I got wind this past Friday that some your favorite DJ’s were posting up their favorite 45s on Twitter – taking photos of rare 45’s and posting the links. You can easily go to Twitter and search on the hash tag – #45Fridays. I’m already missing Earfuzz bossman Junior and his penchant for writing up rare as heck soul and funk 45s. He’d love #45Fridays!
Ok, so the pictured 45 – I found it on DJ BK-One’s Facebook page ; I wasn’t even looking for it on Twitter. BK-One I had only heard of once because he was on a compliation called ‘Do It To It’ which I suggest you cop here, but I imagine he’s a great DJ, I just haven’t earpeeped his mixes yet. He’s got a nice joint on the comp called ‘Turn that MF UP’. Ok shameless plug – I’m on that same ‘Do It To It’ comp as well with my own group fONKSQUISh. What’s weird is, my jam on the comp features Funkadelic’s Billy Bass Nelson. Well BK-One’s posted the pictured 45 for #45Fridays – and it’s a Revilot 45 by The Holidays, a Detroit vocal group featuring Funkadelic. Apparently BK-One says it was also released as a Parliaments instrumental, but I’ve never heard that one either – I’ll have to dig for it.
‘All That Required’ is a typical George Clinton penned jam – I mean, you know, where George out does Smokey Robinson with the one liners as George typically does – and a Holland brother (from the famous Holland Dozier Holland Motown and post Motown writing team) is here writing too, so go figure.
I’m not the DJ who digs for 45’s and has an extensive collection – but I certainly have most all of the George Clinton produced 45’s from the late 50s to the early 70s. BUT I didn’t have this one! It’s quite a revelation for me since I always believe I’ve heard every P-Funk rarity ever. You can hear Eddie Hazel do some sick and twisted things with the rhythm and lead guitars, and I’m pretty sure Billy Bass Nelson is holding down the bass line – almost sure it’s the entire Funkadelic band. I’ll ask Billy about it … Anyone care to leave some more info this one in the comments?? I love at about 2:30, Eddie just kicks this twisted guitar solo just in time to work on out as the song fades on …
The Holidays – All That is Required (Is You) – featuring Funkadelic / George Clinton Produced
Of course, there are also right beautiful vocals from the Holidays on the song, who I can’t turn much up on via a Google search because – well, the Holidays – turns up other results. I’m sure you know more – go ahead and let us know.
READ ON FOR TWO MORE #45FRIDAYS …
We are already missing Earfuzz bossman Junior’s continual posts about rare funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop and more type gem-jams .. Make sure you read Junior’s last post here.
While we do at Earfuzz focus on the rare funk/soul/jazz/latin/hip-hop+more steeze – here are few newer type jams coming in from around the net. Since I myself would wind up sharing most of these with people throughout the week privately, why not do it right here… and we promise, you’ll dance, dance dance!
Two Door Cinema Club remixed by Cassian with an 80’s funky pop vibe
Siriusmo returns with almost a sequel to his ‘Nights Off’ - it’s called the ‘Plasterer of Love’ and it’s full of those 1983 boogie pop funk threads
Tommie Sunshine and Figure take the Grateful Dead into funky dancefloor territory with a rework of ‘Shakedown Street’
Bestrack just funkifies the life out of Kavinksky’s ‘Night Call’
Download Hip Party Music (Mediafire link)
Not being the subtlest of writers, you may have noticed that I’ve been dropping the occasional hint for a while now that blogging fatigue has been setting in. Real world demands and a general lack of posting inspiration have finally confirmed for me that it’s time to move on and let people with the passion take the site forward.
Whilst I’m looking forward to trying out some new things with a new site (hopefully the guys here will let me let you know when I know) I will be sad to leave the site that has given me so many great memories.
It’s been a fantastic five plus years doing this; I’ve got the chance to share and discuss my favourite music with you, been introduced to new music I’d never have discovered through the comments and even got in touch with some of my music heroes through posts on here (I’ll never forget quite how much my jaw dropped when I got the first email from James Mason).
Without going Gwyneth I’d also like to thank all the other posters who have contributed on the site up till now and of course highlight Maru for giving me a shout and getting me on here in the first place. I’m sure the site is only going to go from strength to strength with the writers we have now and any new blood who wants to step up.
