Heavy Sugar with Gaz Mayall - May 24th

I’m super excited to announce that legendary DJ Gaz Mayall will join Fritz and I at our next Heavy Sugar club night. Gaz’s Rockin Blues is London's longest running one-nighter club. It’s been going since 1980! I’ve always had a rollicking time there, dancing the night away to incredible tunes every time. I can’t wait to hear what heat Gaz brings for Heavy Sugar.

Friday May 24th is the date we’ll be back at Dalston’s funnest late night party spot, The Alibi. It's an ideal way to start a long weekend in London. Come early to avoid queuing and be ready for an incendiary mix of original R&B and early rock’n’roll. Also, it's a clever idea to let us know you’re coming so that we can prep the door girls to treat you and your friends like the kings and queens of Kingsland Road that you are. More details can be found on the Facebook event page. Don't miss this one. I'll see you on the dancefloor!

Atomic Adams

mp3: Faye Adams - Hurts Me To My Heart

Wow, what a strong, powerful voice Faye Adams has. No wonder that around the time of this recording she was known as Atomic Adams. Released in 1954, Hurts Me To My Heart was the third and final in string of #1 R&B hits for Adams. That run started with Shake A Hand, which, through its use in the moving and poetic Killer Of Sheep film, is the song that introduced me to Adams' immense talent. Hurts Me To My Heart was written by the fruitful songwriting partnership of Rose Marie McCoy and Charles Singleton.

Ram-Bunk-Shush

mp3: Bill Doggett - Ram-Bunk-Shush

Bill Doggett was pianist and organist who worked with Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynonie Harris and Johnny Otis among others. He also spent some time in the band of Lucky Millinder, the guy who wrote and released Ram-Bunk-Shush first in 1952. Doggett's version came out in '57 and, thanks largely to Clifford Scott's honking lead sax, made both the pop and R&B charts, peaking at #10 on the R&B. Ram-Bunk-Shush was also released by surf group The Ventures in '61. Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five played a sizzling version of this instrumental jiver for television in '66. There's a great clip of that performance here.

London gigs this weekend

I'm going to be treated to a couple of nights of top-shelf garage rock'n'roll this coming weekend. On Friday May 17th, yours truly will be joining DJ Phil Istine behind the decks at Deviation Street, a night held every month at The Alleycat in Soho. We'll be spinning records between and after The Ladykillers, Thee MVPs, Limozine and Kepler Rising.

Then, the very next night, I'm heading to the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston for the Dirty Water Club. I'll be rocking out to the Hollywood Sinners, The Ricky C Quartet, Plastic Pals and ANO before serving up a feast of 45s with Dirty PJ till 3am.

So, if you're in the vicinity, join me at one or both of these tremendously rockin' gigs, you won't regret it.

Fruit Boots

mp3: Red Prysock - Fruit Boots

Recorded in 1956 in New York, today's selection features the jiving instrumental sounds of the Red Prysock Nonet. That's tenor saxophonist Prysock and eight others, including bassist Herb Gordy who gets credit for writing the wonderfully named Fruit Boots.

Mama Get Your Hammer

mp3: Bobby Peterson Quintet - Mama Get Your Hammer

Here’s a real wild rocker from pianist Bobby Peterson. Mama Get Your Hammer is the flip of One Day. Released in 1960, it was the quintet's fifth single on V-Tone (you may recall that last year I posted their first, The Hunch). Mama get your hammer, with the refrain, a fly's on the baby's head, is a pretty twisted lyric. I would like to think that this is a playful answer record to a song with the line “mama get your hammer, a fly’s on papa’s head”, but I can’t find any solid evidence of that. Either way, today’s selection is a mighty fine slice of frantic R&B from a bunch of guys who knew what they were doing.

I Found You (I Feel Good)

mp3: Yvonne Fair - I Found You

Today’s selection would fit in well with other original versions of songs I didn’t realise weren’t, such as Gloria Jones' Tainted Love or Denise by Randy & The Rainbows. Of course, since he wrote it, it’s a bit harsh to describe James Brown’s I Got You (I Feel Good) as a cover version. Still, in 1962, three years before it was released, Brown recorded and released the same song as I Found You with Yvonne Fair on vocals and her name in big letters on the record label.

Not taking anything from Brown’s hit version, it’s an ironclad classic and, according to Wikipedia, “his highest charting song and arguably his most widely known recording”, but I really dig the rawness of Fair’s voice and the stripped back R&B sound of the James Brown Band on this recording. Plus, it’s an interesting variation on a familiar tune, which is also the appeal of a lot of covers. I Got You (I Feel Good) seemed to be everywhere when I was growing up. Its inclusion in the film Good Morning Vietnam and Tour Of Duty television series might have had something to do with that. Still a great song, but its impact has been spread a little too thinly for me, for now.