So I Heard About Funky Friday
-
Artist:
-
Track:Who's Gonna Help a Brother?
I'll try and play.
I've tried the 70s funk with moderate success, mostly through the Funk Box 4 CD collection. It doesn't always take with me, but when it does (with a classic like Express Yourself as a perfect example - would you call that funk?) it really takes.
And this guy has taken me since my very first exposure to him on the Blues & Soul Bible (Games People Play). Ever since I have been trying to complete his discography. It's hard. He had more than his share of success after being discovered by the great Allen Toussaint and supported by the equally accomplished Meters, but time has seemed to have forgotten the late Lee Dorsey, who may be the funkiest man I've ever heard. He does it without platform shoes, and fancy costumes. Lee's funk weapon of choice is a great baseline and spirited, unique vocals.
If I am to continue Funky Friday patronage, I'll probably lean heavily on Lee (I also considered Bra by Cymande). I'd like to get some takes later about whether or not his rendition of Sneaking Sally Through the Alley is better than Robert Palmers cover a few years later.
I know whose side I am on.
Comments (6)
Play on,boogie chillun,play on! This is friggin' THICK!....My take is POST BOTH RENDITIONS!
How could Robert Palmer improve on Lee Dorsey? He might have, but the odds on that are slim. "Who's Gonna Help a Brother?" sounds great! I don't think I've ever heard his Yes We Can album. Is that where this song came from? It must have, because my vague memories of the Night People album is that it had amazing personnel but weak compositions. Maybe I was deaf. Since then, I've discovered Toussaint's own wonderful version of "Night People," so how could I have not liked Dorsey's? I'm going to have to acquire the CD to find out.
It seems that the long slew of New Orleans R&B radio hits, starting perhaps in the early 1950s with Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis, ended in the mid-1960s with Lee Dorsey being the last. Why it ended I don't know.
Wait until you hear Occapella (my personal Lee Dorsey nirvana) if you like this. Sneakin Sally Through the Alley will have to wait for now. I spent years thinking that the Robert Palmer version was all his as part of the trilogy (Hey Julia,Sailing Shoes, and Sneakin) until I started uncovering the works of Dorsey. He's the real deal.
Allen Toussaint - "Yes We Can" - I was saving this to post but you mentioned both these and here ya are...my last funky friday for the night.
Lee is, without question, the Godhead. There's a nice compilation on Charly called "Holy Cow" that is mind-blowing start to finish. I actually think Elvis Costello and Toussaint also did a pretty credible job with this on that album they did together a couple years ago.
Great stuff and appreciate learning who originally did Sneaking Sally Through the Alley - First time I heard that song was seeing Little Feat live back in about '78. Lowe George did a amazing job on it and the band was so tight, as he and they were on everything that night. Still consider it one of the best shows I've ever seen. Anyway... looking forward to hearing the original version