Welcome back!

I hope the back end of the week finds you all well and good? After yet another long stint at ‘The Coal Face’, I’ve collected myself, as well as my sanity and returned back here with another 45, which should hopefully set you up for the weekend.

Our Friday serving of ‘The Good Stuff’ comes courtesy of JJ Barnes, the legendary Detroit soul singer. His fantastic side ‘Sweet Sherry’ was a 45 I had been hankering after for sometime. I had previously even tracked down a copy that unfortunately turned out to be an 80’s version, which while very good wasn’t even a patch on the original version. So when this second issue on Groovesville Records turned up on my digging trip last week, I was more than pleased to say the least!

During his career JJ Barnes has recorded and released a multitude of singles across many, many record labels, but I have to say this is definitely up there as one of my favourite releases from his discography. ‘Sweet Sherry’ is a great soul record which encapsulates just why many of JJ Barnes releases were also picked up by the Northern Soul Scene. Rather unjustly he has never received the success that his writing and singing both deserve.

A careful listen to ‘Sweet Sherry’ reveals the depth and intelligence in the arrangement on this 45. The horns on this literally seem to grab and shake me every time I hear the record! His vocals and delivery are extremely powerful, after just a quick listen it’s very easy to see just why Motown boss Berry Gordy signed him to his Tamla Motown record label. It has been cited that Gordy bought the Ric-Tic label out so he could sign JJ Barnes as he saw him a huge threat to Motown’s success (see video below). True or not JJ Barnes spent sometime penning new hits, several were used by other Motown acts which assisted Berry Gordy in developing the archetypal sound that made Motown so popular.

This 45 is just the tip of the iceburg in his career, and I strongly urge anyone who is unfamiliar with JJ Barnes to get on the Google tip and dig deeper!

Before I go I want to drop a gentle reminder about tomorrow night (Saturday 13th June 2009). I’ll be hooking up with Jamie Coughlan at his regular monthly night, Bump & Hustle at The Elbow Room in Curtain Road, Shoreditch. Joining me as guest DJ’s will be Marius Zahl Johnsen from Oslo, Norway, Aaron Anderson from the Ann Arbor Soul Club in Detroit, USA and long time collector extraordinaire, Andy Marshall from the Midlands here in England. This is definitely going to be a fantastic night of 60’s and 70’s Soul and Funk. Make sure not to miss this if you’re anywhere in or around London.

Hopefully we’ll see some of you tomorrow night, I’ll be back after the week-end with some more of the ‘Good Stuff’ for you!