Funky 45's — All Formats  

Funky Latin grooves from Bio Ritmo! "Diana's Mambo" has timeless mambo flavor bubbling underneath – sweet percussion, brass up front in the mix and taking to another level via some otherlwordly electric organ. The flip shares the slightly tripped out organ vibe, otherwise a nicely stripped down percussion & rhythm number.

Scorching raw soul from Charles Bradley – backed by the tight Menahan Street Band! "World (Is Going Up In Flames)" might be the best track yet from Bradley – an incredible groover with a heavy theme – but the apocalypse never sounded so sweet! The groove is raw and emotive, given a deeper feel thanks to some piano in the mix – with a rubbery bass line and backing vocals by the Gospel Queens! The flip "Heartaches And Pain" is another emotional workout – and has the feel of a lost southern soul scorcher, but with funkier bassline and drums! Amazing stuff!

A Clancy Eccles-produced classic from The Dynamites – with a wicked groover with some trippykeyboards in the mix! The King Tubbys mix on the on the other side ratchets up the bass sound nicely – with the keys shooting away in waves to leave us alone with the heady bass and percussion. Killer!

A spacey one from The Dynamites for producer Clancy Eccles! "Red Moon" is a great instrumental with an unshakable rhythm and a horn line that's clearly a riff on "Blue Moon" – and some eerie keyboards in the backgroup. The King Tubbys version wisely keeps the otherwordly aspects of the other side – and actually highlights the spacier, eerier vibe in a cool way.

Carribbean rhythms meet psychedelic soul – courtesy of The Dynamites! A pretty chunky guitar sound, some thick organ groove, heavy bass and nice drums from producer's Clancy Eccles esteemed early 70s players. The King Tubbys version does a great job of bringing in the atmospheric echoes without overshadowing the group instrumentation.

One of the weirdest tunes we've ever heard from the mighty Chuck Higgins – a cut that has the same deep groove as his other pachucko numbers of the 50s, yet which also features these weird gobbledy gook lyrics too! The whole first minute of the tune is almost complete nonsense – until Chuck comes in and explains the vocalizations, then gives way for a smoking tenor solo in the middle! "Don't You Know" is a mellower number, with a great raw vamping feel!

A very cool remake of this cut from Sharon Jones – produced by Ticklah here with a sweetly dubby vibe! "How Long" still has plenty of soul here, but it also takes on a bit of a Kingston groove too – stepping along with a 60s rocksteady vibe that supports Sharon's vocals surprisingly well – and really unlocks a whole new side of her talents. The dub version on the flip is even more inventive – and the whole thing's a great fresh look at the mighty Sharon Jones sound!

Take it from us, a record with "chicken" in the title is always worth checking out – because it usually means a nicely strutting groove! That's definitely the case with "Chicken Grabber" – a cool cut with mambo percussion, vamping sax, and some great chicken calls in the middle! And "Chicken Rock" is mighty nice too – with a really nasty bassline and snapping drums, called on a member of the group to set the scene for a sweet tenor solo in the middle!

Heavy funk, all the way through – a brilliant batch of cuts from The Original Black Sheep Of The Family – and one of the only true testaments we've ever seen to their obscure funky work! The set begins with the massive "In The Forest" – a wicked, wangly groove that features righteous vocals on part one – then really takes off instrumentally on part two – with more than enough energy to warrant spanning both sides of the single! "Heaven" is a wonderful cut – warmly bubbling with a bit of modern soul energy, but also coming across with a more deeply spiritual undercurrent too – a bit like the best balance you'd find on some of the Soul Cal reissues, but also a totally unique cut on its own! "Do You Wanna" is a cut with a cool complicated bassline at the start, almost fitfully making its way into some funkier rhythms – all handled by the group with the best late 70s ensemble funk modes!

Some mighty dubby funk from Solo Hit – recorded at a time when he was still working with Victor Uwaifo, and in a style that feels like Nigerian grooves recorded at King Tubby's! There's a mighty echo to the music – so that the rhythms kind of blast up from the bassy bottom, and feel like they're about to push themselves off track – yet still hold a groove strongly, with tight tenor and vocals over the top! "Ododo" is still pretty bottom-heavy, but has a more frenetic guitar line in the middle – a riffing quality that really moves the whole thing forward!

