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An amazing album that's probably one of the most unified albums that George Clinton ever recorded! The band's rawer style has been firmed up and economized – but a lot of the best elements are still in place, including a strange approach to vocals that has male and female voices interacting and counterbalancing in a similar style to that heard on some of Roy Ayers' best work from the early 70s. Clinton's begun introducing a lot of elements of Funkadelic into the group – but the tracks are still short and very tight, with a focussed approach to both funk and lyrics that really makes the album stand up to repeated listenings over the years. The album begins with the sublime "Chocolate City", a surprisingly political number that has these incredible jagged piano lines that echo away madly – then it rolls into other great numbers like "Side Effects", "What Comes Funky", "If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It", and "I Misjudged You". CD includes 3 bonus tracks – "If It Don't Fit Don't Force It (alternate)", "I Misjudged You (alternate)", and "Common Law Wife (previously unreleased)".

An amazing album that's probably one of the most unified albums that George Clinton ever recorded! The band's rawer style has been firmed up and economized – but a lot of the best elements are still in place, including a strange approach to vocals that has male and female voices interacting and counterbalancing in a similar style to that heard on some of Roy Ayers' best work from the early 70s. Clinton's begun introducing a lot of elements of Funkadelic into the group – but the tracks are still short and very tight, with a focussed approach to both funk and lyrics that really makes the album stand up to repeated listenings over the years. The album begins with the sublime "Chocolate City", a surprisingly political number that has these incredible jagged piano lines that echo away madly – then it rolls into other great numbers like "Side Effects", "What Comes Funky", "If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It", and "I Misjudged You".

A sweet, smooth stepper from the great Randy Brown – and a record that's got the same sublime mix of mellow grooves and earthy vocals that you might find on some of Tyrone Davis' best late 70s work for Columbia! Tunes are all plenty darn fresh – written by the team of Homer Banks and Chuck Brooks, who also produced the album – and Randy's got this way of hitting a groove that's confident, but never arrogant – a perfect late 70s masculine mode, of the sort only a handful of singers could handle this well! Titles include "Without You (I Can't Make It Through The Night)", "We Ought To Be Doin It", and "Do You Love Me?" – all of which have great hooks – plus "Do You Love Me", "Love Be With You", and "Love Formula".

Great Mid 70s records from Cameo – Cardiac Arrest from 1975 and We All Know Who We Re from 1977 – together in a single set! Cardiac Arrest is excellent early work from the group. It's got a really sublime approach – tightly funking, but not too fast, in the mode of some of their weaker 80s material. The band have that tightly snapped groove firmly in place – as you'd already know if you've heard the album's classic sample cuts, "Rigor Mortis" and "Post Mortem". Other tracks include "Funk, Funk", "Find My Way", and "Good Times" – and the record's one of the best of the bunch from this period! We All Know Who We Are is of the most overlooked Cameo albums – and one we go back to more than the rest! Unlike some of the group's other funk-heavy outings, this one's nicely restrained, with a sophisticated ensemble soul style that reminds us of the best mid 70s work by Earth Wind & Fire. A real highlight is the smooth stepping title cut – "We All Know Who We Are" – a wonderfully catchy number that's also got a really righteous message, and kind of a "Damn Right I Am Somebody" intro, with the band rapping to each other before the song starts. Other tracks include "It's Serious", "Inflation", and "Stand Up".

Massively funk work from Cameo – a set that's right in the middle of their classic early run – and still quite strong on the bass-heavy grooves the group helped inspire in countless legions of imitators! The tightness of the set is incredible – moving at a pace that's simply mindblowing, especially in a pre-sampling, pre-programming world – proof that spontaneous work by a group like this could still blow away any commercial crap! There's a few mellower moments too – always a side of the group that we love – and titles include "Use It Or Lose It", "Freaky Dancin", "I Like It", "Knights By Nights", "I'll Always Stay", "The Sound Table", and "Don't Be So Cool".

Ed Townsend, the great soul composer and producer responsible for many big hits over the years, put together this album with some younger generation family members and an outside ringer. The result is a great album of modern group soul with a cool mellow soul vibe that's similar to some of the other great soul records on Chocolate City. Our favorite cut's the great midtempo cut "True Love", but other highlights include "It's You", "You Can", and "Wondering".

Cameo are going for more of an 80s groove here than on earlier albums – adding in slicker bass parts and more keyboards, but also still keeping a nice soulful finish on the best cuts. These include great vocal tracks like "Feel Me" and "Is This The Way", which have a sweetly compressed harmony sound on the lyrics. Other tracks include "Better Days", "Keep It Hot", "Roller Skates", and "Is This The Way".

