Song Of The Day 4/13/2013: Eunice Collins - "At The Hotel"

This almost discomfortingly intimate song from 1974 is about as low-fi as R&B ever got. I couldn't find a scrap of information about Eunice Collins, and "At The Hotel" appears to be the only record she ever made, according to Discogs. I found scant info about the label, Mod-Art, from a DJ named Dustin Drase. Mod-Art was based in Chicago, existed from 1973 to 1975 and issued a handful of funk albums and singles. At least a few of them are seeing the light of day on YouTube. There are some days, even with its rich legacy of crass video commentary, stupid pet tricks and various humans subject to blows to the crotch, that I love YouTube.

Everything about "At The Hotel" -- which sounds more like it takes place at a motel -- is unnerving. The detuned guitar sounds like it's on cough syrup. There's no polish to the production whatsoever. Yet it's impossible to stop listening. I think that has something to do with how calmly, yet bluntly, Collins takes full control of the sexual negotiation. ("Why can't you be a sixty-minute man?") Then she asks the loaded question "Would you mind if I demonstrated?" Like she's about to show me some kitchen bowls with snapping lids. No, actually. Nah, I wouldn't mind at all. One can never be beyond picking up a few pointers. I'll just be over here.

This was only Part 1 of "At the Hotel." Part 2 continues on the flip side, and contains what DJ Matthew Africa called "the worst recorder solo in the world." I agree, except for the implication that at some point in musical history there was a good recorder solo.