This was the first Fatback Band album after leaving Perception Records for a long stint with Polydor subsidiaries Event and Spring Records. It’s worth having just for the opening track, Mr. Bass Man, which is a funk classic.
Fat Larry’s Band – Off The Wall
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC | 300 dpi scans | Funk, Soul, Disco
1977 Stax Records STX-41303
Two words: Peaceful Journey… I mean, the lead-off song Sparkle is fantastic: it’s about getting it on with an alien, so how could it not be? I like to imagine it as an alternative version of the film of the same name with the Aretha Franklin / Curtis Mayfield soundtrack. But Peaceful Journey, that’s where it’s at. The group must have thought so too since it was the first single off the album, though it barely registered on the R&B charts, reaching No.98. Still, you know you have a first-rate start-to-finish funk and soul album when even the slow tunes burn with a tight, smokey groove. That rock solid beat just kills: founder and bandleader Fat Larry, aka Larry James , was a drummer. This is definitely a classic highlight from Fat Larry’s Band’s brief catalog. And, like another classic highlight, Soul Makossa, it contains an idea that Quincy and Michael J would rip off a few years later.
Bootsy Collins – Ultra Wave 1980 Warner Bros. Records BSK 3433 Since the end of summer I have been toiling away in a pretty consistent cloud of funk. Not the kind for which William Collins…
Tim Maia – Disco Club
2018 Mr. Bongo MRBLP156/ Original release 1978 Atlantic (Brazil)
I am making this blog post on May 31 so that it cannot be said that the first six months of 2020 did not have any Brazilian content whatsoever from Flabbergasted Vibes. I guess I have been kind of ‘down’ on Brazil lately – fascism has run / been running amok there and the Covid situation is just heartbreaking. Something’s got to change. But today is a holiday in the U.S. and the unofficial start of summer, so in case your BBQ needs a soundtrack, here’s a fun Tim Maia album. If you are totally new to Tim Maia, I personally wouldn’t pick Disco Club as an introduction. Not because I have a problem with the disco sound of a few tunes (and there are lots of soul tunes and a couple of funk slammers too, in case you have an irrational aversion to disco). Actually the first two tunes are an unapologetic-ally commercial take on disco without any of the underground currents or ripples which make that genre interesting, though ‘Ascendo O Farol’ scored a big hit for Tim. But putting that aside, mostly I just don’t get as excited about this album as I do about most of his other records made both before and after this one. Lots of people love the record though, so YMMV. Contributions from Hyldon and Cassiano (who died this year from Covid-19) help keep things lively. Worth having just for ‘Sossego’ alone, but there are lots of great songs here.
100 Proof Aged In Soul – 100 Proof 1972 Hot Wax HA 712 Vinyl transfer at 24-bit / 192 khz Classic soul here, on an album that has only been reissued on CD in Japan.…
Eddie Hazel – “Rest In P”
1994 P-Vine Records PCD-2884
Released in Japan
Eddie Hazel would have turned 70 years old in April of this year. This collection of rarities by Hazel is a delight for longtime fans and should impress the neophyte, though I wouldn’t recommend it for the totally uninitiated – those people should start with the first three Funkadelic albums, then Standing On The Verge of Getting It On, and then his solo album Games, Dames, and Guitar Thangs. (More comments below the break)