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Best Funk Album Ever

Defunkt- Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat

(cheating in that it is a reissue double album)

Kim Clarke's playing is fantastic and aggressive. Joe Bowie is an incredible front man and trombonist. The dueling funk guitars remind me of the Allmans- great scratch and slide work.
Drumming is powerful and on point. Trumpet player looked very cool and burned!

I am a huge devotee of Brown, Graham, George/Bootsy, and the usual cast of 70's characters- but this is the JAM!

 
Mandril is awesome, but not the best. Top 10 for sure, top 5? Maybe. "One Nation Under a Groove" is what I pick, if forced to pick just one. Thankfully we don't have to pick just one.

And Fela - what can you say? Simply amazing. He was one of a kind, his vision was vast and gripping.

But let me tell you, I recently saw his son Femi Kuti and that band was *on fire* and Femi himself was astonishing. So the concert starts, and it's groovy, first song, things warming up, Femi finishes the first verse and chorus and then grabs his sax and proceeds to play 6 minutes of some of the most blazing stuff I've ever heard. He plays circles around his dad, just so you know. The man circular breathed and blew HOT bop and funk riffs for at least 2 or 3 minutes non-stop. I am not being hyperbolic, he laid down non-stop molten sax riffing for at least two solid minutes in a mind-blowing display of circular breathing. You want to talk sheets of sound, Coltrane would have been proud. It was a groove assault, it was shamanistic. He blew to roof off the place. The band jumped up, the crowd was moving, sweating, and the rest of the show went just that hot, and you know what? I don't think he played the sax again more than a few bars here or there. Mostly sang and played keys. But he just kicked us all in the butt hard to get that sucker started. It was truly epic. The band had three speeds: fast, super fast, and hold on, I'm having heart palpitations. No one was sitting that show out and tapping their feet. The whole house was gyrating through the whole show. I highly recommend Femi.
 
Yeah this Defunk stuff is tight. I recommend you all check out the reissue that has the first two albums plus bonus tracks. Two or three of those bonus tracks are better than some of the stuff on the albums.

Also, I got a CD that has the first two Cameo albums. Man, I have a lot of funk to check out still this summer. Music is good. Life is good.
 
This is like a best bass thread... it is impossible to say which is the best ever... Cameo, GAP, Slave, Sly,Funkadelic,JB... and that is just scratching the surface of old school funk.. the list is too full with contenders, let alone trying to find one that is the best ever..
 
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you can't lose with anything JB (movie coming real soon)

but, as far as rhythm sections it don't git no greasier than Mike Clark & Paul Jackson - AND, if you think you know this tune I dare you to start at 7:30 of this 15 min + - I heard it on the radio the other day and realized how little I remember (played this every night for years)

 
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Anyone claiming to be a fan of funk... especially the raw, New Orleans style laid down by The Meters needs to check The New Mastersounds out.

I saw them at Tips and Art Neville sat in with them and those boys looked like kids shooting baskets in the backyard and LeBron James showed up. It was awesome to see. I appreciate that young British guys can dig on The Meters and take that sound to a different place. Very cool and much respect.
 
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James Brown Live at the Appollo versions 1, 2 and 3. Each one is a Master class in the Funk ensamble. #1 is more R&B, #2 is when JB begins to create Funk as we know it, #3 is the Master and his crew at the peak of their Funkyness. Each one should be studied in depth.
 

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