The lost third album from CJ & Co – that totally groovy, totally tight group who were one of the best things going on Westbound Records in the late 70s! CJ & Co had a groove that was just right for the new club world of the time – but they also had a sharp instrumental approach that was much more tied to the Detroit funk of early 70s Westbound – and their sound was given a fantastic push and polish by the production team of Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey, who really keep things sounding strong throughout! These aren't leftover cuts, or the kind of material that was rejected at the time – and instead, the whole package has a quality level that really matches the classic Devil's Gun record by the group – a funky disco spectacular all the way through. Titles include "Is Your Love Life Better", "Ain't It Amazing", "Rainbow Music", "Brassband", "Get Lucky", "Rainmaker", "The Golden Touch", "Can't Believe You'd Break Your Promise", "Let Them Talk", "Boogie Love", and a rare "original mix" of "Devil's Gun". All tracks previously unreleased! CD

Some of the deepest soul to ever come from a Detroit label – a great run of singles cut by Denise LaSalle for the Westbound label – all of them pretty darn wonderful! Denise has roots that start in Mississippi, and she spent plenty of time in Chicago – so by the time she hit Westbound, she had a great interstate approach that really pulled some great styles together! In a way, these sides were crucial in helping push southern soul forward in the 70s – not just in the production, which was tight, but never too smooth – and which helped give her bluesy inflections a hip, modern sort of mode – one that was often well-suited to the subtle gender politics of the tracks too. Ace did a great job with this smoking set – and not only includes all the key singles, both a-sides and b-sides – but even throws in some great notes, and a few rare radio spots too! Titles include "Do Me Right", "Man Sized Job", "Trapped By A Thing Called Love", "Keep It Coming", "Here I Am Again", "My Brand On You", "What Am I Doing Wrong", "Don't Nobody Live Here", and "Your Man & Your Best Friend". CD

A massive celebration of the legendary Westbound Records – a Detroit record label started at the end of the 60s, and one that took the Motor City into much heavier territory than Motown! Westbound was the initial home of both Funkadelic and Ohio Players – and the imprint had a great ear for the kind of deeper, funkier side of the soul music spectrum – both with big groups like the two we just mentioned, and with a host of lesser-known singers and combos too! This package brings together two dozen key singles on Westbound – but not the giant hits, and instead the kind of songs that illustrate that key special touch that really set the company apart from the rest – even as the 70s moved on, and elements of club music started coming into their groove. Titles include "I Love You" by The Motivations, "A Letter From Vietnam" by Emanuel Lansky, "Everything Is Going To Be Alright" by Bill Moss & The Celestials, "Ain't No Telling" by Houston Outlaws, "Yes I'm In Love" by Unique Blend, "Why Not Start All Over Again" by The Counts, "I've Changed" by The Magictones, "I'll Bet You" by Funkadelic, "Music Man (part 1)" by Pleasure Web, "Get Up Off My Mind" by Denise LaSalle, "Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms" by Detroit Emeralds, "Devil's Gun" by CJ & Co, "Get Ya Some" by Melvin Sparks, "Alvin Stone" by Fantastic Four, "If You Love Him" by Junie, "Calling Planet Earth" by Dennis Coffey, "Crazy Legs" by Donald Austin, and "Funky Worm" by The Ohio Players. CD

Deep deep funk from the legendary Westbound label – the important early home to Ohio Players and Funkadelic, but also host to some other great funky groups too! In keeping with the name, the cuts here focus on the kind of Westbound tracks that have great drum breaks in their groove – or which stand out as great selections for sampling, too – but all presented with the same sort of care, research, and attention to detail that the Ace label brings to all of their famous soul collections! In other words, the whole thing's got all the sharp edges and funky beats as one of those dodgy sample collections – but the sound is better, the tracks are legit, and the whole thing features detailed notes as well. Titles include "Kissing My Love" by Spanky Wilson, "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players, "Suzie Thundertussy" by Junie, "You & Your Folks Me & My Folks" by Funkadelic, "Music Man (part 2)" by Pleasure Web, "Back From The Dead" by King Errisson, "You're Gettin A Little Too Smart" by The Detroit Emeralds, "Pack Of Lies" by The Counts, "Funk It Down" by Caesar Frazier, "Good Old Music" by Mgictones, "The Fuz & Da Boog" by Fuzzy Haskins, "Heartbreaker Of The Year" by Denise LaSalle, "Does He Treat You Better" by Unique Blend, "Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms" by Detroit Emeralds, "Mixed Up Moods & Attitudes (Tom Moulton mix)" by Fantastic Four, "Tightrope (single mix)" by Junie, and "I'll Bet You" by Funkadelic. LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet little album of funky instrumental guitar! The record's one of the most obscure on the Westbound label – and it features guitar player Donald Austin going to town on 13 short little cuts with a tripped-out funky groove – sometimes fuzzy, usually funky, and always with that heavier kind of sound you'd expect from Westbound in the early 70s! Austin's guitar is very much in the mode of Eddie Fisher, Eddie Senay, or other kicked-back jazz funk players from his generation – an approach that's probably got a bit of Hendrix somewhere back in the mix, but which is more focused on the tighter side of the funk and soul instrumental spectrum! The album's like finding a stash of rare funky 45s – loads of great short tracks with titles that include "Sex Plot", "Crazy Legs", "You Want It, You Got It", "Side Saddle", "Nanzee", "Pea Shooter", "Do Me Right", and "Shake Your Head". CD

A long-overdue look at the amazing Clark Sisters – a fantastic gospel group, and one with a vocal depth that we'd put right up there next to any of our favorite soul acts of the time! The Clarks are maybe best known for their landmark track "You Brought The Sunshine" – a completely righteous blend of gospel, soul, and disco that crossed over very big back in the day – but the group have an endless amount of great music to offer, a great deal of which is brought together in this wonderful set! The sisters always kept a strong ear towards the secular soul styles of their day – but they also always pushed things with the sort of amazing vocal interplay that used to only be the territory of male gospel groups in earlier decades – fantastic harmonies, soaring leads, and really great group formation. And if you're not a completely huge fan of gospel, don't worry – because the message here is often a more general one of positivity, which really lifts up the spirit of the tunes in a universal way. Titles include "You Brought The Sunshine (single edit)", "Everything Is Gonna Be Alright", "He Keeps Me Company", "Patience", "I'm Going To Have Just What I Want", "Power", "Overdose Of The Holy Ghost", "My Mind Is Made Up", "Nothing To Lose All To Gain", "No Other Name", "Keep On Looking Up", and "I Found What I'm Looking For". CD

One of their uptempo groovers from the mid 70's, with a mix of classic Detroit group soul and tighter disco sounds that were creeping into the Westbound label at the time. Paul Riser and David Van Depitte did the arranging, and the tracks include "If I Lose My Job", "Hideaway", "Don't Risk Your Happiness On Foolishness", and the long medley of "Night People" and "Lies Divided by Jive". 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

One of our favorite early Funkadelic albums – and a real turning point for the group! Gone are the trippier guitar solos of earlier days, and in their place is a tighter approach to funk – one that has the band grooving hard and soulfully on shorter tracks that perfect the dark vision hinted at in the Maggot Brain years! The tunes are shorter, funkier, and catchier – and the vocals are especially great – so much so than on the title cut "Cosmic Slop" has harmonies so great you'd swear you were listening to late-Motown Temptations! Other tracks continue with a great soul-based focus, and include "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure", "Nappy Dugout", "No Compute", and "Can't Stand the Strain" – and the record is packaged in a mind-blowing wraparound cover by Pedro Bell, the first of many the band would use! CD

