Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: James Brown

Bud Hobgood
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Bud Hobgood – A Life In Music

From Wax of Stacks — David Bottoms‘ expansive history of Cincinnati’s record labels including, most prominently, King — we learn that recording engineer Lee Hazen generously provided the author a copy of an audio recording of a meeting that had been convened at King Records‘ Cincinnati headquarters by its founder/owner,

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60s/70s rock +/- pop
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Smokey And His Sister: Goodbye Cincinnati

The City of Cincinnati might want to consider a lawsuit – what is the statute of limitations on liner notes from an album released 54 years ago? I understand that Hal Halverstadt was merely playing up the difference between “small town” provincialism and “big city” sophistication for dramatic emphasis, but

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Beau Dollar
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The Dapps at King Records

Note:  Spotify playlist at the end of this piece Music writer/historian, Randy McNutt, in King Records of Cincinnati, points out the irony of “How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven’t Cut Your Process Yet)” – a Hank Ballard single “obviously aimed at the R&B market” – being voiced by mostly white

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Chuck Connor
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The Upsetters at King Records

I am only just now discovering that Little Richard‘s musical influence had a direct impact on King Records, first when his live backing band, The Upsetters, became Little Willie John’s support group after Richard renounced rock ‘n’ roll in 1957, and then again soon after when the Upsetters backed James

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60s/70s rock +/- pop
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King 45s That “Bubbled Under”

My ambitiousness got the best of me with the posting of the two-part history piece, “Quirky 45s That Bubbled Under (1959-1976).”  If you go to Zero to 180’s home page now (as of April 2020), you might be frustrated that it takes so goshdarn long to finish loading all the

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Bobby Byrd
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Birth of The JB’s @ King Records

The two-volume King Labels recording sessions discography (i.e., “the red books“) compiled by Michael Ruppli with assistance from Bill Daniels, can be frustratingly incomplete, especially with regard to musician credits.  Although this reference source is a great starting point, scholars of James Brown funk are forced to do quite a bit of digging on

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"Darling (I Miss You So)"
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Bernard Purdie at King Records

Zero to 180 is thrilled to learn that two titans of funk who both recorded for King – Bernard ‘Pretty‘ Purdie and William ‘Bootsy‘ Collins – are teaming up for a set of new recordings.  In accordance with this event’s historical significance, the Mayor of Cincinnati, John Cranley, recently paid tribute to

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"These Are the JB's"
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The JB’s Debut: Polydor not King

The debut album by The JB’s — James Brown‘s backing band that included a group of Cincinnati musicians who would soon join forces with George Clinton‘s Parliament-Funkadelic and later form the core of Bootsy’s Rubber Band — was originally scheduled for release in July, 1971 on the King label (SLP

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"Joggin' Along"
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King Cash-In Surf LP #1

In the course of sleuthing, I stumbled upon a King surf cash-in compilation from 1964 that, upon closer inspection, revealed a trio of “mystery bands” — The Surf Jumpers, The Wild Kats and The King Surfers — that are mysteriously absent from Ruppli’s otherwise fairly comprehensive 2-volume discography of King

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"Man Came Down From the Mountain"
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Carolyn Blakey’s ‘Hippy Soul’ 45: Very 1970

“Man Came Down From the Mountain” — the B-side to Carolyn Blakey‘s one and only 45 for King Records — captures the mood and feeling of 1970 in ways that words (“hippy soul“) fail to capture. “Man Came Down From the Mountain” Carolyn Blakey (1970) According to Discogs.com contributor 1stVerse:

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