Funky 45's — All Formats  

A deluxe box set of rare Funky 45s on NYC producer Jack Taylor's Rojac and Tay-star labels – and featuring represses of key classic 45s, along with a bonus single with a new Kenny Dope edit – and a pair of 7" Rojac logo slipmats! It's a great batch of singles – featuring some largely lost, though legendary numbers by Big Maybelle, Third Guitar, Little Jewel, Damn Sam The Miracle Man, Chico Buddy and others. The set is well chosen to highlight the crème of the crop of Rojac and Tay-ster's releases from the late 60s to early 80s – with raw and slightly more tender soul singles, some wicked 70s funk, and a couple post disco groovers. Great stuff all the way! The box itself is nice, too, with a faux alligator skin texture and a handled fliptop lid. It includes seven old school Rojac and Tay-ster 45s – plus a bonus red colored vinyl 7" featuring a pair of Kenny Dope edits – and the twin Rojac slipmats. Titles include "Can't Wait Any Longer" and "Quittin' Time" by Big Maybelle, "A Thing Call The Jones" and "Can You Dig It" by Chico And Buddy, "I Want To" and "It Doesn't Matter" by Little Jewel, "Been So Long" and "Down To The River" by Third Guitar, "Damn Sam The Miracle Man" and "Give Me Another Joint" by Damn Sam The Miracle Man & The Soul Congregation, "I've Got It" and "Lucky Man" by Tolbert, "Are You Experience" and "Whip You" by Chuck-A-Luck & The Lovemen LTD. The bonus single is on red vinyl – and features a Kenny Dope edit of "Baby Don't Cry" by Third Guitar, with a flipside instrumental.

Two stormers from Antibalas! "Dirty Money" is one of their boldest cuts in years – a tune that leaps right out of the grooves, right from the start – thanks to plenty of searing Afro Funk rhythms, and even moreso to a wicked Hammond part that burns beautifully for the first minute or so – working out sounds that are incredibly fresh and powerful! "AWOL" has more horns in the lead, and a great funky bassline at the core – a bad-stepping little number that's equal parts Afro and Funk!

Pure wonderfulness from Charles Bradley – two killer cuts that really sum up his contemporary genius! "Strictly Reserved" has this slow funk groove that's nice and sinister – a stepping guitar riff that really sets up the groove right from the start – topped with these incredibly soulful vocals from Charles, and peppered with just the right dose of horns! "Let Love Stand A Chance" is a killer too – mellower, and a bit more deep soul – with a burning feel that almost blows away the best James Brown ballads of the King Records years!

Brooklyn's CSC Funk Band delivers a solid little tribute to Gang Starr – contemporary funk instros inspired by DJ Premier's benchmark productions for that most legendary of duos! "A Little Weight" is inspired by "Who's Gonna Take The Weight", and it's a creative interpretation that's faithful to Premier's tightly-punctuation beatcraft, though the CSC brings plenty of their own adventurous style to the table. "A Little Planet" has a lot of psych funk elements – some rubbery guitars, oboe and synth grooves – though it still keeping a tight, drum-heavy backdrop.

Pretty sweet stuff from Damn Sam The Miracle Man – a tune named after himself, and delivered like some bad-rapping theme song all the way through! There's a hip groove to the cut that's almost blacksploitation funk – as is the presentation of Sam's lyrics, which have a swaggering confidence that really sends the whole thing home! "Give Me Another Joint" is a heavy bit of funk too – fast guitar and rhythms that really move nicely right from the start – and these vocals from Sam that really go over the top in the middle!

Rare, raw and and explosive rare soul from The Explosive Dynamiks – a group hailing from mid 60s Lexington, KY! "Whole Lotta Loving" carries quite a charge – stripped down drums, incredible organ grooves, punchy sax and dynamic vocals. This is an aptly named group! "I Need You" is a moody, slower tune, at least at the start. The organ and vocals lead the way at the beginning, but as it approachs the chorus, the drums and horns come wailing in.

Funky Lee Fields – burning stronger than ever these days, it seems! "You Don't Know" is a fierce-romping little track that starts with some cool guitar getting all wangly over snapping beats – setting up a hip mod groove before Lee comes in, and belts out a catchy lyric that almost takes us back to Lee Dorsey in the 60s! "Could Have Been" is a mellow deep soul track – really great, and delivered with a classic approach that shows that Lee's got a heck of a lot more to offer than just funky vocals!