An insane classic from one of the wildest funk bands ever! According to reports, George Clinton and the band cut this set in a marathon 48-hour stretch in the studio – working like mad all night and day long, after dropping a motherlode of some mighty fine acid! We don't know if that story's entirely true, but the music on the album certainly backs it up – as it's some of the band's freest, most open-ended, most heavy-jamming work ever recorded! Guitars dominate over funky bass and drums – and the whole thing's an amazing blend of music, swirled together into a non-stop psychedelic party that includes P-Funk gems like "Funky Dollar Bill", "Free Your Mind", "Eulogy and Light", and "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You". LP, Vinyl record album

The classic sound of Funkadelic, reworked by a key selection of contemporary talents from the Detroit scene – but never in a way that wrecks the originals at all! Unlike other remix projects, which might break up the music to a point that you can hardly recognize the original grooves – this set does a wonderful job of maintaining all the integrity of the famous funky recordings by the group, while also letting some artists from the group's hometown also include a few of their own contributions too – all in ways that really expand the original vision of the music, while keeping things in a funky soul vein all the way through! Given all the greateness of Detroit grooves in recent years – from that city's very fertile underground of producers and musicians – the sound here is still even more amazing than we expected, and the album's a very fitting one to be issued on the Westbound label. The set's double-length, and for good reason too – and titles include "Music 4 My Mother (Underground Resistance mix)", "Sexy Ways (Recloose disco flip)", "Get Your Ass Off & Jam (Marcellus Pittman rmx)", "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure (Alton Miller mix)", "Super Stupid (Dirtbombs version)", "Music For My Mother (Andres Wo Ahh Ay voc mix)", "Cosmic Slop (Moodymann mix)", "Be My Beach (Mophono & Tom Thump)", "Let's Make It Last (Kenny Dixon Jr edit)", "Let's Take It To The Stage (Amp Fiddler @Ya mix)", "Undisco Kidd (Gay Marvine edit)", "Looking Back At You (Ectomorph stripped & dubbed)", and "Standing On The Verge (Anthony Shake Shakir & T Dancer rmx)". CD

A heavy best-of from Funkadelic – one that covers the full range of their classic sounds – from the trippy fuzz of the early days to the tighter funk of stardom years! The package has a power that's undeniable – a really massive batch of music that forever changed the face of funk – arguably the best that George Clinton ever had to offer, especially when you realize that Funkadelic was definitely the farthest-reaching of his many musical projects! Most cuts here are in shorter single versions – but there's a few LP-length jams – and titles include "Undisco Kidd", "Maggot Brain", "Cosmic Slop", "Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On", "Sexy Ways", "Better By The Pound", "One Nation Under A Groove (part 1)", "Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good", "A Joyful Process", "Loose Booty", "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You", "I'll Bet You", "Red Hot Mama", "Comin Round The Mountain", and "I Got A Thing You Got A Thing Everybody Got A Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

Surprisingly nice album that Etta Jones cut with a larger backing group for Westbound, and a record that has her mixing in soul sounds with her usual jazz-based vocals. The set's got a great version of Bill Withers' "Grandma's Hands", and a Marlena Shaw-esque cover of "Go Away Little Boy" – but the standout cut is the funky "Fare To Heaven", which starts with a nice heavy drum break! LP, Vinyl record album

A great early single from Denise! Willie Mitchell produced "Trapped" – and the cut's got a slow vamping groove that's as great as anything Ann Peebles ever cut. Great hook, excellent vocals, and really focused early work from this excellent singer! 7-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

2 killer jazz funk albums – both rare, and both on one CD! The records were cut for the short-lived Eastbound side of the soul/funk Westbound label, both under the supervision of Bob Porter, who handled some of the best early 70s jazz funk work for Prestige! Both albums also feature drumming by the super-heavy Idris Muhammad – who keeps things very much in his classic breakbeat mode. Bill Mason was an obscure organ player who performed on the legendary Rusty Bryant funk LPs (Fire Eater & Wildfire), and his session here has the same kind of fierce groove – with tenor by Hubert Laws, trumpet by Gary Chandler, and guitar by Wilbert Longmire. Titles on that one include "Gettin Off", "Stone", "Mistery Jay", and "Now Run & Tell That". Gary Chandler's album is even better – and features organ work by Ceasar Frazier, guitar by Cornell Dupree, and tenor by Harold Ousley. The album includes a much-sampled version of "Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms", plus the cuts "Kaleidoscope", "Jet Set", and "Blue Dues". Both records are great – and together, they'd cost you well over $100 in the original! (Please note that a version of "Let's Stay Together" has been shortened to the 4 minute single edit, due to space restrictions.) CD

