Funky Compilations — CDs  

Nice one! 14 tight independent hip hop joints all with the crisp, soulful vibe that's Spinna's hallmark, even if he didn't produce all of them, though he was responsible for many. As with some other popular compilation/mix series you get one disc of the tracks in their full versions, unmixed, and another with Spinna getting to work on the 1's and 2's for a continuous set that flows like hot butter over popcorn. Spinna's deep hip hop roots show through nicely with tracks by the Jigmastas and 7L & Esoteric saddling up next to nice instrumentals by Spinna himself as well as 88 Keys and Kingsize. With "Lyrical Fluctuation 2000 (Spinna mix)" by the Jigmastas, "3ree6ix5ive" by Old World Disorder, "Take A Look" by the Domecrackers, "Across The Globe" by the Jay I Geez, "Precision" by Kingsize and 9 more slices of underground niceness to keep your head boppin', packaged beautifully in a really nice foldout cardboard sleeve in a slipcase!

Excellent stuff – and a much-needed look at the funky 70s scene in Ghana! Much of the Afro Funk that's been revived over the past few years has come from the Nigerian scene – so it's great to hear this set of funky tunes from Ghana, a rich selection of grooves with a slightly harder edge than some other African work we've heard, and a rhythmic pulse that leans heavily towards work of American funk acts of the time. Drums, bass, and other percussion abound – and the tunes have a sweetly bubbling funky feel that's nice and soulful! Very well done – with a total of 14 tracks, and a very thorough set of notes – and including the cuts "Because Of Money" by The Third Generation, "Mother Africa" by Marijata, "Heaven" by Ebo Taylor, "Simigwado" by Gyedu Blay Ambolley, "Psychedelic Woman" by Honey & The Bees Band, "Make It Fast Make It Slow" by Rob, "Nite Safarie" by The Black Star Sound, and "Bukom Mashie" by Oscar Sulley.

The sound of Chicago pumps again, in this great collection of tracks from the glory days of the Trax Record label! Trax was instrumental in the Chicago scene – often releasing a record a week, cooked up in the label's southside studios, quickly pressed up on dodgy vinyl, and booted round to the clubs for testing in front of a live crowd. Unfortunately, the quality of the vinyl and finances of the label meant that much of the musical history of this scene is out of the reach of collectors – which is why this 12 track package is such a nice treat, bringing together a few of the labels hits, plus some other almost-forgotten gems. Titles include "7 Ways To Jack" by Hercules, "Phuture Jacks" by Phuture, "Dum Dum" by Fresh, "The Jungle" by Jungle Wonz, "Farley Knows House" by Farley Jackmaster Funk, "Houst Beat Box" by Sampson Butch Moore, "Do You Know Who You Are" by Virgo, "Ride The Rhythm" by On The House with Marshall Jefferson, and "Beat The Knuckles" by Santos.

The modern sound of the Miami scene – a wealth of contemporary club cuts from Hot Records – one of the city's biggest indies from a few decades back! The work here follows strongly in a post-disco, post-house mode – some influences from the boogie indie scene of the 80s, but also a fair bit of modern dancefloor elements too – mixed with just a touch of hip hop on a few tracks. There's plenty of beats at the bottom of most tracks, and the set brings together a wealth of older singles – including "Bang It" by Go Bang, "Gonna Find A Way" by Direct Impact, "So Sexual" by Thrill Factor, "976" by Club D Two, "Swing To The Beat" by 3YL, "T-Dance" by Soho People, "Hey Everybody" by Joe Tempo, "Funky Sensation" by Vera, "Won't You Listen" by Rhythmicon, "Come Here You Freaky Chick" by Toxic Shock, and "Scandal" by Davis & Davis.

A legendary set of sound library grooves – and actually one of the first to kick off the genre! The package brings together rare tracks from the small Italian Octopus label – not nearly as well-known as De Wolfe, KPM, or other sound library giants – but an equally great source of rare funky jazz cuts that were never issued to the public at the time – recorded as part of the huge wave of studio activity in Italy during the 60s and 70s! Given that the set was collected by Schema, you can bet that the tracks are right on the money – and titles include "Curly" by Stellio Subelli, "Sculturea Beat" by Angelo Baroncini, "Diacromeico" by Sandro Brugnolini, "Games" by Pasquale Castiglione, "First Black" by Mario Molino, "Maze" by Roberto Conrado, and "Verso L'Infinito" by Alessandro Alessondroni.