Jesse James - Shake It

Hello, from the land of the head cold. At least that's what I'm terming my affliction, as of today. The temperature has dropped and fall is upon us. The sun has returned the past few days, following a week of dreary, rainy weather. The change in the weather, after a long, hot summer, has played havoc with my sinuses and knocked me off my feet for a couple of days. I'm on the mend though and back with another blog post.

The past few weeks, the blog has sort of become a "lookie what I found" outlet for me and today is no different. Last Friday, I stopped by a record store in the area that I visit every so often. They usually don't have a lot of 45's but, a few months back, the owner purchased a rather large collection of singles that he now has stashed in his back room. I went through it a couple of months ago and found some gems. So, Friday I stopped in and had another look. Sure enough, I dug up a few goodies that I'd missed the first time around. Today, I'm posting the best and most obscure find of the bunch, "Shake It" by Jesse James.

As in recent weeks, I haven't been able to gather much info on the disc that I'm blogging. There was, of course, a Jesse James who made lots of soul/r&b records in the 1960's, including several on the 20th Century Fox label. I don't know whether this is the same Jesse James or not. The songwriting credit on both sides, Henry James, Jr., might be a help to someone more savvy than I. Otherwise, I can't find any mention of this record on the net. The Elm label seems equally obscure, with today's disc likely being its first release.

What we have here are a pair of cool organ workouts. My guess is they originate from the early 1960's. "Shake It" is wall to wall organ, with James' vocal sung over top. The song is a dance groove, complete with a nice, extended break. The flipside is the equally danceable "I'm All Right". Again, we get a generous dose of organ but, this time, the song is one of countless tunes that owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Isley's "Shout". James whips everyone into a frenzy and then fades away, before blasting back for the finale, a la the aforementioned Isley Brothers classic.