The first volumes of Funky Soundtracks and The Chase Scene appeared and the Rare Funk series screeched sharply round a corner smashing empty cardboard boxes into the air to ensure Vol. 3 and 4 were soundtrack editions.
The calendar said 1994 but funk-loving crate diggers were avidly hunting for soundtrack lps from 25 years earlier.
1994 wasn't just about Lalo n' Quincy n' Roy though as creeping on to numerous bootleg lps were Afrobeat tracks.
Afrobeat had always been popular in mainland Europe but acquired new devotees in the UK as younger jazz DJs discovered it's dancefloor potential.
In addition to homegrown boots some killer 'Various. Not On Label. Unofficial' jazz comps blew into the UK from the hot clubs of France.
forumusic presents...
The 90s Boot Boom: Part 2
1994: The Year Of Funky Soundtracks
Vinyl Dogs Volume Two
A plain black generic sleeve and no sticker. A disappointing opening to Boot Store Ninety Four? Don't be fooled. This litte beauty has four rows of teeth.
The presence of two dogs munching vinyl informs us it's Volume 2 from the canine Dexters known as Vinyl Dog Records. With the exception of the bizarre Electric Funky Afro Sound and Tribal Africanism compilations there were only scatterlings of Afrobeat on boots up until this point.
There are three Afrobeat killers on here with Mulatu of Ethiopa - Kasalefkut-hulu opening proceedings with translucent vibes rippling around warm clear horn motifs to create an oddly introspective funk sound. Immediately following this Manzel - Midnight's Theme soulfully shifts the mood from cool to warm with long smooth string sounds and fattened analogue synth hooks. Too close to Shakatak for some folks perhaps but it's fine by us and works perfectly here.
The good news for those who can't digest large amounts of Afrobeat without drifting off is that all three tracks are sequenced around breakbeat-rich jazz funk and soul. Side A ends with the wondrous S.O.B - The Soil I Tilled For You, a drop-dead beautiful slice slice of rough hewn old school soul.
George Semper-Get Out Of My Life Woman bashes Side B into life before you are completely immersed in the haunting plucked bass and marimba brilliance of Heath Brothers - Smilin' Billy Pt 2 sounding clearer here than it does on any other boot.
Bwana - Chapumbambe expertly pitches the tempo up and lays the table for a truncated sip of reggae -lite action with Clyde McPhatter - Mixed Up Cup.
Assagai - Telephone Girl rings and brings proceedings to funky closure and the New Jersey born dogs curl up on their blanket for the night.
Why is this superb boot so cheap when the price of less well-heeled ones is rising? We're guessing it's the lack of glossy packaging and the only naked breasts on display are canine.
Funky Soundtracks (!)
The best known series of soundtrack boots began in 1994. As a primer for funky 70s thriller / blaxploitation movies this particular Funky Soundtracks has everything except Hawaii 5-0 despite the presence of Jack 'Book Em Danno' Lord on the cover.
Ed Griffiths credits the Funky Soundtracks boots as being an early inspiration to him and Gentleman Ed certainly knows his celluloid onions. His OST site www.blaxploitation.com was one of the earliest on the internet and too many people it's still the best site for relaible soundtrack reviews.
Eschewing the straight route of just comping main soundtrack themes it's the lesser-known incidentals that really make this compilation sparkle. It's a treasure trove of wah-wah action movie funk. There is some serious guitar-shredding on Quincy Jones - Fat Poppadaddy. Two of the top soundtrack Johnnys are represented with Johnny Pate - You're Starting Too Fast giving up some strutting breakbeat and harmonica whilst Johnny Harris - Stepping Stones pours forth a relentless cacophany of percussion.
Reminding us action movie tunes are not all about volume Lalo Schifrin - On The Way To San Mateo is a speedboat of whispered flute and taut guitar riffs slicing through ripples of percussion.
Quincy Jones - Dirty Harry's Creed travels in similar fashion but twists and turns darkly with ominous chord changes and hollow drum stops and starts. A master of this genre at the peak of his powers.
