Saturday, February 19, 2011

Action!


EDDIE WILSON- Shing-A-Ling Stroll/Don't Kick The Teenager Around U.K. Action ACT 4536 1969

What we have hear kids is sort of a "rarity" here at "Anorak Thing", not that this record is "rare", it's just that we rarely focus on soul music and certainly none that's been released after my personal benchmark for this sorta sound as "post-Otis Redding R.I.P."  I 'll explain.  I once read a quote in the 80's by a U.K. mod D.J. named Paul Hallam who said something to the effect that he kept his soul pre-'68 because "after Otis died everything got funky".  I'm inclined to agree and not being down with funk I rarely hear much that grabs me soul-wise later in the decade.  I wound up with this record through a friend many years ago, in truth I always liked the look of the label, though it took me awhile to get around to digging the record.

I can't tell you much about Eddie Wilson or the record other than it was originally released in the U.S. on Back Beat 596 in 1968 (home of my fave Little Carl Carlton).  Today's specimen comes from the famous U.K. soul label Action!.  It was a brainchild of the British mod/soul-r&b DJ supremo Guy Stevens after he pulled the plug on his highly successful (and now highly collectible) U.K. Sue label.

"Shing-A-Ling" stroll is funky and unbeat, it has a "live" feel to it with the intro featuring the sounds of a crowd shouting out as a cowbell kicks in the groove and the bursts of guitar recall Archie Bell and The Drells while the horns have a succinctly "Stax" feel to them.  Coolness. The flip, though totally upbeat and kicking in the musical backing department comes off a bit corny from a lyrical standpoint but if you ignore the words it's a gass, complete with some old early/mid 60's style female backing vocals straight off of a King r&b side.
Hear "Shing-A-Ling Stroll":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnClPV2flho

Hear "Don't Kick The Teenagers Around":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyu4zEnaadU

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