ROUGH & TOUGH

«Mix It Up, Mix It Up,… That’s the way I like It!» Sir Ticchio & Tom Basetta are back with a 60 minutes episode in which they alternate spinning rockin’ r&b, early & soulful reggae, southern soul and funky stuff.

Sir Ticchio begins the selections with some wild r&b takes all coming form the late 50s (except Busty Brown’s one which was issued 1962). Then Winston Groovy’s «Josephine» (an explosive 1969 reggae cut “inna New-Orleans-R&B style”) introduces Tom Basetta set of uptempo early reggae. After that Rufus Thomas’ «Memphis Train» take us to a powerful southern-soul set from Sir Ticchio and than Tom Basetta is back with Ken Boothe’s «Keep My Love From Fading Away» and another set of soulful early reggae. «Downtown Soulville» by Chuck Edwards begins Sir Ticchio closing set of groovin’ early funk.

Sir Ticchio:
Buster Brown – Raise A Ruckus Tonite (Fire 516)
Professor Longhair – Look What You’re Doing To Me (Ebb 106)
Rudy Ray Moore – Buggy Ride (Federal 11259)
L.C. McKinley – Nit Wit (Bea & Baby 102)
Junior Parker – Barefoot Rock (Duke 193)

Tom Basetta:
Winston Groovy – Josephine (Nu Beat 42)
Pioneers – Caranapo (Trojan 7746)
Eric Donaldson – Never Get Away (Punch 9)
Black & George – Candy Lady (blank)
Jamaicans – Festival Spirit (blank)

Sir Ticchio:
Rufus Thomas – Memphis Train (Stax 601037 - UK)
Mickey Murray – Shout Bamalama (SSS International 715)
Spencer Wiggins – He’s Too Hold (Goldwax 337)
James Carr – Coming Back To My Baby (Goldwax 309)
Jack McDuff – Gonna Hang Me Up A Sign (Atlantic EP SD71463)

Tom Basetta:
Ken Boothe – Keep My Love From Fading Away (Beverley’s JA)
Carl Dawkins – Don’t Get Weary (blank)
Ethiopians – Woman Capture Man (blank)
Sivlerstars - Old Man Say (blank)
Pat Kelly – What Am I To Do (Horse 58)

Sir Ticchio:
Chuck Edwards – Downtown Soulville (Punch 21107)
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul (King 6378)
Billy Sha-Rae – Let’s Do It Again (Triple B 004)
Shorty Long – Here Comes The Judge (Tamla Motown 663 - UK)
Lee Dorsey – Four Corners (pt. 1) (Amy 8783)

Tom Basetta selects for you about half an hour of early reggae from ‘69 and ’70 with an exception with the Dave Collins number that comes from 1974.

We start our uptempo-selections with “In The Summertime” by The Music Doctors produced by the UK-based jamaican producer and legend Dandy Livingstone on his J-Dan label. Then we have the aforementioned “Sunshine Rock” released on Rhino for the Lee Perry production. Then we go back to 69, the golden era of reggae, with a bunch of mostly Pama releases. We have the “aggressive” Stranger Cole b-side on Camel Pama subsidiary and a boss reggae version of the southern-soul top singer James Carr’s “Freedom Train”.

We keep going on in a 69 style with more Pama releases like the sad “Broken Heart” by Busty Brown on the rhythm of Slim Smith’s “Slip away”, the splendid Clarendonians number, an instrumental version of LLoyd Charmers “Death a Come”, a Tennors b-side on Crab label and then we move to ‘70 for a blusey reggae number by John Holt on the Unity label and then back to 69 with the last three tunes, the former is a Trojan release, then again a Cole’s one on the Joe Gibbs Amalgamated label and the last a Hippy Boys and Cool Sticky scorcher...

Enjoy!

