Popcorn Wylie – E.S.P.
Popcorn Wylie – Lost Time
Popcorn Wylie – Both Ends Against The Middle
Recently ran into this gem of a record recently at Amoeba and just had to snatch it up. 
Richard “Popcorn” Wylie has the look of a big time player and he was a big time player in the Detroit music scene, even before Motown became “Motown.” Wylie was an original member of the legendary Funk Brothers laying down the music of the early Motown singles from around 1959-1962. After a fallout with Mr. Gordy, Wylie went on to produce and record a number of Detroit artists, particularly on his own labels Pameline and Soul Hawk, many of which have become cherished in the Northern Soul scene and by all lovers of great soul music (including this classic covered solidly by Mayer Hawthorne).
This LP was released in 1974 with a bevy of heavyweights, including Dennis Coffey, James Gadson, Melvin “Wah-Wah” Ragin, David Walker and a super young Ray Parker Jr. I first heard this album when Dusty Groove reissued it a while ago and I’ve been looking for a copy ever since. Part of the allure is certainly with the massive breaks on “ESP” and “Both Ends,” but it’s also just the quality of music and the sound of the album. The fact that the drums breakdown cleanly is one thing, but it’s that sound that makes this such a stunner. In addition to Wylie’s influence the record was produced by McKinley Jackson of the Politicans and it has this gorgeous, cinematic, expansive and slightly grittier Love Unlimited kind of style to it, best represented on the instrumental “Lost Time” with it’s languid and lazy guitar lines countered with the upbeat early disco style. Definite top shelf material from one of the best out of the motor city.
Cheers,
Michael