Pointer Sisters - Having A Party

Hello 2 all!!

This is becoming way too often an occurance around here, yet another huge lapse in time between posts. Despite my best efforts, it just couldn't be avoided. I mentioned it some weeks back, Baby Slay'd touched down on April 24, 2009 and since his homecoming 3 days later, Mama & Papa are pretty much running on fumes since little man doesn't take to sleeping at nite. In addition, I've relinquished my mancave/project studio space to the new arrival and I'm kinda stuck in limbo for the time being.

So what does this all mean? What this means basically is I have almost no access to my the bulk of my collection, I've no workstation/computer at home ('cept for a laptop with hardly anything installed on it), and add to that, my archiving/needledrop/ripping station is now in pieces scattered across various corners of my house awaiting reassembly. Truthfully, as much as I want to put ev'rything back together and get back to my normal workflow, when I look at the pitiful amount of free-time I'm gettin' lately, I really don't see it happening anytime soon.

Still, none of this means I'm thinking of shutting down this blog or taking any further time off. What I've decided to do just to keep things goin' is scale things down a bit more and put more emphasis on the music alone. The "con" of this is there'll probably be alot less artwork and no write-ups accompanying each offering while the "pro" is that the lack of additional prepping will allow me to fire off a post much faster. I'm hoping this will only be a temporary thing.

So without any further ado...

Pointer Sisters - Having A Party

For some reason I've been on a bit of a Pointer Sisters kick lately, they've been on heavy rotation in the car and on the pod so today I bring you their 1977 ABC-Blue Thumb LP, Having A Party. This one made it's debut on CD a few short years ago thanks to the good folks at Hip-O Select and can easily be found here.

An original vinyl copy shouldn't be hard to come by either since these albums are plentiful as dirt, and almost as cheap last time I checked. Interested in the flat black plastic edition? Try here.

Featured cut: "Waiting On You"

N-joi!.

Jose Feliciano - And The Feeling's Good

Happy 2009 everybody, here's hoping the new is a damn sight better than the old.

Lemme kick off the new year with a new post. Read, listen and enjoy!!!

One of the most prominent Latin-born performers of the pop era, singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano, was born September 10, 1945, in Lares, Puerto Rico. The victim of congenital glaucoma, he was left permanently blind at birth. Five years later, he and his family moved to New York City's Spanish Harlem area; there Feliciano began learning the accordion, later taking up the guitar, and made his first public appearance at the Bronx's El Teatro Puerto Rico at the age of nine. He reputedly sat by himself in his room for up to 14 hours a day to listen to 1950s rock albums, classical guitarists such as Andrés Segovia, and jazz players such as Wes Montgomery. He later had classical lessons with Harold Morris, who earlier had been a student of Segovia 's.

While in high school, Jose became a fixture of the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, eventually quitting school in 1962, at the age of 17, in order to accept a permanent gig in Detroit.

In 1963, after making his rounds with live performances in pubs and clubs around the country, he was signed at RCA Victor. In 1964, he released his first single "Everybody Do The Click" and followed with his first full-length release, The Voice & Guitar of Jose Feliciano. Later, in 1965 and 1966, he released his next two albums, The Fantastic Feliciano, & A Bag Full of Soul. Both were folk-pop-soul albums that showcased his talent on radio across the USA, where he was described as a "10 finger wizard."

In 1966, he went to Mar del Plata, Argentina, to perform at the Festival de Mar del Plata. There, he impressed RCA Victor officials who requested he stay there to record an album in Spanish. They weren't sure what they wanted to record, but Feliciano suggested they record bolero music. The resulting album spawned two smash hits, "Poquita Fe" and "Usted."

After two more successful Spanish albums, Feliciano, now a household name all over Latin America, moved to Los Angeles where he teamed up with producer Rick Jarrard, who was at the time working on projects with Nilsson & Jefferson Airplane. This new pairing gave birth to the album Feliciano! and featured a soulful Latin-tinged cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire." When released as a single in 1968, "Light My Fire" was an immediate success, reaching number 3 on the charts that summer. The buzz from the single launched Jose him into the mainstream pop stratosphere and he immediately followed up with another Top 20 U.S. hit, a reading of Tommy Tucker's R&B hit, "Hi-Heel Sneakers."

In 1968, at the height of protests against the Vietnam War, Feliciano was given the opportunity to perform The Star-Spangled Banner at Tiger Stadium during the World Series. His highly personalized, slow, Latin jazz performance proved highly controversial. He accompanied himself on an acoustic guitar. The rendition was released as a single, which charted for 5 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #50. Feliciano's "Star-Spangled Banner" took place 10 months before the more famous Jimi Hendrix rendition at Woodstock. In 1969, Jose took home Grammy Awards for Best New Artist of the Year and for Best Pop Song of the Year. The same year he recorded three LPs — Souled, Alive Alive-O, and Feliciano 10 to 23, but never again equaled the success of "Light My Fire."

