{"id":8614,"date":"2015-10-07T05:30:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T09:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8614"},"modified":"2015-10-18T22:21:12","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T22:21:12","slug":"bill-dahl-and-i-discuss-groove-grind-rare-soul-63-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/07\/bill-dahl-and-i-discuss-groove-grind-rare-soul-63-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Dahl and I Discuss “Groove & Grind: Rare Soul ’63-’73”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From a critical perspective, there’s not a whole lot to be said or written about Groove & Grind: Rare Soul ’63 – ’73<\/em>. One either gets it, or doesn’t. Suffice to say that if you would enjoy hearing the contents of a jukebox in a 1960s African American juke joint<\/a>, or if you dig the sides collected in the various sprawling Stax box sets<\/a>, then you’ll luxuriate in the hundred-plus songs on this four-disc set. And you won’t have heard most of them before.<\/p>\n

The box set’s liner notes offer something of an apology\/justification for the dodgy sound quality on some of Groove & Grind<\/em>‘s cuts; those words \u2013 though sincere \u2013 are not needed: the sound quality is just fine, and the quality of the music precludes any need for excuses. The rarity of some of these cuts more than justifies their inclusion here, and would do so even if they didn’t make great listening. Music historian and liner notes author Bill Dahl<\/strong><\/a> (author of Motown: the Golden Years<\/em>) admits that he did his research on these often-unknown acts the old (or perhaps new) fashioned way: \u201cbetween the internet, books and record\u201d labels\/sleeves, \u201cyou kinda piece it together as best you can.\u201d Occasionally, he admits, \u201cYou can’t find anything about an act at all, and that’s distressing.\u201d But he notes that a good bit of information \u2013 even if it’s merely context \u2013 can be gleaned from looking at the labels on the 45s. Dahl has a few \u2013 not many \u2013 of Groove & Grind<\/em>‘s sides in his own record collection, but for others, he relied on photos of labels and other information he managed to unearth. He is careful to note that although \u201cthere’s a lot of information on the internet, sometimes it’s wrong. So you’ve got to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

And careful he was. Across 120-plus pages of the hardbound-book format of Groove & Grind<\/em>, Dahl provides just the right amount of background on these soul tunes. Because as Dahl and I agreed during our conversation, the kind of person who’d pick up this 4CD set is the sort of character who will delight in the fruits of his careful research. Dahl’s writing is an essential companion to the music itself. (Those who crave the deep kind of background that this sort of a project requires will enjoy following some of the online links Dahl cites in his source notes; those links will provide hours of rewarding reading for the music anoraks among us.)<\/p>\n

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\nLiner notes author Bill Dahl<\/em><\/center>A handful of the artists spotlighted on Groove & Grind<\/em> remain active today: Bettye LaVette<\/strong><\/a>, Bobby Rush<\/strong><\/a> and Eddie Floyd<\/strong>, for example. But even in their cases \u2013 and in the case of Ike and Tina Turner <\/strong><\/a>(\u201cYou Can’t Miss Nothing That You Never Had,\u201d a 1963 side on the small Sonja label) \u2013 Groove & Grind<\/em> focuses on material that only the hardest of hardcore fans would have known about, much less heard. Dahl and box set producer James Austin<\/strong><\/a> sought to find a balance. \u201cI was trying to find a few records by people whom [listeners] would have heard of real well,\u201d says Dahl. \u201cIf we just had 112 acts you’ve never heard of, people wouldn’t buy it! So we included a few names that would grab people, hoping that they’d hear the other stuff, and love it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things that Dahl’s liner notes convey is the manner in which pop music history is woven together: the way that, say, George Goldner<\/strong> of Red Bird Records<\/a> had a hand in these tracks. It’s almost as if, had these tunes become hits \u2013 and many of them sound as if they well could have \u2013 then the artists involved might have gone on to do more noteworthy and commercially successful work. Dahl mentions Sir Mack Rice<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cpeople know him as a songwriter; he did the original ‘Mustang Sally,’\u201d as an artist who didn’t quite reach the commercial potential his music deserved. His \u201cGotta Have My Baby’s Love\u201d is one of Dahl’s favorite tracks on this set. Ironing Board Sam<\/strong> is another: \u201cHe deserved a better shake than he got,\u201d says Dahl. \u201cHe had a keyboard on an ironing board, for God’s sake! That alone should’ve got him something.\u201d Sam’s \u201cOriginal Funky Bell Bottoms\u201d is included on the set’s fourth disc, subtitled Funky Soul<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A few of the tunes on Groove & Grind<\/em> will be familiar, but not in the versions found here. \u201cI really like Lezli Valentine<\/strong>‘s ‘Love on a Two Way Street,’\u201d says Dahl of the 1969 single. \u201cIt’s the original version, incidentally. I like a lot better than The Moments<\/strong>‘ version.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dahl remembers another act worth of special praise. \u201cAnother Chicago act, The Mandells<\/strong>. A really good group; they had about five or six singles. They were pretty darn popular on the west side here in Chicago, but they never really made it out of here. They deserved a higher profile. Good production quality, too. You listen to all of their stuff back to back, and you think, ‘How did this group not make it?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the answer to Dahl’s rhetorical question is the challenge of distribution. \u201cThere were so many tiny labels out there doing quality work,\u201d he observes, \u201cbut they didn’t have the pull of a Motown or a Stax. And as a result, a lot of stuff just fell through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n