I tried it, I liked it, a lot. I pulled this weeks 45 last weekend at the Austin Record Convention, considerably up there on my want lists and paid a fairly reasonable price for it, thanks to Pete for his flavorful 45 stacks. And I’ll apologize for not having too much detailed information for this weeks post so I’ll have to keep this short and sweet, much like this song. Loyce Cotton’s Try It You’ll Like It was released on the Houston-based Aquarius label and produced by Pope, another small time Bayou City label with wider distributive capacity. It seems that Aquarius released a slew of 45 singles throughout their activity in the 60’s and 70’s and even touching on some boogie and modern soul in the late 70’s, one release being a particular favorite of mine, Doin’ It by Houston bluesman Clarence Green, which I’ll definitely post sometime soon in the near future. I couldn’t find much, or anything really, on Ms. Cotton’s career or that of her recordings in my thorough detective interneting. I did find that France’s Motown President and funk and soul connoisseur, Gilles Petard, released this song on the first series of his illustrious Absolute Funk compilations. If you don’t know, now you know…

As far as I know, Ms. Cotton released only one other 45 on another Houston-based label (Jetstream) but it doesn’t seem that her records made it further past the local radio circuit. It’s a shame, considering her potential for national radio play as a strong female soul vocalist. Nevertheless, Try It You’ll Like It is simple and straightforward funky soul with some nice wah wah on the guitar, a punchy bass line and a groove-filled organ solo right around the middle, tendering a persuasive message about the niceties of receiving love and kisses. Clocking in at a mere two minutes, this mid-tempo workout is a fine piece of the ever impressive catalog of Houston soul music.

LISTEN: Loyce Cotton-Try It You’ll Like It