Friday, January 13, 2012

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Universals

Artist:Universals
Song:New Generation
Album:Florida Funk: Funk 45s From The Alligator State





If you're a funk fan, I think you will enjoy this slice of obscure early 70s funk by the Florida group Universals. To add to the confusion, the group name was misspelled on the single release of New Generation as Universouls. It's the same group. They were from Daytona Beach, FL led by lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Alex Morgan. Other members were Lindsey Morris on keyboards, Aaron Watson on drums, Ralph Williams on flute & sax and Ralph Sullivan on bass. At first they were called The Twisters and then changed to Universals. They had a following is South Florida and recorded for small labels but were never able to break nationally. They went to Memphis to talk to Stax but were unable to work out a deal. It seems they split up after that probably around 1972. New Generation was released on two labels and the group name was misspelled Universouls both times. They weren't happy about that. The British label Jazzman Records specializes in obscure funk and soul and you can get New Generation on this various artists comp of Florida funk. Alex Morgan and Ralph Sullivan are deceased. Lindsey Morris and Aaron Watson still live in Daytona Beach and Ralph Williams lives in New York. The Universals sound pretty good. They deserved a better fate. Here's a video for New Generation by Universals.

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