This lp is an education for the uninitiated. Beautifully mastered and literally every track a winner. This best of Funky Soundtracks compilation sounds as fresh today as it did in 1994 / 1974 / 1973 etc.
We've cheated a little here by featuring SSC 5034 which is a later compilation of the best tracks from the first two Funky Soundtracks lps but Vol. 1 did make it's debut in 94 and Vol. 2 came out in 95..
This Best Of pressing has ! on the spine so it's actually Funky Soundtracks! which makes another ! for the ! boot list and we can't even begin to explain why details like this make us happy.
The Big Line-Up!
We stated baldly in Part 1 that ! titles gradually faded. Five ! in Part 1, four ! in 1994 but there are none in our next chapter so make the most of ! titles here.
In the Year of The Funky Soundtrack exclaiming was no longer cool and even shouting Get Off The Ground! was a little old hat. This didn't stop Raiders of the Lost Music capitalizing on the massive interest in all things jazz following the explosion of interest in jazz dance and the Acid Jazz scene. This excellent compilation again runs a jazz gamut from soulful to dance and Latin mixing vocal, small group and big band orchestral.
This one is a slow burner. Unimpressed to begin with we can only conclude our newbie jazz ears were not fully tuned in on the first listen. The standout track for us on Side 1 is Nancy Wilson - Sunshine. Unfolding at a leisurely pace over nearly seven minutes it sounds oddly out of time like a track from one of those ubiquitous Ibiza Chill Out compilations that flooded the cd world around the turn of the century. We're far enough away from the noughties to say that now aren't we?
A tasty piece of raer from Jazz drummer and bebop pioneer Kenny Clarke kicks off Side Two with a Big Bang. It's a powerhouse of a track from the very sought after Jazz A Confronto lp on Horo which is neither cheap nor
easy to find but you can at least experience a bang from it here for very little money.
Brazilian supergroup Grupo Medusa keep the jazz train on track with a hybrid Latin / fusion flavoured instrumental called Ferrovias from their 1983 lp of the same name.
There's not space here to praise Azymuth - Esperando Minha Vez or Alice Clark - Don't You Care but suffice to say this is a quality compilation from start to finish.
Like other boot labels Raiders of The Lost Music kept their fingers firmly on the pulse of the 90s crate-digging scene. By their third volume they were including tracks from easy listening scene favourites James Last and Tony Hatch.
From The Funk Side
An excellent compilation of unrelenting old school funk with no concessions whatsoever to any other genres that were mixed so freely on many boots.
We're not experts but the general consensus about some early funk boots is that they contain seriously rare and expensive 45s. Using Popsike in January 2012 as a barometer suggests From The Funk Side doesn't contain as many raers as The Sound Of Funk Volume 1 but an original The Soul Believers with The Dapps appears to be very shy of showing it's face in public. We'd be grateful for any rarity / value enlightenment in the forum from any folks closer to the funk scene itself. This is definitely not a rare boot and the Dexter we spoke to who was heavily involved in The Sound Of Funk Volume 1 also had a hand in this.
Cracking tracks to our ears on Side 1 include The Last Word - Keep On Bumpin' with its spacey analogue synth burbling around some crisp sax breaks. It's a party on it's own with rapping, chatting and female harmony lead vocals. Maintaining the live feel Freddie & The Kinfolk - Mashed Potato Popcorn sounds like a jam in a school playground that's just as much fun as their Blabbermouth / The Goat 45 which is worth checking out if like us you like your funk with goat sounds. It's still pretty cheap too. Beats and bleats is the next big thing. You heard it here first.
VG+ member Francis thinks this lp has the only untampered-with vinyl version of Maceo - Tighten Up available anywhere. It's a superb four minute clarion call to get off a chair and throw yourself around.
