"Modernity" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring Birdlegs & Pauline, Jackie Lee, Ray & Bob, Willis Jackson, The Fashionettes, Willie Tee, King Carl, Ike & Tina Turner and more (May 2021 UK Ace/Kent Dance CD Compilation of 60ts Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Just Can't Help Myself..."

Another strong pull on my wallet for my increasingly geriatric living-room shuffling playlists - "Modernity" is the third volume of Mod movers from Ace's Kent Dance label imprint and sees Kent reach No. 500 in their fantastic compilation history.

 

There's the usual mix of 24 tracks covering 60ts Soul, R&B, Jazz, Mod Dancers etc - the good, the great and the not-so-sure slices with five Previously Unreleased cuts for collectors (see full list below for this Mod Music Series and complimentary compilations). Lots to get through - so let's have at it...

 

UK released Friday, 7 May 2021 - "Modernity" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent Dance CDKEND 500 (Barcode 029667102223) is a 24-Track CD Compilation of Remasters (Five Tracks Previously Unreleased) that plays out as follows (58:37 minutes):

 

1. Just Can't Help Myself - BIRDLEGS & PAULINE (Numero Download from 2018, NUM5038, featuring Sidney 'Birdlegs' Banks on Lead Vocals with his wife Pauline)

 

2. Deuces Wild - GARY & GARY (March 1964 US 45-single on Arock 1003, B-side of "I'm Leavin' (For Parts Unknown)", featuring Gary Klyvert and Garrett Saunders)

 

3. Drop That Gun - TEDDY REYNOLDS (March 1966 US 45-single on Newman 603, A-side)

 

4. I Found A Little Girl - EDDIE BO (1963 US 45-single on Last 1006, B-side of "Hold Me")

 

5. Go Away With Me - HOLLIS DIXON & THE KEYNOTES (1963 US 45-single on Fame 704, B-side of "Time Will Tell")

 

6. Sundown - THE MERCED BLUE NOTES (first appeared on a 1984 US LP "Music With A Beat That Won't Stop" by The Merced Blue Notes on Recherché RR-1963, then 2004 on the UK CD MBN compilation "Get Your Kicks On Route 99" on Ace CDCHD 1026)

 

7. Is It Because You Love Me - STICKS HERMAN (1961 Tic Toc recording, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, 2021)

 

8. Walk Home With Me - IKE & TINA TURNER (1964 Buck Ram recording, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, 2021)

 

9. Ooh Baby - THE TEEN QUEENS (1966 Modern Records recording, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, 2021)

 

10. See See Rider - BYRDIE GREEN (from the 1967 US MONO LP "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" on Prestige PRLP 7509)

 

11. Earthquake - THE FASHIONETTES  (1963 Garpax recording first issued in June 2009 on the UK CD compilation "Where The Girls Are Volume 7" on Ace Records CDCHD 1218)

 

12. The Bounce - JACKIE LEE (from the 1966 US Mono LP "The Duck" on Mirwood Records MW-7000)

 

13. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - IKE PORTER & THE FABULATIONS (1969 US 45-single on Anla Records ANL-107, A-side)

 

14. The Hawg Part 2 - EDDIE KIRK (Unedited Version of Volt 106 that first appeared on the 1995 UK CD compilation "4000 Volts of Stax & Satellite: Rare & Unreleased Tracks From The Golden Era of Soul" on Ace/Stax CDSXD 107)

 

15. Monkey Walk Part 1 - THE KINGSMEN (1963 US 45-single on Sarjo Records 105, A-side)

 

16. (Oh) Lady Be Good - CHARLES HODGES (1965 US 45-single on Alto 2018, A-side)

 

17. Lonely Am I - CHUCK JACKSON (January 1963 US 45-single on Wand 132, B-side of "Tell Him I'm Not Home")

 

18. Who Knows - WILLIE TEE (an unissued 1962 AFO recording first released 1994 on the UK CD compilation "Still Spicy Gumbo Stew (Original AFO New Orleans R&B)" on Ace Records CDCHD 520)

 

19. Bossa Blue Port - THE BIRDS OF PARADISE (February 1966 US 45-single on Newman 602, A-side)

 

20. Soul Grabber - WILLIS JACKSON (1967 US 45-single on Prestige 45-457, B-side of "The Song Of Ossanha (Canto de Ossanha)")

 

21. The Warm Up Part 1 - CLIFTON WHITE & HIS ROYAL KNIGHTS (1968 US 45-single on Anla 104, A-side)

 

22. That's All I Want - KING CARL (1964 La Louisianne recording, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, 2021)

 

23. Air Travel - RAY & BOB (September 1961 US 45-single on Ledo 1151, A-side)

 

24. Looking Through My Spyglass (1967 Goldband recording, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, 2021)

NOTES:

All Tracks in MONO except Tracks 17, 18 and 20, which are in STEREO

Tracks 7, 8, 9, 22 and 24 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

The 24-page booklet annotated by longtime contributors and enthusiasts DEAN RUDLAND and ADY CROASDELL is the usual feast of rare US 45-labels, publicity photos, the occasional LP shot, trade adverts and more - all wrapped up with a beautiful black and white of Eddie Kirk adorning all of the back page. It's cool to see underground genre heroes like The Merced Blue Notes actually be pictured and that publicity shot of Birdlegs & Pauline has to be so ludicrously rare. Mastering is by long-standing Audio Engineer genius NICK ROBBINS and it's a tale of many cities depending on the source tapes. With these kind of do-it-yourself 60ts recordings, you take the rough with the smooth - so some sound amazing while others betray their crude origins - but none lack that vibe that collectors love. To the listen...

 

I'm down with "Just Can't Help Myself" being a cool dancefloor shuffler (great duet vocals between Sidney 'Birdlegs' Banks and his wife Pauline), but my heart goes instead to the wicked B-side "Deuces Wild" giving it some 'which girl should I pick' between Gary & Gary (decisions-decisions boys). Whole lot of ducking goin' on in the woods when Teddy Reynolds goes hunting in his brass-jabbing Funkathon "Drop That Gun" - a real obscurity from the spring of 1966 and a very clever compilation inclusion.

 

Everybody's stopping/staring at Eddie Bo's new squeeze in "I Found A Little Girl" (not surprisingly he's terribly pleased with himself at this), but I actually dig the thinny organ-sound of "Go Away With Me" by Hollis Dixon & The Keynotes more - a fantastic guitar-flicking shuffler that is best described as irresistible. "Sundown" by The Merced Blue Notes immediately follows, another genius inclusion with a winning saxophone (Merced is a town in the San Joaquin Valley). "Sundown" has male and female lead vocals battle out their feelings just before night comes and the suitcases get packed. It's not surprised that this winner was championed by Mod DJ Lee Miller and hence saw it get a Kent Select 45-single reissue in 2018).

 

After such a promising run to Track 6 - "Is It Because You Love Me" by Sticks Herman is a Previously Unreleased 1961 Tic Toc recording and it's weedy R&B half-heartedness kind of lets the side down. Not a whole lot better and just as unconvincing, Ike & Tina Turner get uncomfortably coy in "Walk Home With Me" - another Previously Unreleased cut that Ike quite rightly canned. Next up is a 1966 Modern Records recording by The Teen Queens (Rosie and Betty Collins) that actually stands a chance of becoming a fave on the scene should it get more plays - and the fact that its Unreleased until now is a testament to the well of astonishment that the 60ts was/is.

 

Can't say the same for the rather functional cover of "See See Rider" by Byrdie Green - good but never better than that. Things improve immeasurably with the happy-to-be-alive flute-bopper "Earthquake" by The Fashionettes - a 1963 Garpax cut that languished in the vaults until its resurrection in 2009 on an Ace CD compilation. I'd normally flip for anything Chuck Jackson does, but his B-side "Lonely Am I" is not his best - better is the Willis Jackson dancer "Soul Grabber" while King Carl's "That's All I Want" is a discovery worth acquainting yourself with.

 

To sum up - "Modernity" is not a masterpiece by any means (there are one too many weaknesses for that). But the smart inclusions and the odd newly unearthed gem make it another proud entry in a long line of Mod-related releases from England's Ace Records.

 

"Just Can't Help Myself" Sidney 'Birdlegs' Banks sang in the 60ts – well because of releases like this, has been like that ever since mate...

 

Compilations in this Mod Music Various Artists series by Ace/Kent

 

CD Titles:

1. Modernists: A Decade Of Rhythm & Soul Dedication – released June 2015 on Ace/Kent-Soul CDKEND 431 (Barcode 029667243124)

2. Modernism – released May 2016 on Ace/Kent-Soul CDKEND 452 (Barcode 029667245227)

3. Modernity – released May 2021 on Ace/Kent-Soul CDKEND 500 (Barcode 029667102223)

VINYL Title:

1. Modernists (Modernism's Sharpest Cuts) – released 30 June 2017 as a 14-Track LP on Ace/Kent Dance KENT 505 (Barcode 029667005418)

 

Other Compilations by Ace/Kent that compliment the "Modernity" CD and Genre:

1. Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 139)

2. Mo' Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 150)

3. Even Mo' Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 171)

4. Yet Mo Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 184)

5. The Return Of Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 250)

6. Further Adventures of Mod Jazz (Kent-Soul CDKEND 300)

7. Mod Jazz Forever (Kent-Soul CDKEND 368)

8. Mod Jazz And Then Some! (Kent-Soul CDKEND 416)

9. Mod Jazz Rides Again (Kent-Soul CDKEND 479)