I try to live it as best I can."

Was it all it was Cracked up to be?

Our Church, The Temple of Funk, Synagogue of Soul, our Jinja of Jazz.

Crackers 1976 - 1979

It`s Sunday night and i have a meet with the boys.....They would always be found lounging on the railing outside Holcroft Court on Clipstone Street, W1....A short exhange of "Easy yeah...ready" and we`d be off weaving our way through the small streets of Fitzrovia to Oxford Street....Timmy dancing instead of walking and Mickey and me talking toooons.

Destination "CRACKERS" Night club.

We`d finally reach and the queue`s already 50 deep down towards Noel Street, but this never worried us as our mate was on the door...the line of dancers assembled was a who` who of the soul/funk/jazz clubbing fraternity...Shakesy, Mohammad, BP, PF and H, BKS in his deerstalker, Jazz dancers and pineapple studio goers, all ready for the evenings sweat down.
We`d sit on the inevitable parked cars right outside the entrance so we could catch the sounds waffling up the stairs and out into the clear night. Sometimes we`d hear a tune and immediately jump up and start dancing in the road, which would always seem to amuse the doorman, but the other clubbers, used to look at us as though we was off our rockers!! and we was. Totally engrossed with the sounds, we wouldn`t give a monkey`s what people thought and didn`t try to look or act cool...fuck dat, those Basslines were way to good to care....As soon as the Q had emptied we`d head down in the knowledge that this underground cavern was the ultimate in dancing heaven..

Crackers was a shit-hole really, the stench of sausage & chips they included in the price of admittance would overwhelm you, as you descended the last few steps. But the evenings entertainment would be salubrious none the less. We`d make a bee-line for the seats right of the stage area, plonk down our bags, containing a towel, Chelsea boots and change of T-shirt for when you left into the fresh night air. Now, with footwear changed we were ready, grab a juice from the bar and survey the scene.




It`s dark & hot already , the only light is on Stage where the DJ is doing his thang, George P was an unlikely DJ in this setting, a 40 year old Greek guy from Norf london but who was on the pulse of the young soul rebels of London town. Everyone is getting down to the same rhythm and there are no inhibitions. A mixed crowd of 70/30 Black & White and not a fight to be seen, although sometimes getting close. You see, it was the battle of the day, not with guns or weapons, but peoples bodies...as they slipped, slide and pirouetted there way around the dancefloor...Soon a couple of the faces would start cranking up the moves and a crowd would gather round them, whopping their approval, if you got too close you would be kicked, as the spins came think and fast, or splashed in the face with the sweat dripping off their muscular bodies..It was quite a cliquey scene, many people knew each other, Soulboys & girls from Essex, the West side, Sarf & Norf London, a right melting pot of movement. We always felt a bit intimidated but we were the West End kids and didn`t care too much for that, we was having sooooo much fun...It seemed like a perfect world to be in.

Eddie Henderson - Say you will


And it was, I felt it deep in my own soul...the basslines, horn sections, uplifting vocals and down right dirty drums....The hybrid funk of a generation.
The last tune of the evening would inevitably be a slowie, so whoever had been eyeing each other up all night, could get it Onnn!!! After the needle of the citronic deck slipped off the last piece of warm analogue vinyl, the whole assembled mass, would cheer, whistle and clap Georgie P and scream "more....one more"..but that was it, we`d have to wait until next Friday lunchtime for our next fix of narcotic Soul.

Bobby Womack - Daylight


As the crowd would be ushered out by the doorman, we`d hang back until the very last, savoring the special feeling of tired limbs and drenched clothes.....off to the toilets for a quick douse around the armpits, dry off and change back into my converse for the short walk home. Climbing the stairs, peeps would be saying their farewells as they entered, cool early morning London, hanging around outside, causing a roadblock for the mini-cabs at the top of Wardour Street, discussing other clubs and arranging meets at , Bali Hai in Stratham, The Goldmine & Lacy Lady in Essex, Frenchies in Camberley, these were all suburban clubs, except Gullivers in Mayfair, which we always had trouble to get into being so young, but we did try!.
We never ventured out to those suburban places, not having any wheels between the 3 of us and in no way could afford a mini-cab home, and why should we, we had it all on our own doorstep so to speak and or so we thought....Crackers, Ronnie Scott`s,100 club & Spatz, that seemed enough for us at the time....But that was all about to change. I`d walk back with the guys to their flats and say our "Laters".....it had been another great fucking evening and with a smile on my face, I`d head back home to hit the sack.....but not before i heard just one more Toon. I`d reach for the cassette radio......Play!

Ramp - Daylight


Hear Mark Roman's 3 part Crackers Story..