Great tracks on Side 2 from The Sons Of Funk and Shirley Jean and the Relations are a reminder of how many different tempos and textures funk embraced. We're presently loving the strident piano of The Dee Felice Trio - There Was A Time which adopts a deep and punchdrunk sinister edge when slowed down Popcorn-style. Result!.
The Sons Of Funk - From The Back Side has cheeky shades of being a Mancini arrangement. Deliciously close to being a funk Pink Panther, it's a shame it fades out just as the guitar riffing is warming up.
From The Funk Side is an essential funk boot.
Original! Sounds presents...All Souls Avenue Volume 7
Two All Souls Avenue compilations exist. There is a Volume 2 and a Volume 7. The catalogue number suggests Volume 7 came out first. Confused?
The sleeve says Raj Gupta - Sindra Sitar is the first track. It's a wonderfully mellow slice of JB-inspired retro funk anchored by fat synth with Wah Wah guitar and Hammond organ shredding all over 'It's Your Thing' horn stabs. Only it's not Raj Gupta it's Afrique - House Of The Rising Funk which is listed as track 2 and track 2 is actually Nico Gomez - Lupita despite track 3 being mis-titled as Nico Gomez - Blupita. Definitely no Blue Peter badge for that wordplay . All Souls Avenue Volume 7should really be retitled Obfuscation Street.
Nonsense aside this is another excellent comp. Following on from Afrique's mellow mid-tempo funk and Nico's strange Latin / Lost In Space hybid chant-a-long is Wanda Jackson - Possibility Back Home.
The tempo is laid to rest but the funk groove remains and underpins Wanda's fine spoken delivery. A similar roots of rap feel also runs through Linda 'Tequila' Logan's vocal on Larry Young's Fuel - Turn Out The Light. The co-producer of the track states ' Tequila's vocal on this was completely unscripted, free-form and off the hook... nothing was written.... '
Side Two includes sure-fire killer Willis Jackson - Nuther'n Like Thuthr'n. This is a long Sidewinder-style guitar and sax jam that's as jazzy and finger-click'n and as slipper'n and slider'n as moonwalking on ice and there are seven minutes worth of it. Ace!
So what's the last track on the lp? The sleeve says Mary 'Queenie' Lyons but it isn't and there's a sitar twanging all over it. Raj Gupta? Hello? Is that you?
Despite being a funk, soul, jazz and Latin comp there's an adventurousness in the selection and seguing of All Souls that points toward the free-wheeling, multi-genre boots that were to come.
A brilliant compilation that's hard to find so snap it up if you see it. Limited cash-only distribution meant some boots were pressed in numbers as low as 500. Given it's scarcity this could well be one of them.
The Chase Scene
Between 94 and 96 the exotically monickered Pulsating Pussy Quat Records compiled three soundtrack boots but these Quats are too lean and mean for us.
Quincy Jones original Money Runner featured on Funky Soundtracks Vol 1and The Chase Scene opens with a John Schroeder version of the same song. It's a full-on orchestral version that's faster than Quincy's and it's taken from from his sought after Gangster Theme Vibrations lp so we can forgive the Quats that one.
Overall though this lp lacks the power, edge and variety of any of the original Funky Soundtracks lps which stand head and shoulders above the rest in the genre.
Another disappointing feature of this particular volume is it's depressingly short running time. It's one of the shortest boots there is with only eight tracks a total playing time of less than 12 minutes per side. Boo!
So why buy it? It's cheaper than other OST boots, there are no track crossovers with the Funky Soundtracks or Rare Funk series and Side 2 has two really good tracks worth having. Shaft in Africa is pillaged once more but this time it's You Can't Even Walk In The Park and whilst it's reminiscent of the Shaft In Africa main theme
it has much punchier brass lines.
Dominic Frontiere is best known for his soundtrack to the motorbiking B-music documentary Any Given Sunday but the compilers here have opted for a superb track from his 1964 soundtrack to the film Popi.
