I need some FUNK/R&B!

Maggot Brain by Funkadelic.

Pick up this disk now!

 

Any of the Kool & the Gang albums before JT joined. Once they got a real vocalist it was all over.

Sly- anything up to and including "Fresh". For Larry Graham in his heyday, the early Graham Central Station albums are showcases.

Also check out New Birth, Brainstorm, early Cameo, The Ohio Players, Mandrill (my favorite from back then), James Brown, Bootsy, Brass Construction, Slave, early Commodores, Brick...

how much time ya got?

 

The Meters should be at the top of your list. Old school vital funk. Pick up their 2CD greatest hits set.

 

Please, everyone check out Mandrill(thanks, Brad)!
Easily the most overlooked R&B/Funk band of...all time?!
How good are they? In their prime, Santana, Sly, EW&F, War OPENED for Mandrill!
(There's some more for ya-Santana, EW&F, & War!).

Brick's bad, too("We Don't Wanna Sit Down, We Wanna Git Down"). What the Hell was the name of that instrumental track on Good High? Anyway, very cool R&B/Funk/Pop band & with a trombone! Love that groove on "Dazz"...

I love AWB...maybe more "soulful', though, than raw Funk.

Brothers Johnson?
(Brad, ever hear "Midnight Soul Patrol" from Quincy Jones' I Heard That! album? 3 bassists on that particular track-Stanley, Louis, & Alphonso. Still not on cd, though!).

Also, I see in the new Bass Player, there's an ad for a 2-cd set of Larry Graham's "Best".

 

I hadda pull out some AWB tonight...been awhile & it felt great!
I selected Warmer Communications as the album to screw around with(mainly 'cause of the cover shot...HEY, NOW!).
Anyway, there is some serious slow Funk that opens this album..."Your Love Is A Miracle"; similiar, sorta, to "Love Your Life" from Soul Searching.
Both will hurt ya!
Some Reggae Funk is happenin' on "Warmer Communications"...lay off that "1"! Otherwise, it's 'standard Blues changes' with the bass playin' the Root, 3rd, 6th, & the octave. Stay off the ONE, though!
"Sweet & Sour" is a Rockin' Funker...the du-jour instrumental track that AWB seemingly put out per record(similiar to "Goin' Home" from Soul Searching). Nice changes...ya get a chance to use some tri-tone substitutions.

Awsome band...I really miss those daze.

 

Hey you want to talk cover shots? We must bring the Ohio Players up again. I have most of their disks and all the covers are great, I heard they are pretty funky but I am still enjoying the covers.
I will listen to them someday.

 

My inside cover to Honey is 'sticky'...
In fact, I can't even open it up anymore!
(Did I say that out loud?).

BTW, I'm sufin' at a site called www.snopes.com
It's a rumors/rumors debunking site. Anyway, there's some info regarding the SCREAM that occurs during the breakdown on "Love Rollercoaster".
Back in the '70s, I recall the rumor: a girl was murdered in an adjoining room to the studio where The Ohio Players were recording.
At snopes, it sez the rumor grew legs: it was the model on the Honey cover(a Playboy model) that was killed; apparently, the honey on her ever-so hot body could not be easily removed...she was scarred & her modelimg career was over(she showed up at the studio threatening to sue, they off'd her). Whew! Anyway, that's all BS...all of it. The band swore themselves to secret about the rumor...they were selling records. right?
What's funny-"the scream" was performed by one of the GUYS in the band!


There's also some info regarding The Beatles' Yesterday & Today cover shot( the cover with the "mutilated plastic babies").

 

Jim, I remember buying "Honey" when it first came out, opening the album and being literally speechless.

Sometimes I blank out and forget AWB, hey... it happens. I seem to listen to AWB every week... killer band, killer, deceptive bass lines. If "Schoolboy Crush" ain't funk... funk ain't funk

Also forgot Pleasure, with one of the funkiest drum/bass duos yet, Bruce Carter and Nathaniel Phillips. "Glide" was their biggest hit but check out the later albums. I have never heard a drummer play the kick to "Glide" like Bruce, who ended up with Kenny G. Kenny's (former) bassist, Vail Johnson did a remake of it not too long ago.

