Soul / Funk

“Genius Black Music™”

  • Various: African Dances Various: African Dances

    I’m a complete novice when it comes to this type of stuff, but this along with a small handful of other things I’ve been lucky enough to pick up lately has really sparked an interest. This one is simply titled “African Dances” on a (very budget looking) label called “Authentic”. It appears to be an […]

  • Pin Points - No Dressing Pin Points - No Dressing

    Stock cover, late 70’s, DIY looking from Southeast Washington DC, the song titles stood out, looking mostly gospel, with “It’s Got To Be That Dope” raising curiosity. The sounds impressed, gospel, modern soul, drum and rap. With further research i discovered their web site, Pin Points is an activist inner city theatre group that works […]

  • Hailu Mergia and the Walias - Tche Belew Hailu Mergia and the Walias - Tche Belew

    I picked this up in Springfield, MO on a recent Ozark vacation. A great little store called “Stick it in Your Ear” had this staring at me from the $1.98 piles near the front. I didn’t even notice that Mulatu was a sideman on it until i got home. Great all the way through, but […]

  • US Import - No Nukes / Nuclear Fusion US Import - No Nukes / Nuclear Fusion

    I believe blame should always be heaped upon the parents. I have 2 sons at ages 7 and 11, both precociously adolescent and surly though not yet teenage. Every time I try and sell my boys the notion that I am workin’ ant-like hard for them, amassing a dynamite wax inheritance (yesterday’s case in point: […]

  • Redemption - Gone Fishing Redemption - Gone Fishing

    I had no idea what this LP was all about when I saw this at my local Salvation Army. I did know that it was a fresh change of pace from the usual barrage of Mantonavi’s and Streisand’s that have flooded the store for the past however many years. Anyway, flipping to the back […]

  • Deirdre Wilson Tabac Deirdre Wilson Tabac

    Kind of a hard album to describe - a bit too horny to be “folk funk”, but a bit too whussed out to be “horn rock”. It would seem that “the Tabac” was the brainchild of producer Sonny Casella - who, in the liner notes, reminds us that “You got to dig it to dig […]

  • Lee Gagnon - Jeremie Lee Gagnon - Jeremie

    Jeremie was a Quebecois ballet scored by Lee Gagnon. It is a known and sought-after jazz-funk album with plenty of wha-wha and breaks (nobody ever seems to mention the nice mellow folk parts on the album though). However, I’m not here to talk about this record (even though it is, in itself, kind of interesting). […]

  • The Battle Of The Bands: 1970 (Custom Fidelity) The Battle Of The Bands: 1970 (Custom Fidelity)

    Here’s a recording of an 11th annual concert hosted by the Hollywood Bowl to showcase teenage musicians and singers. The participants are either independent or associated with high schools. There’s your standard horn heavy stage band numbers from Montebello, Dorsey and Pico Rivera High Schools, as well as contributions from folk duos, such as Two […]

  • Mel-Vonne: Be Still (Celesta) Mel-Vonne: Be Still (Celesta)

    Absolutely stunning! Really it’s the only words that I can come up with for this record. Released in 84 it’s a Modern Soul Gospel burner that is quite unfuckwithable in my opinion. Melvin & Yvonne (Mel-Vonne get it?), handle the vocals, the writing of the tunes, and the producing duties. Great backing band too with […]

  • Misty Moore - This Girl's In Love With You (Pzazz) Misty Moore - This Girl’s In Love With You (Pzazz)

    On the small Los Angeles label, Pzazz, this is a Petula Clark soundalike with soulful instrumentation which gets funky in places. Her voice doesn’t really gel with the musical backing, in my opinion. That’s a seductive picture of her, though.
    Listen

  • Philippe Nicaud - Erotico...Nicaud Philippe Nicaud - Erotico…Nicaud

    With an artwork by the famous painter “Aslan”, this one is my french Holy Grail. The music is as good as the cover. Philippe Nicaud is a french comedian from the sixties who acted in wack parisian plays. The music go from bossa to jerk or funk orchestra. Nicaud doesn’t sing he speaks, the lyrics are […]

  • Rhythm & Blues All-Stars - Live At No. 5 Rhythm & Blues All-Stars - Live At No. 5

    The Rhythm & Blues All-Stars were a R&B/Soul cover band from Vancouver, Canada. This album, obviously live, features nice covers of Soul Man and In The Midnight Hour, and has a great 8 minute outro. However, the real gem on this album aren’t the songs but this “Guido” character they got to do a comedic […]

  • Cilka & The Second Generation (Sidro) Cilka & The Second Generation (Sidro)

    Cecilia Valencic and her group from Cleveland, Ohio created this obscure LP to demostrate their ability to fuse polka with the “now sounds” of rock, funk and soul. The standout is “He Left Me Behind” which has a “Tighten Up” groove and a trombone solo. Check out the cover which features a chalk drawing of […]

  • Sound Unlimited S/T (Valley) Sound Unlimited S/T (Valley)

    This is from a teenage musical department based in Las Vegas from Valley High School. The front, which contains a red-white-and-blue silhouette motif of the band and the back, a list of all list of personnel with a flattering foreward by the director are both copied pieces of paper hand pasted on the jacket. The […]

  • Sakura Teng: S/T Sakura Teng: S/T

    Sakura was a popular multilingual female singer in the Singaporean go-go/rock scene during the 60s and 70s. On this particular LP, she covers James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, which is dominated by a loud fuzz guitar. The Thai surf group, The Quests, provided the rhythm on Mrs. Teng’s songs for many years […]

  • Richard "Dimples" Fields - it's finger lickin good Richard “Dimples” Fields - it’s finger lickin good

    Here’s a really nice double lp on Dat Richfield Kat from 1973. Richard’s vocals are very reminiscent of Stevie Wonder’s to my ears. The album kicks off real nice like with the funky tune “Welcome to the cold duck”. The next few songs are nice mellow soul numbers. The following track “tears as big as […]

  • Mokie J.J. and R.O.B. - speed of light Mokie J.J. and R.O.B. - speed of light

    Of course the cover grabbed my attention when I saw this one. This is a funky soul lp on the small private label Sun Moon and Stars outta Hollywood, CA. circa ‘72. My favorite tracks on this are “maybe”, “beverly” and “forgotten”. To be honest though, the rest of the album is not that great […]

  • Johnny Harris: Movements Johnny Harris: Movements

    Often called “The David Axelrod of the U.K.” - and while some of the tracks on this U.K. only lp do have that brooding orchestal funk vibe that has become synonymous with Axelerod - I really don’t feel anything on here is nearly as creative or engauging as Axe’s best work. Not to say that […]

  • 9th Creation: Love Crime EP 9th Creation: Love Crime EP

    I’m going to go ahead and declare this the greatest modern soul record to ever come out of Stockton, California, based solely on the frenzy my listing it on eBay caused over the course of five days. On the first day, several hours after listing the record, I started to get e-mail after e-mail—from mainly […]

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