1) IN THE SUMMERTIME - The Music Doctors (J-Dan JDN4414) 1970
2) SUNSHINE ROCK - Dave Collins (Rhino RNO111) 1974
3) GIVE IT TO ME - Stranger Cole (Camel CA15) 1969
4) FREEDOM TRAIN - Ernest Wilson (Crab CRAB17) 1969
5) TELL ME TELL ME - Winston Shand (Bullet BU413) 1969
6) BROKEN HEART - Busty Brown (Blank CRAB32) 1969
7) BABY DON’T DO IT - The Clarendonians (Blank) 1969
8) WHA SHE DO NOW - The Gaylads (Blank) 1969
9) TWELTH OF NEVER - Pat Kelly (Pama Supreme PS379, reissue of UN511) 1969
10) CHERRY - The Tennors (Crab CRAB36) 1969
11) THE SWORD - Matador All Stars (Blank) 1969
12) OH TELL ME - The Schoolboys (Gas GAS104) 1969
13) SEA CRUISE - John Holt (Unity UN548) 1970
14) NOT FOR SALE - Ernie Smith (Trojan TR680) 1969
15) WHAT MOMA NO WANT SHE GET - Stranger Cole (Blank) 1969
16) WHATS YOUR EXCUSE - Hippy Boys (Buller BU413) 1969

From obscure rockers like Clarence Samuels and Elmer Parker to famous artists like Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker and B.B. King, from the soulful doo-wop singing of the Five Keys and Little Willie John to the weird screamin’ of H-Bomb Ferguson, Bill Johnson and Ba Ba Thomas, from pure rock’n’roll cuts by Don & Dewey and Billy LaMont to more bluesy stuff by Big John Greer and Young Jessie…

…here are 30 minutes of wild and explosive rockin’ sounds from the mid 50s to the very early 60s selected by Sir Ticchio.

The tracklist is:

1) Clarence Samuels – We’re Goin’ To The Hop (APT 25028)
2) Big John Greer – Bottle It Up And Go (Groove 0002)
3) Ruth Brown – Little Girl’s Gone Rockin’ (Atlantic 1197)
4) LaVern Baker – Whipper Snapper (Atlantic 1189)
5) Five Keys – My Pigeon’s Gone (Capitol 2103)
6) Little Willie John – Don’t Be Ashamed To Call My Name (King 5147)
7) B.B. King – Bim Bam (RPM 479)
8) Ba Ba Thomas – Miss Shake It (King 5889)
9) Billy Lamont – Country Boy (Okeh 7125)
10) Don & Dewey – Justine (Specialty 631)
11) Bill Johnson – You Better Dig It (Talos 402)
12) H-Bomb Ferguson – Mary Little Mary (Federal 12411)
13) Young Jessie – Hit Git And Split (Modern 1002)
14) Elmer Parker – You Know I Love You (Music Cleef 3002)

Here we go with a 30 minutes selection by Sir Ticchio in which very diffrent 60s r&b sounds are mixed together.

The first cut is an instrumental take from blues legend Freddie King which introudces the next theree tracks by B.B. King, Jesse Anderson and Syl Johnson. This stuff is a nice example of very tough guitar-based r&b from the early 60s.

Hannibal and Evelyn Freeman takes are instead 100% pure early 60s r&b shouters and introduce Baby Washington, Aretha Franklin and Etta James ones. Their songs are focused mainly on a strong female voice and sounds more soulful than the previous tracks although still really wild (expecially Etta James' one).

Slim Harpo's smooth voice and groovin' guitar bring male artists back on the speakers while Bobby Marchan shows his soulful-but-loud vocal potential in a mid-60s wild twistin' cut. Troy Dodds keep it twistin' with a fast 60s dancer while the Four Shells close the selection with a very peculiar ass-shaking r&b take.

Here's the tracklist:

1) Freddie King – Texas Oil (Federal 12462)
2) B.B. King – Bad Case Of Love (Kent 362)
3) Jesse Anderson – You’d Better Think Twice (Federal 12453)
4) Syl Johnson – I Just Got To Make Her Mine (Federal 12435)
5) Hannibal – My Name Is Hannibal (Pan World 523)
6) Evelyn Freeman – Didn’t It Rain (United Artist 3578 – Belgian press)
7) Baby Washington – Work Out (Neptune 107)
8) Aretha Franklin - Lee Cross (Columbia 44181)
9) Etta James – In The Basement (pt. 1) (Cadet 14644)
10) Slim Harpo - Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu (Excello 2294)
11) Bobby Marchan – Get Down With It (Dial 4002)
12) Troy Dodds – Earthquake (Baytown 4001)
13) Four Shells – Hot Dog (Volt 134)