Another Dominic Frontiere track Where's My Kids is a terrific blend of jazzy 50s spy theme melded to 70s -style blaxploitation bass-line and percussion. There are clean rolling breaks too for anyone still meandering the planet with a sampler and MIDI leads.
One of the cheapest soundtrack boots due to running time but those Dominic Frontiere tracks make it a wothwhile pick-up.
Quelque chose de Jazz / Something Jazz / Act 2
The first monotone sleeved Quelque Chose de Jazz in 93 was excellent. This full colour one is even better. It must have been perfect for 90s jazz dancers who wanted to practice dancing to Om Mani Padme Hum in their socks at home.
it's also perfect because it's chock full of other dancefloor jazz tracks that are just as kicking.
This opens with the magnificent blast of a boot favourite St Vincent Latinaires - Broasted Or Fried taking no prisoners as it flies off the vinyl in a cacophany of big drums.
Tamba Trio - Barumba takes the rhythm down a few notches immediately after. In total contrast to the St Vincent Latinaires it's a subtle and pensive Latin-flavoured groove providing a restful break before the teasing percussive intro of Sahib Shahib - Om Mani Padme Hum suddenly opens out into the flute driven Ow-Wah jazz floor battle monster that's loved by jazz dancers the world over.
It's a timely breather that Berry Street Station and The Baron Von Ohlen move things in a gentler direction straight after it. The latter features featherlight femme scat vocals over sweet piano riffing. On Side 2 Roland
Mesquita - Balanca Pema is a joy. Bright, sharply punctuated latin with breezy vocal girl / boy interplay.
Pacific Eardrum - Man of Mystery is one of the better known tracks on here to entrance any jazz funk afficiandos all over again.
To Be - Samba For Heino A is an eight minute samba fusion track from Germany that's as warm as it's compelling. Le Trio Camara - Up Neguinho closes the lp with piano and double bass hammeriing along like a latin train.
This is an essential jazz boot that's easy to find and cheap. If you're a music lover totally convinced you don't like jazz (aka: 'a Jazz Eric'), this is the kind of compilation which could make you think again.
Great stuff!
No Frills
The first thing that leaps out from the minimal graphics on this self-explanatory French pressed (?) boot is the presence of Snowboy endorsed Afrobeat fave Fela Kuti - Rofo Rofo Fight and it's a ten minute version. We don't know if this is the full verson but it must surely be a sizeable taste of it.
The Dee Felice Trio - Nightingale is one of the most legally and illegally comped tracks from the jazz dance canon. Ultra-lite piano riffs skipping over the Latin rhytm alternate with fat piano chords which nail it down. It's as infectious as hell.
Two low-key Brazilian gems follow with the inclusion of Maracana - Per Fora and saxophonist Ernie Watts - Gondwana from the lp he recorded with Gilberto Gil. Per Fora is conversational in tone played against the added sound effects of people laughing in a bar. Gondwana is straight call-and-response jazz funk between Ernie on the saxophone and Gilberto Gil on vocals.
Next up is Kenny Rankin - In The Name Of Love and It's the light and jazzy lp version. His other truly sublime 45 version of this had obviously not been discovered yet. Forumusic only found it very belatedly via an excellent Pete Beaver CD. Counterpoint Records - Freedom Time lp is the cheapest way to get it. Worth checking out.
Beady-eyed purchasers of this will note the presence of five tracks on the vinyl of Side 1 and not four as stated on the sleeve.
Dropping the needle reveals the hidden track as Kenny Rankin - Berimbau. From the same Silver Morning lp, this counts as a bonus face-melter and a half for anyone who has not heard it. When he plays that bow and string......has our arm hairs rising every time.
Discogs suggests this is a Harry (a one-off) but the mastering alone suggests an experienced Dexter who has done this before.
The plain label does look remarkably like the labels of The Big Line-Up!, Moovin and Groovin and Hip City (not featured here). Cue thoughtful contemplation.
Out Of The Cool: a funky fusion of jazz, latin soul
A soulful latin jazz compilation from the Drive label. Drive was a child of Discomagic, a European distribution label ironically situated in a boot-shaped country.
