Ron Franklin Entertainers "50.000 Watts of Heavenly Joy" 2004

One of my favorite bands of the past decade is Cornershop, a multicultural English outfit whose finest album, When I Was Born for the 7th Time, was named the best record of 1997 by Spin magazine and may have even deserved it…...I mention this only because whenever I listen to the Ron Franklin Entertainers, Cornershop immediately comes to mind. And not because the band necessarily sounds like Cornershop (for all I know, Franklin may be unfamiliar with them), but because the two bands are so similar in spirit. Both bands seem to be steeped in a foundation of '60s pop and rock that extends from bubblegum to the Velvet Underground. And from there, both bands genre-hop in a manner that is always catchy and warm and friendly --simply a pleasure to listen to. The difference is that Franklin & Co. replace Cornershop's Brit-pop-meets-Bollywood identity with a culture clash steeped in Bluff City blues and soul.
And Franklin's blues-and-soul roots are all over 50,000 Watts of Heavenly Joy (which was recorded at Willie Mitchell's Royal studio), from the WDIA homage of the opening "Radio (1070 AM)" to the closing Blind Willie McTell interpretation "East St. Louis." In between there's Franklin's theme song, "RFE Stomp," a juke-joint rave-up so deliciously sugary that it could double as the soundtrack for a '50s teen dance show, a surging take on the spiritual "Let It Shine on Me," and a song called "Memphis Minnie's Hornpipe," where ex-Reigning Sound sideman Alex Greene goes nuts on piano.
Franklin also engages in more recent Memphis marginalia: "Jim Cole's Got a Girlfren Now" pays homage to a real live Memphian last the subject of an Oblivians song, and on "You Talk I Listen (Goin' to the Get High Shack)," sometime Entertainers drummer (and Flyer contributor) Ross Johnson delivers a fevered, funny monologue to rival his infamous babbling on Alex Chilton's Like Flies on Sherbert. All in all, 50,000 Watts of Heavenly Joy marks a very welcome return for Franklin. - by CHRIS HERRINGTON (Memphis Flyer)

trax:
01 Radio (1070 AM) 02 RFE Stomp 03 That's Just The Love I Have For You 04 Do Not Wait 'Til I'm Laid 'Neath the Clay No. 2 05 Let It Shine On Me 06 Call It A Night 07 You Talk I Listen (Goin' To The Get High Shack) 08 Memphis Minnie's Hornpipe 09 Misterioso 10 Western Movies 11 Jim Cole's Got A Girlfren Now 12 East St. Louis