Poor Unfortunate Me (I Ain't Got Nobody)/ She Ain't Ready

This rare J.J. Barnes single, on the small Detroit label Ring, is a non-stop crazy Northern Soul dancer. For some reason, it's taken for granted by collectors, but perhaps that's because they haven't listened to it in awhile. This is the true Motown sound, since it, like all of Barnes' singles for Ric-Tic, features the legendary Funk Brothers as the backup band.

The "Funk Brothers" is the name by which the Motown label's session band became known. The band included numerous members over the years, including the following key musicians (list courtesy of Wikipedia):\r\n

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• Joe Hunter (keyboards, 1959-64), \r\n
• Robert White (guitar, 1959-72)\r\n
• Eddie Willis (guitar, 1959-72)\r\n
• Joe Messina (guitar, 1959-72)\r\n
• James Jamerson (bass, 1959-72)\r\n
• Benny Benjamin (drums, 1959-69)\r\n
• Richard "Pistol" Allen (drums, 1959-72)\r\n
• Jack Ashford (percussion, 1959-72)\r\n
• Eddie "Bongo" Brown (percussion, 1959-72)\r\n
• Johnny Griffith (keyboards, 1963-72)\r\n
• Uriel Jones (drums, 1963-72)\r\n
• Earl Van Dyke (keyboards, 1964-72)\r\n
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• Bob Babbitt (bass, 1967-72)\r\n

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Joe Hunter was the leader of the Funk Brothers in 1964, when these tracks were recorded, and you'll note that he co-produced and co-wrote the amazing A side.\r\n

J.J. Barnes eventually entered the Gordy's Motown fold when he bought Ric-Tic records in 1966, along with Edwin Starr. Unlike Starr, however, Barnes material was not released on the core Motown labels — Tamla, Motown, and Soul, so he never enjoyed the strong distribution that propelled Edwin Starr to smash hits like "Twenty Four Miles" and "War."

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Note: The label grade reflects some light ringwear, which didn't come through well in the scan.