Jonathan Toubin’s favorite old 45s
Jonathan Toubin returns to his hometown this weekend to spin old 45s featuring some of the most wicked soul, blues and R&B from the ’50s and ’60s.
The DJ spent his youth playing guitar in punk bands around Houston before heading off to New York and creating his Soul Clap and Dance-Off, a popular night featuring old music and a dance party. He selected 11 prime cuts from Houston that circulate in his shows, which draw from thousands of 45s he’s collected from around the country. Here’s that list, with commentary from Toubin.
1 Albert Collins “Defrost”
(Great Scott, 1962) is my second-favorite dancefloor instrumental by the Iceman. I’m not listing my number one, “Cookin’ Catfish,” as I think it may not have been recorded in Houston. But all of Collins’ stone cold early Bayou City classics are exquisite vehicles for his gargantuan glacial tone: the Texas guitar national anthem “Frosty,” his debut “The Freeze,” the delicious “Sno-Cone,” and his melting “Thaw-Out.” Anyone lucky enough to see Collins live was struck by how he kept his strap over his right shoulder and a capo on the 12th fret to achieve the refrigerated tone that best reflects the sound of the world’s most air-conditioned city.
2 Archie Bell and the Drells, “Tighten Up”
(Ovide, 1967) is so popular that one forgets this recording started out as a local Houston smash on a small Houston label before it became a national Number 1 pop track on Atlantic a year later. I can’t think of a better dance track from anytime anywhere.
3 Big Walter, “Get To Gittin”
(Tear Drop, 1967) is a later track by one of Texas’ finest and bestregarded musicians ... and also a radio DJ, actor and record-shop owner. Not to be confused with Chicago harp maestro Big Walter Hornton, Big Walter Price was a pianist and singer best known for waxing universally celebrated rock ‘n’ roll era standards like “Pack Fair and Square” and “Shirly Jean” for Peacock and recording more amazing stuff for some of the finest imprints of all time - TNT, Goldband, Jet Stream and Tear Drop. This wild one, with its post-”Shake Rattle and Roll” aesthetic, is way faster than his 1950s material and could be “Pack Fair and Square” on speed in another era. Will leave footprints on your ceiling.
4 Blues Boy Jones, “Come on Home”
(Sabra, 1962) is one of the first signature records from early Soul Claps. I put it on my first Norton Records LP compilation. I’m never sick of it and still turn it years later. Jones is such a cool and unusual throaty screamer and the record is so dynamic and energetic and the rhythm is relentless! And a very Texas horn arrangement. As good as it gets! I also try to play his brilliant abstract oddball “The Bird Is Coming” whenever I can get away with it.
5 Buddy Ace, “Screaming Please”
(Duke, 1961) is my favorite ’60s Duke/Peacock spin . ... The arrangement and vocal style are similar in many respects to Bobby Blue Bland’s finest, and I imagine it’s probably Joe Scott with that amazing Duke band and the signature brassy sound in the same studio ... . But this beat and arrangement here is so unusual and artful and dynamic and harmonically cool that this is in my opinion is a whole new level for the sound. The flip “What Can I Do” is also a stunner! A real Houston musician, Ace was churning out so many good sides with Duke through the 1950s and 1960s.
6 Gatemouth Brown, “Summertime”
(Cue, 1964) was waxed at Gold Star Studios after the o.g. Duke/ Peacock star’s five-year recording absence, and put out on local pop country star Jimmy Duncan’s tiny Cue imprint. Gate had gone from mega-stardom to down on his luck by the time “Summertime” appeared and, though this record flopped, it shows him at the top of his game. A showcase for the guitar/violin virtuoso’s infinite imagination and skill, the obscure “Summertime,” while not typical of his sound, is for my money this the most interesting and best of Gatemouth Brown’s many monumental sides.
7 Miss LaVelle (White), “Teen Age Love”
(Duke 1958) is the still active and she comes out of the gate with a big gust of wind on her first take-no-prisoners single. I wish Duke made more Lavelle White sides during this era and “Stop These Teardrops,” “Stolen Love” and “What Makes Young Men Go Wild” are on my turntables almost as frequently over the years.
8 Mabel Franklin, “Let’s Do The Wiggle”
(Ritzy, 1965) is a super-sparse but pummeling Houston boogie blues stomp out of place and lost in space in the post-twist era. I can’t figure out whether I’m more blown away by Franklin’s soulful shouting or DC Bender’s expressive guitar heroics but wish there were more dance craze records like this one. I still haven’t come across the pair’s other record “Lucille Leave My Man Alone” / “Unhappy Woman” on Ivory but am fortunate to have found her Gold Star Studio (Sugar Hill!) masterpiece before she went secular, Sister Mable Franklin “I’m Going Home To Rest” / “Make Up Your Mind” on Houston’s killer diller Kangaroo imprint.
9 Piano Slim, “Playin’ Hookey”
(Mona) is a swingin’ instrumental shaker by the keyboardist who made “Whammy in the Gizmo” and a number of other wild sides as Piano Slim before using his real name Willard Burton and having a 1963 Peacock hit “Twistin’ Twist” and recording a number of kinetic dance records that kept up with the times deep into the funk era. I initially was incorrectly under the impression that this record was by another legendary Texas ivory tickler who went under the moniker “Piano Slim” at the time, Robert T. Smith.
10 Soul Brothers, Inc, “The Girl In The Hot Pants”
(SBI, 1971) is one of the many fine dance tracks referencing the new much-admired fashion trend hot on the heels of James Brown’s “Hot Pants.” This relentlessly funky punisher by one of Houston’s biggest and best funk bands has been turning at the Soul Clap for many moons. When Ian MacKaye came to the booth and asked about the track, I told him that these guys were, like Minor Threat, a rowdy band of D.I.Y. teenagers who put out their own raw records on their own label.
11 TSU Toronadoes, “Getting the Corners”
(Ovide, 1968) was a big hit for the legendary band you hear on “The Tighten Up.” This dynamic, feel good dancer was just one of the many killer dillers the Ovide house band recorded in the late 1960s including classics “The Goose” on Atlantic and “My Thing Is A Moving Thing” on Volt.