DON BLACKMAN & SPANKY WILSON: BLOG STALKIN' PT. 2 posted by O.W.

Don Blackman: Loving You
From Don Blackman (Arista, 1982)

Spanky Wilson: Sunshine of Your Love
From Doin It (Mother's Records, 1970)

Part two of the Soul Sides blog stalkin' series opens with a cut off the sublime '80s soul album by Don Blackman. The skipper at Captain's Crate put up a pair of modern soul tracks the other week, including another song off the same Blackman LP. "Loving You" should be familiar to hip-hop heads given that it's been popular sample fodder but as is often the case, the original song so much more than just a two bar loop. This song could easily have made my summer song list - it's so damn beautifully. (By the way, Captain's Crate also just put up a song I was planning on posting - Willie Colon's "Che Che Cole." Awesome Latin soul - check it out.)

Diddy Wah recently highlighted Ella Fitzgerald's surprisingly funky version of "Sunshine of Your Love" (from a rare MPS side by her). I've always liked this version but hands-down, the best cover of the song I've ever heard done by a female vocalist is Spanky Wilson's cut from Doin It, a song and album produced by H.B. Barnum. It burns, baby, burns with sizzling heat and verve. (I liked it enough to put it on my Deep Covers CD.)