Driving Funk Across Europe: Wess & The Airedales Posted by Junior

Wess & The Airedales: Vehicle and Black Out From: Vehicle [Durium, 1972] How's life treating you? Back from holiday I feel the usual mix of refreshment and a reluctance to man up and deal with everyday life again. One bonus about being back was that, just before I left, I finally put down the cash and purchased both The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 and The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 to go with the copy of Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records I'd been lent by a friend. Needless to say I've been drowning in the label's music and history the last week so expect many posts on the subject in the near future, so many hidden gems and highly recommended. In the meantime, how about some brassy rough and ready funk for the weekend coming out of that well known funk provider Italy? Yes, I know the Italians aren't renowned for straight funk but Wess and the Airedales truly hit the mark with their 1972 album of funky cover versions and not a disco string in sight. Vehicle is the real deal with layered heavy production of guitar, percussion and organ as American born Wess delivers a soulful vocal to great effect over the top. This is an absolute dancefloor monster and has since been featured on Kon, Amir and DJ Muro's quite outstanding The Kings of Diggin' compilation. Black Out is more pedal to the floor funk carried off with enough aplomb to take it far out of the realms of pastiche and cement itself as a great dancefloor track in it's own right. The Italian band mesh superbly throughout the recording and it even has a break in it for an additional Friday treat. Enjoy and I'll see you next week.