Joe Simon – Come and Get It from the Sound Stage 7 45

From the amount of hits I had early this week, I am assuming that the FMF family has been digging on The Sound of Now! Mix. I was really feeling all of those records, and of course it’s my pleasure to pass them along to you. Whether you know all of the records, some of them, or none of them, there is a little something for everyone in there. I have a little announcement, as I’ve just found out that I will be on the DJ roster at The Lucky Cat , opening up for The Budos Band on Friday June 22nd. I will be DJing alongside some 45 DJ greatness, namely Nick Cope (of Hot, Funky, and Sweaty Fame) and Honey Dripper, (the Daptone Records DJ). Big ups to Sport Casual for hooking me up with the gig. I’ve got a few gigs coming up, the aforementioned one and another Asbury Park 45 Sessions on July 6th. Plus if you’re interested, I’ll be opening up for the Bad Brains, Bouncing Souls, McRad, and a whole slew of other bands at The Paul Green School of Rock Festival at the Asbury Lanes on the second day of the festival, June 24th.

This next record was one I picked up recently, and I have to be honest, I almost didn’t get it. “The Theme from Cleopatra Jones” is a nice little piece, but other than a promo Disco 12″ I dug on Spring, I was gonna give up old Joe Simon. When I dropped the needle on the B-Side of his biggest hit “The Chokin’ Kind” from 1969, I knew that “Come and Get It” on Sound Stage 7 was a keeper.

Born in Simmesport, LA in 1943 Simon eventually relocated to Oakland, CA and released “My Adorable One”, a small blip on the radio radar. He recorded at the famous Muscle Shoals while doing sides for Vee-Jay, and in a short time, he’d be making moves on a national level. Things would soon change (making him more of an appealing artist) after he met John Richbourg. Richbourg was a disc jockey out of Nashville, and helped to guide Simon’s career path in music, specifically on the Sound Stage 7 label, the very label this record is on. He showed Simon how he could mix Country and Soul, a formula that would work for Simon over the years. Throughout his musical career, he would score hits with “Nine Pound Steel”, “Teenager’s Prayer” and “The Chokin’ Kind”. His eventual move to Spring, would produce “Cleopatra Jones”, “Drowning In The Sea of Love” (produced by Gamble & Huff), “Step by Step”, and “The Power of Love”.

“Come and Get It” is a pleasant mix of Funk and Soul, with a dash of that Country style he was known to infuse his records with. The twangy guitar, sweet horn section, and tinge of organ (Stax imitation or ripoff?) flow nicely as Simon pours out his baritone coolness and willingness to give it all to this woman (everything he has baby). Were this song recorded with a fiddle and slide guitar, slowed down a bit, and put on the local Nashville AM station, it would seem fit to be blasting out of a jacked up pick-up truck with a gun rack, a la Country style. However, this version IMHO was probably blaring late night out of a dime juke box joint where the patrons were bumping and grinding while finishing their half glasses of Schaefer beer. What I’m saying is these lyrics, and Simon’s knack for recording basically Country/Soul records, are versatile, and his years in Nashville under the tutalege of John Richbourg did him a lot of good. He was able to develop a unique sound, that was obvious long after he left Sound Stage 7. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. See you around the flea market. Keep Diggin’!

**For those of you in the Central Jersey or Tri-State area: Lee “Scratch” Perry is performing at the Stone Pony with Dub is a Weapon. Run, drive, walk, jog, take a bus, travel by dragonfly like Jimi Hendrix, but see this man. He’s in his late 70’s and he’s not gonna be in AP ever again. He goes on at 9:45. Cheers.