R.I.P. Mighty King Hannibal

The funk legend of Norton Records, James T. Shaw aka Mighty Hannibal aka King Hannibal has passed away at 74. He had a couple of particularly powerful songs that were important to me:

One was "The Truth Shall Make You Free", a song to drug addicts preaching that Jesus could help them get off smack. This is ridiculous but the song slays me every time I hear it. It is by far the best 45 in my entire record collection, and possibly the best gospel funk track of all.



Then there is "Hymn No. 5", a banned from the airwaves Vietnam protest song. I've included the long version so you can delve deep into the heaviness and despair of it all.



Sleep well, King.

Flying Lotus - Thundercat (Mixtape, 2011)

Wow, this is... wow. The man can mix and his selection of cuts by the bad bass player himself, Thundercat, is just...wow. Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk and Soul are well represented here. Chill out, slow down and dig this. Righteous.

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Chubby Checker - Chequered (1971, Ariola)

Chubby Checker was quite a sensation with his 60's dance hit "The Twist". Teenagers all over America were in a frenzy. He went on to record several other chart-toppers (pretty much variations on the same song, there was even a Hava Nagilah Twist). Sadly for him, his luck ran out in 1965 when teen tastes moved into new territory with the Psychedelic Rock and Folk phenomenons.

In 1971, Chubby was conned into recording a psychedelic bluesy soul album by the infamously shady Ed Chalpin(the same guy behind the bootleg Jimi Hendrix w/ Curtis Knight releases). There are shades of The Animals, Love and, of course, Shuggie Otis. Although he didn't have any creative input here, and its obviously cashing in on styles that were all the rage, its a damn good record, better than anything else he ever did. He hated it, wanted it to be forgotten, referred to it as a bootleg. Who cares? Sorry Chubs, you actually did some songs that I didn't get tired of hearing on the radio by the time I was twelve. I certainly don't need to hear "Doin' the Zombie" ever again.

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