Skip to main content

Funk and Soul

 


Al compás del mundo - programa #169, 2-27-25, Funk and Soul

 

01 The Commodores - Brick House

02 Tower of Power - Drop It In The Slot

03 Parliament - Ride On

04 Sly & The Family Stone – Frisky

05 The Webb People – I’m Sending Vibrations

06 Ruby Delicious - Rock Steady

07 Mandrill - Git It All

08 The San Francisco TKOS – Herm

09 Ohio Players - Fire

10 Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child)

11 Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie

12 Chico and Buddy - A Thing Call the Jones

13 Little Ann – Possession

14 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Time Will Tell

15 Parliament - Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam Y'all

 

What did James Brown mean when he said “we’re gonna have a funky good time”? This “funky” of which he spoke, was it strictly musical (and danceable), or maybe sexual, sociable, or even political? Or maybe a little bit of each? Funk, funky, funkify, funkadelic, funkalicious…all pointing at the pleasure principle…a new dialect for the “blues”. Though not so new, as funk music’s origins go back to the mid-60s, emerging from Black communities and tied in to the R&B that preceded it. Some say Mr. Brown wrote the first funk tune, ‘Out of Sight’, but that claim is debatable. While James Brown was the undisputed king of Soul, most would agree that the king of Funk was George Clinton with his Parliament-Funkadelic bands. A merrier, more fun-loving and groovier group of gangsters was not to be found. And so, to hail the chief and his gang, we’re including three cuts in today’s playlist from a lengthy recording career. There are a considerable number of well-known complements and other big hits of the day. Try out the Commodores, Tower of Power, Sly & The Family Stone, Mandrill, Ohio Players, and Kool & The Gang, each contributing their own syncopated, bass and drum-heavy sound (that’s called Funk.) We’ve also reached out to some lesser-known talents from two regional centers of the genre – Detroit and San Francisco. The likes of The Webb People, Chico and Buddy (with a “delightful” song about heroin addiction that includes the chorus “itchin’ and a scratchin’, itchin’ and a scratchin’”), and Little Ann all hail from the Motor City – find them and more on the compilation “The Detroit Funk Vaults”. From another aggregation, “Golden State Funk”, you will (likely) be introduced to Ruby Delicious and the San Francisco TKOs. All good stuff. And with an hour’s worth in this program, your soul should get satisfied as your head gets funkified.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

British Invasion - 1960s

I wanted to declare “Kick out the jams, mo’fos!” as a signpost towards the message in this week’s Al compás del mundo radio show, but that actually came about a little later. As humanity descended ever deeper into the Cro-Magnon state, Iggy Pop and the punks claimed that honor. What we have here instead, is a post-WWII let’s shake up the political order a bit, and no, not everyone has signed up to be an unconscious consumer attitude. There’s something afoot with these lads. Not exactly revolutionary fervor, but most certainly promoting a change in the general way of things. Recalling Che Guevara’s famous quote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, the Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones et. al. pouted and preened – some more than others – in a way that hadn’t quite been done before. Youthful vigor ensued. These groups pushed the evolutionary chain of popular music a step further and we’re all better off for it.  Set list Al compás del mundo programa #183, 6-5-25 - The British Invasion, 1960s 01 Yar...
Post a Comment
Read more

India y Nepal y Tibet

W here a human voice is heard in today’s program it’s often starkly different from what most Westerners might find pleasing and melodic.  But I must remind my listeners that the West probably did not invent the concept of vocalizing as accompaniment to plucked/blown/percussed musical instruments. Why do we sing in the style that we do? I imagine there are knowledgeable tomes wrestling with that idea. I ’ve read that vocals were meant to imitate the sounds made by instruments...or vice versa? The chicken or the egg? I’m not here to answer that question, in spite of the college course I had taken of “Music Cultures of the World” decades ago. What I offer is the opportunity to pay attention to and digest musical expressions performed by people steeped in the traditional ways of their culture.  T here is a geographic component to lumping together India, Nepal and Tibet as the Himalayas served to isolate and circumscribe the peoples of those northern regions. But here’s where I fud...
Post a Comment
Read more