Up All Nite (With The Nite-Liters)

I've always loved listening to instrumental funk and soul over the years.  From the obvious bands like The Meters and Booker T & The MGs, to Funk, Inc., and The Bar-Kays, all those bands each have a few impressive albums in their catalog.  I would have to put The Nite-Liters A-Nal-Y-Sis album up there as one of my favorite instrumental funk albums.  Their cover of Donny Hathway's "Valdez in the Country" has always been one of my favorite funk songs.  It's a real groover...

 And of course, "Damn" is one of my favorite Nite-Liters songs as well...

The Nite-Liters only released five studio albums total as a band from the early to mid-70's (not counting albums by the band The New Birth, which many of its bandmates were members...but that's a whole other story).  K-Jee is a great album from The Nite-Liters as well, but I highly recommend checking out A-Nal-Y-Sis first if you're interested in a little instrumental funk. 

Jr. and His Soulettes--Kid's Groove

I love this underground funk album by a family band from Oklahoma.  Released in 1971, the oldest sibling was Harold Moore Jr., and he wrote a majority of these songs at the ripe old age of 10.  What ever happened to Jr. and His Soulettes?  I was lucky enough to stumble upon this album  (and of course, immediately buy it upon finding it), and it's full of little funk, mainly instrumental jams (with a few vocal songs sprinkled in).  It's a fun listen for the whole family!

We're Going 'Streaking!'

Recently picked up this 1974 release by French composer Jean-Claude Pelletier.  Really enjoyable music, sounding like a hybrid between a funky, soulful blaxploitation soundtrack with some French pop feel to it as well.  Quality instrumentals and overall great compositions by Mr. Pelletier.  Here are a few of my favorites thus far from Streaking!  Highly recommended!

 

Magnum: Fully Loaded

Released in 1974, Magnum's Fully Loaded album was one of those many funk bands in that era that featured heavy percussive rhythms that I dig.  "Witch Doctor's Brew" is probably my favorite off of this album, as it features some tasty electric organ sounds in the intro.  I place Fully Loaded among those essential mid-70's funk albums, along with McNeal & Niles Thrust, Funk, Inc. Funk, Inc. or Chicken Lickin' album, and The Fatback Band's Let's Do It Again.  All solid, many instrumental funk jams.

 

Gospel Funk!

The Sons of Truth Message From The Ghetto album is probably the funkiest gospel album I own, and that I've ever had the pleasure of hearing.  Released on Stax Records gospel sub-label Truth Records, Message From The Ghetto is a funky and essential listening from that late 60's/early 70's era when that funk was seaping into soul music.  "The Ghetto" is one of my favorite tracks off of this album. 

San Francisco Treats (Part IV)

For Friday, I'm concluding my San Francisco purchases by discussing the final three of the twelve albums I purchased over the week. 

1.  Black Merda The Folks from Mother's Mixer--Great acid funk/rock type of stuff in the vein of Funkadelic and Hendrix's funkiest stuff. 

2.  The Staple Singers Let's Do It Again--Man, I love this album!  If the title track sounds inspired by Curtis Mayfield to you, that's because he wrote all of the music for this soundtrack album (released in 1975), and The Staple Singers did a great job vocally, as always.

3.  Booker T & the MGs Soul Dressing.  Everything Booker T. and company put out was great, soulful instrumentals, and Soul Dressing is one of many essential albums by the MGs. 

I Thought It Was You

Herbie's Toys

Eventually, I'm going to do a more lengthy post regarding Herbie Hancock, as he is one of my favorite musicians ever, jazz or otherwise. In the meantime, here's a nice jam off of his 1978 album Sunlight, a highly underrated album of Herbie's.  Though not as good as some of his other 70's albums like his Mwandishi Recordings (some of the best jazz-funk music ever put to vinyl), Sextant, or Headhunters, Sunlight is up there with Secrets though, and better than Thrust or Man-Child.  Herbie is heading into the disco era when he recorded this jam, which has a dancey feel to it.  Herbie was also experimenting with the vocoder, which put a lot of people off during this time, but personally I dig it.  

