Very cool compilation featuring a whole mess of great lost funk tracks from the legendary Westbound label – including a few unreleased cuts! There's a number of tracks on here that we just about never see, and some more that you'll only find on rare funky 45s. Tracks include "Getting It Off", an instrumental by Fuzzy Haskins, "Super Funk" by Erasmus Hall, "In The Pocket" by Boots, "Funk It Down" by Caesar Frazier, "Just Us" by Crowd Pleasers, "Funky Beethoven" by Gene Anderson, "Be What You Is" by U.S. Music & Funkadelic, and "Funky World (parts 1 & 2)" by Silky Vincent. Very cool stuff, and with a good set of notes! LP, Vinyl record album

A stone classic from Flaming Ember – a combo with a sound rooted in rock, but filled with plenty of soul too – making they a key funky crossover act in the early 70s! These guys borrow the best of Motown soul and the best of the jazzier rock groups of the time – and often use lots of raw congas in with their percussion – which keeps things grooving with plenty of soulful inflections. There's some nice psych production at times – a bit like the best Norman Whitfield modes at the start of the 70s – and titles include "Flashbacks & Reruns", "The Empty Crowded Room", "Going In Circles", "Westbound #9", "Spinning Wheel", and "Shades Of Green". LP, Vinyl record album

A collection of funky tracks recorded by The Players when the were with Westbound, but released later, when they hit Mercury. Sort of a "cleaning house" effort, and not really a unified album, but that doesn't stop it from having some nice moments. Titles include "Introducing the Players", "Hustle Bird", "Spinning", "Hollywood Hump", "Varee", "Laid It", and "She Locked It". LP, Vinyl record album

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Mike's come a long way from his early soul days with Dennis Coffey – working here to lay down a set of spacious disco tunes with a dreamy finish – really stretching out with the same sort of glide you'd find in the best Philly club at the time! The record's actually quite strong on the disco side of the spectrum – well-crafted work with a sound that's full and rich, but never cliched – definitely Theodore's moment to shine in the 70s, taking the torch from his old partner Coffey, who had his time in the sun a few years before! Titles include "Cosmic Wind", "The Bull", "Moon Trek", "Brazilian Lullaby", and "Belly Boogie". LP, Vinyl record album

A soaring set from the later years of Detroit funk powerhouse Westbound Records – a record that has the label moving into clubbier territory, but with all the sharpness they brought to their earlier releases! Detroit producers Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey are at the helm of the record – and although the set has disco elements that include chorus vocals and upbeat rhythms, the approach is maybe more in a fast funk style than more commercial work of the time – which keeps things nice and lean throughout, at a level that's similar to early work from T Connection and some of the hipper groups of their scene! Both Motown legend Earl Van Dyke and Dennis Coffey play on the album – and tracks include "We Got Our Own Thing", "Free To Be Me", "Get A Groove In Order To Move", and "Sure Can't Go To The Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

A massive double length set from Funkadelic! As if the group's vision wasn't already expansive enough in their early Westbound years, they really make incredible use of the space of this 2LP set to show off their talent for funky invention, fuzzed-out guitar, and mind-bending look at the world around them – taking off into a heady array of topics and settings that are even more chilling than before. If Maggot Brain can be taken as a document of Detroit after the apocalypse, this set should be read as a wider statement on the climate in America that was leading up to it – all served up with some of the group's funkiest rhythms on record to date! Titles include "You Hit the Nail On the Head", "A Joyful Process", "Loose Booty", "I Call My Baby Pussycat", "Biological Speculation", "Philmore", "We Hurt Too", "Everybody Is Going To Make It This Time", "Miss Lucifer's Love", and "If You Don't Like the Effects Don't Produce the Cause". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing stuff – and arguably the greatest early Funkadelic album ever! The set moves past the simple fuzzy style of the group's debut, and the overly-stoned sound of Free Your Mind – and rockets into a heady funk style that's filled with sly social commentary and an incredibly dark vision of the future! The centerpiece of the album is the mindblowing "Maggot Brain" title track – a tune that begins with a chilling spoken intro, then slowly builds amidst washes and washes of post-Hendrix guitar. That cut then rolls into some shorter, funkier numbers that rank with some of the group's best ever – using the device of party-hearty energy to convey a sense of alienation and horror at the world. The whole thing's brilliant throughout – and apart from being a soul classic, the set should also rank as one of the greatest rock albums of all time! Titles include "Maggot Brain", "Super Stupid", "Back in Our Minds", "Can You Get to That", and "Wars of Armageddon". LP, Vinyl record album

