Luc Harvet et son Orgue   Vega Records (France)

(42 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)

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Big Daddy Lackowski (aka The Big Lackowski)

(41 votes, average: 2.85 out of 5)

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WIZEX   “Carousel”

(39 votes, average: 2.85 out of 5)

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Betinho   “Twist Bossa Nova”   Copacabana Records (Brazil)

(47 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)

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Swampland Jewels.   A nice collection of great New Orleans tunes.   I’m particularly fond of Cleveland Crochet’s “Sugar Bee”

(53 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5)

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Physical Fitness Exercises for Boys   Kimbo Educational Records   “Set to stimulating music”!   There’s a companion LP of Exercises for Girls with the same cover design.

(43 votes, average: 2.42 out of 5)

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The Coasters on Broadway on King Records   (1973)   A Leiber-Stoller Production     Re-recordings of classic Coasters’ cuts like “On Broadway,” “D.W. Washburn,” plus others like “Mohair Sam,” “Mustang Sally”and “Cool Jerk”.   But the funky stand-out is perhaps “Down Home Girl” which has been sampled many times.   This is what Funky 16 Corners says:

First waxed in 1964 by the mighty Alvin Robinson for the Red Bird label (one of my all time fave records), ‘Down Home Girl’ was written by Jerry Lieber and Art Butler. In it’s original form (produced by Lieber and Mike Stoller and arranged by Joe Jones) it is one of the grittiest pieces of New Orleans-associated soul ever to hit wax.   The following year, the Rolling Stones, knowing a good thing when it crawled into their ears, recorded a version of their own.   The version I bring you today see’s Lieber and Stoller taking the song out for a stroll once again, with one of their favorite groups, the legendary Coasters.   By 1966, when the group went into the studio with L&S (Stoller producing) they were a few years past their last big hit (‘Little Egypt’ hit the Top 40 in 1961).

The Coasters version of ‘Down Home Girl’ – taken at a slightly more deliberate pace than Robinson – opens with a horn/drums/vibes riff that is verily begging to be looped by some enterprising producer, and features some classic group harmony. Much of the humor associated with the Coasters is there, though it gets delivered not via the performance itself, but rather through Lieber’s hyperbolic lyrics. Where Robinson’s reading of the song is dripping with unbridled lust (thanks in large part to his awesome, soulful growl) the Coasters vocal arrangement, with tenor and bass trading lines allows them to highlight the absurdity of some of the lines.   It really is a lost classic, and one of the finer versions of a truly great song.

(53 votes, average: 3.53 out of 5)

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Bonjour Allegresse   Les 4 Barbus   Philips Records (France)

(38 votes, average: 2.89 out of 5)

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“Today’s Top Hits” by the HOMESTEAD (?) on Homestead Records (of course) 1979   Featuring bad recreations of chart toppers of the day, like Randy Newman’s “Short People,” one of the greatest politically incorrect songs of all time.

(59 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)

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Sweet Linda Divine   “I’ll Say It Again” Columbia Records (1970)   I’ll say it again, the best beat diggers know that this has some funky cuts.

(52 votes, average: 3.54 out of 5)

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