Tight guitars riff away beautifully on this one – picking up an nice groove right from the start, and giving the vocals of Emanuel Taylor an infectiously funky sound all the way through! Taylor dips and turns with the cut nicely – soaring one minute, snapping with the beat the next – and the cut's got a great blend of sweetness and clubby rhythms! "Society" has a wicked drum break at the start – a bit fast, but picked up by a bassline too – and rolled together in a horn-heavy groove that's made even better by Emanuel's vocals!

Thievery Corporation's stellar "Cultural Of Fear" with Mr. Lif – plus the Kaleidoscope Jukebox remix on the flip! The original has a heavy bass groove, a propollent, though still funky tempo, and some strong, topical lyricism – nice stuff! The Kaleidoscope Jukebox remix has a lighter touch, thanks to some piano, atmospheric bits of backing vocal, and some dubby textures, too – though it wisely doesn't mess with the strength of Lif's rhymes.

14 smoking analog dubs from the mighty King Tubby – a killer 7 X 7 inch box set from the Dubmaster – culled from the version sides of Bunny Striker Lee's original 70s 7-inch releases and bonus cuts from the first four King Tubby albums! Benchmark dubs sourced from classic tracks by Cornell Campbell & The Eternals, Linval Thompson, Horace Andy, Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Jackie Edwards and others in nice box set from Jamaican Recordings. Includes "Roots Of Dub/Dream Locks Dub", "A Better Version/A Good Version", "Declaration Of Dub/A Truthful Dub", "The Jahovah Version/Conversation Dub", "Waltzing Mathilda/Weeping Dub", "Natty Dub/Move Out Of Babylon Dub" and Don't Cut Off Your Dreadlocks/A Rougher Version".

Yeah, it's spectacular alright – a sturdy box set featuring 7 X 7" singles from the Channel One vaults – all in replications of the original sleeves! It includes mid 70s singles originally issued on Well Charge and Channel One, plus a trio of early 80s Hitbound singles – stellar original tracks by Delroy Wilson, Leroy Smart, John Holt and Sammy Dread backed by the Revolutionaries versions, plus Michael Palmer, Barrington Levy, Roots Radics and more! Includes "It's A Shame" by Delroy Wilson w/ "Fire Bun" by Revolutionaries, "Jah Jah" by Leroy Smart w/ the Revolutionaries version on the flip, "Up Park Camp" by John Holt (plus Revolutionaries version)", "Jah Will Work It Out" by Mighty Diamonds w/ "Masculine Gender" by Ranking Trevor, "M16" by Sammy Dread w/ the Revolutionaries version, "Pon Your Toe" by Michael Palmer w/ "Unmetered Taxi" by Sly & Robbie, Dean Fraser & Robbie Lyn and "Black Rose" by Barrington Levy w/ Roots Radics version.

A sweet bit of Spanish Harlem funk – originally pressed up in a very small run! "Welfare" is a killer – a slow-stepping tune, but a funky one too – with this righteous vocal from Antonio that goes very deep socially, but has a Jose Feliciano sort of warmth too! "Why Can't I Have You" is a mellow ballad cut with a heartbreaking feel – and this blue-tinged organ that bubbles underneath the vocals to really underscore the mood!

Rare 1967 BBC Sessions from Hendrix! Includes a cover of Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" from the BBC Radio's Rhythm And Blues on October 17, 1967 – plus a newly unearthed take on Hendrix's own "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" as performed on Top Of The Pops on August 24, 1967. The epic backdrop of Mitch Mitchell's drums and Noel Redding's bass are so underappreciated these days, though there's no overlooking how incredible Jimi is out front. Hendrix plays a bit of harpsichord here, too!

The kind of funky killer that's really made us love Will Sessions in recent years – a full sort of symphonic approach to funk, with a vibe that's almost taken from a 70s soundtrack – but funkier overall! The drums are deep funk, but mixed with rich string samples that carry the true story of the tune – undercut by some electric bass, which keeps things kicking! "Dub Rock" is dubby – as you might guess – with a laidback, Kingston-styled, echoey vibe!