Welcome back!

A big thank you to Jamie Coughlan for the invite to play at Bump & Hustle last Saturday night. It was a real pleasure to join Marius Zahl Johnsen, Andy Marshall and Aaron Anderson, all of whom played some unbelievable records. I have to admit at certain points of the evening it was very much like listening to somebody playing your own wants list to you, especially when the big guns were wheeled out to a very appreciative crowd. All in all a top night and I look forward to hooking up with the guys again in the very near future.

I also managed to pin Marius, Andy and Jamie down before the night kicked off for a very special joint collaboration mix that will be hitting this space once all the I’s and T’s have been dotted and crossed. I have a couple of other guest mixes from some brand new contributors in the pipeline as well, all of which I’m pretty sure are going to hit the proverbial spot nicely, so sit tight and watch this space!

As we’ve been experiencing a flurry of sunny days round these parts of late, I felt it was high time to dip back into some Island funk to keep the summer vibes alive or at least try and ward off the rain for a brief time!

Today’s 45, ‘Monkey Tamarind’ comes courtesy of The Beginning Of The End on the Alston label. Released in 1971, this single is slightly heavier than ‘Funky Nassau’, the 45 the group are more renowned for. The Beginning Of The End hailed from Nassau in The Bahamas and were formed of Fred Henfield (Bass) and three brothers, Raphael ‘Ray’ Munnings (vocals and organ), Frank ‘Bud’ Munnings (Vocals and congas) and Liroy ‘Roy’ Munnings (Vocals and guitar). They were also backed by the Funky Nassau Horns, a five piece horn outfit which contained two more of the Munnings family in its ranks, Ralph and Freddie. The remaining members were Vernon Meuller, Kennith Lane and Neville Sampson.

The group released one album ‘Funky Nassau’ in 1974 under the guidance of Steve Alaimo, the man responsible for producing many other successful artists on Alston and Atlantic such as Sam & Dave and Betty Wright amongst others.

A brief dig around the darker recesses of the internet has shown up what could be the groups follow up LP or perhaps just a reissue with a different sleeve? I’d be interested to hear from anyone who can shed more light on this.

‘Monkey Tamarind’ contains all the ingredients that made ‘Funky Nassau’ a hit. I scored my copy for a tidy price on a recent digging trip in ‘The Big Smoke’, annoyingly the labels have been marked (Don’t you just hate that?!?), but luckily the wax was shiny, clean and unscathed.

While predominantly guitar led, this 45 has a heavier funk feel to a lot of the groups output IMHO. The horns certainly rip it up once things get going and the chorus sticks inside your head like superglue! All in all the perfect sound track for summer, all we need now is more sunshine!

Stay safe, enjoy today’s 45 and I’ll be back soon with more of the ‘Good Stuff’ for you.