Mindblowing funk from The Ohio Players – the group's debut album for Westbound Records, and a landmark batch of tracks that never gets old! The sound here really has the group stretching out a lot – working on tunes that are extended, but never as overindulgent as their labelmates Funkadelic – always keeping to a groove that's focused, yet also free to explore its bad self in the new freedoms of the 70s. There's a strong undercurrent of funky jazz running through the set – mixing great riffing alongside the tight rhythms and tripped-out vocals – all brought together with that deep deep deep production sound that Westbound gave the world as its own legacy in the wake of Norman Whitfield's experiments at Motown. Titles include the wonderfully jamming "Players Balling", and the funky numbers "Reds" and "Singing In The Morning" – plus more soulful tracks "I Wanna Hear From You" and "Never Had A Dream". LP, Vinyl record album

A true pleasure indeed – easily one of the greatest records ever by the Ohio Players, and a perfect summation of all things great in their groove! The album's a landmark effort – even for the heady days of the early 70s – as the Players manage to bring together a fair bit of jazz with their famous guitar-driven funk – all in a blend that's a lot more sophisticated than most other funk combos of the time, from the rhythms at the bottom to the instrumentation on the top! There's a darkness here that's undeniable – but the album's also not just a head trip into the fuzziest reaches of the studio – as the jazzier inflections help illuminate the farthest corners, and really bring the whole album back to focus with a wonderfully redemptive groove! Psychedelic elements are still all over the place, but also used sparingly enough to be most effective – a brilliant balance that few groups of this type were ever able to muster. Titles include the classic "Funky Worm", with the wild moogy bit that's been sampled loads of times over the years by a gazillion hip hoppers – plus loads of other nice ones, like the slow bonking funker "Pride & Vanity", the wild "Walt's First Trip", and the groovy "Laid It" – as well as "Pleasure", "Paint Me", "Our Love Has Died", and "Walked Away From You". CD features amazing sound and a whopping 7 bonus tracks – including "Ruffell Foot", "What It Is", "Rooster Poot", "Gone Forever", "Dimensions In Time", and "Introducing The Players". CD

Two rare gems from the Westbound Records vaults! "Gonna Spread The News" has a wonderful vibe that's almost like the best early 70s Holland-Dozier-Holland productions – upbeat funky soul, with a really rich set of arrangements – but with a very distinctly personal take on the vocals! "That's All I Got" is an originally unissued track from The Detroit Emeralds – slightly funky, with these cool complicated changes in the groove – which only seems to open up their wonderful vocals even more! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Spanky's last album before her recent revival, a jazzy soulful effort cut for Westbound, with arrangements by Johnny Allen, and a nice moody mellow sound. The overall approach is quite different than most of her work with HB Barnum, but Spanky's voice is still in great shape, and Detroit soul legend Al Kent wrote most of the cuts. Titles include "The Downer I Go", "Love Song", "Non Stop Flight", "Will Power", "Home", and "Easy Lover". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky disco work from CJ & Co – one of those groups that really seemed to make the best transition from the earlier Westbound years into the storming disco sound of the later 70s! The group's working here under key production from Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey – storming to the top of the Theodore groove with a tight weave of funky guitars, soaring keys, and sweeping strings. Tracks are all long, and titles include "Big City Sidewalk", "Deadeye Dick", "Burning Drums Of Fire", "You're Still The Sweetest Thing In My Life", and "Hear Say". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite early Funkadelic albums – and a real turning point for the group! Gone are the trippier guitar solos of earlier days, and in their place is a tighter approach to funk – one that has the band grooving hard and soulfully on shorter tracks that perfect the dark vision hinted at in the Maggot Brain years! The tunes are shorter, funkier, and catchier – and the vocals are especially great – so much so than on the title cut "Cosmic Slop" has harmonies so great you'd swear you were listening to late-Motown Temptations! Other tracks continue with a great soul-based focus, and include "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure", "Nappy Dugout", "No Compute", and "Can't Stand the Strain" – and the record is packaged in a mind-blowing wraparound cover by Pedro Bell, the first of many the band would use! LP, Vinyl record album