As I didn’t have any music ready and didn’t want to do a classic posts thing I thought I’d throw up a little comp I did for a friend last year. It’s a mix of different stuff, some very common, some posted on here and some more rare stuff I never got round to sharing. Apart from the lack of rap I thought it was an appropriate mix of the kind of music this site was set up to appreciate so hope you enjoy (tracklist after the jump).
I’m going to take some time out now to review what I want to do next but hopefully catch up with some of you again soon on whatever the new project turns out to be. Trust that I won’t be able to stop blathering on the internet for very long.
Thanks, as always, for reading……..
Mandingo: Black Rite and The Headhunter
Available on: The Sound Gallery, Vol. 1
Most Brits around about my age and older will have encountered the sounds of Geoff Love at one time or another, even if they didn’t realise it at the time. A talented musician who had some minor success with his own work, Geoff and his Orchestra spent most of the 60s, 70s and beyond recording disco approximations of hits of the day for BBC records and other library style labels. My own childhood experience of Geoff was a compilation of disco covers of sci fi theme songs (Star Wars was taken to a galaxy that was very very far away) and, slightly later, his rather unique singalong session with the timeless Miss Mills.
At the time this was just a compilation I loved and thought no further but, as I went round friend’s houses and found similar styled LPs in their parents collections, I slowly realised that Love was a solid foundation of any record collection, no matter what your tastes were.
Getting older, the lure of Geoff slowly disappeared and I happily flicked past any thing featuring his name in the small print. Shame on me indeed for I’ve kindly been schooled on what I was missing through a generous gift (thanks Skel) of the really quite stunning Sound Gallery Vol 1 collection.
Widely credited with kicking off the 90’s reappraisal of “lounge” and library music, this compilation features all the recognised great UK names of the scene such as Hawkshaw and Mansfield. However, it was Love’s contributions under the Mandingo moniker which really blew me away.
A bit of background on the impressively tasteless name, in the early seventies the Afro Funk of artists like Fela Kuti and Manu Dibango were proving big hits so EMI commissioned Geoff to get in the studio with a collection of session musicians and churn out some African sounding funk music. What they got instead is a mix of African, funk and big band which is fantastically British in it’s bastardisation.
Anyway, taking all that into account, I defy you not to feel your jaw drop slightly when Black Rite kicks into full gear. Kicking off with a library style mixture of leading brass and big band drums the track appears to be a pleasant little mover but stick with it folks. At 1.15 it’s like the group suddenly remember their afrobeat instructions and the track turns into a fuzzed out, wah wahing, horn parping Bond In Africa. Building layer on layer this is just crazily good. Funnily enough as I just decided to post this on a whim, I think it makes a rather nice accompaniment to Kevin’s Stoned Guitar no?
The Headhunter couldn’t really be more of a pastiche of Dibango without them calling it Soul Makossa V2. However this doesn’t stop it being a great slice of funk with simmering organ, great percussion led melodies and that ever important fuzz and horn lines.
That’s it, I’m back in love with Geoff Love. Now to go raid those bargain bins for all the Orchestra Presents LPs I’ve yet to grab hold of…….
The Chequers: Get Up Stand Up and Check It Out
From: Check Us Out [Creole Records, 1975]
It’s been a miserable week indeed with the untimely passing of Guru and the subsequent fallout that looks like becoming ever more unpleasant. We’ve put a few tributes up to the legendary MC on the facebook page but, with so many of my esteemed colleagues putting together definitive posts on the subject, I thought we’d move the focus away from the subject today and instead focus solely on music. After all, it’s a glorious day outside, we’re getting closer to the weekend by the minute and summer is definitely contemplating announcing itself as finally here. With all these pluses on the table I thought it only appropriate to pick a happy record from the collection and one that fits the cruising and lounging desire currently rising up inside by the moment.
The Chequers were a UK soul group who released a number of great tracks in the seventies but, to listen to them, you’d never know they weren’t US born and bred. Perhaps the biggest clue that they were working outside the normal sphere is the number of influences you get on the album, there’s proto disco, some songs “in the style of” The Temptations and one of the most unexpectedly great Marley covers I think I’ve ever heard.
It seems no mystery that the rapidly changing style of the group probably cost them a reasonable amount of sales as they were constantly being recategorised with each new release that came out (though I saw a copy on ebay being advertised as AfroFunk which I think may be pushing it). However, in their single long player, Check Us Out, the various styles on offer actually make the album a fascinating play through from start to finish as it switches up.
