Random Friday Fuzz

Timmy Willis: Mr Soul Satisfaction
Available on: Kent’s Cellar of Soul Volume 2 [Veep, 1968]

Alhaji K. Frimpong: Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu
From: Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu!

Patrick Adams: Everybody Loves A Good Thing
From: Phreek [Atlantic, 1978]

Village Sounds: One Less Brother
From: 45 [Village Music, 197?]

The Tony Williams Lifetime: There Comes A Time
From: Ego [Polygram, 1970]

Some random tunes for you to kick the weekend off proper; three for getting the party started and two for the end of the night. As always with these posts the link between the tracks is tenuous (read non-existent) so, without further ado, lets start running.

First up, songs to get you in the Friday feeling.

Timmy Willis’ Mr Soul Satisfaction is an absolutely blistering 45 cut from 1968 full of relentless up beat horns and drums as Willis lays down his ego driven credo (“I’m so bad I should have been born twins” daaaaaaaaaamn). Stunning 45 and the flip, I’m Wondering, is a great track too.

Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu by Alhaji K. Frimpong is a stunning Ghanian highlife track, rightly regarded as a classic of the genre. Featuring a groove that’s impossible to resist moving to, the song bubbles and sways for it’s duration with a crispness of production that highlights every drumbeat. When people talk about ‘Afrobeat’ this is the song that springs to mind though I’m yet to find many that are quite as brilliant as this.

Third up, one to get you shimmying on the dancefloor. I don’t post up a lot of disco flavoured music on the site but tracks like this are so very necessary. Patrick Adams is rightly seen as a god of disco production and songs like this amply display why as the vocals soar over the perfectly layered production. Unashamedly upbeat it’s one to lift your mood no matter how you’re feeling.

So, the night’s been fun, it’s time to sit back, kick off the shoes and wind down….

Village Sounds One Less Brother takes it’s cue from Mayfield’s socially aware early seventies funk with it’s lamenting lyrics about the loss of good man played out over a Curtis influenced slow groove. It’s undoubtedly derivative but that doesn’t stop it being a powerful song in it’s own right. Deep and delicious.

I’m constantly frustrated by The Tony Williams Lifetime, I own the three main albums by them; Emergency, Turn It Over and Ego and give them an airing every once in a while but still struggle to enjoy them. I can recognise the skill in the playing but too often the tunes descend into headaches for me. However I will persevere, determined to finally get it, and There Comes A Time off their third album Ego shows me the delights I can expect when I finally get there. This tune is both beautiful and raw, the hypnotic playing as the song develops is accompanied by the mournful vocals to create something very very special indeed. It’s a real personal favourite of mine and hope it has a similar effect for you.

Enjoy and have a good weekend out there.