An oft-overlooked gem by Funkadelic – the group's last album for Westbound, and a record that really has them growing into a great new groove! Bootsy and Eddie Hazel have stepped aside for the set, but that gives Bernie Worrell plenty of room to work his magic on keyboards – in a way that really increases the spacier elements of the set, and almost trades a messed-up moogy sort of feel for the heady guitars of earlier years – a slippery kind of Funky Worm groove that we totally love! The set is self-described as "delightfully putrid" on the Pedro Bell cover – and we couldn't agree more! Titles include "Undisco Kidd", "Let's Take It To The People", "How Do Yeaw View You", "Butt-to-Butt Resuscitation" and "Take Your Dead Ass Home!". LP, Vinyl record album

A funky tribute to all the "Super Groupies" who were helping out the 70s music scene – maybe the closest thing that Junie Morrison every came to a concept album – and a set that's got all the same wonderful complexity of his other solo albums on Westbound! As with those records, there's a pre-Prince approach to funk that draws heavily from Ohio Players and P-Funk elements – but which really gets a sharper, more sinister focus with Junie in the lead – at a level of soulful stardom that could have made him another Bootsy Collins, if folks were ever smart enough to figure out what he was doing at the time! Titles include the funky classic "Suzie Thundertussy" – plus "Super Groupie", "Surrender", "Junie III", "What Am I Gonna Do", "Stone Face Joe", "Suzie", and "If You Love Him". LP, Vinyl record album

The second great album from organist Ceasar Frazier – a tightly grooving set that expands his sound a bit from the first! All the best elements are still in place here – including funky organ from Ceasar, production from jazz funk maestro Bob Porter, and a hip range of players that includes Horace Ott, Wilbur Bascomb, and Bernard Purdie. But the overall sound is somewhat shifted too – brought more into the tightly jamming jazz funk mode of the mid 70s – a bit richer and fuller overall, yet never in a way that's slick or sloppy – just more like some of the best later sides on Prestige or Fantasy from the same stretch. The record features a crazy version of the "Mighty Mouse Theme", a mellow take on the Isley's "Summer Breeze", Stevie Wonder's great "Living For The City", and the original "Funk It Down". LP, Vinyl record album

Freeze is a wonderful set from Junie – a record that has all the offbeat funk he was crafting with the Ohio Players during their Westbound years – and the same sort of heady sound that would make Morrison a perfect match with the P-Funk empire! The record contains the legendary track "Granny's Funky Rolls Royce", which features a meeting between the Funky Granny (a near folklorish character from the early 70s, who'd appeared on records by Kool & The Gang and Ohio Players) and an alien, who tells urges to "buy this record, buy this record, buy this record" in a very silly voice! The funky comedy of this track is nicely matched by a range of other odd numbers and straighter soul cuts – and titles include "Freeze", "Super J", "Musical Son", "Junie II", "World of Woe", and "Cookies Will Get You". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked bit of mid 70s funk from the Ohio Players – cut right at the height of their brilliant Mercury years! The album's got a smooth and slinky finish that has the band tightening up a lot from their Westbound years – going for a compressed spacey soul sound on some of the album's mellower numbers, in a style that's equally as mindblowing as their heavier funk. This approach makes for some really nicely tripped-out tunes that have some nice jazzy touches – expanding the group's sound way past the hits, into some complicated grooves that are plenty darn nice! Titles include "Contradiction", "Who'd She Coo?", "Far East Mississippi", "Tell The Truth", "My Life", "Bi-Centennial", and "My Ladies Run Me Crazy". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the biggest albums ever for Ohio Players – a set that took their earlier funk sound and targeted firmly at the mainstream with a lean, mean groove that a million other groups copied at the time! There's still plenty of the soul of the early years in the group's approach here – and sometimes, the mellower tracks show a wonderful talent for harmonies coming even more fully to the top. But the real appeal of the record has always been the bold, bassy grooves that hit strongly just as ensemble funk was exploding in the mainstream during the early years of disco – making plenty of space for the Players and their contemporaries to grab up new audiences who never would have touched a record like this five years before! There's plenty of grit in the grooves on the best numbers – a style that's maybe not as dirty as on Westbound, but still more than enough to make any real funk fan proud. Titles include "Fire", "Together", "Together/Feelings", "It's All Over", "Runnin' From the Devil", "Smoke", "What The Hell", and "I Want To Be Free". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the many obscure albums of material by The Ohio Players – material that was recorded in the late 60's by Capitol, but frequently repackaged and retitled in the early 70's to cash in on the big hit status of the band. The band has elements of their funky 70s style on Westbound – but also sounds a bit rougher, with arrangements and playing that have a hard edge, and a slight southern touch. There's a lot of originals, like "A Thing Called Love", "Tell Me Why", "It's A Cryin Shame", and "Trespassin". Also includes the weird version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" that was played at Judy Garland's funeral! LP, Vinyl record album

