Mervyn Kem – ‘Working Aberration’
Mervyn Kem – ‘Calm Before the Storm’
Mervyn Kem – ‘Restricted Labor – Part I & II’

Introduction

Yes, yes there is lost funk in your town and I recommend you go find it!

Above is some lost funk from the great city of Denver, a cassette album known as ‘Working Aberration’ by Mervyn Kem Williams – check it out …

Backstory to ‘Working Aberration’

In 1993, George Clinton & The P-Funk All Stars came to the Denver’s Ogden Theater. It was the tour for P-Funk’s ‘Hey Man Smell My Finger’ album. Andy from Albums on the Hill arranged an in store appearance for George. I always thank Andy for an introduction to George which began my long association with P-Funk. Anyways, I digress, back to the story behind ‘Working Aberration’ which does involve the P-Funk concert.

George Clinton signed poster from his 1993 tour , http://www.albumsonthehill.com/

In 1993, just felt like the Mothership hadn’t landed in Denver for a long time. A lot of pent up demand for the P-Funk was in the air.

I roll into the dark deep Odgen theater for the 1993 P-Funk show. I had already told George early in the day that I was ready to sing with the P. So I made sure to be in the front row of the audience so I could sing my ass of and get the full P-Funk experience. Bootsy had rolled through town a year earlier at the Gothic Theater on Broadway (the first version of it), and it wasn’t a show for Bootsy – it was Bootsy’s Rubber Band as the backing band for Dee-Lite. Anyways, I digress again. What I am trying to say is I think we all felt in the audience, like wow, finally P-Funk is in Denver ; let’s get geeked!

J.T. + Dwayne

Right up front with me before the show was a real tall brother. As we waited and waited, this guy who finally introduced himself as JT (his given name – Johnny Taylor – he’s also on this ‘Working Aberration’ album). JT and I kind of got into it. Like he was singing songs from all over the Parliament catalog. Maybe into the Bootsy catalog, even some Bernie Worrell jams. I’m just getting into it to, completing every line JT would lead off with in the “pre show singing / P-Funk quizzing”. This is sort of the era, I believe, BEFORE there were legions of jambander type peoples following P-Funk. So I think me coming in there, they weren’t expecting a very young white guy to know these songs. JT was like, “how do you know all these songs!?!?”. I am sure he was just playing, but it seemed like he got madder and madder the more songs I cited

Finally after introductions, JT told me how I should meet his friend Dwayne Wilson. I’m not sure if I met Dwayne that night, or if I got JT’s telephone number or what. Dwayne and I are both musicians, we both love P-Funk, so JT said it would be good if we would meet. At the time, Dwayne was working with a mixed funk ‘hippie hop’ group, aka Pepperment, which you can read about here (link). So I guess go to a P-Funk show, in 1993, that’s one way to find the lost funk in your town.

Denver’s Westword Magazine – 1990’s article on Pepperment

Merv Kem Williams

So when I finally hooked up with Dwayne and got started working on new music with this motley crew of Denver funkers, I was introduced to one of the guys from this crew, Mervyn Kem Williams, aka Merv. He was getting his album together at the time. I wonder if he pressed vinyl of his finished effort ever. I noticed Disc Makers did this ‘Working Aberration’ tape.

Merv is a real unassuming dude. He has so much funk though. Always a smile on his face, he’s just not like the musician who you know as a the musician’s musician – he would just be in Denver’s kitchens just serving up some good food. Yet Merv’s concepts and songwriting are unparalleled and his resulting solo album from 1994, ‘Working Aberration’ is full of funk. It is likely my favorite ‘indie funk’ tape of all time. I describe Merv’s aura as kind of like if you melded Bootsy Collins and Phil Collins together with a dash of Mark Knopfler.

I won’t post the entire album, but there are some slabs of clean liquid funk. I’m not sure how Merv got the sound here, because the Pepperment sound Merv was playiung around with was way different and much more loose. I heard some of the demos for this album, and they were way different. For instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3UK4DD9Y9o

Songs

First up, I posted the title track, ‘Working Aberration’. It’s the first track on the tape, and I’m not sure how to even classify the genre of music. It’s got some nice horn lines by Denverites Doug Jackson (trumpet) and Melvin Bell (sax) that open up the song. Then some fresh jazzy bass runs from a guy named D.A. Oldis. You start to wonder about these local funkers, what they do now and where they are, and maybe Dwayne Wilson will add some context below in the comments. The ‘Aberration’ title track is like some kind of pop-new wave funk that could also be right out of the mid eighties as a top 100 massive hit. There is a burning guitar solo from a guy named Dan Bontranger. This one has it all. I’m not even sure I know what a ‘Working Aberration’ is – but the track is certified funk regardless.

‘Calm Before the Storm’ is another selection I chose, a slow burner. I mean it’s epic pop funk. Again, this to me could be right on the charts in the mid eighties – with a smokey music video and all. It’s likely my favorite from the set.

Finally the most funky jam on this tape comes way at the end – ‘Restricted Labor – Parts 1 & 2′. This jam starts off with a sexy (or sexist depending on how you hear it) boogie funk rap jam from rapper Trae Dog, and then the song morphs into an all out funk stomper with Merv and Dwayne Wilson handling the P-Funk like vocal duties. It really is a two part song – part one, the rap, and part 2 the funk stomper.

I didn’t post my other favorites from the tape, ‘You’re Not a Stranger’, ‘Another Funky Song’, and ‘What Comes Naturally’. Let’s hope this tape gets reissued.

Here are the credits and the art work by Dwayne Wilson.