In 1970, he wrote and released an album of Christmas music, "Felíz Navidad," and this has probably become his most famous recording. Each year during the Christmas season, the song receives heavy airplay and has been recognized by ASCAP as one of the 25 all-time most-played Christmas songs in the world. In 1971, Jose traveled to Italy to participate in the San Remo Music Festival, singing the song "Che Sarà" in Italian, earning second place in that contest, as well as a standing ovation from the audience. He later recorded the song, which became a popular favorite not only in Italy, but throughout much of Europe, including the Iron Curtain countries, as well as in Asia. Feliciano later recorded the song in Spanish, as "Qué Será," which became an enormous hit in Central and South America, and in English, as "Shake A Hand," a monster seller in Scandinavia.

Throughout the 1970s Feliciano remained an active performer, touring annually and issuing a number of LPs in both English and Spanish, including 1973's Steve Cropper-produced Compartments. Jose wrote and performed the opening theme song to the 70s comedy series Chico & The Man, sung the show's closing theme, "Hard Times In El Barrio" and released songs on his 1974 RCA LP, And The Feeling's Good.

Drawing on his immense popularity, Feliciano was able to dabble in the world of television and film, lending his talents to big and small screen projects both behind and in front of the camera. He did a number of cameos on such TV shows as Chico & The Man, McMillan & Wife, Kung Fu, and served as composer for the 1975 Gordon Parks film "Aaron Loves Angela."

In 1980, Feliciano was the first performer signed to the new Latin division of Motown, making his label debut with an eponymous effort the following year. Throughout the 80s, Feliciano recorded and released albums for RCA, EMI, and Capitol, netting four more Grammys for best Latin performer by the end of the decade.

In 1995, Feliciano was honored by the City of New York, which re-named Public School 155 the Jose Feliciano Performing Arts School. In 1996, he had a short cameo role in the film Fargo.

In 2003 "Guitarra Mía", a special tribute to Feliciano, was produced by the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and aired in Puerto Rico and in cities with large Latino populations in the United States. This television special (and its attendant soundtrack) featured Feliciano and many Puerto Rican and international stars singing some of his most famous songs, along with his personal favorites from other artists.

On December 6, 2006, Feliciano's new Spanish album, José Feliciano y Amigos was released by Universal Records, featuring duets with many other Latin American stars, including Luis Fonsi, Lupillo Rivera, Luciano Pereyra, Rudy Perez, Cristian Castro, Marc Anthony, Ramon Ayala, Alicia Villarreal, Ricardo Montaner and Raúl di Blasio. A special edition was later released and featured Ana Gabriel and Gloria Estefan.

In 2007, Feliciano released an album called Soundtrack of My Life, the first English-language album completely composed and written by him. Feliciano is married to wife Susan; they have 3 children: daughter Melissa and sons Jonathan and Mikey.

And The Feeling's Good is OOP and inexplicably hard to to find but with a little luck and some patience, you can grab an original vinyl copy here at a good price.
Back in 1997, BMG Japan reissued the album on CD as part of the Free Soul series. That CD is now, as usual, out of print and hard to find at a reasonable price. However, if you really want one to call your very own and money is no concern, you can drop coin here and have one arrive at a mailbox near you.

Featured cut: "Golden Lady"

Listen to the full album here.

G.C. Cameron - s/t

Soul singer G.C. Cameron is a veteran of more than 30 years in the music business and is still kickin'. He was born in a small township in Franklin Country, MS, but his family moved to Detroit in 1955 when he was young. The Camerons were a large brood; Cameron had nine siblings, but there was always room for more, as Philippe Wynne (Cameron' s cousin) grew up in the household too. The two ran Detroit's mean streets together but never formed a singing group.

Fast forward to the 1960s when Harvey Fuqua and Gwen Gordy sold their Tri-Phi label to Motown. The vocal group The Spinners came as part of the deal and quickly became basement dwellers at their new home. During much of the decade, The Spinners were given shoddy treatement at Motown--used as road managers, chaperones, chauffeurs for other groups, and even as shipping clerks.

After a Marine stint, which included service in Vietnam, Cameron was chosen by the Spinners to replace Edgar "Chico" Edwards, adding a new lead voice to the group. In 1969, the group switched to the Motown-owned V.I.P. imprint.

With Cameron now in the fold, Motown's producers found the Spinners more interesting, and heavyweights like Stevie Wonder started writing and producing for them. A remake of the standard "In My Diary" (1969), made popular to R&B fans by the Moonglows, was their first recording with Cameron. The flip side was "(She's Gonna Love Me) At Sundown," which features Bobby Smith on lead. What should have been a two-sided smash wasn't, due to Motown's lackadaisical attitude toward the Spinners. Stevie Wonder cut "It's a Shame," only to have it put on ice by Motown for a whole year after it was recorded. A remake of the Temptations' popular album cut "Message to the Blackman" (1970) was their second single featuring Cameron. The Spinners' version was good, albeit shorter, but stiffed from lack of support.

