Category: Funk

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Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves The Sunshine (1976) (2016 UMG Gold Reissue)

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Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Original release 1976 Polydor
2016 Reissue – Polydor / The Verve Music Group B0024310-01

This 40th anniversary gold pressing is a nice reissue of one of the high points of Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s catalog. There is less vibraphone and a lot more Arp on this one. Every song a winner. Also, it seems like only a matter of time before the track “Lonesome Cowboy” gets used in a Coen Brothers film. Or maybe Tarantino. Anyway enjoy it before they ruin it.  The whole album successfully grafts its cosmic jazz-funk onto the kind of broad positivity preached by pre-Riot era Sly Stone (with “People And The World” sounding like a bit like a discarded Family Stone jam).

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Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Virgo Red (1973) (Polydor PD-6016)

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Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Virgo Red
1973 Polydor PD-6016
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | Art scans at 300 dpi

An underrated Roy Ayers Ubiquity album, Virgo Red has to overcome the fact that it leads off with its weakest track, a cover of the Hot Chocolate song “Brother Louie”, which became a #1 hit for Stories and was ruined for all perpetuity by disgraced comedian Louis C.K. Blame it on his time playing with hirsute Herbie Mann if you will, but Roy seemingly couldn’t pass up an opportunity for cheesy covers of pop songs. Continue reading

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Helio Matheus – Matheus Segundo Matheus (1975) (AOTNLP017)

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Helio Matheus – Matheus Segundo Matheus (1975)
Original release, RCA-Victor, Brazil
2018 Reissue, Athens Of The North, AOTNLP017

A short-and-sweet Friday post for you to get your weekend started on point.  Scottish label Athens Of The North (or AOTN) serves up a reissue of this cult classic that, thanks to a collector’s market gone mad, I will never be able to afford as an original pressing. No idea what they used for their source but it sounds pretty decent, so I feel like this label has done music fans a huge favor by making it available.   As you can see below, the list of contributing musicians here is huge and includes members of Azymuth, Sá, Rodrix & Guarabyra and other heavyweights. Helio himself was well established as a writer and arranger in MPB circles at this time, but recorded very little under his own name. It’s a solid offering of samba-soul, samba-rock, MPB, and even a little dreamy orchestral psychedelic pop thrown in. It may have some questionable lyrics (for example, “Briguenta”) but the grooves make up for it. Plus it has maybe the best back-cover photograph of all time..

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James Gilstrap – Love Talk (1976) (Roxbury Records RLX 105)

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James Gilstrap – Love Talk
1976 Roxbury Records RLX 105

Jim Gilstrap is better known as a backup singer, but Stevie Wonder fans might know him for singing the first verse of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, which also makes him the first voice you hear on the epic Talking Book.  His name appears on tons of albums. You can see a partial list of his session credits here , where you can see that he was very busy in the 1970s, working in the worlds of rock, soul, jazz, and funk.  The fact that Gene Page did the arranging on this record is also worth noting. This album, which has never appeared on CD, is a nice, short set of soulful disco-funk, and the mellow version of Todd Rundgren’s “Hello, It’s Me” has me wondering if Prince ever covered the song on solo piano. Continue reading

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Prince – Let’s Work b/w Gotta Stop (Messin’ About)

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Prince – Let’s Work
1982 Warner Bros. Records – DWBS 50028
Vinyl, 12″, Single, SRC Pressing

A good portion of the world is celebrating a holiday today:  the day that His Purple Majesty passed on into the Afterworld, leaving us on our own, three years ago.  Hence, this is technically a sombre holiday post. Continue reading

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Rufus Thomas – Do The Funky Chicken (1970)

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RUFUS THOMAS
Do The Funky Chicken
Stax Records 1970 STS-2028
Reissue 2011

There weren’t too many people who could almost steal a show from Isaac Hayes in the early 70s, but Rufus Thomas almost accomplished that feat at the famous Wattstax festival,w with his rendition of the title track from this album (see below for a great clip). Continue reading