ST-4 – Funky b/w Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

“Listen – ST-4 – Funky – MP3″

“Listen – ST-4 – Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys – MP3″

Greetings all.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, especially those of you – like myself – that got to celebrate Father’s Day. I always enjoyed Father’s Day because I have a great father, but there’s nothing quite like experiencing it from the other side of the coin, i.e. as a father.
In other news, it’s still raining, so I’m thinking of rounding up tow of every record and pulling up the anchor, working the “ark” thing for all it’s worth, so send your doubles to Funky16Corners and I promise to take good care of them and to remember you once the waters have receded.
The record I bring to you today is a cover of one of the first seriously funky records I ever owned, ‘Funky’ by the Chambers Brothers. Known mostly for their greatest hit, the psychedelic epic ‘Time Has Come Today’, the Chambers Brothers (who got their start as a gospel group) laid down some soulful and funky stuff as well, with the self-explanatory (and wholly deserved) title of ‘Funky’ will attest.
Back in the early spring, when DJ Prestige and I were spinning down in DC and Virginia, we were out digging and I happened upon today’s selection, which – after a brief and satisfying preview on the store turntable – went directly into the ‘keeper’ pile.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts since then, I haven’t been able to turn up any information about ST-4. Normally I’d write this off as the fault of the name, which thanks to its brevity, and interruption by a hyphen (and the fact that the song on the A-side has a common, one-word title) renders it all but un-Google-able. However, the flip side is a cover of the Equals’ ‘Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys’, so I figured that might turn up some info.

Snake-eyes once again…
This is of course a drag, since both sides of this record are, in the vernacular of the skreets, slamming. The cover of ‘Funky’ is, how do you say, funky. It lacks a little of the grit of the Chambers Brothers’ OG, but it has the added attraction of some brighter elements (a great repeated piano figure). The Equals cover is also quite good, with some fuzzed out guitar and hard hitting drums.
If I had to render an educated guess, based only on the facts and figure rattling around in my skull, applied against the sonic evidence in the grooves, I’d figure that ST-4 were some kind of Rare Earth-esque conglomeration, i.e. (mostly) white, rock oriented guys with a serious taste for the soulful. Unfortunately, aside from the fact that they released one more 45 in 1973 (with a version of the oft-covered Gerry Goffin song ‘It’s Not the Spotlight’) I can find no trace of ST-4.
If anyone out there has any info on the group, i.e. where they were from etc, please drop me a line and let me know.
I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with something nice.

UPDATE:

Check out this Youtube history of the ST-4!!

Peace

Larry

PS Don’t forget to head over to Iron Leg .

PSS Check out Paperback Rider too.

PSSS Don’t forget to hit up Funky16Corners on Facebook

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