Motown finally released "It's A Shame" on June 6, 1970, and watched it rise to number 14 on the Pop chart, becoming the Spinners' biggest hit to date. But the group was fed up with Motown's treatment. Indeed, these frustrations came to a head when the follow-up, "We'll Have It Made," didn't come close to duplicating its predecessor. It was apparent Motown wasn't ever going to take them seriously, so the Spinners made plans to leave the label. Cameron, however, had become romantically involved with Gwen Gordy (Berry Gordy's sister) and stayed with Motown; but he didn't leave the Spinners in a lurch. His cousin, Philippe Wynne, who had been rehearsing with the group, was brought in to take his place. The master improviser had previously worked with the Pacesetters, a band that included Bootsy and Catfish Collins, in the Cincinnati area. Philippe "Soul" Wynne stayed on for five years enjoying chart-busting success on Atlantic Records with producer Thom Bell.

But Cameron wasn't concerned. Motown was going to make him a star--or so he thought. The company placed him on its Mowest label for a series of singles that went nowhere, including "Act Like a Shotgun" (1971) and a tentative follow-up, "I'm Gonna Get You Pts. 1 & 2," scheduled for release but pulled in the 12th hour. Instead, Mowest dropped "What It Is, What It Is" (1972) with scarcely any promotion. Going for broke, they tried a duet with Willie Hutch, entitled "Come Get This Thing," but shelved it in favor of Cameron's interesting "Don't Wanna Play Pajama Games," written and produced by Smokey Robinson, in which Cameron mimics Robinson to a T.

At this juncture, uneasiness reared. The Spinners, with Wynne, were making an unprecedented run with Top Ten hits and good-selling albums, yet Cameron couldn't make the charts. He was switched to the Motown label for his other recordings, including "No Matter Where" (1973) and "Let Me Down Easy" (1973), neither of which sold well. His first solo LP, Love Songs and Other Tragedies (1974), followed; a second LP, the self-titled G.C. Cameron (1976), was preceded by 45 "If You're Ever Gonna Love Me" (1975). The next single, "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," proved to be a minor hit and served as the the theme song of the 1975 film "Cooley High". The tune became a chartbuster sixteen years later when it was covered by Boyz II Men on their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony.

Cameron's third full-length release, You're What's Missing In My Life, was issued in 1977 and sadly suffered the same dismal fate as his previous efforts.

Later in '77, Motown issued the duet album, Rich Love, Poor Love by G.C. & Syreeta in 1977, and put out one single from the album, "Let's Make A Deal." Two years later, Syreeta scored with Billy Preston on "With You I'm Born Again." Cameron, however, left the company after the pairing with Syreeta failed and his romance with Gwen Gordy soured. By the time "I've Got My Second Wind," a duet with Tata Vega off her Givin' All My Love album, came out in 1981, Cameron was long gone.

G.C. recorded off and on for a bunch of little labels from 1977 on. His most significant recording was 1983's Give Me Your Love, on Malaco Records.

A year later, Ian Levine included Cameron on his Motorcity label as a singer, writer and producer. The association with Levine may have been creatively lucrative, but not financially, as Cameron claims he has yet to receive a royalty check from any recording company he was ever involved with--and that includes the single he cut with the Tams, entitled "Walking Dr. Bill," in the late '90s. The "shag" hit did secure him some dates on the Carolinas' beach music set with the Tams and his own group, The G.C. Cameron Band. The Motorcity recordings, which included a duet with Martha Reeves, were compiled on Right or Wrong (Motorcity 1991) and later on The Very Best of G.C. Cameron (1996, Hot Productions).

In 2000, G.C. returned to the Spinners to fill as 2nd lead for an ill John Edwards. He stayed with the group for two years then left to work on the solo album Shadows which was released in 2004 on Cameron's own Deqajacc label. In 2003, while working on Shadows, G.C. replaced Barrington "Bo" Henderson as lead singer of The Temptations. Cameron left The Tempts in June of 2007 to focus on his group, The G.C. Cameron Review.

Source: edited & tweaked from Wikipedia. Special thanks to WilkyNY ;)

As of this writing, the G.C. Cameron album is still OOP but you can sometimes catch one for a decent price here or here.

Featured cut: "The Joy You Bring"


Listen to the full album here

Quickie: Ramsey Lewis - Spring High

Keepin' it simple today, a little Ramsey Lewis/Stevie Wonder collabo pulled from Lewis' 1977 album, Love Notes!

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Sadly, as of this writing, this album still hasn't been reissued but you can easily find an original vinyl copy of Love Notes here or here.