Carolyn Franklin

During a summer not too long ago, I went to a local record store and happened to think about Aretha Franklin while I was browsing. I thought about how I couldn't play Aretha Franklin on my show as easily as I would like because of regulations. Suddenly I remembered Aretha had singing soul sisters in the 1960s.

I held in my hands Carolyn Franklin's debut album from 1969 on that day. It was a first pressing, had a $20+ price tag and not one song I knew. I sampled and enjoyed the vintage soul stylings but didn't see myself shelling out that much money for an album I knew nothing of and would not get to play all often, including on The Suite Delight radio show. I rather reluctantly put the record back.

Within days, the Carolyn Franklin record was on my mind and I began to feel I would shell out for it. I went back to the store and it was gone. I got to the point that I was preparing to order one online. Knowing that I was taking my pilgrimage to Mecca for CMJ, I felt I stood a great chance of bringing a Carolyn Franklin album on home with me.

Days in New York passed and I felt my hopes of finding a first Franklin were flitting away.

 

Near the end of my New York stay, I visited a record store that I had already been to making sure I left nothing substantial behind. As I was turning to make my way up the stairs, the first Carolyn Franklin album was wrapped in plastic among other valuable vinyl records on the wall facing me. The Franklin album would be the most I would spend for a single album. I snatched it off the wall and breathed a sigh of relief mixed with bittersweet irony.

I'm not sure if I willed myself to find the album in New York or the album in New York willed me to find it. What I do know is that I was not going to let it slip by me a second time. If I had to learn my lesson by paying more for it, so be it. It appears I was destined to be united with that album.

I waiting to unleash a Carolyn Franklin cut for The Suite Delight radio show audience.

At the price I paid, I can safely say it went from a New York record store wall to a Montreal crate digger's wall.

Welcome home and rest in peace Carolyn Franklin.

Wilson Pickett

I’ve seen Wilson Pickett's name and heard his voice before I knew what he looked like. When I was younger, my mother would ask me to play her 7" records on my Fisher Price record player on weekends, especially Sundays. If I was ever a record snob, I was back then when I'd downright refuse to play her old dirty records on the same Fisher Price record player that just played Thriller or Purple Rain. Who was Wilson Pickett and why was he screaming on the song? When do I stop playing her old records and get back to playing mine?

One artist I particularly want to read, know and learn more about is Wilson Pickett. I have written about how much I love his music but that was writing from a fan perspective. There are so many Wilson stories, facts and details I would like to know about but there appears to be few to no sources of information.


Waxpoetics is the ideal place where die-hard or other casual Pickett fans can read and see more about the Wicked One. I don't believe Waxpoetics Magazine has done an in-depth article on him. If it hasn’t, I hope my prayers for a published Pickett article come true someday.

Through my late uncle, I learned about Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and of course Wilson Pickett. He had the three-disc compilation called The Otis Redding Story which I dubbed onto audio casettes, brought home to Montreal and killed. Within no time, I sought and owned nearly all of Otis Redding's discography.

My uncle only had Wilson Pickett Greatest Hits but I brought home the cassette dub and killed it, just like I did with Otis Redding. However, this time it was different. At that time, James Brown was my epitome of funky soul, and still is, but Wilson Pickett screaming in the songs got me.
 

If I could sing, I would sing exactly like Wilson Pickett.  I can't so therefore I reach for his music any chance I get.

I came across a book about him.

Please make yourself familiar with the link below for more.

http://suitedelight.podomatic.com

Below is a podcast to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download.

Playlist:

1. Dave Cortez & The Moon People – Happy Soul (w/a Hook)
2. Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm – Funky Mule
3. Bo Diddley ‎– The Shape I'm In
4. Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter
5. Harmonica Paul ‎– Motherless Child
6. Ramsey Lewis ‎– Mighty Quinn
7. Lonnie Mack - Memphis
8. The George Benson Quartet ‎– Benson's Rider
9. Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
10. James Brown ‎– Nose Job
11. Five Stairsteps & Cubie ‎– We Must Be In Love
12. David McCallum - The Edge
13. Dyke & The Blazers ‎– You Are My Sunshine
14. Otis Redding - You Left The Water Running
15. Johnnie Taylor - Love Bones
16. The Staples Singers - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)
17. Wilson Pickett - Take That Pollution Out Your Throat
18. Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop
19. Ken Boothe - My Love
20. Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
21. The Illusion - Together
22. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
23. Patrice Rushen - Givin' It Up Is Givin' Up
24. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man
25. Buddy Miles - Down By The River
26. Donovan - Season Of The Witch
27. Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Celestial Blues

Nina Simone

I'm not The Loving Spoonful but I'll ask if you believe in magic. If not, do you believe in second chances? Where records on vinyl is concerned, they appear in the form of reissues. In the case of first pressings, they are cases of good luck incarnate on the day you find said record.


DJ Kobal was instrumental in placing an album on my want-list long before I would realize it.

While browsing among records, I came across a Nina Simone album called To Love Somebody. All of the winning conditions for me to have bought the record were there. Nina Simone singing Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and most importantly for me Bee Gees covers on what was sure to be the funky era of late 60s RCA Records. I didn't go there looking for Nina Simone, that Nina Simone album or to spend the money on the price tag for the album. On top of that, I hadn't heard one song! Kobal coyly suggested I should take it and I had an instinct he was right but maintained my blissful ignorance or, depending on who you ask, stubbornness.



Some man that was near smoothly slid towards us and asked if I would take it. I relinquished the record, he gratefully accepted it and stepped off to the counter. I remember Kobal's last words regarding the album being something like hard-to-find. That was the last time either of us spoke of the album.

We live in advanced, amazing times. I stated earlier that I hadn't heard one song from the album but not too long after that day,  I had the album to listen to. By the time I heard Suzanne, the album opener and Cohen cover, my ignorance was no longer blissful but blistering. The Bee Gees covers, I Can't See Nobody especially, drove the point home.



Naturally the hunt for the album began and I did everything from willing the album to be at the next store I walked into to talking about the album in the hopes it would speed up the process of me finding it again sooner than later.

Fast-forward to CMJ 2011 where I found a reissue of the album in a Manhattan record store. The reissue was more expansive than the first pressing Kobal nearly coaxed me to buy. I decided to wait until the end of my trip to determine what I would do about it.



Days passed and many records were bought while I was in New York. The last days approached and I did a final sweep of the same stores just to make sure I wasn't going to leave behind any record of value.

While browsing in another Manhattan record store, a young lady walked in and asked the man behind the counter if they had any Nina Simone. If I ever needed a reminder about Nina Simone on the eve of my leaving New York, that was it. I discreetly followed them to the jazz section and discreetly viewed the female's fingers flip the Nina Simone vinyl records.

I saw what I needed to see and prayed the young lady did not enter the store for that album. My prayers were answered when she hoisted the album cover above from the racks and cleared the way for me to reunite with my record. Ironically and slightly painfully enough, the original pressing in my hands was now more expensive than the Kobal coerced copy and the reissue I saw at another Manhattan store prior.

I'm not familiar with the young lady's Nina Simone album of choice either but might have to address that sometime soon.

Prior to Kobal, To Love Somebody and CMJ 2011, the Verve collection above was my fill of Nina Simone's music. I was aware the RCA albums of the late 60s & early 70s had heat on them but was not prepared to spring for any of them. I've been somewhat forced to reconsider that stance now.

In retrospect, if I had dropped the needle on To Love Somebody right after Kobal showed me the record, I would have bought it and that smooth man's search for the album would have continued that day. However, it would have not made as nearly an interesting blog post.

R.I.P. Nina Simone