Stoned out funky! "Hit It" begins with this fuzzy guitar solo – submerged, almost sounding far away, which then pops out suddenly nice and loud, working with the lyrics in a great tripped out groove! "Whole Lot" is even nicer – fast and funky, very trippy, and almost a bit spooky! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A tasty little album from Funkadelic – one that has Bootsy Collins joining the group, and really hitting the unique approach that would become the definitive P-Funk groove! And although tracks are shorter and even more focused, there's still a fair bit of guitar in the set – keeping the trademark Funkadelic sound in place, to set them aside from from the growing horn-heavy Parliament groove. Yet in both groups' work at the time, there's a growing emphasis on the rhythms at the bottom – a pulling up of the basslines in a way that was no doubt influenced by Bootsy's presence, and which would have a key influence on the sound of funk for years to come! Includes the massively infectious funk track "Get Off Your Ass and Jam", plus "Let's Take It To The Stage", "Be My Beach", "Baby I Owe You Something Good", "The Song Is Familiar", "No Head No Backstage Pass", "Atmosphere", "Stuffs & Things", and "Better By the Pound". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest records ever to come out of Chicago – the sole recording by Boscoe, a group who was even more obscure and experimental than contemporaries like The Pharoahs or Artistic Heritage Ensemble! Like those groups, Boscoe has a very unique, very visionary approach – one that's not content just to echo the standard post-Coltrane modes that other spiritual jazz groups around the country were hitting – but which instead moves into territory that touches on the darker sides of funk, soul, and spoken word of the time – all with a message that's incredibly powerful, and conception that's wonderfully fresh throughout! The group's lineup features tenor, trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, and drums – but they way they're put together is often far different than other funky combos – and it's clear that the group had as much of a sensibility about the overall sound of their record as they did their freer grooves. At times, there's a righteousness here that recalls the best of the early Westbound Records scene from Detroit – but there's an even higher agenda too, which is more in keeping with the spiritual aspriations of their Chicago contemporaries, and which really show up in the lyrics. The whole album's a masterpiece from start to finish – unlike anything that we can think of, still ripe for rediscovery today, and just the kind of set that makes us prouder than ever of our Chicago heritage! Titles include "We Ain't Free", "Money Won't Save You", "Now and Den", "He Keeps You", "I'm What You Need", and "Writin' On The Wall". LP, Vinyl record album

Two groovers from Westbound Records club act CJ & Co – both produced by the team of Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey! "Rainmaker" is upbeat and funky – with strings soaring along with the horns – all matched by the group's great vocal interplay, which is as sharp here as their usually-great instrumentation! "Let Them Talk" is great – and an even more unique side of the group – a gentler groover with a wonderful lead vocal – sweet soul, but groovy too! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A stunner of a funk album – a must-have for any fan of all things funky! This is the one-and-only record cut by the Fabulous Counts, a version of the Counts before they recorded for Westbound – and nearly every cut is a funky 45-type gem! The group's got a hard and heavy sound that mixed conga grooving at the bottom, guitar jamming in the middle, and lots of funky horns over the top – and the instrumental sound of the record is a non-stop funky party all the way through – all top-shelf material all the way through, with a sound that few other combos can match! The title track is an awesome groover – and the record features lots of other nice ones, like "Dirty Red", "Who's Making Love", "Girl From Kenya', "The Other Thing", "Scrambled Eggs", and "The Bite". CD

