Edwin Birdsong – Funtaztik
1981 Salsoul Records SA 8550
A cult hit if only because of the iconic “Rapper Dapper Snapper”, the whole record is solid. Edwin Birdsong is an interesting guy who is associated with another really interesting guy, the recently-deceased Roy Ayers. I have a few more of Edwin’s albums to share. I’ll get right on that, which means you can expect them sometime before 2030.
The second tune here is a ballad (it was required that the 2nd or 3rd song be a ballad on any funk or soul albums in the late 70s to early 80s…) and it is the weakest tune here, as Birdsong isn’t enough of a vocalist to really pull it off. Cool arrangement though. Really, you’re here for the dance-floor bangers, bubbly analog synths, and weird lyrics. And there’s plenty of that to enjoy. If you are short on time, I recommend sampling tracks A1, A3, B2, and and B3 to see whether your on board or not.
Like so many artists I’m fond of, Birdsong had trouble staying signed with any one label, being signed and dropped by Polydor, releasing a record on Philadelphia indie label Bam-bu records, then signing with Philly International, and finally this album with Salsoul. This was his sole release for the Salsoul label, and his last album. He continued to do session work off and on, but the main way his legacy continued was through being sampled by too many artists to name, from A Tribe Called Quest to Daft Punk.
Label/Cat#: Salsoul Records – SA 8550
Country: US
Year: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Funk, Soul
Style: Funk, Disco, Boogie
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Tracklist
A1 – Win Tonight (07:22)
A2 – Fortune & Fame (04:57)
A3 – Funtaztik (06:20)
B1 – Two Faced Lover (07:07)
B2 – Good Lovin’ Brings An Encore (06:04)
B3 – Rapper Dapper Snapper (06:38)
Total length: 38:28
LINEAGE:
1981 Salsoul Records SA 8550;
Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica Signet TK7E cartridge;
AT-618 Disc Stabilizer weight;
Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 preamp with Philips NOS ECC83 tubes powered by Accu-box battery PSU;
Audioquest Black Mamba and Pangea Premier interconnect cables;
RME Babyface Pro interface;
Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; clicks and pops removed manually in Audition; for some fade-outs, Click Repair was used in ‘manual’ mode;
resampled, dithered, converted to FLAC using iZotope RX Advanced.
Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.
Record cleaned on Music Hall WCS-3 machine with homebrew fluid.
ALL RESOLUTIONS (mp3 / FLAC 16-44.1 / FLAC 24- 96 / FLAC 24-192)
24/96 FLAC Mirror 1 || Mirror 2
Great stuff! Thank you Dr. Vibes!
Nice to see you back! Best wishes from Berlin