When Martha met Irma

Over the last few months I've been introduced to two quite outstanding slabs of female soul of which I was previously blissfully unaware.

First up was Martha Bass (yep, Fontella's mum) "Since I've Been Born Again". I've not seen this on original vinyl but would guess probably Checker or Cadet as I've seen something else by her on Ebay on that group of labels. It is on the Soul Jazz Soul Gospel Vol.2, where you can hear a 60 second blast, which was about all I heard when I first came across it. It ws on a "6 on 6" set on the Craig Charles' Funk and Soul Show on 6 Music probably autumn 2008. Listeners send in six top tunes of theirs and he plays (played as I think he's stopped that part now) snippets of each tune back to back. Now I don't regularly listen to the show, sometimes when cooking the tea. I'm not a huge funk fan and get a bit bored of funk by numbers (just as I'm sure some people think all Motown, Northen etc sounds a bit samey as well I guess). Having said that I've owned Eddie Bo's "Hook and Sling" and Luther Ingrams' "Puttin' Game Down" (on KoKo! - and yes it is the "Baby Don't You Weep" man!) on 7 inch for maybe 20 years , so I don't what you call hate it! Anyway, there's nearly always a little gem thrown in there even f I'm only listening for half an hour. This is all hand clappin', foot stompin' gospel at a great dance tempo. Surely too earthy for the gospel sentiments? I can't find it on any other albums and can't vouch for the rest of the album so still searching.

Then by another quirk of fate I caught a smal part of the final Radio 2 Saturday show hosted by Martin Freeman and Liza Tarbuck before Jonathon Ross completed his three moth ban around january 2009. Mr Freeman has form in compiling a Motown CD as well as citing mod influences (Independent in 2005 - article now taken off line and see also Modculture). They alternated records and bang came on Irma Thomas "Hittin On Nothin" which I'm ashamed to say I'd not heard before - flip side of "Ruler Of My Heart" and enned by Allen Toussaint - see here for example. This is available on a CD called We Sing The Blues / New Orleans Our Home Town, which is also on download at Napster and iTunes I believe (legally) for about seven quid. Great early RnB soul, right for "now" I'd say. You can see from the playlist that on that day listeners got some real treats (Terry Callier, Etta James, Staple Singers, JB...) - remember when Radio 2 was the MOR station? Either I'm getting old or people of my age and background are getting their hands on the knobs. Well worth tracking this down and as a legal and cheap download probably no excuse not to?

Soul band in Gorleston

Just received this although I'm away unfortunately...

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The 45's - 8-Piece Live Soul Band (tracks by sam and dave, the four tops, otis redding, stevie wonder, the temptations, wilson pickett, james brown, curtis mayfield, kool and the gang and many more...)

There will also be a DJ

The Ocean Rooms, Pier Gardens, Gorleston

Doors open at 8pm

Tickets cost £5 and all profits go to charity - beach radios 'help an east coast child' appeal

If you want any more info, or if anyone is interested in tickets, then check out the website at www.thefortyfives.co.uk

Friday 15th May 2009

This was the second of our new Friday dates after having spent just over 14 years on Saturdays. Numbers were up a bit from March but our last Saturday before the switch in January had also been very quiet. Not sure if this is a result of the new day or numbers at clubs being down more generally. We certainly seem to have encountered a new set of people we've not come across before so in a way it's almost like trying to rebuild the club again whilst relying on a small group of faithful followers. You know who are and your support really is very much appreciated. You may even lure me out from behind the decks for a boogie again!

Having said that this Friday most of the newer crowd cottoned on to what we're about quickly and were happy with a diet of soul plus some old classics. It also meant we dug out a few oldies which fall into the "overplayed but underplayed" category as Steve calls them - those tracks you've known for years so never play but actually sound really great once in a while as you've in reality not played them for a long time. So this time we included Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar", Anthony and the Imperials' "Better Use Your Head" and The Impressions' "You've Been Cheating". Do they sound good after a while or what? OK so no prizes for super rarity or anything but frankly who cares?

So onwards and upwards to the next night in July. If anyone reads this please feel free to come along and help us keep going in our 15th year. You know it makes sense.