Leong Lau - Late Night Flyer / One Dimensional Man. 1977 Australia

If you're already familiar with the album Dragon Man, then you know what to expect here. Psychedelic funk of the highest order, though in compact single form.

I almost let this get away. They are bonus tracks on the Strawberry Rain CD reissue, but are hidden (I was going to keep the LP reissue instead). Discogs didn't mention them (I just corrected the entry), only RYM did but without a track history. But I couldn't figure out why it said bonus tracks. Further investigation turns out it was my entry (I stopped contributing releases to RYM years ago, so this may have been one of my last ones). So I saved myself. lol.

1/18/25

The Mousetrap – Spinning Wheel / Rhymetyme. USA-Miami

Label is from Miami, so just a guess that's where these guys are from. A) side is a cover of the famous track by Blood Sweat and Tears, done funky psych. It's not overtly psych though, just a bit electrified. B) is more original and features some nice organ and guitar soloing, though again closer to the jazz school than rock. Soulful vocals.

I was going through some old notes, and this was the second time for me to hear this. Not sure of the date but probably 2020 - 2021.

3 / 3.5

1/2/25

Spaceark - Don't Stop (vocal & instrumental). 1976 USA-Los Angeles

From Los Angeles, Spaceark is a super example of funk and early disco with fine horns, sax, and organ. Strong jazz undertone. It's the same track on each side, with one featuring female vocals that makes the song that much better. This has some of the smoothest grooves you can hear. Excellent. This is the original black label. There's another pressing of these two tracks, on the same imprint, with a blue label under the name of Dolly Way & Space Ship Earth.

Own. Found at a local estate sale (2024).

8/4/24

American Soul Train - Can You Dig It / Tennessee Waltz. 1968 USA-Louisiana

A) side is horn driven funky soul with period lyrics. B) side is a slow dancer with gospel like crooning. Picks up nicely at the end with a faster beat and horns. Apparently the band name is a nom de plume for The Boogie Kings.

Used to own. Found at a local estate sale.

7/14/24

Round Trip Ticket – Super-Fli / Captain Purple Rides Again. 197? USA

No time, no place. Pure 70s fonky complete with deep narration in the Isaac Hayes tradition. "Can you dig it?" Almost exploitive really. B) side is far more interesting, with fine wah-wah and cranky organ. This one has a much better groove to it and is instrumental with wordless vocals. Seems to be the perfect funky rhythm track to any number of soundtracks of the early 70s.

4/3/24

Fried Chicken – Funky D.J. / Juke Box. 1976 USA-Louisiana

From Baton Rouge. A) is slow groove funk at its most pure and simple. Nice clavinet with declarative harmony vocals. B) adds horns while maintaining the funk. You can guess how this sounds without hearing a note.

4/3/24

Rhonghei - Long Time Gone / Assassination. 1970 USA-California

Another southern Californian group (Rosamund). Fits loosely in the psych funk soul camp. B) side features some fine fuzz. A) has a deep groove with bluesy guitar. Not bad all. 

3.5 / 3.5

2/23/24

Soul Patrol - Don't Knock the Cop / Peter Pan. 1971 USA-Fort Worth

Soul Patrol's sole 45 is a four figure expensive rarity. Musically it's right in the JB's / James Brown strike zone. Tight horns, rhythm guitar, sax, funky bass/drums, lots of "huh's" and "owws". 'Peter Pan' is instrumental and is in a similar musical vein.

1/2/24

B.W. Cat - You Can Make It Anyway / Cry. 1974 USA-Kentucky

The A) side mixes funk and horn rock seamlessly. Features a great hard driving bass heavy rhythm. Picks right back up on the b) with a stronger Hammond organ presence and a great ripping guitar solo. Excellent two sider. Label is from Kentucky so it's a guess that's where they're from.

Ownership: SP: 1974 Lemco. Online acquisition (2021).

4.0 / 4.0

5/30/21 (first listen); 1/27/22 (review / new entry)

Frank and Company – Show Me The Way / Can I Take You Home. USA

The A) side has a wonderful funk beat with fuzz guitar and organ on top. Excellent track. The B) side is a slow dance soul number with organ in the backdrop that surprisingly breaks into a power ballad, with a cool fuzz solo. Nice two sider.