Discomagic was the parent label for a lot of smaller boot labels and the story goes that the boot-shaped country it was based in had very lax licensing laws. More about that stuff later.
After a tautly- plotted opener in the shape of the very well-known Herbie Mann - Comin' Home Baby things start to open up with Dave Brubeck - Upstage Rhumba and Kenny Dorham - Afrodisia. So far so good but Horace Parlan and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers walk away with the prizes on Side 1.
Hard bop pianist Horace Parlan drives Congalegre towards a fantastic percussion break before cooling everything off with a sweet reprise. Art Blakey - No Hay Problema which closes Side 1 is uncompromising latin fire from start to finish that absolutely hammers along. Note to self: Must check out more Art Blakey.
Hopefully at some point a jazz dealer from 94 with carefully archived sales books will chance upon this article and enlighten us as to how expensive it would have been to get these tracks back in the day.
Side 2 opens on a mambo tip with Cal Tjader - Lucero. One mystery that's never been solved; Cal's pinpoint vibing is icicle sharp yet his cool technical precision plumps cushioned warmth into every finished song. Tjader is the undisputed Bach of the bachelor pad generation.
Cubano-Jazz drummer Francisco Aguabella is coiled and restrained for the first half of the mesmerising Shirley Guaguancho, but strikes hard and fast at the end of it.
Charlie Rouse - Back Down To The Tropics is like bright samba daylight before we're battered in the dark night of Art Blakey feat. Sabu - Message From Kenia. Waves of heavy percussive sound assault from the speakers. This is stunning Afrobeat / jazz in full effect. Note: Must check out more Art Blakey.
Rare Funk Vol. 3: Soundtrack Edition
The Rare Funk team deftly avoid duplicating tracks that appeared on other soundtrack lps but resort to fleshing their first soundtrack edition out with non-soundtrack material.
Not that anyone is complaining when the tracks are as cool as the Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik or Eugene McDaniels - Jagger The Dagger. They may have been used on soundtracks at some later date but we're pretty sure they were not original soundtrack material in the first instance.
Following the Rare Funk series is a little like looking at a musical diary of the 90s. From two non-subtitled funk-orientated volumes in 93 they went to special editions. After the soundtrack ones the order is Afro Funk > Mod Funk > Female Funk > Psyche > Junk Funk > Mo' Female Funk > Creole before running out of steam in 2000 with one last funk one that had lots of tracks that had featured on other boots much earlier.
Oddly enough our favourite track on Side 1 sounds like picture perfect soundtrack material for an eastern blaxploitation flick but isn't. Wade Marcus - A New Era from his 1971 Cotillion lp is brooding and atmospheric in equal measure. There's a huge string section sliding beautifully over mid-tempo funk, breathy 70s fluting, stuttered organ and a short breakbeat. Someone really should have made a film for it.
The old school bumping funk of Stu Gardner - Mouth Of A Fish is from the evocatively titled Bill Cosby Presents: Badfoot Brown and the Bunions Bradford Funeral Marching Band. Stu also had another brush with soundtracks appearing as vocalist with his own band in a scene from the John Boorman movie Point Blank.
Credited to Barry Devorzon but written by Perry Botkin Jr for the soundtrack of the 1972 film R.P.M, Riot is all echo bouncing bongos and breakbeats with a psych edge. It's a lesser known Incredible Bongo Band track and has recently been reissued as a 45 on .... wait for it... the Mr Bongo label.
It's well worth checking out on YouTube which is a relevant time to say we'll be adding hyperlinks all over this site as soon as we get to that page in our trusty CSS manual.
Papa Groove presents Raising Hell
Winner of the forumusic prize for funk boot sleeve that most closely resembles a Heavy Metal lp award. Undiluted muddy and heavy funk on here with great sleeve notes. Talk us through our favourites please Papa Groove....
