Various
Artists - ‘Funked’ Volumes 1 - 3
Spectrum
Music
Available
Now as 3 Individual CD’s
First
of all let’s forget the music for a moment and give Universal/Spectrum
some credit for delivering the goods on soul music of late. From soul,
funk, and Motown they really are THE company at the moment, and may their
success continue indefinatly.
OK so what we have here is three individual CD’s charting the success of a musical phenonemum know as ‘funk’ throughout the whole of the seventies. Volume 1 takes the period ‘70-73’ and includes all well know classics so I won’t bore you with any intricate details suffice to say that James Brown features heavily on this volume with the much sampled ‘Funky Drummer’ and parts 1 & 2 of ‘Sex Machine’ (possibly the greatest funk tune of all-time) and ‘Soul Power’ plus ‘Make It Funky’
James Brown fans will instantly recognise Bobby Byrd’s ‘I Need Help’ (parts 1 & 2) and ‘I Know You Got Soul’ which are still highly collectable almost thirty years on. Lynn Collins is represented too with ‘Think’ and you will find this tune featured on our James Brown review. Motown get three of their classics included with the Temptation’s in ‘Ball of Confusion’ and the former lead singer of that group Eddie Kendricks with ‘Girl You Need A Change of Mind’ and Marvin Gaye’s wonderous ‘What’s Going On’ from 1972 .
Barry White, whilst being a prolific songwriter during the mid to late sixties broke commercially in 1973 and his excellent debut single issued on Pye International ‘I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby’ gets a worthy inclusion on this volume although I am somewhat puzzled as to whether this and the Marvin Gaye song can be classed as FUNK.
Billy Preston issued an unusual instrumental back in ‘73’ having finished his stint with the Beatles with ‘Outa Space’ which still generates interest in rare groove circles as does ‘Fencewalk’ by Mandrill issued in that same year on Polydor.
Fifteen storming songs from an era that defined funk music - essential!
Volume 2
This set takes in the years 73-77 and is the strongest (in my opinion) of the three volumes. During a time when disco was the ‘in’ thing these tunes were up amongst the best. No surprises here as the legendary Kool & the Gang take the honours with four of their hits included, in ‘Funk Stuff’/’Jungle Boogie’/’Spirit of the Boogie’/’Holywood Swinging’ all issued on Polydor/Deelight around ‘75’ and were huge floor fillers of the day.
Creative Source whose singles for Sussex during that period are highly collectable and the inclusion of their 1973 classic ‘Who Is He and What Is He To You’ gets star billing (though I wish the instrumental version could be issued sometime) which was covered at some point by Doris Troy on UK People around the same time.
Other well defined funk artists/songs get their masterpieces on the playlists with Cameo/Ohio Players/Parliament/Bar-Kays, although again I fail to recognise Leon Haywood’s ‘I Wanna Do Something Freaky’ and the Jackson Sisters ‘I Believe In Miracles’ as true funk tunes even as good as they are.
The Commodores tune ‘Sanctified’ is as good as you can get and if I remember right formed part of a three track single back in 1975 of which sold quite well in its day. Eddie Kendricks’ ‘Keep on Truckin’ showed that the former Temptations lead singer could survive with a solo career and this modest hit set the standards for future great songs to emenate from the great singer. It’s a shame that we would lose such a talent in years to come.
The US based People label spawned many a collectable 45 and one of the rarest had to be ‘Soul Power 74’ by James Brown sidekicks Maceo & the Macks that sums up whole funk scene of that period.
Another great collection of classics that somehow sound even better on CD
Volume 3
This CD sees out the decade of dance from 77-80. Motown was still hot with a number of their acts seeing UK chart success one way or another. Marvin Gaye had a new sound and kept dance floors busy in ‘77’ with ‘Got To Give It Up’ (issued on 12” too) whilst ex Jackson’s member Jermaine found himself in a similar position with ‘Let’s Get Serious’. New names on the Motown rosta included Tata Vega whose catchy uptempo tune ‘Get It Up For Love’ gets inclusion on this set (as well as on Magnum Opus 2) and Rick James and Teena Marie with ‘You and I’ and ‘I’m Just A Sucker For Your Love’ respectively. Both these artists went on to have major hits with Motown in the 1980’s.
Barry White by this time was a major force on the music scene with almost every one of his recordings turning gold and his infectious and seductive ‘It’s Ecstasy’ is still ranked by many as one of his finest moments. Vibes man Roy Ayers was never far away from any decent dance floor and Spectrum have made a good choice in including ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’ issued on Polydor back in the late part of the 1970’s.
The jewel in the crown for me has to be Chicago soul legend Gene Chandler whose ‘Get Down’ became one of the biggest dance tunes of the decade (but again not really a funk track?) but its such a good tune who cares anyway.
I never cared much for the Gap Band although their novelty ‘Oops’ gets inclusion as well as ‘Burn Rubber On Me’ and other notable anthems by Cameo and Parliament make up the fifteen songs on this disc.
If you consider that all three CD’s will cost you around £20 to buy for which you get forty five of the best songs of that era you will no doubt agree that that is great value for money.