Now here’s something very special indeed – a three CD set containing fifty six of the hottest funk tracks over the last thirty years you could wish for. What makes this set stand out head and shoulders above the rest is that it includes many of the lesser known tunes which on close inspection are equally as good as the others but for one reason or another didn’t get the commercial exposure at the time of release (via radio etc) to turn them into commercial successes that so many achieved too on this CD.

Sure, the hip club DJ’s in the UK gave them enough exposure at dancefloor level to turn them into in-demand rare grooves, (but this was often many years after the initial release date)  leaving a lot of artists without a hit song that they needed at the time to kick start their career, and often only enjoying cult status years after. The term funk is often seen as a seventies ‘buzz’ word thanks to the likes of James Brown, Kool & the Gang, Parliament, and the Fatback Band but to name a few, but it went back much further in particular to the sixties where the likes of Dyke & the Blazers whose 1968 ‘Funky Broadway’ is a prime example of sixties funk, as well as the guitar riff on Sam & Daves’ 1967 hit ‘Soul Man’.

The Motown Record Corporation utilised the songwriting genius of Norman Whitfield during the early seventies to record a number of funk psychedelic songs for the Temptations, and The Undisputed Truth and whilst it was confined in the main to a three year stint, it was the funk master himself James Brown who made this form of music commercial and acceptable after his million selling ‘Sex Machine’ of 1971, although he had been instrumental in introducing it some years earlier via other hit songs such as ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ (1965) and ‘Cold Sweat’ (1966).

Other artists were quick to follow and we saw the emergence of such groups as Kool & the Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, Parliament, Fatback Band, and Creative Source whose instrumemntal version of ‘Who Is He and What Is He To You’ issued on Sussex Records in the summer of 1973 must rate as the most awesome groove of the century. That same year saw the release of ‘Street Dance’ from the Fatback Band and it seemed at the time that the whole of the UK was hooked on funk. As well as records from James Brown just about everything that was classed as soul had a funk influence including Jean Knight’s Stax recording of ‘Mr Big Stuff’ to Kool and the Gang’s ‘Funky Stuff’ and the unforgettable ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’ from Tom Brown’ Listen to any version of ‘Soul Makossa’ to experience the best of this type of dance music.

Whilst a number of the above mentioned tunes are not featured on this CD they serve as perfect examples of became the funk phenomenum of the seventies, and just about everything on these three CD’s are worthy of your immediate attention. Black bands, white bands, jazz bands, all followed suit and to a certain degree enjoyed at least one chart hit (Average White Band – ‘Pick Up The Pieces’) but it was the soul groups who knew how to deliver it best. The selections on this set are clearly taken from Sanctuary Music’s group of labels with the overall selection representing the best (but by no means all) of the soul and funk grooves via the companies Sanctuary & Sequel labels.

Dynamite funk songs incuding ‘Ninja Walk’ from the Fatback Band’ and the much underrated ‘Hypertension’ from Calender (which appeared as a UK 45 on All Platinum in 1975). Laura Lee is well represented with her brilliant ‘Crumbs Off The Table’ and ‘Woman’s Love Right’s’ and fellow Invictus diva Freda Payne has her ‘Unhooked Generation’ and the unusually titled ‘Mother Misery’s Favourite Child’, and staying with Invictus you will find the instrumental version of Holland & Dozier’s ‘Baby Don’t Leave Me’. Other standout killer tracks include the rare groove ‘Dancing In Outer Space’ by Atmosphere, as well as William De Vaughan’s seventies smoocher ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’.

Funk wasn’t just a groove thing, it was also about straight grooves utlising funky overlicks from stabbing brass breaks to funky guitar riffs from the likes of Bernard Edwards/Nile Rogers etc. ‘We Got The Funk’ has everything you will ever need to appreciate the quality and impact this style of music has, and continues to have in this day and age as new artists incorporate the basics into current rap and hip-hop etc. Whilst my own personal tastes tend to steer towards non-funk songs I have to admit that almost twelve years of my DJ career centred around the playing of these type of songs at club level – I have personally witnessed major dancefloor reaction to some of these tunes.

Whether you need to update worn out vinyl copies of these songs, or are contemplating buying a true ‘funk’ album make no mistake that they don’t come better than ‘We Got The Funk’

Full tracklisting;

Disc 1;
Positive Force – We Got The Funk
Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson – A Real Mother For You
Freda Payne – Unhooked Generation
Laura Lee – Crumbs Off The Table
Honey Cone – Sunday Morning People
Fatback Band – Ninja Walk
The Rimshots – 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (blow your whistle)
Calender – Hypertension
Atmosfear – Dancing In Outer Space
Lonnie Youngblood – Black Is So Bad
Mutiny – How’s Your Loose Booty
Osibisa – Sunshine Day
Cymande – The Message
Parliament – Come In Out Of The Rain
Holland & Dozier – Baby Don’t Leave Me (inst)
Kay Gees – You’ve Got To Keep ON Bumpin’
Whatnauts – Dance To The Music
Curtis Mayfield – Freddie’s Dead
William de Vaughan – Be Thankful For What You Got
 
Disc 2;
Dizzy Gillespie – The Matrix
Johnny Pate – Brother On The Ron (opening)
Roy Budd – Diamonds
8th Day – Cheba
Fatback Band – Street Dance
Flaming Ember – Fillet de Soul
Jimmy James – I Am Somebody
Cymande – Brothers On The Slide
Laura Lee – Woman’s Love Right’s
Freda Payne – Mother Misery’s Favourite Child
The Rimshots – Dance Girl
Whatnauts – Why Can’t People Be Colours Too
Pazant Brothers – Chick – A – Boom
The Politicians – The World We Live In
The Kay Gees – Get Down
The Natural High – Bump Your Lady
Brothers & Sisters – All Along The Watchtower
Chairmen Of The Board – Finders Keepers
Black Ivory – Surrender
 

Disc 3;
Sequence (feat Angie Stone) – Funk You Up
Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson – I Need It
Roy Ayers – Running Away (live)
Wood Brass & Steel - Funkanova
Brother to Brother – In The Bottle
Rhythm Makers – Zone
Parliament – I Call My Baby Pussycat
Fatback Band – Goin’ To See My Baby
Communicators/Black Experience Band – Is It Funky Enough?
Julius Brockington – Rocksteady
Willie & the Mighty Magnificants – Funky & Corners
Cymande – Bra
The Moments – Nuff Boogie
Everyday people – The Bump
Gentlemen and their Ladies – Loose Booty
The Politicians – Free Your Mind
Chairmen Of The Board – Life and Death
Ruth Copeland – Gimme Shelter

Rating 9/10
Released 16th November 2002