Sunday 15 June 2008

Let's begin then...A-Z of FUNK

I am going to be posting an A-Z of my favourite artists (and albums) for each genre. I am going to start with FUNK as it is closest to my heart (and wallet) at the moment! So here goes:

Amnesty - Free your mind (particularly 'Can I help you') - (1973)
Bobby Williams - Funky Superfly (2008)
Commodores - Machine gun ('Young girls are my weakness' is a classic!) - (1974)
Darondo - Let my people go (2006)
East Harlem Bus Stop - Get on down (1976)
Fred Wesley and the JBs - Dam'n right I am somebody (1974)
Gonzalez - Gonzalez (1974)
Harlem Underground - Harlem Underground (1976)
Ike Turner and the kings of rhythm - Black man's soul  ('Thinking black' is my all-time favourite Funk tune!) - (1969)
James Brown - The Payback (1973)
Kay Gees - Keep on bumpin' (1974)
Leon Spencer - Where i'm coming from (1973)
Mandrill - Fencewalk (anthology) - (1997)
Nite-liters - the Nite-liters (1970)
Orgone - The Killion floor (2007)
Poets of rhythm - Practice what you preach (1993)
Quantic Soul Orchestra with Spanky Wilson - I'm Thankful (2006)
Rasputin's Stash - Devil made me do it (1974)
Sly and the Family Stone - There's a riot goin' on (1971)/Stevie Wonder - Talkin' book (1972) - (come on, it's got 'Superstition' on it) – too hard a choice to settle on just one, I’m afraid!
Turner Bros - Act 1 (1974)
Undisputed Truth - Face to Face with the Truth (1971)
Various - Quantic presents the world's rarest Funk 45's volume 1 and 2 (2006/2007)
Wah Wah Watson - Elementary (1976)
X - does anyone know of a band beginning with X?
Yellow Sunshine - Yellow Sunshine (1973)
Zapp - Zapp (1980)
Other - 24 Carat Black - Ghetto (1973)


So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? And Why?
If you just want to comment on one album or give alternative chioce for a letter please do so. This is after all a space for your thoughts! I would value your opinion!

12 comments:

Vinyl4Giants said...

these sound great. does this mean you're going to post them? I could really use a few of them. peace!

jajaonan said...

No, this is solely a forum but send me yourr e-mail and i'll see what i can do

funkymf said...

Love the Commodores. What about The Meters - Rejuvanation, that's a classic !

jajaonan said...

I haven't heard Rejuvanation - i hacve the best of - is this their best album? What's your favourite Commodores album - i Love Machine Gun!

Anonymous said...

That`s a great list. I just posted my suggestion on the letter b: Bernard Wright - Nard (1981). Your comment on the Stevie Wonder album is so right. "Superstition" gots enough funk to "compensate" the more mellow vibe of the rest of the album. I just love the drum intro.

jajaonan said...

Nard is a classic, your right! Has he done any other good stuff that anyone knows of?

Anonymous said...

A great selection which got me crate digging in response. I can't agree more with Cymande making the list. 'Fug' and 'Bra'...just three little letters each but huge slices of funk. Also, the Sly album is a classic and appears in many 'cross over' great album lists. For pure uplifting party funk 'Dance to the Medley' (12.12 mins of heaven) contains Music is alive/Dance In/ Hey music lover wrapped over each other with those fantastic drop outs that house music later borrowed. Stroke of genius for a club. I was thinking maybe 'The Champ' album by the Mohawks for the title track and 'Beat me till I'm blue'. Unrivalled hammond groove and sample classic.

jajaonan said...

Your right about the sly stone house connection. Maybe he invented it and not these modern-day djs? I love 'Champ' but was thinking of doing a leftfield A-Z list and putting it on that - what do you think too much?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I suppose Champ is more 'funky' than 'funk'. The problem with listsis where do you stop...or do you need to? I did a bit of research into the Mohawks and found out that the band's front man is an 'Alan Hawkshaw'/session guy and composer who went on in later life to write...The Grange Hill theme. Weird world!

jajaonan said...

Yeah Alan Hawkshaw, was quite a dude! But, even the grange hill theme is cool and funky, don't you think?

In regards to when to stop the lists, i don't know - i may have started an unmentionable task of which i may never finish but that, for me, is wherein the pleasure lies!

marts said...

More p-funk!

JJ Moneysauce said...

Nice call on Gonzalez. My Gonzalez record is one of the prizes in my collection.