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The Mighty Burner: Live On The Air in Philly, 1969


JSngry

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zzsonnyhopsonoriginal_101b.jpg

http://www.dustygroove.com/warehouscd5.htm#27270

Various -- Sonny Hopson -- Original 1969 Philly AM Radio Broadcast . . . CD . . . $9.99

Philly Archives, 1969 Condition: New Copy

Totally cool! This CD contains a full original AM radio show from 1969 -- broadcast by Sonny Hopson, aka "The Mighty Burner", one of the greatest east coast soul DJs of the 60s! Sonny's got a really wild style, and the show's a non-stop blaring blast of funky tunes, groovy commercials, and great hipster patter from Sonny. There's some great production work, and the whole thing rolls together in that great sort of total energy way that's missing from today's airwaves. Even better, though, is the chance the CD gives you to hear funky classics in their original setting -- as the CD contains songs by Eddie Bo, Dyke & The Blazers, and many others. Plus, the commercials are extra-cool -- as they're mostly funked up announcements for great shows and nightclubs we'd love to be able to visit. This cuts down on the actual music a bit -- but the whole thing's still a totally solid record of the great years of soul, and it's a real treat to have!

I needed something to compliment my Dewey Phillips CD. So did I order this?

Oh HELL yeah!

Edited by JSngry
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What a document!

Dude - I heard it today, and, uh....yeah. That's putting it mildy.

You get the distoted AM sound, and on top of that, WHAT seems to have subscribed to the not-uncommon practice of setting their turntables at a faster speed than 45 RPM. So this is not a disc for "record collectors"

But this is it, man. This is it.

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What a document!

Dude - I heard it today, and, uh....yeah. That's putting it mildy.

You get the distoted AM sound, and on top of that, WHAT seems to have subscribed to the not-uncommon practice of setting their turntables at a faster speed than 45 RPM. So this is not a disc for "record collectors"

But this is it, man. This is it.

Ah! Something for my next month list.

MG

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Not sure I'd wait too long. Don't know that supplies will be unlimited on this one. Just a huinch...

Besides, do you want to take a risk on not getting the Kenny Burrell ad for Schlitz Malt Liquor? Yeah, that's right - Burrell plays and read the copy, finishing up with "...and that's why it's Burrell's brew."

Kenny Burrell was well enough known in this community to do a speaking/playing ad for Schlitz Malt Liquor on an AM R&B station. Any notions about "Soul Jazz" being a "community" music being an illusion go out the window fast when you hear that one...

And let's not forget - Hopson was Charles Earland's manager for at least a while. The tune "The Mighty Burner" was named after him. And there's a few ads for local clubs that have organ music in the background. Can't tell if they're from already made albums or what, but I wondered if Earland's the man playin them?

Nah, if I was you, I carpe diem on this puppy. Trust me.

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Not sure I'd wait too long. Don't know that supplies will be unlimited on this one. Just a huinch...

Besides, do you want to take a risk on not getting the Kenny Burrell ad for Schlitz Malt Liquor? Yeah, that's right - Burrell plays and read the copy, finishing up with "...and that's why it's Burrell's brew."

Kenny Burrell was well enough known in this community to do a speaking/playing ad for Schlitz Malt Liquor on an AM R&B station. Any notions about "Soul Jazz" being a "community" music being an illusion go out the window fast when you hear that one...

And let's not forget - Hopson was Charles Earland's manager for at least a while. The tune "The Mighty Burner" was named after him. And there's a few ads for local clubs that have organ music in the background. Can't tell if they're from already made albums or what, but I wondered if Earland's the man playin them?

Nah, if I was you, I carpe diem on this puppy. Trust me.

Looks like I've missed it. No trace on the link you posted a few days ago.

MG

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  • 4 weeks later...

This turned up yesterday

zzsonnyhopsonoriginal_101b.jpg

A most amazing document! Mucho thanks to Jim for putting me on to it! For those who don’t know, this is a hour of broadcasting from August 1969 (though how “Express yourself” by Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Band got in there, I don’t know – the single must have been a sleeper), complete with adverts (one for Schlitz by Kenny Burrell).

Sonny Hopson is fantastic! A relentless, captivating, dance with words. No wonder he and people like him across the USA could break records out! Records like Charles Earland’s “Black talk”, which hit #7 on the R&B album chart and certainly had Hopson behind it; “The mighty burner” on that LP was named after Hopson, who also wrote the sleeve notes (and, it appears from the notes to this CD, was Earland’s manager – and incidentally George Freeman’s).

Being British, I never had the opportunity to listen to a REAL deejay. When I first visited the US, I was in Newark and listened a lot to WBGO. But the DJs there (and I assume they’re typical) are like the ones on the BBC. Listening to Hopson made me wonder to what extent Bop became less popular than it needed to have been because the DJs were so boring.

MG

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PS - just noticed Jim was asking about the organists backing some of the raps - Sonny actually announced one of them - Bill Doggett's "Popcorn". Wish I'd bought that single when I saw it - never come out on an album I think.

MG

If this is it, then it did:

dogget_bill_honkytonk_102b.jpg

http://www.dustygroove.com/warehouslp.htm#21846

If it's not, then I don't know...

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PS - just noticed Jim was asking about the organists backing some of the raps - Sonny actually announced one of them - Bill Doggett's "Popcorn". Wish I'd bought that single when I saw it - never come out on an album I think.

MG

If this is it, then it did:

dogget_bill_honkytonk_102b.jpg

http://www.dustygroove.com/warehouslp.htm#21846

If it's not, then I don't know...

You're bleedin' dreadful, Jim! I just ordered it! Thanks - no really, thanks. :D

MG

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OK - second time through with this.

At 41:42, Sonny comes on with an ad for the Dells at the Arcadia Ballroom. Backing to this is Groove Holmes. I THINK it's a repeated segment from "Get up and get it". So Sonny seems to have been scratching in '69. You can't hear the disc being wound back, so perhaps it's a tape loop.

At 49:37 There's an ad for Pinsky's used car firm. I THINK the backing is the Meters "Ease back". It's definitely that tune, but I've not got the Meters' version (only GG's :)

That's followed immediately by Kenny Burrell advertising Schlitz brew.

MG

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