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. CD

A great all-girl group from the 70s – and an album that's almost as famous for its nude-painted-silver bodies on the front cover as it is for the grooves on the record! The style here is somewhat in the jazzy rock vein, but with a deeper sense of soul – vocals that could stand well on their own almost in a female blue-eyed mode, and which are backed by some nicely rumbling rhythms from the fuller ensemble – often a bit heavy on percussion, but also working with some horns too – all in a blend that's quite unique, especially for a female-voiced set. There's a really badassed feel to most of the best tracks – in a way that's very much in keeping with work by Ruth Copeland on Westbound at the same time. Titles include the classic "April Fool" – which sports a great break – plus "She Loves Me", "Cocaine Elaine", "Do The Football", "Servant Saviour", "Waiting For The Sonrise", and "Everybody Needs A Forever". LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant soul from the Detroit underground of the late 60s – a full set of work by vocalist Little Ann, issued here for the first time ever! You might recognize Ann's name from her appearance on a few of the Ace/Kent Records issues of material by Detroit producer Dave Hamilton over the years – and the work here all comes from those classic collaborations with Hamilton – trapped on tape for many years, always contemplated as a possible Little Ann album – but only issued in full all these many years later! The groove here is as offbeat as some of Dave's other great work – not nearly as tight, or uptight, as Motown music – and instead, done with a sly undercurrent of darkness on most numbers, even the mellower ones – almost that earliest mix of Detroit styles that you get on pre-fame singles from Westbound Records artists. Ann's vocals are nice and lean, and slide right into the mix with ease – heartfelt enough to grab us right away, yet without any obvious cliches as well. Titles include "What Should I Do", "Deep Shadows", "Possession", "Who Are You Trying To Fool", "Sweep It Out In The Shed", "The Smile On Your Face", and "I Got To Have You". Note that the record was mostly issued in a different form by Timmion Records – as the record Deep Shadows – save for the mixes of "What Should I Do" and "I Got To Have You" – both of which are unissued mixes that appear here for the first time. LP, Vinyl record album

A whopping 2CD compilation of some of the best funky moments from the Ohio Players post-Westbound work for Mercury! This is the stuff that brought funk into the top 10 in the US – and the Players manage to mix together a tight well-produced sound with the same raw funk sensibility that got them started way back in the 60s. There's a huge amount of great tracks on here – including "Shady Lady", "Body Vibes", "Good Luck Charm", "Fire", "Jive Turkey", "Heaven Must Be Like This", "Sweet Sticky Thing", "Fopp", "Skin Tight", "Love Rollercoaster", "Who'd She Coo?", "Funk-O-Nots", "Honey", "O-H-I-O" and lots lots more! 28 tracks in all, and digitally remastered for great sound, in fact, the only thing missing here, is a naked bald lady on the cover (oops, guess that's the westbound years). CD