 

Old School Video Focus: Zapp & Roger "I Can Make You Dance"

A few months ago, I posted one of my favorite old school videos of all-time by The Fat Boys, and it gave me an idea:  to devote an entire weeks worth of posts to classic, old school videos.   The video I'm featuring for today is by Zapp & Roger,the Cincinnati funk-soul band from the early 1980's.  Bootsy Collins was a childhood friend of Roger Troutman, and after Bootsy made it big with Parliament-Funkadelic, he helped his friend Roger out in getting a record deal, where Zapp & Roger eventually released their first album, Zapp, in 1980.  Heavily sampled by many West Coast area hip hoppers over the past 20 years, here is Zapp & Roger, with "I Can Make You Dance". 

      

Get Out The Friday Funk!

Kool & The Gang

Earth, Wind, & Fire

I've been seriously busting out the funk in my car the past few weeks, focusing mostly on early Kool & The Gang, and Earth, Wind, & Fire.  Both amazing bands, yet I feel that Kool & The Gang topped out in the mid-70's, as their late 70's/early 80's period just doesn't do it for me ("Celebration", "Ladies Night", fun songs, but the bite is gone).  Earth, Wind, & Fire, however, could do no wrong.  Sure, probably their late 70's period was a similar path to Kool's in that they veered into a more commercial disco approach.  However, EWF was just more consistent, from album to album, from That's The Way of The World to Gratitude (one of the best live albums ever!) to I Am to All N All, they were a hell of a great album focused band, while Kool's albums weren't as consistent.  God, I love Kool & The Gang though, as they put a hell of a lot of great singles in that early 70's period that just blows your mind.  For Friday, I thought I'd feature a few of my favorite tracks from both Earth, Wind, & Fire, and Kool & The Gang. 

OT: Feedback

I've been wanting to post this for over a month, but kept it on the back burner for awhile.  Soul Excursions has been a blog for almost a year now, run solely by yours truly.  In the beginning, I had some feedback via comments on the board, but mostly through emails from others sent directly to me.  Recently, I haven't received any sort of feedback, though I've noticed my numbers (in terms of those looking at my blog per day) continue to remain the same.  I would love some feedback either through email or comments on my blog.  Not necessarily along the lines of the above cartoon (though compliments are always great!), but any sort of dialect/conversation/comments regarding music, or my blog, would be greatly appreciated.   Constructive criticism is cool as well.  As Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band would say, "Express Yourself!"

Soul & Jazz vs. Rock--Evaluating a Music Collection

Blurred snapshot of a portion of my cd collection

Blurred snapshot of a small selection of my 45's

Recently, I've been in a music purging mode, getting rid of lots of albums that I didn't see the purpose of owning anymore.  This is not anything new for me (see May 11, 2011 Soul Excursion post titled "Binging and Purging--Music Style!").  In fact, it's almost a monthly event that I take out 10-20 albums that I don't see myself listening to anymore, and trading them in for something new--new as in usually something from the 60's/70's soul era, 60's/70's jazz era, or 90's hip hop.  As I've noticed recently, I have almost double the amount of soul and jazz albums then I do rock albums, which it seems my rock collection has dwindled over the past few years as some of my old rock albums are the first ones to go in trade.  In evaluating this observation, clearly this is because I hardly ever listen to any rock music anymore, from any era, and this has been that way for over a few years now.   The only rock I generally listen to is The Beatles (and occasionally Bee Gees, Donovan, or Elliott Smith), which the entire Soul Excursion family enjoys and is listened to frequently on road trips. This past weekend, I went on another music selling/buying binge, and thought I'd feature a few tracks off of new purchases from this past weekend.

The first track is the title track off of jazz drummer Billy Cobham's 1975 release A Funky Thide of Sings.  Great funky jazz, with some crazy synths and guitars included, the title track would've sounded perfect on a film straight from the 70's.   

I'm a big Roy Ayers fan, so I was excited when I stumbled upon Cincinnati's own RAMP, and their only release, Come Into Knowledge.  Come Into Knowledge was released in 1977, and Ayers produced this album, and wrote some of the songs as well.  "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" is one of my favorite tracks by RAMP.  

I picked up a classic hip hop album by Oakland's Souls of Mischief, 93 'Til Infinity.  Released in 1993, I don't know how I slept on those cats for so long, when I have most of the essential hip hop releases from the 90's.  Somehow, 93 'Til Infinity has been on my list to buy for years but have never gotten the chance to do so.  I decided to scoop it up and glad I did, as it's one of those staples of 90's essential hip hop albums, well worth picking up. Here's the track and video for "Never No More". 

