Ko Ko Taylor- WANG DANG DOODLE

This may be the hottest song ever recorded. Pure juke joint flava, nasty and feisty, putting everyone in the mood for drinkin dancin and fuckin. This one will play well at weddings, hipster bashes, mexi dive bars, road trip mix CDs or even Curves workout playlists because it brings that from the bottom of the belly to the top of the head explosion from the needle drop. Ko Ko Taylor's voice on this is one of the most precious moments ever recorded, not to mention the rhythm section or the rippin sax solo. Taylor passed on this year in June, age 80, but not without gaining the title time and time again of "Queen of the Blues". You will be missed.

Ko Ko Taylor- "Wang Dang Doodle"

Lee Hazlewood- NANCY AND ME

Barton Lee died a couple years back of kidney cancer but not before leaving us a legacy of darkly charming and shruggingly unabashed music that spans his production of Duane Eddy's twangy guitar and saxtrumentals to many solo masterpieces, including his final work, Cake or Death. This song is a single from 1973's "Poet, Fool, or Bum", and of course is about his time with the Pope's Daughter, Nancy Sinatra, who he wrote and produced "These Boots are Made for Walking" and "Some Velvet Morning" for and with. Like everything with Lee, this song is not as sweet as it seems, and he offers no answers.

Lee Hazlewood "Nancy and Me"

Tony Terry- SHE'S FLY (DUB MIX)

There are a lot of these mid-80's Epic Records R&B dub mixes that accompany a pretty bland A-side radio mix, and I collect everyone I see because this was the first one I ever found, and of course the best. Its lucky I did not win big at scratch games when I was young or it would have been over for me. Unfortunately, I have never found anything else on Epic, Solar, Zomba, or Def Jam that even come close to the intricate latin breaks that Charlie "Dee" Diaz and Omar Santana put together for Tony Terry's first single (someone had something to prove, and it wasn't Mr. Terry--I mean look at the guy). This song will make any b-boy or girl dizzy, it's fast and off-kilter, but still has all of the mixing tricks and pre-digi sounds (think reverse-echo vox) that most dub mixes from this era play people off the dance floor with due to the cheese factor (sorry T'Pau). This song will either cause people to lose it on the dance floor or stand still in awe at how fucking deep it gets. File under sweat!

Tony Terry with "She's Fly (Dub Mix)"

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels- SOCK IT TO ME BABY

The picture sleeve here really is not overselling the hype that this song whizzes together. Pretty much from the shout/slap intro of the song, this song is a whirlwind of party screams, searing guitar breaks, momentous builds, grunting and punchy sax lines. Mitch Ryder, a Bob Crewe protegè had a few other bigger hits: "Little Latin Lupe Lu", "Devil With a Blue Dress On", etc. But this one, from 1967, takes his sound a step further and really feeds into the hysteria of the time. It's really hard to say what market he was trying to fit into, as this song is freak-out enough to be psychedelic garage, mob shouting and stir crazy enough to be protest, sexy enough to be black, but somehow with this overdriven mod british beat and guitar line. And Mitch is still kickin, goddamnit! Here is a link to his home page where you can find out what casino to catch him crooning Prince and Springsteen covers in. Ever-enlightening wiki also wrote that Winona took her surname from Mitch after seeing his record in her dad's collection. Thanks wiki!

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels- "Sock It to Me Baby!"

Clifton Chenier- FROG LEGS

Clifton Chenier is really the grandfather of Zydeco music (accordion and rub-board=all night dancing). He is a direct descendant of old New Orleans and the "Deep South". This track is the B-side of his soul crossover "Black Gal" on Bayou Records from the mid-50's. My copy is severly scratched but I think it lends to the sunset sittin on a porch eatin greasy frog legs atmosphere. With a rolling Creole shuck and Chenier's rip n' jive accordion solo, this song is perfect for throwing on between live acts or more appropriately to barbecue alligator meat on Sunday afternoon. Not much there, just a feel good track to start out the day.

Clifton Chenier "Frog Legs"