Thursday, August 14, 2008

Lost Soul: TSU Tornadoes





That’s the Texas State University Tornadoes (named after their university and, in a possible nod to the MGs, a car, the Oldsmobile Tornado), the house band for the Ovide label.

Ovide act Archie Bell and the Drells added lyrics to an instrumental from the Tornadoes’ live set: Tighten Up sold three million copies. Shamefully, the Tornadoes didn’t get a writing credit. On the back of their work with Archie Bell, however, Atlantic picked up the Tornadoes and released two singles.

The first of those, Getting The Corners, is similar to Tighten Up, only with a greater rawness, urgency and dynamism; its b-side, What Good Am I, is even better. A snapping funk backbeat, sweet horns and soulful strings, What Good Am I should have sold three million copies.

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