Lastly, I felt like including a James Brown track off of Black Caesar, which I actually picked up over a week ago while visiting Portland for the weekend.  JB released his soundtrack to the blaxploitation flick Black Caesar in 1973.  It seems as though every major soul artist was creating a soundtrack to a blaxploitation film during this time (Curtis Mayfield Superfly, Isaac Hayes Shaft, Marvin Gaye Trouble Man, Willie Hutch The Mack, and Edwin Starr Hell Up in Harlem, to name a few of the best), and Brown doesn't disappoint with this soundtrack.  I have about a dozen James Brown albums, and have always wanted to pick up Black Caesar, so I was stoked to find this for $5.  Very groove-heavy instrumentals, as much of James Brown's albums were during this time.  Good stuff, though in terms of James Brown's 70's albums, I like The Payback, and In The Jungle Groove better.

 

45 Focus--Soul Stylin'

I've been pulling out the soul 45's recently, and thought I'd feature three in particular that I have been playing on repeat for the past few weeks.  

Harlem River Drive's "Need You" 45 is a groover with some tasty electric keyboards and a pre-disco/funk sound.  Good stuff!

I love this Gwen McCrae 45 "For Your Love", recorded in 1975.  Strong female vocals, great intro (reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On"), a slow burner and my favorite McCrae track she ever recorded.

A nice deep-soul 45 cut by Dyke and the Blazers "Uhh".  Honestly, I don't know anything about this group (google, here we come!), but I've loved this track since I picked it up a few months ago.

 

 

Summer in Seattle '11--I'm waiting for a "Heatwave"!

Picture of a sun--Seattlelites aren't sure if this in fact exists

Living in Seattle has it's ups and downs.  One of the main positives is the weather here in the summertime.  Usually I tell my out-of-town friends that there isn't a better place to be in the summer, as we generally have sunny weather throughout, with the temps between 70 and 80 degrees.  Unfortunately, this summer has been the worst that I can recall.  Thus far, I believe we've only had about three full sunny days so far.  The weather here has been dismal, gloomy, and basically feels the way it would the other nine months of the year in the Northwest.  In trying to snap out of my funk (I'm suffering mood-wise because of this weather), I played Heatwave Too Hot To Handle three straight times yesterday.  Maybe I was hoping the poppy, pre-disco, funk would snap me of this rut, maybe I was hoping playing Heatwave would help summon the weather gods to give us Seattlelites a glimpse of the orange orb.  Either way, I'm hoping for a change in the weather soon, because it's driving me insane. Please weather gods, give us some sun!  I'd be cool for a heatwave!

De Wolfe Studio and other Jams from the Library Vaults

 I've been digging on a lot of  1970's British and Italian Library tracks in the last few months.  I recently picked a couple great comps by the famed De Wolfe Studio, Bite Hard, and Bite Harder.  Both have some great funky instrumental tracks, many of the tracks of which were recorded for 70's Crime shows and movies. Check out Alan Parker's 1973 cut "Hot Ice", as well as another Parker track titled "The Hawk".

Off of the De Wolfe comp Bite Harder (probably not as strong as Bite Hard, but still has some great tracks), I really dig the Peter Reno track "Silver Thrust", recorded in 1972.  Dig the speedy flute, and the wah-wah guitar!

I've also picked up a good 1970's Italian comp called Easy Tempo, as well as an album by the Italian musician Stefano Torossi.  Stefano Torossi released an album called Feelings, almost impossible to find on cd or vinyl (but I have my ways and picked it up on cd!), and is widely considered as one of the best Library albums of the 70's decade.  Enjoy the below tracks "Flying High" and "Fearing Much".

Frankie Beverly's Raw Soul: "Color Blind" 45

Frankie Beverly and Maze!

 Picked up this 45 the other day without any idea of what this would sound like, but with the band name "Frankie Beverly's Raw Soul", I figured it'd have to be semi-interesting.  I wasn't disappointed!  The song starts out with a strong horn intro, and a "huh!" and it's all gravy after that.  Frankie Beverly's Raw Soul were originally from Philly then re-located to San Francisco in the early 70's, where they met Marvin Gaye, who used the "Raw Soul" band as his opening act when touring.  Later the band changed their name to Maze upon Gaye's recommendation, and they had some minor hits along the lines of Earth, Wind, & Fire in the mid to late 70's.   

