Postponement
April 28, 2011
From "Trip Photos Free"
No post tomorrow – hopefully will return early next week…
Across the Continent to Benin
April 27, 2011
After a couple of days of Nigerian classics we move to Benin in West Africa with some great groove based funk from T.p. Orchestre Poly-rythmo – a band that ruled the dance floor in Porto-Novo and beyond throughout the 70′s.
T.p. Orchestre rose to prominence during the oppressive Marxist-Leninist regime that ruled the country from ’71-’90 with an iron fist. While no one would consider T.p. Orchestre’s music overtly political - it was rebellious and their music went relatively unnoticed outside of Benin, in great part thanks to the government, until Soundway put out a compilation of their music several years ago. Needless to say the complete LP is well worth your time.
Staying with Nigeria
April 26, 2011
“You are the music while the music lasts”
April 25, 2011
We begin our week of African funk and psychedelia on a sad note – the recent unrest in Nigeria is beginning to “echo” Nigeria’s Civil War era and unfortunately the world is paying scant attention to the rising violence. A few months ago Soundway records released an amazing compilation of Nigerian psychedelia from the early 70′s as the country tried to come to terms with the devastating civil war. The music throughout the discs is equally haunting and beautiful with the compilation’s title track ‘The World Ends’ by the Black Mirrors particularly genius. Very sadly, given the current events in Nigeria ‘The World Ends’, beyond being brilliant, is unfortunately completely apropos.
It’s up to you
April 22, 2011
Time for one more early 70′s funky R & B this time from Kansas’ own Theron and Darrell. I think this track was originally posted about six years ago on Brent Goodsell’s pretty amazing Funk and Soul blog so you can view this as just a re-posting of what is a bit of a lost classic. This is actually the B-side to the far more famous ‘I was made to love you’ which actually made NPR Music’s ‘Song of the Day’ in 2009. While ‘I was made to love you’ is a spectacular R & B track its own right (and objectively the better song) – I prefer the funk breaks and screaming intensity of ‘It’s your love’. This wraps up our first week of Funk 45s. Next week we are heading back to Africa for some hard funk & acid tinged psychedelia. Should be a good time – have a good weekend.
The Change
April 21, 2011
Some rare funk from The Concepts – ‘Gotta be a change’ presages the pop funk of the Commodores and Earth, Wind and Fire that would become some popular in the late 70′s. While no one would call The Concepts disco-funk – you can hear the beginnings of the Disco era on this early 70′s Kustom records release. Nothing earth shattering but a fun little song all the same.
Ride On
April 20, 2011
As soul and R & B pop gave way to the 70′s soul funk scene and the optimism of 1967 (optimism of white youth it should be noted) gave way to the realities of ’68 (assassination of MLK/Bobby, Tet offensive, trading LBJ for Nixon), ’69 (Manson, Altamont), ’70 (Kent St.) etc. – artists such as Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield began to use their music to call for social change more directly. While this existed throughout the 60′s (especially after the Watts Riots) it wasn’t until Marvin Gaye’s What’s going on? that these calls for change entered mainstream American consciousness. The Final Decisions ‘Ride On’ is one of the better examples of the Soul Change genre amongst the thousands of random 45s released from small record presses throughout the country during this era. While this track lacks the militant anger of other great 45s from the late 60′s/early 70′s – the desperation and sadness in this Detroit heavy funk classic is really unmatched. Definitely a must listen.
What the Future Sounded Like in 1969
April 19, 2011
Straight soul funk from Detroit’s own Bobby Franklin – ‘Bring it on down’ – brings a hard edge from the beginning with infectious bass – African drums and a flute line that even manages to sound funky – a pretty amazing feat - but not necessarily surprising when you consider that Curtis Mayfield produced this track for Franklin back in 1969. Oasis also has a song entitled ‘Bring it on down’. It’s not as good.
Calcutta Indeed
April 18, 2011
Another Monday. We will begin this week with the slightly bizarre – the Milt Okun Arrangement’s smooth jazz and funk pop anthem ‘Oh, Calcutta’. Okun is mostly known for his work with the Belafonte Folk Singers but he was also a producer of some note (he produced the Starland Vocal Band for God sakes) and his considerable production talents come through in ‘Calcutta”s arrangement. There has a lot already written about ‘Oh Calcutta’ – in particular on the always spectacular Office Naps which featured a lengthy write up about the song and the absurd Off-Broadway play it comes from – so if you want to really get into the nitty gritty of this track I would head there posthaste. The Dave Pell singers also did a version of ‘Oh Calcutta’ that you can download from Office Naps but I prefer the pseudo-psychedelic funk of Okun as opposed to the bubblegum of Pell’s version.
Space has no Beginning
April 15, 2011
We end a week filled with free jazz and ambient music with one of the most important figures in free jazz – Sun Ra doing some decidedly non avant-garde work on ‘Enlightenment’ the first track on his fantastic Jazz in Silhouette album. Modern listeners tend to focus on Sun Ra’s more exploratory work in the 60′s ignoring Sun Ra’s magical Chicago period entirely in which he recorded some of the best music of the 50′s. Jazz in Silhouette is particularly amazing as it pulls together all of Sun Ra’s skills as a arranger while offering hints of what was to come when Sun Ra moved to New York and pushed jazz toward the psychedelic. For those who have always been interested in Sun Ra but unsure about avant-garde jazz I would suggest dipping into his Chicago work and seeing if you like that before going any further because after about 1961 things get more then a little crazy – and needless to say its not for everyone.