A rare funky cut from the studios of Detroit wizard Dave Hamilton – a two-part monster that deals with the evils of drugs – and which has an almost Westbound Records-like mix of soulful vocals, fuzzy guitars, and heavy funk! The production is amazing – almost beating George Clinton at his own game, thanks to heavy fuzz and echo! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A killer debut from Rasputin Stash – a funky group who work with all the long-haired inspiration you'd expect from their name! The groove is a mix of guitars and tight horns – undercut by the kind of heavy basslines that later made the group a good fit for Curtom Records, and lots of cool percussion touches that pepper the bottom of the rhythms nicely – with a pretty spontaneous feel! At times, there's almost a Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band vibe to the record, but mixed with some of the trippier influences of the Westbound crew – especially on the guitar – and like those artists, these guys have no trouble at all dipping into a touch of rock here and there to trip out their groove. Titles include "Mr Cool", "You Are My Flower", "Dookey Shoe", "I Want To Say You're Welcome", "Take Me On Back", and "Freaks Prayer". LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued album by funky guitar legend Melvin Sparks – recorded right after his final record for the Westbound label, and appearing here for the first time ever! Sparks first rose to fame via funky work with Lonnie Smith and Lou Donaldson in the late 60s, the cut some killer albums of his own and with organist Leon Spencer in the 60s – before disappearing a bit until a great revival in more recent years! This set represents Sparks right before he dropped off the map – a session that's done with a sweet jazz funk vibe that shows the way that labels like Westbound were picking up some of the style of the successful CTI/Kudu imprint – mixing some larger charts with the leader's solo strengths – allowing maybe some more soulful influences in the rhythms, while still going for a jazz funk approach overall. The set's much more instrumental than Sparks' last record for Westbound, which had more vocals – and although a few tracks have an upbeat clubby style, most of the music is more in a midtempo mode. Titles include "Love Tones", "I'm Funky Now", "I'm Gonna Funk You Up", "You're Gonna Make It", "The Truth Hurts", "Make It Good", and "Disco Booty". LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure bit of heavy soul – and the only vocal album on the jazz-based Eastbound imprint of Detroit's legendary Westbound Records! Albert's a blues artist, and sings in a soulful electric style that's similar to some of the Stax work of Albert King – but which has a bit more of a funk twist to it. Albert's vocals are definitely in the bluesy mode, but the backing is more in a Memphis soul style, with hints of Stax production styles in the mix, and lots of swirling organ underneath the vocals, in that Hi Records mode from the early 70s. Titles include "You're Messing Up My Mind", "Mischievous", "Feel The Need", "I Can't Stand It No More", "No Matter What The Cost Might Be", and "My Mother's Prayer". A pretty solid soul album all the way through – with a strong deep soul feel that's different than the usual Westbound/Eastbound bag! 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". CD

More funky breaks than Evel Knevel after the Snake River Canyon jump! The groove hounds at BGP records were set loose on the Ace catalog – which includes holdings from Atlantic, Stax, Volt, Westbound, and other funky classic labels – and they managed to come up with a killer batch of funky cuts, even though this is their 3rd dip into the crates! If anything, perhaps they dipped even deeper this time – especially as some of the once-trusted sources for breaks, like the famous Ultimate Breaks & Beats series, are now disappearing from the market. Titles include "Soul Pad" by The Coasters, "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" by Johnny Jenkins, "T Plays It Cool" by Marvin Gaye, "Nappy Dugout" by Funkadelic, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Jimmy Ponder, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by The Mad Lads, "The Rose" by 50 Foot Hose, "Holy Ghost" by The Bar Kays, "No Strings Attached" by The Mad Lads, "After Laughter Comes Tears" by Wendy Rene, "River's Invitation" by Freddie Robinson, "This House Is Smokin" by BT Express, "Music Man (parts 1 & 2)" by Pleasure Web, and "I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter. LP, Vinyl record album

Another excellent compilation in this series from Trojan. This set's arranged a little differently than the others, with half of each disc devoted to a particular artist, all vocalists who went over big both in the dancehalls and on the sound systems in the streets: Gregory Isaacs, Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Pat Kelly, John Holt and Dennis Brown. 50 tracks in all, including "Loving Pauper", "Promised Land" and "Lonely Man" by Gregory Isaacs, "Cool Operator" and "Better Must Come" by Delroy Wilson, "Soul Groover" and "What Does It Take To Win Your Love" by Alton Ellis, "Talk About Love" by Pat Kelly, "Ghetto Girl" and "Up Park Camp" by John Holt, and "Westbound Train" and "I Am The Conqueror" by Dennis Brown. CD

