KOSMO's VINYL of the Week

Bobby Parker, "Watch Your Step"

8/30/2019

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are at Edgewood Recording Studio, Vermont Ave, Washington DC in 1961, for Bobby Parker's self-written and recorded "Watch Your Step", first released on the V-Tone label...

"Bobby Parker was a Louisiana-born, Los Angeles-raised, blues soul guitarist who paid his dues playing for all kinds of famous acts in the late 1950s. Relocated to Washington DC, he came up with "Watch Your Step" while messing around with Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" on his guitar. This tune in turn begat The Beatles' "I Feel Fine" and Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick". It was first introduced to me by Dr. Feelgood. Born in 1937, Robert Lee Parker left us on Oct 31st, 2013 in a city called Bowie in Maryland, USA." - KV

0 Comments

Yarbrough & Peoples, "Don't Stop the Music"

8/23/2019

0 Comments

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in the Los Angeles of 1980 for Yarbrough & Peoples' "Don't Stop The Music", first released on producer Lonnie Simmons' Total Experience label...

"Calvin Yarbrough and Alisa Peoples were childhood piano lesson friends from Dallas, Texas (they eventually married in 1987). Via friends in The Gap Band, they met Lonnie Simmons and moved to Los Angeles. Lonnie, also a night club owner, produced two 'back to back' U.S. R'n'B #1s - The Gap Band's "Burn Rubber On Me" and this - a man who definitely had his fingers on the trigger in 1980-81." - KV

0 Comments

The Frightnrs, "Trouble in Here"

8/16/2019

0 Comments

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in Brooklyn in the summer of 2015 for The Frightnrs' "Trouble In Here", produced by Victor "Tiklah" Axlerod and first released on their debut "Nothing More To Say" LP on Daptone Records...

"Jamaican Rock Steady and Reggae music is no easy thing to master, many outside of Jamaica try and many fail but Brooklyn's The Frightnrs are one of the few that have succeeded. Introduced to me by #1 son Jack, this LP stands up to plenty o'playin and this track is a great addition to the Rude Boy record tradition. Sadly, their singer, Dan Klein, died of Lou Gehrig's disease in June of 2016 before the LP was released, and so this is the only LP that this line up released - what a tragedy !" - KV

0 Comments

Phil Phillips, "Sea of Love"

8/9/2019

0 Comments

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in the Goldband Recording Studio, Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1959 for Phil Phillips' "Sea of Love", produced and arranged by Eddie Shuler and first released on the Khoury's record label...

"Phil Phillips was born Phillip Baptiste in 1926 and, apart from having been in a gospel group with his brothers, was working as a bell boy when he came up with "Sea of Love". He was persuaded by local record boss George Khoury to change his name for this record, Khoury also decided to name Phil's backing vocalists "The Twilights". The record was leased to Mercury and went on to become a million seller. As far as I know, Phil had no other hits and very little of the money this much-covered song generated ever made its way to him, perhaps as little as $6,800 !" - KV

0 Comments

The Gorillas, "She's My Gal"

8/2/2019

0 Comments

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in Olympic Studios, Church Road, Barnes, London in June 1976 for The Gorillas' "She's My Gal", produced by Roger Armstrong and released on Chiswick Records...

"The Gorillas (not with a Z - different band) were led by the West London music scene veteran Jesse Hector, who goes back to the beginning of the British rock'n'roll scene, having performed at the legendary 2 I's Cafe. But in 1976 he seemed much younger and his band, once known as The Hammersmith Gorillas, seemed to provide a link between beat boom r'n'b and the exploding punk scene, despite his penchant for huge sideburns and rupert check flared trousers. A truly unique individual who never made it to the next level." - KV

0 Comments