Dig Deep: 45 Edition, Vol. 9…Spring Forward to Fall Back Baby!

I’m generally a pretty mellow dude, and definitely don’t consider myself a hateful person. But, if there is one thing in this world that I truly hate, it is Daylight Savings Time, the completely arbitrary movement of time forward that happens just as Spring approaches. There should be a special place in Hell for whoever came up with this idea (preferably one where they perpetually wake up and find that they are an hour late for every important thing that they could experience). To try and make up for the lunacy of DST, and the ill-mood that it puts me in, I decided to share a few things that I’ve picked up here in 2016. I haven’t bought too many records thus far, mostly because I’m saving up for a couple of trips in the Spring, but I did have a little spell where I bought a couple handfuls of 45s, and these are the best of the bunch.

Dwight Houston and the Ghettos – Trippin

Don’t know much of anything about Dwight Houston, or his group “The Ghettos,” except that they put out this funky instrumental double sider on the Equator label. The flipside is an upbeat number labeled “Ghetto Stroll,” but something about the way this song struts it’s stuff in mid-tempo that gives me the feeling that the other song was meant to be called “Trippin'” and this is actually “Ghetto Stroll.” I know when I hear this, I immediately want it to be my soundtrack music for when I’m strolling through LA.

Ricardo Marrero & the Group – My Friend

Ricardo Marrero’s A Taste is a true Holy Grail album, something that when it is sold, fetches prices more than twice my rent here in LA. It’s not likely to be a record that I ever own, but I’m happy to at least have this 45 featuring a couple cuts from the same group. The thing about this 45 is that there 4 different versions of it out there! Marrero and his group cut the first one as music for a soundtrack. Not entirely happy with the results, they went back into the studio to cut a second version of both “Babalonia” and “My Friend.” They then, much to the consternation of record collectors everywhere, promptly released the second version on their own Yu Qui Yu record label, with the exact same catalog number as the first. This version was later released on Don King’s Don record label and then there is apparently a fourth version, which features music from this second session, but in unedited form. Whichever one you find, if you find it, hold on to it. As you can tell from the breezy “My Friend,” featuring vocals by Angela Bofill, this one is a record that absolutely lives up to it’s reputation.

The Calvin Owens Show – The Cat

Also don’t know a whole lot about Calvin Owens, though I suspect he’s from the Texas area. “The Cat,” is an extra super greasy instrumental with a long break that would make folks in New Orleans happy.

Betty Adams – Make It Real (Ride On)

Speaking of New Orleans sounding records that turn out to not be from New Orleans, there’s this cut from Betty Adams. “Make It Real” has all the feel of NOLA Soul, but is actually an Ohio record. I’ll probably look for a mintier version of this one, because the song is just straight up Party-Startin’ Extra Sassy Sister Funk. Ride On indeed…

Odyssey – No One Else Pt. 1

Finally we come to Odyssey. Like a couple of the other records in this post, there’s not a lot of information I have about this group. They sound like George Clinton and Funkadelic stopped off in Memphis to hang with Willie Mitchell for a hot second. “No One Else,” sounds like no one else on the Hi Record label, just an epic slice of Psychedelic funk with a keyboard/piano line that you’ll likely have in your head for days and days after hearing this. The first time I heard this song I must have played 20 times back to back. According to Mr. Funk, Rickey Vincent, Donald Burnside of Chicago’s Captain Sky. What’s less clear (though someone I know said that Dante Carfagna confirmed it) is whether this is the same Odyssey that recorded for MoWest in the 1970s (Odyssey was apparently a popular name, as there are four or five other groups with the name that put out solid music around this time). The groups sound wholly different to my ears, so hopefully one day someone will not only clear this up, but also find the full session with the full take of “No One Else.” It’s the kind of thing that I spend hours thinking about, but since I lost that whole hour due to Daylight Savings Time, I’ll just use the time I got to keep dropping the needle, over and over again, on this gem.

Cheers,

Michael