VINYL SHOW & TELL VOL 5 - THE BLOODY TRUTH...

the Bloody Truth
"Baby I Love You / I Can't Hear What You Say" 45rpm
( year unknown / USA )

Get ready kids, I'm gonna lay some heat on ya. This little slab has some major funk on the A side in the form of a seriously punchy cover of Aretha Franklin's tune "Baby I Love You".

It's been tough finding anything out in regards to who, when, and where this record was made, but here's my best guess: a handpicked Northern Soul garage band from suburban America in 1968 who was given this huge brass section and a guest singer (Terry Casburn here) by an up and coming manager or radio station disc jockey who told them to make a "hit". Maybe, who knows...

The first side works every angle of a genre so fucking well, right down to the drum break, Leslie-fied Hammond organ, big horn stabs, and choppy Steve Cropper guitar. I'd be afraid to sample this because it would automatically sound like you were ripping off RJD2. The B-side is a lot more subtle, like four white guys trying to be the Temptations with moderate success. That one horn bridge sounds just like a Lou Rawls song too, which I appreciate.

It's gotten good prices on eBay but this little guy ain't goin nowhere.

this one gets 9 out of 10 on the "overflowing crates" scale...