1. BOBBY JONES AND THE PARA-MONTS-"Beware A Stranger" U.S. U.S.A. 864 1967
Kicking off with some horns borrowed from "Dancing In The Street" this uptempo groover is backed by female backing vocals and a frantic music backing. As expected it's another impossible one to snag owing to it's popularity among pensioners across the ocean...
2. THE CHECK MATES-"Hey Mrs. Jones" U.S. Arvee A 5030 1961
Made famous by Jimmy Witherspoon, this tale of adulterous behavior was covered shortly after by The Check Mates. It has a Latin back beat and double tracked male/female lead vocals that give it an interesting feel considering the lyrics. The arrangement with congas, bongos and brass give it an excellent Latin meets uptown soul feel.
3. OBIE PLENTY-"Beef Stew" US Verve VK 10516 1967
This groovy little organ driven go-go groover is punctuated by the annoying high pitched voice of "Ma" (reminding me of Flip Wilson's "Geraldine") and a lead singer doing a hip speak/rap about having beef stew for breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7. Regardless it's quite a funky little tune with a solid groove to it.
4. LEE MOSES-"Reach Out, I'll Be There" U.S. Musicor MU 1227 1967
Speaking of instrumentals, this ragged instrumental take on the Four Tops hit is a pure gas! Gritty guitar, vibes, combo organ and a drummer intent on beating the living shit out of his kit propel this one forward and make it sound like a bargain basement/frat rock Booker T and The MG's, but don't let the lo-fi production fool you, these cats are cookin'.
5. SYLVIA ROBBINS-"Don't Let Your Eyes Get Bigger Than Your Heart" U.S. Sue 805 1964
This brilliant Sue 45 is backed by organ and has a great "girl group" sound that's not as soulful as one would expect for Sue, but the wailing organ solo and nifty brass backing make it worth checking out even if the vocals aren't the track's strong suit!
6. THE VIBRATIONS-"Gonna Get Along Without You Now" U.S. Okeh 47-7249 1966
The Vibrations cut a host of amazing 45's when they switched to Okeh from Checker. This was their eighth single for the label, delivered at 100 mph with brass and vibes it's an uptempo stormer, and of course huge in that genre we hate naming....
7. NINA SIMONE-"Do I Move You?" U.S. RCA Victor 47-9120 1967
This smoking bluesy number is found on the flip of Nina's "Day And Night" 45. She smoothly belts it out over a dirty, dirgy blues beat with subtle harp blowing and boisterous male backing vocals and barroom piano, bass, drums and twangy guitar giving it an almost "live" feel.
8. JIMMY BAILEY-"Keep On Running" U.S. Columbia 4-43530 1966
I could do an entire post of version's of this Jackie Edwards penned tune (made famous by the Spencer Davis Group) but this one is one of the handful of U.S. soul covers of the track (along with Billy Prince's which followed this a month later). This take is more uptempo than most that you'll hear but it's interesting because it's primary musical backing is a piano with added horns and the obligatory fuzz guitar.
9. PRINCE AND PRINCESS-"Stick Together" U.S. Bell 637 1966
Any one have any clue who this duo were? Both sides of this 45 were written and produced by Larry Fallon and Jimmy Miller and it was originally released in the U.K. the previous year (on the primarily ska/reggae imprint Aladdin as WI 609) leading me to suspect that maybe they're British?! Either way it's an uptempo male/female soul duet with some hand claps and it's a 101 mph octane dance party (which explains why there's a copy on Discogs right now for $271)!1
10. JIMMY LIPSCOMB-"Pow Pow Pow (Mas Que Mada)" U.S. Monique 150 1966
Here's a funky little elevator jazz reading of "Mas Que Nada" with a vocalist giving it the full on Mel Torme meets Sinatra feel. Musically it's a cross between full on supper club and more commercial jazz. I've no idea who Jimmy Lipscomb, any takers?
All scans courtesy of the amazing website https://www.45cat.com/
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