A Slew of 45's

I recently bought a new record player, and have been so jazzed about it that I went crazy stocking up on old soul 45's over the weekend.  Funnily enough, most were picked up at Half Price Books in Lynnwood, Washington, where apparently someone unloaded hundreds of old 45's and since Half Price sells them at a quarter a pop, I went crazy.  I had to fight off a mid-40's Elvis look-alike, but was able to secure most of the best ones there:   Jackson 5, James Brown, Impressions, a bunch of Sly Stone, Al Green, The Stylistics, and Stevie Wonder, Ohio Players, Booker T and the MGs, Aretha Franklin, Chambers Brothers, and an Allen Toussaint-produced Dr. John 45, among many, many more.  90% of what I picked up I was already familiar with, but it's always nice to find something that you're not sure about and end up really liking.  Regarding the Ohio Players, I've honestly only liked a few of their songs in the past off of their early 70's albums like Honey,  Skin Tight, etc.  I picked the Ohio Players "Who'd She Coo/Bi-Centennial" 45, both songs taken off of their 1976 release Contradiction.  I've never heard this album previously, mainly because I figured it was when the Ohio Players drifted off into disco mode, but I was wrong.  "Who'd She Coo" is a tasty funk jam.  "Bi-Centennial" is a slow jam, perfectly showing how the Ohio Players were getting better at writing good ballads and slow jams, which they began showing during Honey.   Both tracks are outstanding, and if this is a good representation of Contradiction, then I need to pick it up.

Happy Birthday James Brown!

To "The Hardest Working Man in Business", we miss you dearly here on earth, but your music will always live on.  

 

Mondays with Manu...Manu Dibango

Manu Dibango is a saxophone player and vibraphonist from Cameroon, Africa.   He's worked with an amazingly diverse group of musicians over the years, from Nigerian great Fela Kuti to Latin greats the Fania All-Stars, from jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Don Cherry, to reggae greats Sly and Robbie.  If you find any solo Manu Dibango albums, especially from the early to mid 70's, definitely check them out.   Soul Makossa, Africadelic, and African Woodoo are all great, diverse albums from Dibango.  On those albums, Manu goes from extremely funky-jazz groove, to a Nigerian-African rhythm funk track, to a soulful groove.  It's all well-worth checking out, though I'm not as big of a fan of his late-70's/early 80's output as much.  Check out this track "Mama-se, Mama-sa, Ma-ko-Ma-ko-ssa", which Michael Jackson used for the ending of "Wanna Be Starting Something".

  Here's some more Manu Dibango to whet your appetite.

The later track, "Iron Wood", is off of his African Woodoo album, which is an interesting compilation of music recorded for commercials, movies, and tv shows for professional sound illustration, though they were never used for that purpose.  However, the album works surprisingly well as a whole.   Some of Manu's deepest funk cuts are on this comp, and it's probably my favorite of Manu Dibango's albums.  Cop it if you get the chance!

Manu Dibango

Song o' the day (pt. 4)--In Honor of the Sun

I'm not posting much this week as I'm on vacation in Palm Springs with the family.  We are getting a much needed break from the rain in Seattle and enjoying the beautiful weather in Southern California.  In honor of the weather, what better band to feature than from one of Southern California's finest, War?  War had a string of solid hits through the 70's, like "Lowrider", "Spill the Wine", "Why Can't We Be Friends?", etc.  They have a nice mix of Latin, Soul, Reggae, and Funk influences.  I can't really pick a favorite War track, but I felt that "Summer" was the perfect pick for "Song o' the day".  Even though it isn't quite summer yet, this weather is getting me into that summer mode.  Enjoy!

Cymande!

I've been listening to these dudes a lot recently.  Cymande is one of those funk/soul groups from the early 70's that I've been told to check out by various people for quite awhile, and for some reason, have slept on this band forever.  Just an amazing, amazing groove that comes out of this band.  Interesting story in that the band formed in London, England but many of the members were from Jamaica and Guyana.  Supposedly they formed in the basement of a strip club in England, but I'm unsure if this is a myth or a true story.  Anyway, I highly recommend checking this band out more, as I just recently picked a compilation of their first two albums and it's great.  All killer, no filler, as they say.  Check out "Bra", one of my favorite tracks by Cymande.  

If that track sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you are a De La Soul fan, as they sampled "Bra" on their track "Change in Speak" off of their classic album 3 Feet High and Rising. 

Also, check out this track for more Cymande goodness!  This is "The Message", the first track I heard by Cymande that really turned me on to this band. 

I'd recommend picking up the Cymande album just titled Cymande, as it contains all 17 tracks off of their first two albums.  Essential stuff!