Monday, April 30, 2007

Fontella Bass - "Honey Bee"


I'm back with my first post in over two weeks. I've been busy finding records and getting my portable turntable hooked up to the computer. Never knew it'd be so easy but all I needed was one connector. Downloaded some recording software and, voila, I was making mp3's in nothing flat. Welcome to the 21st century, huh? I'm working on getting music posted to the blog, although everything is sort of in a tentative stage right now. I'm using free services for hosting my mp3's and placing players on the blog. So far, it's working okay but I'm up for any advice from the old pros out there. I'd also like to know if the players are working okay for everyone.

Today, a record I found a couple of months ago at the St. Louis record show, "Honey Bee" by Fontella Bass. Everyone is familiar with Bass via her huge 1965 hit "Rescue Me", a fine song that's been somewhat spoiled by severe over saturation on oldies radio. "Honey Bee" is from a couple of years earlier, while Bass was still in St. Louis recording for the local Bobbin label. I don't have a mountain of information on Bobbin, except that Little Milton and Oliver Sain seem to have been heavily involved. In fact, they're credited with co-writing "Honey Bee" and it's Sain's orchestra providing instrumental accompaniment on the song.

The instrumentation on "Honey Bee" is fairly standard, with some piano and light horns. The song is up-tempo and bounces along very nicely, with Bass' voice a little tougher sounding than on her big hit. The nice surprise is the guitar break that comes along in the middle of the song to make things all the more rockin'. All in all, one of the best records I've found this year.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Gabcast player works fine. If you are interested in allowing your readers to download selections, please allow me to recommend box.net for the user friendly interface and the absence of banner ads and popups. 5 GB with unlimited bandwith for 7.95/month. What a value. If you're not looking to spend any money, DivShare is pretty easy to use although download times are pretty sketchy. So many to choose from, y'know? For me being new to this blogging thing, I find it very helpful to have some kind of audio, whether it be via streaming or downloading. It makes it that much easier for me to purchase good records and steer clear of the bad ones. Feel free to check out some of my latest mixes in your spare time...

Peace and blessings.

Todd Lucas said...

Vincent, thanks for the feedback and recommendations. I'll check out your blog and add a link for you.

Anonymous said...

gentlemnen: just stumbled across this and also the 60's szene. i'm linking both from our just-redone web page. Hope life is treating you well and glad to reconnect!

rick from Missing Link

Todd Lucas said...

Rick, thanks for the link and for checking out the blog. Will be in town Race Day weekend and hope to get by the store, probably on Saturday.

Todd

Roger said...

What a fantastic track and it's great that you've got sound up here now, it's taken me far too long but we're heading in the same direction.

Cheers,
Roger

Anonymous said...

I'd rather see you use DivShare so we can get these songs.

Todd Lucas said...

Or, alternately, I could just mail you the records. ;)

Unknown said...

Player works fine down under.
What a great, raw track! The guitar break really cuts through.

Todd Lucas said...

Paula, I agree. "Honey Bee" is one of my favorite finds of the year, just a great record.