Grace of Spades makes sure the levels are correct as Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus cues a record for the “Watch This Sound” show.

Our friend Grace of Spades hosts a groovy radio show on bbox.com, a Brooklyn community radio station that goes out over the interwebs. Her show is called Watch This Sound, and it takes place every Tuesday from 8 to 10 pm. On her show, she features lots of reggae records, but also quite a bit of soul and funk. Due to a sort of convergence of the birthdays of two great soul singers, Etta James (January 25) and Sam Cooke (January 22), she decided to feature these two great artists on her program that was aired on Tuesday January 20 (which just happened to also be the anniversary of Ms. James’ death three years ago).

Miss G figured it would be nice to have an oldster on the show, in order to play a couple Sam and Etta tracks and/or stuff related to them, and possibly drop some science in the course of the program. For this she turned to Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

Grace started the show with a cool selection of Sam Cooke and Etta James records, along with a whole bunch of reggae covers of Sam Cooke songs, most of them by the great Ken Parker. After an hour of this, Grace played Sam Cooke’s original version of “Twistin’ the Night Away,” and then asked The Boog to take over.

The Boog—ever the imp!—commenced by playing three versions of Grace’s last selection; two in funny languages and one an instrumental work-out heavily based on the song. He then proceeded to play a track by L.C. Cooke (Sam’s brother), three by singers that were mentored by Mr. Cooke, then four covers of Cooke songs before ending the set with Sam Cooke’s lovely rendition of the old chestnut “Summertime.”

Grace of Spades and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing with Sam Cooke at “Watch This Sound” radio show.

Then, Etta James records wrecked the place; she has such a tough voice! Sure, Ms. James had the ability sing a ballad as well as anybody, and Miss Grace played several in the first hour, but what was heard on this show was a handful of screamers before time ran out. Just before the automated bbox comput-o-thig-a-ma-jig clicked over to the next show, The Boog was able to sneak in most of another reggae version of a Sam Cooke song.

Here’s a list of all the tracks played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus on the Watch This Sound radio show:

• Jackie y Los Ciclones–Twisteando Hasta El Amanecer (Twisting the Night Away) [from EP Limbo Rock Y Twist] (CBS; Argentina)
• Bob Azzam et son Orchestre–Laissez-nous Twister (Barclay; France)
• Ricky Dee & the Embers–Work Out (Part 1) (Newtown)
• L.C. Cooke–Do You Wanna Dance (Yeah Man) (Destination)
• Johnnie Taylor–Dance What You Wanna (Derby)
• Johnnie Morisette–Meet Me at the Twistin’ Place (SAR)
• Simms Twins–I Gopher You (SAR)
• The Olympics–Everybody Likes to Cha Cha Cha (Arvee)
• Jackie Wilson and Count Basie–Chain Gang (Brunswick)
• Ricky Lewis–Cupid (Enjoy)
• Vicki Anderson–You Send Me (King)
• Sam Cooke–Summertime (Part 2) (Keen)
• Billy Preston–Greazee – Part I (Derby)
• Clarence Carter–Tell Daddy (Fame)
• Etta James–Tighten Up Your Own Thing (Cadet)
• Etta James–Fire (Cadet)
• Etta James–Mellow Fellow (Argo)
• Etta James–I Just Wanna Make Love to You (Argo)
• Etta James; Maxwell Davis and His Orchestra–Good Rockin’ Daddy (Modern)
• Eugene Paul–Another Saturday Night (Pama Supreme; UK)

None of these records are for sale.

Dig the show by listening to it on the Bbox Radio Archive here!!

The Boog displays a great Etta James record on “Watch This Sound” radio show.