Big Black, an ensemble of varying line-up, formed in 1969 including many New Orleans-based funksters...Danny 'Big Black' Ray progressed from playing in Bahamas calypso bands to record with Randy Weston and also the legendary Pharoah Saunders. Check him here in funky big band action including two drummers.
The Hap'nin' sound of master drummer Bernard Purdie. This is taken from the 1974 soundtrack lp Lialeh on the very rare Bryan Records independent which also brought us the sound of Mike James Kirkland.
We finish off Side One with Carlos Garnett's 'Banks Of The Nile' ... Here Carlos takes his inspiration from a traditional lament to British soldiers in Africa. Dee Dee Bridgewater's vocal collides with Garnett, Charles Sullivan, Norman Connors, Mtume, Billy Hart et all.
The title track 'Raising Hell' comes from Senator Jones Southern Soul label. Norma Jean and Ray J later moved shop from New Orleans to create New Yprk disco legends 'Chic' and also to work with 'Sister Sledge' and Diana Ross.
Track 3 is a local Bay Area treat taken from a tribute lp to the labels prominent producer Voco. On 'Loves To Do It' you hear Jo Baker of The Elvin Bishop Group and Linda Tillery from Loading Zone on your left channel and Lydia Pearse of Cold Blood and Tower Of Power vocalist Rick Stevens on the right.
We finish off with a latin funk corker cooked up by Willie Bobo and his Bo-Gents. This is the original version of Broasted Or Fried which was later covered by Clarence Wheeler and The St Vincent Latinaires.
Rare Essence: a funky fusion of jazz, latin and soul
There is nothing to frighten the horses on this compilation but if it's a finger-clicking and downright groovy listen you're after then this will float your boot.
Before reading yet again that there are some great tracks on here it's worth taking a raincheck. These are boots we're reviewing here. Track selections were limited only by the compilers imagination and / or access to clean originals. With no licensing, contractual or legal concerns and the only financial considerations being the cost of pressing, sleeve printing and distribution, producing one tracker lps was almost impossible.
Starting off with two excellent Bobby Matos tracks ensures Rare Essence is already a two-tracker even before the third track has played. The Afro-Cuban jazz of Mambo Maxims and the boogaloo of Raices are both from his My Latin Soul lp which was expensive to pick up before copies became more freely available on the internet and brought the price down to a more affordable level.
Plop Plop Boom from American jazz flautist Sam Most makes Rare Essencea three tracker at least. It's an infectiously groovy flute-lead instrumental from a hard-to-find 45 from 1970 on Bell records. Fortunately it's easy to find these days as one half of a Jazzman Records reissue 45.
Our favourite two tracks on Side 1 are Lonnie Smith - Sideman and Jimmy McGriff - Where It's At. They're both dyed-in-the-wool mid-tempo jazz pounders.
Sideman has a variety of soloists improvising over a relentless organ, bass and percussion rhythm section. This is a million miles away from Space Princess. Unsurprising though as this is a different Lonnie Smith with no Liston in the middle.
On Where It's At Jimmy Smith does his whole Jimmy Smith live thing like no other Jimmy Smith who ever lived. We don't know Jimmy's back catalogue off by heart to make comparisons but this one is excellent anyway.
We haven't even covered Side 2 but there are some great tracks on Side 1. Five out of five and counting.
Moovin and Groovin
All the jazz flavour of the Big Line-Up! but it's beefed-up considerably with funk cuts.
Moovin and Groovin is also leavened by very smooth jazz funk in the shape of Creative Force-Can't Hide Love, a sweet on the ear slice of harmonising vocals, muted trumpets and soulfulness.
Side A is more about Latin jazz and it bossa novas into life with Kathryn Moses - Music In My Heart featuring some excellent flute work. The killer for us on Side A is once again Berimbau and here it's an excellent version of the Latin classic by Tema 3D thumped out on piano with support from a drummer smashing away on cymbals and hi-hat like his life depends on it. It's a deeply rough-hewn version witha one-take feel. Terrific stuff.
