V.A. (R&B HIPSHAKERS) / R&B HIPSHAKERS VOL.3: JUST A LITTLE BIT OF THE JUMPIN' BEAN / レコード

CDのみでリリースされていた、VAMPI SOULの名コンピR&B HIPSHAKERS VOL.3が初のLPリリース。

For our latest dip into the King/Federal vaults, the goal was to find 20 underexposed R&B songs that, assembled into a package, would entice you to have a party. Now, we know there are other compilations out there that come complete with thousands of words of scholarly text based on extensive interviews and laborious research. We love them, they make the world a richer place. But that’s not our bag. Here is what’s our bag:

• Drummer Cozy Cole’s cymbals on COZY’S MAMBO. The same track would come out again three years later on King’s Bethlehem subsidiary as ‘Cozy And Bossa’ to capitalize on the burgeoning bossa nova craze and perhaps take advantage of audiences’ confusion over exotic dance rhythms. Mambo? Bossa? Whatever. Play, Cozy, play!
• New Orleans native Linda Hopkins’ wail on MAMA NEEDS YOUR LOVIN’ BABY. She’d go on to play Bessie Smith on Broadway in the 70s. (Not that Broadway is our bag, either.)
• The clippety-cloppety rhythm of Earl King’s OLD FAITHFUL AND TRUE LOVE, one of the earliest recordings on here, from 1955. It makes us long for the saddle! NB: This is Earl Connelly King, not the better-known New Orleans singer-songwriter-guitarist Earl King.
• Speaking of saddles: the galloping tempo of SHE’S MINE, by the Rock & Roll Cowboy, Joe Tex – just his third solo single out of several zillion.
• The whistled response to Mel Williams’s lead vocals on SEND ME A PICTURE BABY, and practically everything else about this song, one of our favorites.
• The brilliant arrangement of Eugene Church’s version of SIXTEEN TONS: that bass voice, those sloppy finger snaps, the chorus of whomp-whomps.
• The lip-smacking cry of “Rib tips!” amid The Drivers’ enumeration of skeletal components in DRY BONES TWIST.
• The irresistible swing of superprolific keyboard man Bill Doggett’s HOLD IT. • Lowman Pauling’s electric (in every sense) guitar on SOLID ROCK. He’s the fellow Steve Cropper points to as his biggest influence, and he’s in typical riveting form here.

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★★2015年4月18日 RECORD STORE DAY 限定商品★★