So, the music then, well with an album this varied it was always going to be difficult pulling out just two songs but here you go. I know that I can’t be the only one who’s laid awake in bed at night wondering what Bob Marley would sound like produced by Norman Whitfield. Well rejoice! You need wonder no more. The Chequers Get Up Stand Up mixes a Papa Was A Rolling Stone bassline with the Marley original and throws in some synth lines in there for good effect. It should be a crazy mishmash of styles but turns out to be an absolutely cracking slice of funk that really should be way more widely known than it is.
Check It Out is a near instrumental dancefloor groover that, while it lacks Get Up Stand Up’s surprise factor, matches it on pure unadulterated funk. A combination of a great bass riff, wah wah guitar and some suitably funk lead playing the track achieves its mission to get your booty shacking with consummate ease. Jam bands take note, if you’re going to do a funky little number then you need to know how to pull the whole thing together into a coherent whole and could take a few lessons from the skill displayed here.
There you go, hopefully these cheer you up and you get the sunshine in your neck of the woods to play them to.
Kashmere Stage Band: Getting It Out of My System and Al’s Thing
From: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now and Again, 2006)
Kashmere Stage Band just reunited this week in Austin for the premier of Thunder Soul, a documentary on the legendary school band down in Houston in the late 60’s and seventies. Far and away the funkiest high schoolers ever. Some of their members played horns better than some of the best bands of their day. Not only did their film premier but they put on a show on Monday with today being the last showing of their film at SXSW. I unfortunately am miles and miles away, but I’m hoping there will both be an opportunity to catch this film and the band in person sometime in the coming months.
In 2006 Stones Throw imprint Now and Again released a double cd compilation filled with originals, covers and live cuts of their material. It might be one of my favorite albums I own. Theres always something about kids playing music that is completely different from the way adults do. I think part of it is not having taken so much in, there is a freedom to playing that eventually escapes most adults. Adults may be more technically impressive or have a wider array of abilities, but often times as people get older they reign some of the soul of their performances. Go check one of those arena shows by a sixties group for reference.
Getting It Out of My System is my favorite cut. Crazy horns bursting from different sides, coming in from the right and left, trumpets, trombones, tubas, some give way to some funky quick guitar links and the drumming that is absolutely on fire. Pretty Purdie would have been proud of the drums on this record. If an army had this band marching them into war, it would just turn into a dance off.
The next posted cut is the dirtiest cut on this compilation. That’s impressive considering this compilation also contains the Shaft Theme. This song sounds better than some Sly Stone and could have outdone all kinds of funk for this time. What really amazes me is that some of these cuts are from as early as 1968 so these kids are just reenacting funk sounds, they’re creators and contemporaries of funk legends. Also, check the Shaft cut, this one tries to outdo the original not just cover it. That is impressive.
Ike White: Love & Affection and Changin’ Times
From: Changin’ Times [LA International, 1976]
Back with the rare today and Ike White’s 1976 LP, Changin’ Times. This post will be of the mercifully short type due to my knowledge of Ike being limited to that he recorded this album while in prison, it was at least partially produced by Jerry Goldstein, the man behind War’s sound, and that it was endorsed enough by Mr Stevie Wonder for him to page the liner notes that accompany the great music. I can certainly see why Stevie felt drawn to this artist, the combination of beautifully produced jazz/soul is right up his alley as White ventures into many a noodling territory before always bringing the track back into the funk lane.
While the entire album is of a high quality there’s no doubting that the reason why it regularly goes for over 100 dollars is due to the inclusion of the much comped, much loved, Love & Affection. I couldn’t really feature this album without including this track just in case you haven’t been witness to its majesty before. A combination of great horns, cow bell, an irresistible groove and a more than slightly Sly approach to tune structure and vocals result in a true funk classic and one that never gets old. Absolute belter.
I was torn between throwing up Antoinette, a 9 minute jam that ventures from deep groove to cheesy jazz funk to beautiful groove and Changin’ Times, another nine minute track that is more of the mellow soul variety. In the end I had to plump for the title track, its mixture of soul and jazz too much to resist. Very much a slow burner, the track really takes off around the two minute mark as the strings enter the mix and, to my ears at least, the guitar work takes on an extra intricacy as the percussion also steps up a gear. Very smooth but never dull, and, in its own way, rather beautiful.