Jack Wilson - Gemstones cranks the tempo up several notches with some seriously fast piano improvising over the relentless plucked double-bass. On the Bobby Hebb pop classic Sunny, James Brown airs his jazzier side and still manages to slip a trademark gutteral Good God into the proceedings. Never an unwelcome visitor, Side B sees another boot outing for the relentlessly rolling Cannonball Adderly Space Spiritual. Willie Bobo - Broasted or Fried has another outing and although it's a great track, we lost our heart
completely to the crash and bash version by the St Vincent Latinaires back on Quelque Chose de Jazz Act 2 a while ago.
Although credited to Around The World Music we'd lay odds that this, No Frills and The Big Line-Up! are from the same jazz-mad compiler. Check out the similarities on the labels, typeface and the limited edition vinyl flash printed on the covers.
It's a close contest as to which is the best of the three but with so many excellent tracks spread out over all of them, why not get them all? They are all still cheap to pick up. Ludicrously so given the pressing runs.
You'll have a rock-solid 45 minute jazz backpacking play-out set though it would be wise to keep the og jazz purists away from the decks on the night.
Sweet Potatoes: Heavy Funk Inside
An Italian boot that’s all killer and no filler as far as the funk is concerned but coming in at under 12 minutes a side this is The Chase Scene of funk compilations.
The only claim on the sleeve is that there’s heavy funk inside and there are no bloated claims of rarity. We don’t know enough about funk 45s to assess how rare or unobtainable these tunes are but there’s no denying the energy and raw quality of the tunes here. There's not a duffer in earshot.
Sweet Potato, Collard Green may be a perfect Southern side order as food but they make a blistering raw funk starter here. Toby King- Itch & Scratch cranks things up with even more urgency before Wee Willy & The Winners raise the spirit of JB to a T right down to repeated chants of Get Some.
Maskman & The Agents – Stand-Up must surely be one of the earliest funk / rap crossover tracks. Side 1 closes with the crisp funk instrumental that is Juggy – Oily This can truly lay claim to being a boot funk classic having appeared on at least five different boot lps.
Lee Austin - Tutti Frutti has a relentlessly bouncy bassline that's closer to boogie but that's fine by us..
.The standout for us on Side 2 is Rare Earth - I'm Losing You.
It’s a magnificent funk rock crossover track with gritty rock vocals, blistering fuzz guitar and a fat and dirty drum break. There’s Wah-Wah guitar shredding throughout too. It's an awesome track.
For anyone who hasn’t overdosed on James Brown in the last decade there’s more JB spirit invocation with the grunting, stopping n’ starting horn stab heaven that is Otis Redding’s version of Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.
A very short lp in the manner of The Chase Scene but the quality of funk contained on it is excellent.
200GBP (+?) worth of funk for 20GBP? That'll be yes.
Nuggets! Of Funk: Volume 1
Confusingly titled Tasty... Crispy Nuggets! on the label. Maybe the compiler felt the word Funk in the title would help to shift more copies? He needed have worried.
The selection and sequencing of this compilation reveals the first flowerings of a languid vibe which was appealing to crate-diggers coming down from their initial breakbeat, funk and Hip Hop fixations. It’s almost as if someone somewhere flicked one switch from fast to mid-tempo and a second switch from urgent to relax.
Sampling times were getting longer, samplers grew cheaper and more luxuriant looping was now possible for those with MIDI home studios. The rest of the world were over-enamoured of grunge and guitar-based stadium rock whilst clubbers were all funked-out and House weary. There had to be other stuff to listen to.
In the UK media and charts it was Definitely Maybe versus Parklife for days and hysteria and deification of Kurt Cobain when he downed and left in April.
The laid back grooves here were fresh back then. Outlaw Blues Band – Deep Gulley, Ray Bryant – Up Above The Rock, Cal Tjader – Solar Heat, 100% Pure Poison – Windy C.
