v/a- A HARD ROW TO HOE: Dark and Moody Rhythm and Blues Popcorn-Style Vol. 1 LP

Popcorn is a style of music and dancing first established in Belgium in the 70s and 80s. The style includes a wide variety of mostly American and British recordings of RnB and pop music made between the late 1950s and mid 1960s, often relatively obscure, and characterised by a slow or medium, rather than fast, tempo.

The Popcorn music scene first developed from dances held at the Groove discotheque in Ostend, where mid-tempo soul and ska music played by DJ Freddy Cousaert became popular in the late '60s.

In September 1969, a café, De Oude Hoeve, opened in a converted farm barn at Vrasene near Antwerp, and began holding dance competitions on Sunday afternoons. Soon up to 3,000 people began attending each week, dancing in a “slow swing” style.

De Oude Hoeve was later renamed Popcorn and the special genre had it’s name. Later on the DJ’s messed up a perfectly fine recipe by adding all kinds of pop tunes as long as the groove was right. The typical Popcorn tempo was usually reached by pitching the record up or down, sometimes massively.

This record features 14 pure Popcorn groovers from the “golden era”.

Side A:

1. Big Daddy – Daniel Webster And The Devil

2. Lou Johnson – It Ain’t No Use

3. Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks – Southern Love

4. Roy Brown And His Mighty-Mighty Men – She’s Gone Too Long

5. Sam Fletcher – I’d Think It Over

6. Ivory Joe Hunter – I’m Cuttin’ Out

7. The Sims Twins – It’s A Sad Thing

Side B:

1. Roy Gaines – Black Gal

2. The Pilgrim Travelers feat. Lou Rawls – Motherless Child

3. Otis Lee – A Hard Row To Hoe

4. Jack Grayson And The So And So’s – Go Ahead On

5. Landy McNeil – Move It (Move On)

6. Maylon Humphries And The Tri-Seniors – Weep No More

7. Louis Jordan – 65 Bars