SHUFFLE NOCTURNE

The bug in my ear for the last twenty four hours is solved. Last night while watching the ball game I heard the intro to Bob and Earl's "Harlem Shuffle". I must have been making dinner because later on, without a visual cue, I couldn't remember if it was the ballpark music or something else. Nonetheless, the intro stuck in my head all day. A couple hours ago, I saw a commercial for a new movie that had House of Pain's "Jump Around" as the soundtrack. The same commercial must have been on last night. There it was, House of Pain sampled the intro for the intro to their song. It is a great way to come out of the gates, a burst of blaring horns then the beat, set up by what sounds like tympani. It's really effective and the song itself hard not to shake one's ass to. Fucking excellent.

Since we're on the Harlem thing, here's the Viscount's cover of Earl Bostic's "Harlem Nocturne". They get the nod because of the noir-type sax and the guitar tone. Plus, it is also fucking excellent.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Bob and Earl - Harlem Shuffle mp3 at Groove Addict
The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at Beware of the Blog

THE UNIMPEACHABLY COOL KEEPER

Most of you have probably scrounged around thrift stores and garage sales for records at one time or another. Some of you probably make the rounds regularly. I'd wager a guess that most of you have become attached to some of those records over the years and think of them as part of the playlist of your life. I know I've got it bad for some of my scores. But, you know, the vast majority of the second hand gambles end up in the box in the closet.

One record I got long ago was bought solely because of the title, or one word in the title. I knew of Bob and Earl's smooth "Harlem Shuffle", the song the Stones covered years later (and not well). I was familiar with that, so when I ran into "Harlem Nocturne" by the Viscounts I gambled a dime. Just because it had the word "Harlem" in the title. I'm glad I did because that song has remained a favorite for decades. In fact, when I used to DJ at clubs, it was always the last song I played.

The Viscounts version isn't the original but it's the first and only version I heard for years, then I heard Earl Bostic's. Still I dug the Viscounts more. Then the internet happened and I now know that there's a zillion versions. Still, the Viscounts has a unique feel to me. There's 43 versions of the song at an old post on Beware of the Blog, a lot of them serious contenders.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at Beware of the Blog
MORE!:
42 other versions of Harlem Nocturne at Beware of the Blog

PAYBACK'S A MIX

It's party time: another brainstorming session at HQ

I know, I know, there's been more mixes posted as of late, but there's a reason for posting this sucker. The mix below, posted at Versions Galore, is based on selections by your humble hack host here. To make a long story short, it's payback of sorts, because I've linked to his stuff regularly after coming across his all-covers blog a year or so ago. His blog just passed the four year mark and he asked me, along with a handful of other people, to put together an hour of covers each. I couldn't say no, and to be honest, I was kind of jazzed to be asked. The bonus, that might temper things for you who don't necessarily like full length mixes, is that some of the songs are pretty hard to find. So, here's the song list, the mix, and links to his other mixes. Party on.

NOTE: THE HOSTING BLOG HAS REMOVED THIS MIX (9/26/2012)

Lee Perry – Jungle Lion (Al Green’s Love & Happiness) While not a straight forward cover, this is about as close as the Upsetter gets.

Lulu – Feelin’ Alright (Traffic) Surprisingly funky, she definitely had her eye on Dusty in Memphis.

Ricky Nelson – Summertime (George Gershwin for Porgy and Bess) Interesting in that it predates the Yardbirds by several years. Chicken or egg?

Tommy McCook – Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey) No shortage of early reggae/ska covers of Bond themes. McCook was a sax player for the Skatalites, and the go-to guy for Duke Reid anong others.

Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents – Shake Some Action (Flamin’ Groovies) Nice try to duplicate the Motown sound. What’s it missing? The Funk Brothers. What the hell, an “A” for effort.

The Pioneers – Papa Was A Rolling Stone (Temptations) As long as we’re on a Motown tangent, what if Norman Whitfield was Jamaican?

The Supremes - Come Together (The Beatles) Proof that Isaac Hayes wasn’t the only one who stretched out on covers.

Horace Andy – Where Do the Children Play (Cat Stevens) Classic Studio One. From Horace Andy’s first, a stone cold classic of the golden age.

