Rod Hunter
Rod Hunter was a bit of a mystery man. His version of Soul Makossa goes for big bucks, but we know little about the man/group. Possibly French, his/their first claim to fame was a version of Gershon Kingsley’s classic “Popcorn” which had been made into a US hit by the group Hot Butter.
Kingsley’s original version might have invented ambient techno, but it was also set to a fairly music-hall-ish beat – making it simultaneously ahead of its time and a relic. More of their era in both regards are the Hot Butter and Rod Hunter versions, and both are more similar than different. They were even released the same year (1972), with Hot Butter’s version conquering most of the world, and the mysterious Mr. Hunter taking the lead in France and Turkey (at a minimum).
As for the differences, I’d say Hot Butter’s is a bit more novelty (owing to the pizzacato/wood block melody), but it also includes some great real drums and a pretty awesome mellotron. Rod Hunter’s sounds like it was made entirely by androids in a secret lab on a Doctor-Who-ish quarry planet. It might lose a bit of the organic feel of the Hot Butter version, but the quirkiness is off the charts. When I reach for “Popcorn” I almost always choose the Hunter version, but it’s more of a personal choice than anything else.
I found this Turkish single pressing in a shop in Istanbul – it has a graphic art sleeve which is unfortunately quite beat up, so I’ve not yet scanned it. It is in mono, but probably just a folded-down version of the stereo track.