Ownership: SP: 19?? A.D.Y. Online acquisition (2021)

4/19/21 (first listen); 12/11/21 (review / new entry)

Nancy Priddy - You've Come this Way Before / Ebony Glass. 1968 USA

Nancy Priddy is a new name for me, but I was very much captivated by this 45. When you see something like this pop up in front of you at the store, one immediately thinks of country, or one of those 60s female pop acts (Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Connie Stevens, etc...). If you're lucky it might be soul related. As it turns out, the music's foundation is psychedelic, but with a soul backdrop. It takes the best of both: The break beats of soul and funk combined with some of the most trippy vocals this side of Brainticket. Not suggesting they are as lysergic laced, but it has this disorienting quality that I find highly appealing. I've never heard anything quite like this, and I certainly want to hear more. The good news is Priddy did manage to release a full album, and these two tracks are the opener. Well, look at that, it appears to have been reissued on CD (OOP) and LP (in print). Originals are expensive. Maybe I'll find it in the wilds, but I think I'll grab that LP reissue in the meantime (new copies going for cheap on Amazon). Regardless, this 45 is going nowhere. Oh, in other news, Nancy Priddy is the mother of Christine Applegate. Neat.

Ownership: SP: 1968 Dot. White label promo which apparently is more common than the commercial version. In either case, it's quite the expensive rarity. Another RT collection surprise, and this one was fortunately wrapped in plastic and in perfect condition.

9/18/21

Shira - Liar / Frank's Ant Farm. 1973 USA-Philadelphia

Shira are a somewhat unknown group out of Philadelphia who released two promo 45s and then disappeared. 'Liar' is a kick ass hard rock number with a little bit of a funk edge. 'Frank's Ant Farm' is a dual guitar proggy hard rock instrumental that oddly reminds me of Automatic Fine Tuning. Excellent two sider. 

It would appear their other 45 isn't worth bothering with.

Ownership: SP: 1973 Jamie promo. Recent online acquisition. 

4/19/21 (first listen); 6/6/21 (review / new entry)

Roadwork - Come Into My Life / When it Comes to Lovin You. USA

OK, time to start digging into my new discoveries for 2021. And this one is a total unknown. The a) side is the winner here, with some flute, organ, and killer guitar solos. Kind of a mix of hard rock, funk, and prog. I'm not fond of the b) side. The style is escaping me, but it's completely different than the flip. It's crowd pleasing club music, with a saxophone lead horn section and a snappy styled pop jazz I guess. Like a proto Huey Lewis maybe? No bueno. But the a) side more than makes up for it. Thinking this is from the late 70s.

Ownership: SP: 19?? Patch. Online acquisition 

6/6/21 (first listen / review / new entry)

Bluewater - Dial "O" For Love / Wounded Knee. USA-Georgia

An interesting 45, Bluewater taps into that unique American pop sound of the late 60s and early 70s. If pressed, I'd say 1969 or 1970. The a) side has a cool funky rhythm, but is clearly slanted towards AM radio, borderline bubblegum. 'Wounded Knee' features a tribal funky wah wah backdrop, a somewhat exploitive sound of perceived Native American music. One pictures a bunch of white teenagers with headbands and war paint singing around the campfire. And drinking Coca-Cola. Which might not be far from the truth. There's no marking on this 45 anywhere, except for a one Harley Hatcher. Hatcher was a mover and shaker in the music industry, having run a couple of labels (i.e. Curb Records), and also being the primary composer for some screenplays and soundtracks. Most famously for The Wild Sounds Of Satan's Sadists, lionized later by Quentin Tarantino. This is where the Georgia reference comes from, though it's likely he was entrenched in Los Angeles by this point. Who Bluewater was is anyone's guess though. A true unknown.

Just noticed that there is a Bluewater band who performs on his 1971 soundtrack The Hard Ride. Discogs links it back to a band from 1977, but I think it's a different group. So my time frame looks pretty good here.

Ownership: SP: 19?? Double H (Harley Hatcher). Online acquisition (2020).

The labels shown here (from Discogs) look to be white, though mine is an light olive brown. Could just be the lighting, which is why I didn't add a separate entry. 

7/4/20 (first listen); 5/16/21 (review / new entry)

Heavy Blow - All Across the Nation / What You Got You Got. 1976 USA

Yet another complete unknown, this one clearly is influenced by Funkadelic and Parliament. A) starts with some humorous bits, then launches into a killer wah wah guitar and Hammond organ rhythm, with active percussion. And then it closes with a (way too short) monster fuzz guitar solo. B) picks up the pace with some thumpin' bass and similar lyrical themes, and some great organ. When word gets out about this, look out baby.

Ownership: SP: 1976 Fast Buck. Found this at a local b&m (2020) for a whopping 80 cents.