Eli “Paperboy” Reed & the True Loves – Ace of Spades (Motorhead) If someone would have told me about this one, I wouldn’t have believed it. Believe it. Instant cred for the kid.

Ricardo Ray – Sookie Sookie (Don Covay) A song that’s been covered 14 million times. This one won out over Steppenwolf’s surprisingly good rock meets soul take.

Solomon Burke – Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan) Seriously, he could sing “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and you’d think he wrote it.

Marcia Griffiths – Band of Gold (Freda Payne) Before singing back up for Marley as one of the I-Threes. Sweet.

Celia Cruz - Yo Vivire (I Will Survive) (Gloria Gaynor) You can’t hear this one without seeing Celia Cruz’s big ass smile. Azúcar!

Sharon Jones & the DapKings - Just Dropped In to See What Condition Your Condition Was In (Kenny Rogers & the First Edition) An unlikely cover for anyone, but it works. Jerry Lee Lewis once said that he, Al Jolson, Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers were the only true song stylists. Someone needs to clue him into the Daptone mob.

Richie Knight & the Mid-Knights – Homework (Otis Rush) Famously covered by the J.Geils Band, this sucker just sounds so creepy.

Jack O’ Fire – Branded (Link Wray) The first time I heard this I had to pull over to find out who it was. From the amazing stable of Sympathy For The Record Industry.

Black Randy & the Metro Squad – Give It Up Or Turn It Loose (James Brown) One thing that usually gets ignored when talking about the early L.A. punk scene is how varied and musically educated the bands were. Often seen as something of a court jester, Black Randy’s baddass back up band turned more than a few Krazy Kolored spike heads onto JB via this happening jam.

Kashmere Stage Band – Take Five (Dave Brubeck) High School kids. Yes. And they beat out the Skatalites version.

The Viscounts – Harlem Nocturne (Earl Bostic) I had to end with this one. Back in the day, a older friend told me that bands at his high school dances would always play this as their last song, enabling couples to get chummy without any worries about getting kicked out of the dance. So it was that I, along with other DJ friends at a popular watering hole, took it upon ourselves to end our last sets of the night with it. Prelude to grab ass.

NOTE: THE HOSTING BLOG HAS REMOVED THIS MIX (9/26/2012)

LAST CHANCE TO GET BUSY

For the first few years "Harlem Nocturne" had been in my record collection, it was just a cool instrumental. Part film noir soundtrack, part slowed down burlesque, it had one of those uncommon vibes that transgresses tastes. That was before there was a story attached to it.

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I don't even remember who it was who told me the special significance the song held for them. I do remember that it was someone older, who had been at high school dances in the sixties. Though I've known a bunch of rock n' roll elders/mentors over the years, I can narrow it down to someone I knew in the late 70's or early 80's. So, I'll tip my hat to all the likely candidates: Harold Gee, Rick Fortune, Pat Looby, Frank Gutch and Michael Page. Every one of those guys shared valuable "I was there" rock n' roll stories with me, and I could write entire posts on the significance of each of their shared memories. Suffice it to say, they were all like big brothers and are allowed the huge respect that comes with that.

All I remember is being somewhere, a party or a barbeque, when the Viscounts version of "Harlem Nocturne" was being played. In shit-shooting mode, mysto-elder (whoever he was) said that he had always loved that song, because so many bands had played it as their last song at high school dances. Before I could ask why, he told me that when the chaperons signaled to the bands that they had one more song to play, they invariably picked "Harlem Nocturne," because it was a slow dance favorite. To be more specific, it was a proven make out, grab ass inducing, no-brainer, and selected primarily because the band wouldn't get shut down, and the students wouldn't get kicked out, during the last song of the night. It was like sticking it to the teacher, and getting down with your girl, in one fell swoop.

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Years later, when I was pulling records to DJ, I came across the 45, and it became the last song I would play whenever I was spinning at the Pink Panther. Though it was in a different context, the song now reminds me of people slowly filing out of the smokey bar, smelling of beer and cigarettes, chaperons absent, to go home and finish the job.

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The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at WFMU's Beware of the Blog
42 other versions of Harlem Nocturne at Beware of the Blog