Spider Harrison

Spider Harrison was Indianapolis's first call soul DJ in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He broke local tunes like The Highlighters' ''Poppin' Popcorn'' on soul-friendly WTLC's clean FM frequency, MC'ed functions with the backing of local funk hopefuls, wrote liner notes for everyone from Billy Wooten to Little Royal and offered business advice to musicians such as The Highlighters/Rhythm Machine bassist James Boone. Around the turn of 1970, Harrison returned to an old pastime – singing. The Highlighters' manager - and owner of newly formed Lulu records – Jerry Herman approached the jock to record a single. Harrison hastily accepted. Backed by loyal friend Boone and the in-transition Highlighters' rhythm section, Harrison donned a yellow raincoat, got tipsy on Thunderbird and went for broke. The result catches Charles Wright's ''Express Yourself'' at its funkiest moment, and has earned the jock deserved placement in the deep funk canon. Not only do we have the original version of Spider Harrison's Beautiful Day but on the flip we have cut a drum track of the record found on one of his tapes.

• 1 Beautiful Day
• 2 Beautiful Day (Drums)