Bit of a departure from my previous two posts on this one. a big slab of dirty northern soul from the Bacone stable. kicking off with some some bongos and a funky guitar riff it soon settles down into a solid dancer overlaid with some silky vocals and damm near perfect harmonising. From 1967 you can hear the nascent seventies sound in the guitar work and the hints of wah wah around the edges however its still got the ortohodox sixties sensibility about it with the aforementioned backing vocals. Ive always found it a tough one to dance to due to its kinda off kilter beat but last time i heard it out it rammed the floor (and i did a half hearted shuffle to it). Ive been told its quite a hard one to get and ive only ever seen two come up on the bay in recent years both going for between $150 and $200.

This is my playlist from Watusi 22nd January

soul sauce – cal tjader – verve
el watusi – ray baretto – tico
the jupe – dave davani – capitol
watermelon man – monk higgins – solid state
alligator boogaloo – lou donaldson – blue note
el pito – eddie cano – dunhill
soul liberation – rusty bryant – pretige
jet set – dave pike – atlantic
25 miles – bill doggett – king
coming home baby – kai winding – verve
you cant sit down – phil upchurch – boyd
good lovin – gilberto sextet – cotique
el bandido – georgie fame – imperial
gonzo – james booker – peacock
evil ways – cal tjader – fantasy
old chinatown – the channels – groove
i can really satisfy – fred parris – green sea
Walkin – jimmy jones – roulette
headache in my heart – debonairs – solid hit
clown town – donna lee – columbia
i think you’ll find – bogis chimes – champ
please tell me i’m yours – fay simmons – senca
nobody knows – martha carter – ron
call his name – christine kittrell – federal
somewhere down the line – johnny taylor – galaxy
heartbreake r – bb king – bluesway
i’m gonna try – carol fran – port
i want to – little jewell – tay-ster
i’m lonely i’m troubled – limitations – bacone
hey little girl – charles mann – lanor
heartbreaks – johnny alton – alpha
i’ll cry alone – gale garnett – rca
lovin time – bertha tillman – brent
teardrops are falling – little natalie and the gifts – roulette
here comes baby – bobbie smith – big top
i’m so glad – e jackie hines – cosmic
i;m a good girl – joyce kennedy – blue rock
central park – harvey averne – fania
coming home baby – mel torme – atlantic
your little sister – marvelows – abc para
you only live twice – lorraine chnadler – kent anniv.

thinking ahead to this Months Watusi and leaning towards an Organ/Jazz type set. Pulled this one off the shelf last night and it went straight into the Play box. Had heard of this ditty for a number of months via the LP that was reissued sometime ago but as i am not particularly an LP man i decided to hold off until i could nab the 45. eventually i found one on the net – paid a few dollars for it and waited. Eventually got it in the door and it was totally worth the wait. Always been a sucker for vibes so when the first few bars hit i knew this one was gonna be a winner. theres some nice chunky brass work in there, a sleazy Organ working overtime, rumbling bass and scorching guitar and with its dancefloor friendly beat i knew it would fit perfectly with the Watusi ethos. think youtube has this listed so head over and check it out. As i say the Lp has been reissued and there are plenty of them on the Bay – saw a few original presses of the Lp on the bay and if memory serves its not that pricey, think in region of 80 -100 dollars. nice image on the front of a sixties ‘space age’ girl

Joe Cuba El Pito Tico

First post to this Blog. i think that posts shall be spread across Music (northern soul, boogaloo, 6t’s latin and general Mod slant sounds), ramblings on the news and the rubbish i carry around in my head.

the last two records i bought were versions of El Pito by Joe Cuba and Eddie Cano. Cubas version is hot dirty sweaty latin soul whilst the Cano version is a cooler workout. was lucky with the cano version as i had previously lost out on one up on the bay when it hit the ninety dollar mark – and the copy was graded VG++ – daft altogether. I checked my old mate Craig Moerer over at www.recordsbymail.com and he had a VG- for five dollars (€3.50). Result. To be honest it plays minty so am made up about that. The Joe Cuba Version set me back $20 on Tico graded VG+ and that was about right. Previous to that I got a Mongo Santamaria – We got latin soul for about $40 and it has some disturbance on one of the channels – fine for deejaying but a pain to listen to in the record room at home.

Definitely a pattern developing where i find myself looking for latin and boogaloo of late – this change of direction has been spurred by my residency at Watusi with my colleague Ray Gilligan. more Mod/ 6t’s orientated than Dublins Sleepless nights i’ve been enjoying diggin out sounds from the boxes blowing the dust off and getting them back onto the turntable. i seem to bending back on myslef with my music taste – my earliest days as a deejay were playing orthodox Jazz then moved into British RnB then into 6t’s club soul and then into Northern – now i’m back at the 6t’s club soul stage (though still keeping my beloved northern close to my heart and ears). i just see it all as different strains of the music so its easy for me to move across the soul landscape and not get hung up about it.