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 Kenyan funk combo from the 70s – and one who've got a groove that definitely lives up to the striking image on the cover! The set brings together obscure singles and album tracks from Black Savage – a group who sing in English throughout, and also draw plenty of influence from American soul acts as well – but always with a vibe that filters the music through a slightly fuzzy sort of veil – creating lots of weird, wild elements on the guitars as well as the vocals – both of which seem to be pretty processed in the production! There's almost a Westbound Records sort of spirit to the record at times – that trippy blend of funk and psych that was a Detroit hallmark at the start of the 70s – although a few other tunes have a more sing/song, catchy sort of approach. Titles include "Do You Really Care", "Sharpeville", "Savaged", "I Don't Know What To Do", "Exotica", "Save The Savage", and "Grassland". LP, Vinyl record album

An insane treat for any fan of the early years of the P-Funk empire – that time when George Clinton and crew were taking in plenty of trippy influences from the heady Detroit scene of the time – and fusing it all into their own really unique blend of soul! The set features the group playing live, in relatively familiar territory of Michigan – crafting these grooves that are filled with as much fuzz as funk, and really working as an incredible live representation of all the mad genius they brought to their first few studio albums for Westbound! The whole thing's very well-recorded – as strong a live album as any label would have issued at the time – and titles include very long versions of "Maggot Brain" and "All Your Goodies Are Gone", both a fast and slow take of "I Call My Baby Pussycat" – and the tracks "Alice In My Fantasies", "I Got A Thing You Got A Thing Everybody Got A Thing", and "Free Your Mind & Your Ass Will Follow".. LP, Vinyl record album

Funky vibes and fuzzy guitar – a full CD worth of instrumental work by Detroit soul legend Dave Hamilton! Hamilton's well known for his production and arranging work for a variety of other artists, but here he steps out on his own as a heck of a great funky musician – working in a sly, slinky motor city groove that's fuzzed up with plenty of touches that recall the best moments of the early Westbound generation. Hamilton plays vibes equally well as guitar on the set – recalling a bit of the jazz of his early roots as a recording artist, but mixing it in with plenty of trippier styles from the end of the 60s – making for a groove that's totally outta sight all the way through! But best of all, the CD features a full album's worth of material that's issued here for the first time ever – Hamilton's legendary Soul Suite project, which is presented here alongside additional rare tracks from singles! The CD features a total of 16 cuts in all – with titles that include "Blue Funk", "Soul Suite", "The Sweeter The Juice", "Brother Rat", "Pisces Pace 2", "Tell Your Mama", "Yesterdays", "Take It In Stride", "The Deacons", "Blue Vibes", "Marriage Is A State Of Vibes", "Cracklin Bread", and "Can You Dig It". CD

Great work from the Ohio Players – and proof that moving to a big label could be a good thing for a funky group! This was the band's first album for Mercury – and although one might have the temptation to say that the label cut down the radical funk sound of the trippy Westbound years, the move also taught the band to sharpen up their act, and get out of the repetitive sloppy groove into which they'd been lapsing during the past few years. The record's a lot smoother than earlier work – with a polished funky sound that would soon push the band right up there with Earth Wind & Fire at the top of the soul charts. And although there's familiar funky numbers like "Skin Tight", "Jive Turkey", and "Streakin Cheek To Cheek" – the best moment on the entire album is the wonderful spacey soul number "Heaven Must be Like This", a seven minute mellow groover that's got a sophisticated jazzy soul style, with voices and piano soaring into the heavens, in a way that always still sends chills down our spine! That cut shows the band's tremendous growth – and it's one of their best-ever! LP, Vinyl record album

Funky work from Detroit's Dee Edwards – a tune that's almost a fuzzy take on earlier Motown soul modes – still romping, but with lots of trippy guitar around the edges – and echoey production that's almost got a Westbound vibe, as does the guitar! "I Can Deal With That" is one of the coolest cuts we've ever heard from Dee Edwards – a sweet mellow stepper that has a jazzy guitar lick tripping around the bottom, while Dee sings it strong on the top, but in a nicely understated way! The flipside adds in a bit of strings, but never in a way that dampens the groove at all – more like some nice bit of sweetening in the sound! 7-inch, Vinyl record