Customer Reviews

Coolin Off

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD combines aspects of Jazz, Funk and Blues beautifully. First, you have one hell of a rhythm section with drumming and bass work that really thumps your mid-section. Next you have the gravel-scratched voice of their singer (who only appears on a few songs). The melodies are provided by Guitar, Organ and Sax.

The production values are great...this doesn't meant the music is over-produced...you can simply hear all of the instruments perfectly at low and high volume. The band provides lots of pictures and liner notes with all of their CDs. The other thing that's interesting is their use of technology to bring their music to fans. If you go to [their] site: you can read about the band, how they started and where they are going. You'll also get suggestions are more artisit from this genre.

I hope this band can manage to stay together - they are so young and, yet, sound so experienced and comfortable with each other. They also have a consistent (not repetitive) sound across all of their CDs. I think you'll enjoy this one.

This was my first funk/jazz CD, and it changed my whole perspective on music. Amazing musicality built on such simple riffs and themes is present here, from the guitar to the organ, from the sax to the trumpet, no instrument overlaps another, everything is superbly organized and layered. This band comes complete with and African-American singer, giving the music the soul of a black man with the blues, even though he only sings in a couple of tracks. Other than that, the wah of the guitar provides the soul at some points, then it is replaced by a solo "battle" between the sax and trumpet. The music then shifts to a jungley mood with great drumming and trumpeting. There is also a percussion intermission with more guitaring, and the final song features trombone and organ solos, and a free-for-all jamming session, even though the whole CD sounds like a jam. Either way, this is good stuff, it made an impression on me at the very least. You want funk? Look no further.

If you're going to own a funk cd, or any cd for that matter, get this one. I don't throw the term "favorite album" around lightly, and this is definitely one of my top 3 favorite albums. Maybe it didn't change the face of music like Kind of Blue or Darkside of the Moon did, but it is truly great. If you're looking for an album that can get you movin, this is the one. BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

alright enough argueing about the future of funk and comparisions to greyboy, phish, meters, etc. galactic is not trying to imitate any of these bands but does end up sounding something like all the above. just take them for what they are, laid back funk that with jazzy jams.

One of my favorite all time funk albums is by this band and that would be Crazyhorse Mongoose,a funk album of it's era where there's a very complete understanding of the music. This is Galactic's debut album before they became a household and,during this time they were basically a local New Orleans band. Now not only do I have a lot of books on the subject of funk and friends with whom I share experience with the music but also had the good fortune to have actually seen the music performed live in my own neck of the woods by a band of whom I was acquianted. That particular experience provided me with many of the things that make both great funk and just mediocre funk. The conclusion I have come to is that even with great musicians,great arrangements and great grooves funk doesn't tend to work at it's best without great songs to go with it. At this point Galactic's music is very closely linked to that of...the band that every New Orleans funk band seem to be inspired by: The Meters. And even with them it took them several albums of the same basic type of music to grow as a band. And to be honest Galactic were no different in that respect. This album is loaded with some strong grooves that work with the basic elements of funk from bass/guitar interplay,organs and a great sense of funky drumming. It's all here,but the songs haven't arrived yet. This is a funk jam band here and,honestly the mid 90's weren't exactly lacking in those. Had Galactic chose to stay with this sound from one album to the next they would've sunk into the wordwork very quickly. There is one tune here that does rise above the occasion as a great actual song and features a great lyric sung by the powerful lead singer Theryl DeClouet stating that the conditions of social unrest and injustice that influenced funk's lyric themes during the 70's were still very much there in the 90's and that using funk as a medium to express these concerns musically was still a great way to go. So it's a question of your tastes. If you like actual funk SONGS that happen to have great grooves and messages this album is a little low on that. But if your more into instrumentals that explore funk insturmental vamps than this will probably be right up your alley. It's by no means a terrible album: Galactic are a great band and make excellent funk. But this album doesn't showcase the band as a fully developed musical entity.

What impressed me most about the first time I heard Galactic's debut was that they were very clearly a New Orleans funk band, but their sound was neither an extrapolation of The Meters nor of the New Orleans brass band tradition. It was just a different sound, drawing on the emerging acid jazz scene, swamp grooves, Dr. John's voodoo sounds, and classic 70's funk, merging it all into a sound that was uniquely their own. Their first album, Coolin' Off, is still their best studio effort, and it is a masterpiece of tight, jazz-influenced funk. The key to the success of Galactic is the brilliant drumming of Stanton Moore. Funk is all about the rhythm, and Stanton Moore understands that the key to laying down the rhythm is not to play bombastic fills without so much as a millisecond between the beats (the way rock drummers do). The key is to leave plenty of space between the beats because it is in that space that the rest of the musicians have room to work. The rest of the band, of course, are great too, and the occasional vocals of Theryl "The Houseman" deClouet give it a great old R&B sound, but Stanton Moore is the glue that holds the band together. I say this as someone who generally doesn't like drummers very much, so that should tell you something about how solid the rhythm section is here, and how critical they are to the sound.

This album was first released on Fog City Records, which specialized in this type of Southern, swampy funk. This is the same label, and same producer that put out the first two Mofro albums, as well as Papa Mali's stuff (Dan Prothero). That production does play in here as well. Galactic's sound has changed a bit over time and for different labels, and while their live album is outstanding, I haven't been as fond of their recent studio material. Dan Prothero just managed to get a great, swampy sound from a lot of different musicians.

Further listening: Any of Stanton Moore's solo albums, any of Robert Walter's albums. Robert Walter was the organ player for the Greyboy Allstars, which was a comparable acid jazz-funk band, but without the New Orleans base. More recently, try Papa Grows Funk, which is a bit closer to The Meters, but with a nice, jazz-influenced saxophone.

I think Galactic is the best funk/jazz band after the Meters. Coolin' Off is tight in every aspect.

One of the very best latter-day Jazz Funk records I have heard. Superbly produced. Also check out a solo album by the drummer Stanton Moore.

I've been looking for some mad jazz funk and these guys straight from New Orleans gave it to me, After I got the record I didn't stop listening to it for three days. I'm waiting for anything else Galactic puts out.

These boys have talent.......see more recent releases. This is the beginning of something special. Wonderful CD.