If this is reality, lead us onward – as the set is a mindblowing batch of trippy psych-funk from The Heliocentrics – even more offbeat and experimental than before, in ways that make the combo the true heirs to the legacy first begun by Stark Reality! The album's definitely funky at the core, but it's also filled with loads of amazing sounds – instruments tuned weirdly, played weirdly, and produced weirdly – so that over the heavy drums, there's often lots of freaky, fuzzy bits and tripped-out sounds – in ways that make the record feel like some lost acid trip outtakes from the Westbound studios of the early 70s – or like some obscure funk band that dropped acid at Andy Warhol's loft! The packaging offers up a visual example of what your ears will be going through when you tune into the music – and titles include "Mysterious Ways", "Collateral Damage", "Black Sky", "Calabash", "Path Of The Black Sun", "Mr Owusu I Presume", "Eastern Begena", and loads of cool interlude tracks too. LP, Vinyl record album

Incredibly messed-up funk – a 70s instrumental classic that's delighted our ears for years! The set's got a cosmic sound that mixes together conventional guitar-based funky with some weird electronic touches at times – going for a fuzzed-out moogy quality that really deepens the groove – and which goes even further on those tunes that push the basslines all the way into the red! The group's headed by McKinley Jackson, and features some ex-members of Parliament – all coming together in a full, rich sound that almost has traces of soundtrack sophistication at times – yet which manages to come across with the burning energy of a funky 45! The album includes the classics "Funky Toes" and "Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic" – plus the group's legendary take on "Free Your Mind", a sample classic from years back! Great stuff if you dig a fuzzy Westbound sort of funk groove – and other tracks include "Church", "The World We Live In", "Everything Good Is Bad", "Speak On It", and "Politician's Theme". LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of some of the best numbers from the Hot Wax label of the early 70s – second generation Detroit soul that really set the standard for the 70s! The tunes here were massive back in the day – blasting out of juke boxes, car radios, and a fair bit of home stereos too – all for good reason, given the care and balance the Holland-Dozier-Holland team brought to their work in the studio, and their ears for selecting singers to handle the work. Titles include "Want Ads" and "Stick Up" by Honey Cone, "Somebody's Been Sleepin" and "Too Many Cooks" by 100 Proof Aged In Soul, "Westbound #9" and "Mind Body & Soul" by Flaming Ember, "Woman's Love Rights" by Laura Lee "Women's Love Rights", and "Frightened Girl" by Silent Majority. LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent heavy funk from Stax! Black Nasty were one of the heaviest groups on the label – with a rock-solid guitar-based groove that went even farther than the Bar-Kays, who were no slouch in the guitar department themselves! The grooves are all slow to midtempo, with the band coming down hard on the downbeats, jamming away in a style that sounds more like heavy Detroit Westbound than sweetly soulful Memphis. Most all cuts have vocals – sung in a shouting style by the band that works well with the tripped-out hooks of the songs. This was the only album the band ever cut, but it's become a fast favorite among those who like their funk raw. Tracks include "We're Doin Our Thing", "Rushin Sea", "Booger The Hooker", "Black Nasty Boogie", "Nasty Soul", and "Getting Funky Round Here". LP, Vinyl record album

A well-titled set – as it's the mid 70s, and the Ohio Players were certainly turning out a lot of gold! Their move to Mercury Records from the smaller indie Westbound was a real winning move – as it gave them a smoother soul feel that only expanded their groove, not restricted it! This tasty "best of" set features most of their top work from those years – with killer tunes that include "Love Rollercoaster", "Fire", "Skin Tight", "Who'd She Coo", "Feel The Beat", "I Want To Be Free", "Fopp", "Far East Mississippi", "Only A Child Can Love", "Jive Turkey (part 1)", and the great "Sweet Sticky Thing"! LP, Vinyl record album

A very funky double-length live set that stands as a real gem in the 70s catalog of Houston Person! The date was recorded for the obscure Eastbound arm of the Westbound funk label – and features a killer lineup that includes Grant Green on guitar, Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Jack McDuff on organ, Idris Muhammad on drums, and Spanky Wilson on vocals – a very soulful setting for Person's strong work on tenor! The set's got long tracks with plenty of Prestige Records-styled jazz funk – and titles include versions of "Pain" by the Ohio Players and "Crazy Legs" by Donald Austin, plus the tracks "Kittitian Carnival", "Where Is The Love", and "Easy Walker". LP, Vinyl record album