Monday, November 27, 2006

Get on Down With Oliver Sain!

Oliver Sain - Bus Stop

I returned to work this morning to learn that while I was away for Thanksgiving my work computer bit the dust. I've lost the handy 600- or 700-song MP3 list I kept on the computer, so I'll have to plan these posts a bit more than I have lately, which is actually a good thing. When looking at iTunes to pick some songs for the week I realized that I have not featured this selection, one of my favorite '70s instrumentals.

St. Louis-based bandleader/multi-instrumentalist Oliver Sain's status as a Chess Records A&R conduit brought Little Milton, Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure into the Chess stable in the '60s, a feat for which his name is forever cemented in soul music history. Sain also was a successful bandleader, and his '70s recordings for A-Bet, although only moderately successful commercially (only his disco-funk singles "Party Hearty" and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'" (not related to the Leo Sayer hit) got any chart action), were some of the best slabs of soul and funk the Nashboro label group put out in that decade. The 1974 instrumental "Bus Stop" is a funky thing featuring Sain's sax and a hot groove anchored by some seriously-scratchin' guitar and a bumping bass. The breakdown on this one is worth the price of admission all in itself.

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