Sadly this album still appears to be far from being reissued though as we so many of these, we live in hope. Nice heavy vinyl pressing please.
3rd Bass: Steppin’ to the A.M.
From: The Cactus Album [Def Jam, 1989]
Banbarra: Shack Up
From: Shack Up single [Atco, 1976]
James Brown: Stoned to the Bone
From: The Payback [Polydor, 1974]
Gary Wright: Can’t Find the Judge
From: The Dreamweaver [Warner Bros, 1975]
Pink Floyd: Time
From: The Dark Side of the Moon [EMI, 1973]
Kool and the Gang: Mother Earth
From: Spirit of the Boogie [De-Lite, 1975]
Spoonie Gee: Spoonin’ Rap
From: Single [Sugar Hill, 1980]
Beastie Boys: Time to Get Ill
From: Licensed to Ill [Def Jam, 1986]
I know that I promised you all that another Anatomy of a Sample post was right around the corner about two months ago, but good things always come to those who wait. Today’s Anatomy of a Sample focuses on the standout track from one of the best rap albums to come out of the Def Jam stable in the late 80’s. The act, song and album in question are 3rd Bass with “Steppin’ to the A.M.” from The Cactus Album. With the Bomb Squad’s versatile samples and exemplary production alone, this record was destined to be one for the ages. But these two Mc’s had the skills to pay the bills and then some, with a witty repartee and hard-hitting rhymes that would go on to influence the next generation of independent hip-hop.
However, due to a lackluster second effort called Derilects of Dialect, the group would fade into obscurity, only to reappear on the scene as solo artists in the coming years. Even though they never achieved the same level of recognition that other white hip-hop acts such as the Beastie Boys, and House of Pain were given on a regular basis, The Cactus Album would prove to stand the test of time. In fact, as I reached for my cassette tape of The Cactus Album the other day, a sense of nostalgia rushed over me that took me right back to the day that I first heard this album.
Today, I will be analyzing the samples that were used to create the slamming track “Steppin’ To the A.M” on the pioneering first record from 3rd Bass. This one gets started immediately with a horn stab taken from the two second mark of James Brown’s “Stone to the Bone”. This sample has been slowed down and the tone has been changed to disguise it’s origin, but it appears several times in the track. There is a sample of woman’s voice at the one second mark that says “At the sound of the tone the time will be 12 a.m.”. I was at a loss when trying to locate the sample for this one, but I’m thinking that it could be a person who provided a voiceover for the track, instead of an actual sample. At the six second mark, a melange of bells and chimes are taken from the twenty second mark of Pink Floyd’s “Time”.
Then, at the ten second mark, the first sign of a drum beat and bassline enter the picture as the ten second mark of Banbarra’s “Shack Up” is sampled to great effect. It appears that this has been slowed down considerably, as the pace of the original track is much more uptempo than the beat on “Steppin’ to the A.M.” It took repeated listens to figure this one out, as the Bomb Squad have expertly crafted this sample to mask its identity. Coming in at the same time as the Banbarra sample are the high hats from the opening bars of Slick Rick’s “Lick the Balls”.
Next, as MC Serch begins to deliver his first verse on the track, the twenty second mark of Gary Wright’s “Can’t Find the Judge is sampled to add more complexity to the bassline. After the first verse, the horns from the five second mark of Kool and the Gang’s “Mother Earth” are sampled at the fifty-seven second point of the track. This horn sample will also appear at the 2:02 and 2:58 point of the track. Directly after the horn sample is a montage of samples taken from Hip hop tracks that feature the word “time”. First, is the Beastie Boys “What’s the time” mantra taken from “Time to Get Ill”. Then, it samples the lines “Time to Get Stupid” from Public Enemy’s Raise the Roof, followed by the lines “Kickin’ till the A.M. from Big Daddy Kane’s “Raw”. One of the samples that is not present in the first group of “time” samples is the :07 mark of Spoonie Gee’s “Two for the time” lyric taken from Spoonin’ Rap. This makes it’s first appearance at the 2:06 part of the track, and then later appears at the 4:26 mark of the track. There is a spacey synthesizer sample that plays in the background of these montages, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.
