Saturday, January 13, 2007

Mod Art Productions & McKinley Mitchell



I've always had a soft spot for small Chicago productions and I have written a few articles in the past featuring Chicago artists. One label amongst others which stimulated my interest in Chicago 45s from the 70's was the Mod Art label. I think the first 45 I obtained was The Newsounds "I Betcha Never Even Thought About It" back in 1976 and I subsequently picked other sides on the label by the likes of Class Art, Guitar Red, McKinley Mitchell etc.

The best place to find out more about the label is at the Funk & Soul blog which has 4 posts including soundfiles and a discography.

I will post some more sound files of Mod Art productions in subsequent posts.

In future posts, I will return to McKinley Mitchell who I have not featured before on the blog but who knows I have such a back log of stuff to feature! "Party Across The Hall" is the B-side of "She's Married Already". "She's Married Already" was a track which he first cut for St Lawrence and is one of my favourites by him though Monk Higgins attributed that 45 to "Billy Bland" but it is unmistakeably McKinley!

The 2 Mod Art tracks found their way onto a 5 track EP issued by Big Boy Records in 1988 as a tribute to McKinley who died in 1986. One of the tracks featured on the Big Boy album is "Mr Sunshine" which was possibly an out take from the Mod Art sessions as the song has the same writing credits as "Party" and was covered by Casey Jones for Mod Art back in the 70's.

McKinley Mitchell 1934-1986

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