Without a doubt my best new discovery coming from a real record store - in decades. The multiplier on this one is likely to be enormous. But I'm not selling... Not sure where this is from, though the outer sleeve has handwritten "S.F. 1976" (I see it on one of the labels too). I'll presume that to be initials verse San Francisco, but you never know. Since I bought it here, it may also be from Denver. It sounds like it's from the upper Midwest though.

9/25/20 (first listen); 5/16/21 (review / new entry)

Dianne Davidson ‎- Sympathy / Delta Dawn. 1972 USA-Tennessee

Apparently both of these tracks are on an album called Backwoods Woman. If I run into it, I will pick it up for the collection. And why would I do that? Well if you look at the genre tags, we have something very unusual going on here. Country (which is to be expected from a young lady hailing from western Tennessee) and Western (haha - noooo) - and FUNK. Bet you didn't see that coming. I was curious why this 45 promo was worth money (pulled it out of a well known record store in Denver for 50 cents - they had no clue). I played 'Delta Dawn' first. Pretty typical country music, and not obscure enough to draw a buying audience. What gives? Put on 'Sympathy'. Oh wow - now I get it! It's not just funk, but it's killer funk. Very much like something you'd here out of Philadelphia or Detroit during this time. And the great guitar solo at the end sealed it for me. I have no idea if she did more music like this, hence I'll pick up her LPs if I find them. And I should have no problem with that really - major label country music leads the league at the thrift shops, well maybe a bit behind Jesus Christo music. Anyway, what a juxtaposition of sounds. Well worth hearing (check it on YouTube).

Ownership: SP: 1972 Janus. Promo as shown above. Found as noted above.

10/16/20 (first listen / review / new entry)

Last Episode - Take a Second Look (short and long). 1975 USA-Detroit

Last Episode lyrically - and in harmony - remind me of The Temptations circa 'Papa was a Rolling Stone'. Socially charged that is to say. But the music is hard funk, just the way I like it, with great guitar, horns, and keyboards. It's the same song on each side, but the longer version (by about a minute) has more instrumental work.

I can't find any history of the group. Both Wade Marcus and Melvin Davis were said to be in Detroit by this time, so we'll go with that until further notice.

As far as I know it's never been comp'd. It was a promo only with no accompanying LP. 1975 was probably just a tad late for this kind of angry-on-the-streets sound, as good-times disco was on the horizon. This is exactly the type of 45 that find themselves going for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. But there's plenty of supply, so it remains bargain basement. If you're a collector of such music, this comes as an easy recommendation.

Ownership: SP: 1975 A&M. From a garage sale (2019)

8/15/19 (first listen); 6/18/20 (review / new entry)

King Midas and the Muflers - Mellow Moonlight / Tramp. 1968 USA-Kansas

This 45 leaves off the RnB from the predecessor and gets down to garage funky psych business, which is more to my tastes. From McPherson.

Ownership: SP: 1968 Kanwic. From a local estate sale.

6/14/20 (first listen / review / new entry)

King Midas and the Muflers - Sadim (Beaver Shot '69) / Get Down With It. 1967 USA-Kansas

Full name of Side 1 from the 1967 release is 'Sadim (Beaver Shot '69)'. Sooo... what's that supposed to mean? Ha... it looks like it may have been a title of a book. Anyway, this track is a solid instrumental funk number - the type of music that The Budos Band brought back to life in the 2000s. The other side 'Get Down With It' is a bit more typical funk / RnB with vocals. Despite the title, the general consensus is this 45 is from 1967.

King Midas and the Muflers (great name!) were from McPherson (been there many a time as it turns out). 

Ownership: SP: 1967 Chrome. From an estate sale. Thinking the homeowner must have lived in the area once as there was little else like it in the collection.

6/14/20 (first listen / review / new entry)

Mickey & Them - U.F.O. / Hey, Brother Man. 1973 USA-San Antonio

Mickey & Them is a pseudonym for Mickey & The Soul Generation, a funk band from San Antonio (that I'm not familiar with - yet). Now San Antonio is ground zero if you want to immerse yourself into the Hispanic culture of Texas. So I was expecting more of a Latin groove here, but the band represents more of the African American culture of the times. 'U.F.O' is a very interesting single - it's all instrumental, super laid back, with a fascinating electric harpsichord driven melody. It's such a subtle song for a 7 inch - more like a middle album cut. 'Hey, Brother Man' is more typical funk, but features some excellent rhythm guitar. 

2/6/20