Benny Poole - Pearl Baby, Pearl

ORIGINATION 45
LAST LISTENED TO May 2010
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT you're kidding, right?
RATING ★★★★★

In the early part of this century, I was regularly visiting the hallowed Professor of Plastic and picking up all manner of wonderful slabs of vinyl, both big and small. It was a time when new funk and soul 45s would arrive every week, some new, some reissues. This one, a reissue on a split single with Magentica by Espen Horne on the flip, was given a release in early 2002. It is a rough and tough, piece of latin-flavoured, instrumental soul, with a groove that sounds much more like it was recorded in the mid-sixties than in 1974.

After an intro with the first note cut off on this pressing, a tenor sax establishes a melody and then slips into a mid-range solo that could groove on forever. However, with a scant 45 running time of two minutes, it does no such thing. It has only been in the sweet spot for a minute, when the organ swings in from the background for a few brief bars to fight it out and then it is all gone. A fine, fine groove that could easily be much longer.

Yellow Sunshine - Yellow Sunshine

ORIGINATION Skye Presents The Breaks (v/a)
LAST LISTENED TO some time ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT it not quite as small as it may appear at first
RATING

Yellow Sunshine were formed for only one self-titled LP of funk rock fusion in 1973. This, the title cut, is a respectable entry in the funk rock field. It is an entirely guitar driven piece, with the only non-rock standard instrument being some bongos. This gives it a vague Santana-ish feel, although to be fair the guitar playing is never as flash.

The track has also been plundered several times over in recent years for its groovy drum break that occurs near the end.