A second great comeback set from Latimore – working beautifully with producer George Chocolate Perry, who helps him hit a groove that's just like his classic 70s work for TK! As with those records, the vibe here is a laidback blend of blues and soul – lots of great electric piano work stepping along on most numbers underneath Latimore's slinky vocals – which themselves show a slight touch of age, but are still as sensual as ever! There's more smooth soul than the blues and rhythm in the title – a good thing to us – and titles include "Mr Right Now", "Singing & Playing The Blues", "Don't Give Up On Our Love", "City Life", "Around The World", and "Every Day Is A Beautiful Day".

Go Go galore – a massive compilation of Chocolate City grooves – some of the best funky numbers from the DC scene of the 80s – a unique strech when the nation's capital was cooking up some mighty heavy grooves! Although recorded in the 80s, these tracks really preserve a 70s sort of funky sound – and in a way, the Go Go scene was kind of a refuge for all the great live funk energy of the 70s – especially the larger ensemble groups, like those in the P-Funk universe! Tracks are nice and long, filled with great rhythms, and lots of nice live instrumentation – and some great call-response vocals that are a bit like old school hip hop too. Titles include "Welcome To The Go Go" by Class Band, "Feel It" by The Mighty Peacemakers, "Somebody's Ringing That Doorbell" by EU, "You Can Dance" by Davis Pinckney Project, "Virginia Gone Go Go" by Code Red, "Skunk Funk Go Go" by Dr Skunk Funk, "Who Comes To Boogie" by Little Benny & The Masters, and "DC Groove" by Static Disruptors. 24 tracks in all – way more than any other set of this nature we've seen!

A killer album of 70s New Orleans funk! Chocolate Milk were an amazing funk group in their best moments – and this album is certainly one of those moments – a blistering batch of tracks that set a whole new style for the Crescent City scene, and which showed that producers Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn could easily hit the hipper notes of the 70s! There's a tight rhythmic sound at the core of most numbers, but expanded instrumentation over the top – bits of spacey electrics or jazzier electronics that never would have shown up in Sansu records of years back, but which show that with the right group, New Orleans funk could easily take on the hippest styles going down on both coasts! The title cut, "Action Speaks Louder Than Words", is a slow funk classic – and the record also includes the incredible electronic-tinged "Time Machine", a perpetual favorite these days. Other nice tracks include "Pretty Pimpin' Willie" and "Ain't Nothin' But a Thing". Arguably the band's best album ever! This Big Break UK remastered edition includes one bonus track: "My Mind Is Hazy (Single Version).

Sublime grooves from Fat Larry's Band – a combo that's heavy on bass, but one that also keeps things cool! The style here is easily one of the best from the group's generation – a laidback groove that's not nearly as tight as other 80s club acts – never too much bass in the face, nor rhythms that get too stiff – just a stepping sort of groove that's rooted in funk, and served up with plenty of soulful touches. In a way, the sound reminds us more of ensemble funk groups from the late 70s than you'd guess from the date – particularly some of the Mercury or Chocolate City artists. Titles include "House Party", "Act Like You Know", "Breakin Out", "Be My Lady", and "Zoom". CD features bonus tracks too – instrumental and radio mixes of "Act Like You Know", and a radio mix of "Zoom".

One of the last great 70s soundtracks on Curtom Records – a smoking little set that pairs the music of Curtis Mayfield with the vocals of Mavis Staples! Curtis is very much in charge of the record from the start, and works in a hard-stepping and righteous mode that recalls his earlier work on the Staples' soundtrack for Let's Do It Again – no surprise, given that Piece Of The Action was the next installment in the successful series of films that starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier! The sound here is nicely full, hitting that rich mid 70s Curtom mode that sounded so great on Leroy Hutson and Natural Four albums of the time – a slightly more sophisticated approach that mixed in a bit of strings with the heavier funk at the bottom. Titles include "Chocolate City", written by Curtis with Keni Burke and Henry Gibson, plus "Getting Deeper", "A Piece Of The Action", "Orientation", and "Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid".

One of the last great 70s soundtracks on Curtom Records – a smoking little set that pairs the music of Curtis Mayfield with the vocals of Mavis Staples! Curtis is very much in charge of the record from the start, and works in a hard-stepping and righteous mode that recalls his earlier work on the Staples' soundtrack for Let's Do It Again – no surprise, given that Piece Of The Action was the next installment in the successful series of films that starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier! The sound here is nicely full, hitting that rich mid 70s Curtom mode that sounded so great on Leroy Hutson and Natural Four albums of the time – a slightly more sophisticated approach that mixed in a bit of strings with the heavier funk at the bottom. Titles include "Chocolate City", written by Curtis with Keni Burke and Henry Gibson, plus "Getting Deeper", "A Piece Of The Action", "Orientation", and "Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid".