Jim And Bob Harrison , "Hand Clap Blues" c/w "Here Is My Heart," Clock 71890 (rel. 10/1961)
Northern and deep soul darlings for their later recordings, Jim and Bob Harrison are beloved here for their three singles for various Mercury Records subsidiaries. These represent some of the wildest rhythm and blues of their day and foreshadow their raucous soul and funk outings to come. The soul snobs will have nothing to do with these early efforts; it's their loss.
As is typical, there is little to no information on these siblings, who rock the house on their Clock and Smash releases, this included. This single didn't get promoted or reviewed and took me years to find. It showed up, alongside several long-time wants, at the Tacoma Record Show, a 45s-only affair I've longed to attend for years. I spent two days there are got maximum bang for my buck with a big boxfull of purchases. I've just begun to digitize and catalog these new additions, and this is the first of many you'll soon hear.
Since there's no pertinent info on this record or its performers, let's get to it!
"Hand Clap Blues" opens with washboard skitterin' away. Said hand claps are distant in the mix--a curious choice. A soulful trade-off lyric with a strong gospel flavor results. This has to be a church song touched up for secular purposes. The natural-born soul of these brothers is intoxicating. They have that down-home, country soul sound down cold--and it's just 1961! Soul music doesn't yet exist. Or does it?
My lone caveat: no prominent hand claps! Sheesh! You call a song "Hand Clap Blues;" the listener then expects palm-on-plam percussion, and lots of it. Were I the producer or arranger of this single, I'da done an overdub of the two brothers pounding flesh, with a touch of reverb to give each clap extra bite, and put that on top of the existing track. Or, better yet, I'da drafted people hanging around the studio to do some hand-iwork; they'd get a session payment just for puttin' their paws together!
That said, the brothers can't be faulted for the fulsome performance given here. Let this be a lesson to any band or singer: if the title promises something, ya gotta deliver the goods!
"Here Is My Heart" is a slow-beat ballad with the brothers' powerful harmonies. This is the 1950s duet style of Marvin & Johnny or Don & Dewey pushed into the start of the soul era. Listen to brother Bob's semi-spoken testimony mid-song; that could be from a 1967 recording!
This blend of '50s lowrider and '60s deep soul is outstanding. A few years ahead of the curve, it's part of an underground of proto-soul songs and performances that begin at decade's start: a body of work that snowballs with each year and dominates Black music by 1965. A record like "Here Is My Heart" is an important piece of the r&b-to-soul conversion.
Apologies for the lack of background information. There ought to be some documentation of such fine music, but there isn't. Deep sigh...
Tomorrow: Canada's answer to The Beatles, JB and The Playboys were a big deal up north, but unknown down here. Their first RCA-Victor single from early 1965 offers two short but ambitious and powerful songs. Must-hear music!
Two wonderful songs! "Hand Clap Blues" never lets up—a gospel version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" with some yakety sax thrown in the mix. "Here Is My Heart" is a howling gospel funereal waltz. I bet McCartney heard this one. "Oh Darling" steals the slow driving beat and even a few lines from this one.
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