At the 3:17 point of the song, the high hats from the Slick Rick sample are the only thing left in the mix. But after a few more seconds, the bassline from “Can’t Find the Judge” enters, and it is much easier to identify it with everything else absent from the mix. The song closes out with numerous horn stabs from the “Stoned to the Bone” sample juxtaposed with the time-themed samples from Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy and Spoonie Gee.
I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Anatomy of a Sample, and I look forward to bringing you more of these in the future.
Please send me any requests for hip-hop songs that you would like to see featured on Anatomy of a Sample, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Bei Bei and Shawn Lee: Hot Thursday and Little Sunrise
From: Into the Wind (Ubiquity, 2010)
I don’t know if there’s a more active artist out there outside of Robert Pollard and Lil’ Wayne circa 2007 than Shawn Lee. Altogether in a little over a decade he’s had a hand in nearly 22 albums. Some are solo projects, some are soundtracks (Bully, The Getaway), some are with his funk Orchestra and some are with mystery characters (The Clutchy Hopkins albums). He’s worked within genres including afrobeat, funk, instrumental hiphop, soul and often uses many different latin genres as inspiration as well.
On this new album with Bei Bei he veers into eastern instruments adding funk to the Gu Zheng playing of Bei Bei. While it might be that my only real familiarity with the instrument is from foreign flicks that usually have their share of battles to the sounds of the Gu Zheng, I think its the funky backdrop that makes me think of it as a the perfect soundtrack to a blaxploitation kung fu hybrid that could take place in Chinese back alleys, rooftops and basements. Even some of the song titles like The Ambush, The Tiger and The Blue Grotto lend themselves to soundtracking.
If I had to pick a track for the Opening titles it’d be Hot Thursday. Sharp drum snares and percussion back the quick and yet relaxed playing of Bei Bei. Some sounds in the backround almost duplicate the sound of sirens. I can imagine the cuts around the city, smoke on the rooftops wide shots panning around, busy streets and changing lights. It might be that I need to watch more Hong Kong cinema, or just the fact that it was a great movie, but I keep picturing scenes from Chunking Express while listening.
Little Sunrise is one of the most down tempo tracks on the album and gives Bei Bei a little more room to move with a few less instruments. The best part that Shawn Lee adds behind her is a subtle and occasional Xylophone and a latin instrument that I can’t even place at the moment. Basically this could wake me up every morning and I can’t see myself being anything other than completely relaxed. It ends uptempo and much less relaxed than it began, I imagine its saying time to get the investigation up and running again, Kung Fu thugs be damned.
In addition to Shawn Lee the record also features a little help from Georgia Ann Muldrow and a cover of Billy Paul’s East. There’s also a short EP up on the Ubiquity website that features a remix and an instrumental of one of the Georgia Ann Muldrow songs. I can’t wait for the next 20 albums Shawn Lee puts out this decade.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Gibbous and War
From: Self Titled (Honest Jon’s, 2009)
What better way to celebrate the Saints victory of which I’m not actually celebrating then to post some great Brass Ensemble music. I had been trying to get this post up for a while but now seems like the perfect time.
Despite being indebted to New Orleans, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are actually from Chicago. In a way you can hear it, as they definately stray from the traditional brass band mode. Besides the traditional brass they throw hard hitting type of hiphop rhythms and drums as well as taking from Brass marching bands and drum corps to make an epic hard hitting sound. All eight members are the sons of longtime Sun Ra collaborator Phil Cochran and you can hear the inspiration of the Arkestra in their music.
Both songs are off of their self titled album. What you’ll first notice is almost all their songs aren’t longer than 3-4 minutes. Solos find there way in but 1-2 minute trumpet solos are rare. They move to fast and too hard to get caught up with drawn out solos. Gibbous is a marching band brass epic. It barely lasts 3 minutes of solid brass funk. This is exactly why I’m excited to hear what they do with Gorillaz on their new Plastic Beach album.
The 2nd track is War which is carried by a dirty hard trumpet part. This song is begging to be remixed and rapped over and makes me wish I had Just Blaze’s phone number. Tuesday night I was able to see Brother Ali perform at a Haiti Benefit show and he rapped over a Hypnotic Brass Ensemble track. That might have been my favorite moment of the entire night.
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