Medina Records

One of the great appeals of record collecting is the oddities. The records that no one except the most obsessed would give a second glance to. The groovy lounge records, micro press cabaret weirdness, creased promotional flexis, dull looking library LPs, privately pressed college jazz and of course those funky childrens records. I’ve long collected those weird kiddy funk LPs and 45s, usually battered and abused by their original owners and often binned at the end of their life they can be hard to find in playable condition.

Case in point the Do-Re-Mi Children’s Chorus and their take on the much loved (and much covered) Classics IV classic ‘Spooky’. I first heard this on the ‘Beat Actione’ compilation in the earlier part of the 00s and eventually landed a rather water damaged copy (thank you, eBay). It’s one of those must have records; a great blast of enthusiastic childish glee over echo-y drums, cheesy organ and jazz guitar. It’s everything you could want from a mildewy sleeve.

Do-Re-Mi Childrens Chorus – Spooky

If you’re familiar with Syl Johnson’s ‘Is It Because I’m Black?‘ (you really should be) then you should be familiar with this too. ‘Soul Heaven’ by E Rodney Jones & Friends was a spoken word tribute to deceased greats Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Roy Hamilton, Billy Stewart, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong, which reused the Syl Johnson backing track. Whilst the a-side is interspersed with snippets of all the aforementioned artists music the b-side is an untouched ‘Is It Because I’m Black?’ instrumental.

Fairly tough to find on vinyl but available to all on Superfunk Volume 4 where you can find a considerably less battered version than mine.

E Rodney Jones – Soul Heaven (Instrumental)

Fascinating one this. The backing track is a reworking of Jack Hammer’s ‘Swim‘ (also produced by Miki Dallon). No idea if these were recorded around the same time as each other, ‘Swim’ was issued in 1971 and ‘Dial My Number’ in 1976, although it does sound earlier. I suspect this was an unreleased track they decided to issue as a b-side (anyone with any additional information feel free to share). Either way it’s a storming slice of funky rock that demands 11 on your volume control.

Mike Berry – Dial My Number

I first heard this earlier in the year via a mix over at VG+ (cheers Al). Funky big band jazz is something I need to explore a lot more of, there’s something about those punchy horns and that big funk groove that rarely fails to satisfy and this track definitely delivers on both fronts. Featuring a sixteen man horn section (including a Alan Skidmore tenor solo), two drummers, two keyboard players, two bassists; what more could you need?

Oh and if you need tips for similar (I know I do) then here would be a good place to start. Enjoy.

Barone-Burghardt Orchestra – Bumper Thumper

Heavy psych rock cover of a track originally by Manfred Mann Chapter Three (it opens their debut album). As good as the original is the Rainbow Family really knock it out of the park delivering a huge version of the track. No idea who they were though (anyone?).

Rainbow Family – Travellin’ Lady

If you’re British and of a certain age this track will bring on a flood of nostalgia. Originally a KPM library track (from KPM1253 – The Reggae Album) it was used for several years as The Gallery music on British children’s show Take Hart. In many ways it’s a sister track to the equally sublime ‘Left Bank Two‘ by The Noveltones which was the theme music to Take Hart and prior to that The Gallery music from Take Hart’s parent show Vision On.

Thankfully ‘Marguerite’ didn’t remain hidden away on a hard to find library LP and was released as a single which makes it so much easier to wallow in the near perfection of Bob Morgan’s clarinets and lilting reggae.

Bob Morgan And Steppin’ Out – Marguerite

Oh I made a YouTube video for it too. As I say, if you British and of a certain age…

They must have shipped lots of US cut-outs of this LP to this UK at some point because it turns up with great regularity. Grab one if you see one though. Great Italo disco from Montreal, Canada.

Gino Soccio – There’s A Woman

The cash-in on the twentieth anniversary of the Beastie Boys sophomore classic may have happened six months ago but the proper anniversary was last month and what better way to celebrate (a little late), on a gorgeous sunny late August evening, than with Funk Factory’s peerless ‘Rien Ne Va Plus’.

‘Rien Ne Va Plus’ provides the bulk of ‘Car Thief‘, one of the stand out cuts on the album. Huge pieces are flawlessly blended with the Jackson 5’s cover of Funkadelic’s ‘I’ll Bet You’, heavily transformed (the scratch and the transmutation) Trouble Funk bomb-drop synth and cut up tire screech. It’s everything that the lawless late Eighties sampling boom was about and along with the intelligent and humorous lyrics it was, and is, everything made/makes ‘Paul’s Boutique’ great.

I won’t bore you with much of a history of the track other than it was written by Bernard Kafka and originally recorded by his vocal group the Novi Singers. He later formed Funk Factory with Michal Urbaniak (another Polish jazz musician) and they recorded one self-titled album including their impressive updating of ‘Rien Ne Vas Plus’ turning it into a jazz funk classic.

Funk Factory – Rien Ne Va Plus

A record that I know little about and part of the reason I’m posting is the hope learning more about this band. What I do know is they were predominantly a reggae band; they released one twelve inch, one ten inch and one seven inch none of which are easy to find (or cheap).

‘Beauty’ is a gorgeous slice of UK soul with such a beautifully constructed rhythm track (love that guitar); it makes me wonder if they recorded anything else like this. If you know any more or if you’re a band member please comment or contact me via my website.

Denym – Beauty

A great thread over at Soulstrut had me digging through my collection for records to blog. Here’s two for now although no doubt there will be more to come.

To be honest most Shakatak music leaves me cold but this laidback funk jam from their debut ticks all the right boxes.

Shakatak – Toot The Shoot

Easily my favourite Sade track; that bassline, that deep funky groove, those vocals….just sublime.

Sade – Paradise [Extended Remix]

Bonus vid: not my favourite Kandidate track (I’ll save that for a later post) but the shirts, the haircuts, the dreamy feel and the over emotional miming make for some hypnotic viewing.