Fifth Street

Here's a tightly wound funker outta Lexington, Kentucky, the Mercy Men's "Fifth Street" on Bee Gee. The drumming is frantic, the organ is a bubbling cauldron, and the singer is really feeling the groove. The singer gets so into it he opens each chorus with a wail. The horns also come in and add that extra bit to push it over the edge. There's a nice moment early on when the singer takes it down and works with the guitar to bring it back up. There's a small break near the end of the tune, and the drummer sounds like he's working jackhammer, it's so fast-paced. And I don't want to forget the great sax sound that comes in at the end to take it home.

This side clocks in at nearly 4 minutes, and it's an intense workout.