General Crook – Do It For Me

Apologies for being a little bit later with my update this week – it was my birthday yesterday and I took some time out to relax and have some nice food and a few beers so I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to try to put a blog post together!! I’m going on a little break to Krakow this weekend to celebrate properly so that’ll mean next week’s update being a little later too as I don’t return home until late on Tuesday. I’m sure you’ll manage for a few days somehow…

So – on to today’s select cut. Now I have to admit that tracks that have a James Brown style vibe about them normally make me switch off – it’s not that I dislike J.B. (far from it), I just think too many records are very formulaic and just miss that magical ingredient that the Godfather had in spades. Today’s song is one such rare occasion where there is an undoubted J.B. flavour goin’ on (not least in vocal style) but the track is still good enough to stand up in it’s own right – maybe it’s the additional strings on the record but I’m not 100% sure, it just works.

This record was released in 1970 after Crook was dropped from the Capitol label where he had released 2 45s that flopped. The Down To Earth label was based in Chicago but seems quite obscure as I don’t think I’ve ever seen another 45 on the label apart from another couple of Crook singles. His stay with Down To Earth only lasted for 4 singles before he moved to join the Wand label where he was able to cut his own LP for the first time in 1974. If you can track down a copy of the album it’s well worthwhile and has a great photo on the cover. So go on, do it for me, make it funky now…