Cruisin' In So-Cal - Still More Soul Years Part 3 Quiz

Answer: Mongo Santamaria

This 1963 cover of the Herbie Hancock tune was released on Battle Records in 1963. Mongo's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1998.

Answer: O' Jays

Recorded in 1972, "Backstabbers" was certified Gold on September 1, 1972.

Answer: Lou Rawls

This was recorded in 1971 and released on the MGM label. It went to number 17 on the Billboard charts.

Answer: Young-Holt Unlimited

This song has an interesting back story. It was originally recorded as "Am I The Same Girl" by Barbara Acklin. The record's producer (Carl Davis) then removed Barbara's voice from the original track and replaced her voice with a piano solo. The end result was released in November of 1968 as "Soulful Strut" and the entire thing was credited to a soul-jazz band from Chicago named 'Young-Holt Unlimited'. THIS version charted at number three and went gold in January of 1969, less than three months after its release.

Answer: Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

Released in 1965 as the B Side of "You've Been In Love Too Long". While the A side only made it to number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart (and number 22 on their R&B chart) the B Side went to number one on many regional US Urban radio playlists!

Answer: Al Wilson

Written by Jerry Fuller and originally recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1972, this 1973 recording by Al Wilson went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 19, 1974.

Answer: Lenny Welch

Released in 1963, this was written by Buddy Johnson in 1945. While this amazing track has been covered numerous times over the years it was the spectacular version by Lenny Welch that blew all of our minds back in the cruising years!

Answer: Brighter Side Of Darkness

Brighter Side Of Darkness were four brothers from Chicago. They released this track in December of 1972. It was certified gold by early February 1973! This song was parodied by Cheech & Chong as the track "Basketball Jones", their version of which went to number 15 in the Billboard Hot 100 in August of 1973!

Answer: Bloodstone

Recorded in July 1972 but not released until 1973. This song was used by Quentin Tarantino as part of the soundtrack for his movie "Jackie Brown". Interesting trivia for record collectors that I cannot resist putting in here: The producer of this track is Mike Vernon. Yes: this is the exact same Mike Vernon who is one of the cornerstones of the late '60s white boy British Blues boom! You know... Savoy Brown, Ten Years After, John Mayall, Chicken Shack, Fleetwood Mac etc...

Answer: Chicago

Recorded for Chicago's second self titled double album in 1970, this song was edited and remixed for single release in June of that year. It reached number four in the Billboard Hot 100 (and number seven in the UK Singles charts).

The guitar solo is one of the very best by the late and great Terry Kath, who fatally shot himself during a game of Russian Roulette on January 28, 1978 - a mere eight days before what would have been his 32nd birthday. Chicago were never the same (or as good) after he passed away. To this day his is one of the handful of R&R deaths that seriously tick me off as far as being not only an incredible waste of a great talent but just the entire "why and how?" of it! Hey: another quiz topic just came to mind!