I lived and breathed this music... my first band was an 11 piece (+ or -) funk band in the mid-70's... that still may be the most fun I've had as a musician. We'd hit "Fencewalk" and turn a show out. Or "I Can Understand It" or "Zoom" or "Power" or "Sex Machine", horns kicking, badass rhythm guitar player, drums and bass locked in an unbreakable groove...

even had a name that guaranteed lots of VFW work... "Black Americans"

I miss that. Can you tell?

 

I love funk. I really do. The dirtier and sleazier the better!

My biggest recommendations, with respect to bass, are:

* Bootsys Rubber Band
* Graham Central Station (- make sure you get a track named "the jam" - whoa!!!!)
* James Brown (- during the 70's - with Bootsy on bass)
* Funkadelic (obvioulsy - one track in particular is Cholly- Funk get ready to roll)

For THE groove JBs stuff during the late 60's is THE funkiest **** on Earth I swear it... the 8 minute jams of tracks like 'Get It Together' and 'Aint It Funky Now'...
Prince has done some amazing larry graham rip-off funk and maceo parkers recent solo work is seriously funky in a 70's type way.

Be warned tho, trying to learn Larry Graham & Bootsy slap bass lines certainly aint easy!!!

The finger style stuff I presonally dont find too hard - it's the slap that's real bloody hard... it's all thumping thumbs.

I'd also recommend disco stuff like Mike Theodore Orchestra and Mass Production - for that large band making sleasy dance music thang.

 

Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, Songs in the Key of Life, and Innervisions are worth the purchase, even though all the tracks aren't funk.

Harry Connick, Jr.'s She gets really funky.

How about Herbie Hancock with the Headhunters track Hang Up your Hang Ups, which takes funk a step further than AWB could with Pick Up the Pieces. (Sorry JimK, but it's just funkier, more soulful).

16-note funk machines Jaco and Rocco had Come On Come Over and What is Hip and Diggin' on James Brown.

What about Sly's Thank U For Talkin' to Me Africa, which I always thought was more dirty, nasty funk, than the original Thank U Fa Lettin' Me Be Mice Elf Agin.

Dr. John's Television gets funky with a "Thank U" cover and some down home funk with Anthony Keidis, if you can believe that.

 

I've got that one on vinyl. The picture is even larger!

 

...yeah, I had Honey on LP; it's MIA, though('cause I went a-lookin' for it!).

There's a cool version of AWB's "Pick Up The Pieces" on the cd "Warmer Communications"(it's a bonus track). It's a 21:00+ minute LIVE version from The Atlantic Family In Montreaux...anyone have that one? Brad?
Anyway, the liner notes state AWB ended the festival on a Saturday night(Sunday morning @2:30 a.m.)with this extended jam. Herbie Mann, Don Ellis, the Breckers, etc all take lenghty solos. Needless to say, Gorrie & Ferrone are gettin' it for the duration...

Jazzbo-
Agreed; The Headhunters are B-A-D. Paul Jackson & Mike Clark? Whew!

 

If you're into the P-Funk/Bootsy type funk, definitely get the album "Body Over Mind" by Freekbass. Bootsy produced it, and it's a great album. They're from Cincinnati, but tour all over the midwest and always put on a really good show. You can get the cd from cdnow, amazon, or freekbass.com

 

You MUST get:
Pleasure - "Future Now"
The Mighty Ryeders - "Evil Vibrations"
Brass Construction
Sweatband
LTD - "Love Togetherness Devotion"
Isley Brothers - "Go For Your Guns"
Chocolate Milk - "Say Won't Cha"
How do you "ol' skool" funk fans like me now?

 

...would like you better if you lose that 'Nucks' jersey.

 

Damn! Something told me to wear my Flyers sweater that day.