RAYMOND WINNFIELD: WHEN LOVE GOES SOUTH

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Raymond Winnfield: Things Could Be Better
From 7″ (Fordom, 196?). Also on Funky Funky New Orleans 5.

I picked this up on my last trip to the Groove Merchant, in November. The track itself would have been enough to draw my attention…like Funky16Corners described it: “downtempo Crescent City funk.” Indeed, the instrumental version of this appears as the flipside to Ernie and the Top Notes’ funk classic, “Dap Walk” but to me, Winnfield’s vocal version is considerably superior (maybe I just have a bias against the overuse of sax-as-vocal-replacement). Indeed, what sealed the deal for me to cop this NOLA 7″ was hearing Winnfield sing “you always try to pull me down” over and over, to devastating effect. It’s not always easy to pull off a good “end of romance” song but Winnfield nails the vibe perfectly here.