The Harlem Shuffle - Bob and Earl/ The Traits/ The Nite Liters

It’s Friday already folks, and I am sitting here staring at a massive pile of 45s to listen, clean, and get ready to review. It’s like a never ending puzzle, but i do enjoy it. As silly as it sounds, I actually enjoy cleaning the records I dig up, it’s kind of therapeutic. It feels good too, because if it’s all gunked up and looking bad, usually by the time I get done with it, it looks 100% better (and normally plays better). I really should invest in a vacuum machine. Maybe someday, but for now it’s by hand. Actually jack the Ripper knows someone who has another Magic Solution, but it will take two of us to get it. Hopefully we’ll get a good post out of it. I want to give a few shout outs, one to my main man from Milwaukee, WI, Aaron Soma, who along with Andy Noble(this guy has some sick records, check the Downtown Soulville guest spot he did a while back) have got the Beer City on lock. There is an article about them (and the movie about Noble and his Brothers just out) here. Aaron and I, although we haven’t met face to face (get to a 45 Sessions dude!), really both share the same passion for finding old 45’s. Although I’m not digging up Harvey Scales records here in the Garden State, there is always hope. I mean I never would have thought that between the Turbo, Loma, and All Platinum Records that show up by me, that I’d find a copy of Mickey and the Soul Generation’s “Iron Leg” either, so you never know what can turn up on any given day. The other of course to an all around great digger and DJ, DJ Andy Smith, who will be on the East Coast in a few weeks doing Boston, Philly, and NYC dates. If you can check him out, I’d highly recommend it. He knows what he is doing. OK FMF family, what we have here is a special treat. It’s a Triple Threat, three versions of the same song. I tried this earlier with Sharon Jones and The First Edition ( I didn’t have a copy of the Betty Lavette record, but thanks to Soul Brutha Dave for hepping me to it!) and it worked out pretty well.

Bob & Earl - Harlem Shuffle from the Marc 45

I previously did a review of half of the first duo Bob and Earl, one Earl Nelson, aka Jackie Lee, who hit in 1963 with this tune on Marc Records. Bobby Day was the original Bob, but left soon thereafter, and was replaced by Bobby Relf, who had worked with Barry White in various L.A. groups. As a matter of fact, White would go on to arrange the tune. The song itself was a minor hit, but resurfaced again in the UK in 1969, where they had some success with it. You may recognize the opening horns from House of Pain’s “Jump Around”. The Stones did a cover of it in 1986 (unfortunately), and if I didn’t mention that my co-worker Jake would get mad.

The Traits - Harlem Shuffle from the Scepter Records 45

The second version I have here is a record I bought in a lot of unsleeved 45s from my spot. I immediately recognized the Scepter label, but was unsure of the history of the Traits until I stared researching. Lead by the ever versatile Roy Head, a Texas man who could perform Rock, Soul, Funk, and Country with ease. This record was recorded by the second wave of The Traits ( the first wave were all high school pals). Head would cut many records with the Traits (and on his own), and this upbeat version of the original is a nice floor stomper. When he says: “Come on baby, with a whole lot of Soul!”, I can’t help thinking of how this blue-eyed Soul version had people moving and grooving at the local dance spot. This is a nice come up if you can get a hold of it, and it looks like it shouldn’t go for more than $30 or so.

The Nite Liters - Harlem Shuffle from the Sounds International 45

I don’t know much about this record, but I scored it for $5 at the Hazlet show. I called over to the Groove Merchant to see if Cool Chris knew what was up. He didn’t know much about it, but referred me to Rooky Ricardo’s. Rooky wasn’t around, but Thomas helped me out as much as he could (Thanks dude!). Still no luck. I wanted to get this out for Friday, so here’s what I gather so far: This is a garage record, sung by some white boys who definitely dug their Soul. This version is more on the upbeat side, and has a cool organ throughout, making it bit funky, with a slight psychedelic feel to it. It’s definitely Soulful at times, and the horns are strong! If anyone knows what’s up with this band, please shoot me an e mail so I can update this post. I will be back tomorrow with some digging stories (and hopefully some good vinyl scores). Keep Diggin’!

Bonus Video: French Singer Vigon covers this tune. Apparently he was the French James Brown.

If you still need more: learn how to do the Harlem Shuffle Here