Vamping guitar grooves, soulful lead and group vocals, and Latin funky rhythms from the legendary NYC Ghetto Brothers! "Ghetto Brothers Anthem" is their hard grooving mission statement, a heavy groove that starts with some wah wah guitar leading to the pummeling drums and rhythms – fantastic and flavored with conga, a killer bass line, and powerhouse vocals! The flip "I Saw A Tear" is more of a slow cooking raw soul styled ballad with Latin percussion, some keys and excellent vocals from the group.

Raw funk from Detroit's Funk Night label! "Gee Theme" by The Ho-Kats is stripped to the base essentials – starting with a revolving funk guitar groove that leads into the bass, drums and drums before a breakdown – and in comes the organ! A timeless funk theme. The flip is called "Groove With No Bass" and it's credited to The Institute For Experimental Sound And Research – but don't mistake it for a sound science project, it's real funk! It might night have a bass player, but the piano brings the funk nicely.

There's a nice little knock at the start of this one – kind of a snapping drum part that's not really a break, but which definitely gets the groove going – a massive blend of female vocals, organ, and funky guitar! "I Predict A Riot" follows with even more knocking on the drums – some great snapping parts that set the tune on fire, and seem to catch to the Hammond as well – really turning into an instrumental conflagration once the horns come into the mix!

Real hip hop from a real MC – namely Lil Dap of the early 90s NYC legends Group Home – still sharp and still rhyming over timeless boom bap worthy of his Gang Starr Foundation roots! The production on "Real MC's" is by Freqnik and WDRE – kicking off with heavy beats and scratches, clearly reverent DJ Premier in mood and tone, and without coming off as a throwback. It's not about revisiting the past, it's about showing how fresh that style can be to this day, when done correctly. The flip "Guru Cash Flow" is a more explicit tribute – to Gang Starr MC Guru and to producer Cash Flow.

Rare funk from the KPM vaults – the pulpy "Light Stakeout" credited to New York Trouble – a perfect slice of 70s crime soundtrack-styles grooves on killer funky 45! Part 1 starts off with a sinister bass line and drums, with some spare, kind of sneaky-sounding horn and flute and a slow-building dynamic! Some guitar, electric keys and other elements come in as it grows. The pace is mirrored on Part 2, which is has similar feel, but done with some alternate elements – in particular, some haunting, echoey effects!

Nickodemus brings his Global Minute series to Beirut – Middle Eastern MCs and regional funk sounds fused masterfully with timeless, universal hop hop – a brilliant, uncompromising track! Here Nickodemus is joined by MCs Edd Fareeq L'Atrash, Yaseen, Malikah & Ram6 Al Hamorabi on the vocal version of "A Beirut Minute" – Arab hip hop all stars with deft flows each. It's no secret that Middle Eastern sounds pair wonderfully with hip hop, but this focused blast transcends all. Instro on the flip.

A wild remake of the Betty Davis classic – and a tune that may well be one of Iggy Pop's funkiest recordings ever! The guitars are way more up in the mix than on Betty's original – lots of fuzz from the Zig Zags, cut through by Iggy's dark vocals – all in a fuzzy wave of sound that steps out with a really badass feel right from the start. The flipside features Betty's original version – just in case you forgot how great that one is too!

A funky funky version of "Hurts So Bad" – one that still carries all the familiar lyric of the tune, but which begins with this totally great intro that sets up a mad groove peppered with hard piano lines and guitar! The mix of the harmony vocals and the sharp groove is mighty darn nice – especially when the production starts to make things sound trippy, too! "I Think Of You" has a trippy feel too – lots of echo on the group's vocals, and guitar tuned more like a sitar – complete with the twang!

Wonderfully tripped out funk from one of the coolest groups ever! The Stark Reality were a one-off group who mixed together vibes, fuzzy guitar, funky bass, and some nicely choppy drums – originally in service of an album of children's songs, written by Hoagy Carmichael. These 2 tracks are some of the rarest work ever by the group – non-Carmichael tracks, written by group leader Monty Stark, and done in the same tripped-out funky style of work on the group's only album. "Too Much" is sweet mellow funk – with great skittish drums, sweet guitar, and some nice lyrics that kind of trip around the beats. "Red Yellow" is much wilder – lots and lots of fuzz, and a really tripped out noisy funk sound!