Not to skew the picture, there is still plenty of funk and funky from the likes of The Fame Gang and The Fatback Band plus some stunning long breakbeat action on Charly Antolini - Scratching.
But there’s definitely an air of quiet chill-out creeping into boot selections a good four years before Club Chill Out Anthems officially took over the world.
Maybe a generation of Jazz Dancers were developing stiff joints at the same time as the crate-diggers were beginning to smoke them?
There was definitely something in the air making slower tempos sound more appealing and cooler than anything else that was going on.
Worth mentioning: the mastering on this lp is very professional. It's brilliant sounding throughout.
Original! All Souls Avenue... Volume 2
A wholly and unexpectedly cool one to as we near the end of 1994. The title and artwork suggest this is 100% 70s soul but they're s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g their definition of soul by a considerable degree.
The title is prefaced by Original! Sounds... linking this perhaps to the compilers of Original! Blue Funk despite being on a different label.
It's a confusing one as there never was an All Souls Volume 1, only an All Souls Volume 7 which appeared before this. But we've tied oureselves in knots about this before. Some Dexters were seriously paranoid that's for sure, though just two releases hardly qualifies this as the work of a serial compiler.
The Erwin Lehn opener is more frequently seen on jazz compilations whilst Keef Hartley - Imitations From Home is a funky noodler that was buried deep on his 1971 LP Overdog. Both are great tracks and work well together.
Sam Dees Child Of The Streets and Marie 'Queenie' Lyons See And Don't See bring the sounds closer to the
lp title but over two sides the content drifts wildly.
Side Two kicks off with Robert Lowe Back To Funk and is followed by a fresh Afrobeat workout from Assagai.
Mixing things up further there are one or two brief spoken word pieces to start tracks off edging this closer to being a cool mixtape made by a friend.
This cheap makeweight punt from Ebay turned out to be far more interesting than the funky soundtrack boot which was the primary purchase. The mixture of old rock, soul, R & B , Afrobeat and funk has its feet in 1994 but is moving very close to the more interesting stuff that pours out in 1995.
Definitely one of the harder boots to find now too.
Rare Funk Vol. 4: Soundtrack Edition
Here again is Big Band Funk writ large launching with a track from Johnny Pate’s peerless Shaft In Africa OST lp. Driving percussion, Wah-Wah heaven and fat horn hooks galore. Wa ka cha ka, wa ka cha ka to fade…
Taking the lead from Rare Funk Vol. 3 this one also mixes genuine soundtrack action with tracks that sound as if they should be soundtracks. It’s a worthwhile gambit and the Latin funk of tracks like Mandrill – Mandrill fit like a glove next to the genuine Buddha stable soundtrack funk from Horace Ott -Gordon’s War.
70s teenagers can’t fail to get a Quinn Martin Production buzz from hearing the balls-out brass blasts of Henry Mancini- Streets Of San Francisco. The ever-engaging Jonny Trunk of Trunk Records has a theory about these TV series. To paraphrase: Perhaps TV detective soundtracks like these; subconciously absorbed by children in the 70s, is the reason they suddenly became so sought after twenty years later?
He has a good point. Young minds subliminally immersed in the ways of the Wah-Wah pedal crave for it twenty years on? Not a bad way to grow up at all really.
Darrow Fletcher – Now Is The Time For Love is another inspired non-soundtrack addition.
Here's an Ouch! leaving teeth marks on our pert forumusic backside. It wasn't until we photographed the blue issue label of Rare Funk 4 that we saw the writing on the right.
Did the Rare Funk Dexters really steal a march on the Funky Soundtracks team and get both soundtrack editions out in 1993? Our source was adamant these lps were 1994 so do we re-title this whole damn article or what?
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We'll probably sidle back here in the early hours of a Sunday morning to tweak some text when no one is looking but for now we'll press on without dwelling on our slightly tarnished fantasy of 1994 as the The Year of Funky Soundtracks.
History is never that tidy but let's be honest here, it very nearly was.
