Monday, April 30, 2007

King Pins Doo-Woppin'



The King Pins - I Got the Monkey Off My Back



Some time ago I did a week of posts regarding the the Kelly Brothers, whose awesome gospel and R&B sides for Federal, Sims and Excello have been seriously underappreciated over the years. Today's selection is one of their R&B sides for Federal, where they used the "King Pins" name to differentiate their secular material from their earlier gospel work.

"I Got the Monkey Off My Back" was the flip to "You're Using Me," a good up-tempo number that was recently included in the King New Breed R&B comp on Kent. The flip's title is misleading, as it would appear to be another uptempo dance thing; "Monkey," however, is a doo-wop throwback featuring a very nice falsetto lead (maybe Robert Kelly?) and solid harmony by the group. (The group did do a monkey dance record, "The Monkey One More Time"; maybe that's a post for another day.)

(EDITOR'S NOTE - I've done some editing to the links section of the blog to add several blogs and podcasts that I've just learned about. I have to heartily recommend Fufu Stew, The Blush Organisation and Flea Market Funk right away. All three blogs feature some great podcasts and I look forward to enjoying both as part of my regular soul intake!)

2 comments:

Funky16Corners said...

Thanks for the info. I always wondered about the provenance this particular group of 'King Pins'.

Ben The Balladeer said...

great Blog
here's some info of the Kelly Brothers I picked together all over the internet:
Kelly Brothers aka Kelley Brother Singers aka Kelley Brothers aka King Pins
Temporary changed there name to KING PINS and recorded during 1962-67

Andrew Kelly, Curtis Kelly, Robert Kelly, T.C.Lee and Offe Reece
Lee & Reece left the group (date unknown but after Sims)
LeeRoy Gilbert joined in 1960 (short period)

(KB) as Kelly Brothers
(KP) as King Pins


1954 Chance (KB) unreleased 2 sides
1954-56 C.H.Brewer (KB) 2 sides
1956 Vee-Jay (KB) 2 side
1957-59 Nashboro (KB) 4 sides
1960-62 Federal singles 14 sides (2 sides unreleased) (KB)
(11 singles on King LP 810) (KB)
1962-64 Federal (KP) 14 sides (12525a as T.C.Lee)
1963 Vee-Jay (KP) 2 sides
1964-67 Sims (KB) 22 sides
1966 MGM (KP) 13635 (Door Banger-Rod Hot Rod)
1967 Atco (KP) with King Curtis 6720-6738-6779 ( not sure if the same gr)
1967-69 Excello (KB) some Sims recordings where also released as
Album “Sweet Soul” together with new recorded songs (4 singles releases on Excello)
1969 Creed (KB) One Gospel Album