Tag: disco funk

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Fat Larry’s Band – Off The Wall (1977) (Stax STX-4103) Day 3 of FV’s 12 Days of Christmas

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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. Continue reading

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Universal Togetherness Band – Universal Togetherness Band (2015)

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Universal Togetherness Band – Universal Togetherness Band
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Art at  300 dpi
24-bit 192 khz – 1.57 GB | 24 bit 96 khz – 838 MB | 281 MB 16-bit 44.1 khz
Numero Groupo NUM57 | Released 2015 | Funk – Soul – Jazz-Funk

Dr. Vibes’ Twelve Days of Christmas – Day 4:  Numero Group are the reigning kings of releasing “lost” music. I have joked in the past, among select company of course, that on occasion some of that music probably could have remained lost. But it is clearly a labor of love for them, and the fine attention to detail in the research, liner notes, rare photos, and decent audio restoration and mastering more than compensates for the occasional lackluster release (and, of course, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure etc.) But whereas a great deal of Numero’s lost music is usually comprised  7″ singles by singers or groups who may have had a local or regional fan base, released by indie labels in numbers small enough to be destined for 21st-century audio archeologists, The Universal Togetherness Band is another story – an entire album of material, recorded in pristine quality as a student project through the audio engineering program at Columbia College in Chicago (a small arts college with a strong practical, ‘hands-on’ component, for kids who can’t afford the elite Art Institute down the street..).  The end result was top-notch jazz-funk-disco-soul that would have fit nicely with any of the groups on the De-Lite Records roster or a similar outfit.  Continue reading

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One Way featuring Al Hudson – Music / Now That I’ve Found You (1979) (12″ extended single)

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One Way featuring Al Hudson – Music / Now That I Found You (12″ extended single)
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Art at  300 dpi
24 bit 96 khz – 312 MB | 108 MB 16-bit 44.1 khz
MCA Records L33-1853 White Label Promo | Released 1979  | Disco / Soul / Funk

I’ve been too busy to blog but not to boogie.  Here is a quick snack, an extended mix of the jam “MUSIC” from One Way (featuring Al Hudson), featured on their first LP.  The B Side, “Now That I Found You” is a pop-crossover number and kind of a throw-away IMHO.  The A-side is what you want here.  Great track!

A Music 8:00
B Now That I Found You 7:55 Continue reading

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Flabbergasted Freeform #19 – The “Lost Episode”

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It’s been a year since the last Flabbergasted Freeform, and ten months since the last “Focus” podcast of old calypso and soca.  There are a bunch of reasons why I didn’t feel like doing them any more, but I won’t go into them here.  But since this month marks the TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the blog, I thought it called for some special commemorations.  This Freeform mix was done in December of last year and was only circulated privately.  It’s a good time, though, so I’m sharing it with the world now and hope the world enjoys it.  The first person to find the couple bars of “Them Changes” quoted in another song gets a free Secret Decoder Ring. That is, as soon as I get them from the magazine I ordered where I ordered a dozen of these powerful devices, which happened to be a back issue from 1958, so please be patient.

You can stream the podcast at Mixcloud or get it directly from the link below the widget.

[mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/flabbergastedvibes/flabbergasted-freeform-19-the-lost-episode/ width=100% height=120 hide_cover=1]