Defunkt/Defunkt + Thermonuclear Sweat [Extra tracks]

Defunkt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Hannibal
• ASIN: B0009Y276M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,053 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Make Them Dance

2. Strangling Me With Your Love

3. In The Good Times

4. Blues

5. Defunkt

6. Thermonuclear Sweat

7. Melvin's Tune

8. We All Dance Together

9. Razor's Edge 12" Version*

10. Strangling Me With Your Love Revisited (Live 1983)*

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Illusion

2. I Tried To Live Alone

3. Cocktail Hour (Blue Bossa)

4. Ooh Baby

5. Avoid The Funk

6. Big Bird (Au Private)

7. For The Love of Money

8. Believing in Love

9. Big Bird (Au Private) (Live 1983)*

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Fusion" can be a dirty word in pop circles, often synonymous with wankery of various stripes. But Joseph Bowie and the all-star cast of his NYC-based ensemble Defunkt feverishly stirred jazz, funk, r&b and eventually even rock influences into a beat-savvy melange that remains as resilient as it is irresistible. Rooted as much in big band and swing as the ‘60s/'70s electric adventures of a href="/exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/22296/${0}">Miles and a href="/exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/66694/${0}">Ornette and delivered with fashion-defying underground sass, this set pairs the groove-mad fury of the band's 1980 debut with its more eclectic '82 follow-up. Supplementing the set are a handful of stellar live cuts from '83 and a savory 12" mix of the debut standout "Razor's Edge" (a Bowie brother reunion where Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester joins arranger Byron and trombonist Joe to whip up a brassy storm). The Thermonuclear Sweatalbum that makes its belated CD debut here features the anxious fretwork of Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid on six cuts, yet offers a more focused, sometimes even laid back groove--even if it pushes its cover of The Ojays' "For the Love of Money" to almost Zappa-esque extremes. A welcome, remarkably timeless reissue that poses some intriguing musical paradoxes in the bargain: Funk that makes you think, and jazz that torches the dance floor. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Led by trumpet player Joe Bowie, Defunkt’s punk-funk-jazz was born in New York City in 1978, kick-starting the influential NYC underground funk movement into gear by merging avant-garde with rocking, funky grooves, encompassing acts like the Bush Tetras, Medium Medium and the Talking Heads.

Defunkt was a highly influential band embraced by other musicians, performing with countless artists including James Brown, Talking Heads, The Clash, Hans & Candy Dulfer, Isaac Hayes, Prince, Larry Graham, Michelle N’dChello, Maceo Parker and many more.

This low-priced two CD set includes their classic first two albums, Defunkt and Thermo Nuclear Sweat (featuring Vernon Reid on guitar and making its first-ever appearance on CD) re-mastered from the original tapes with bonus tracks including scorching live versions and the Razor’s Edge 12"!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real thing, February 20, 2006

By 

demomo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defunkt/Defunkt + Thermonuclear Sweat (Audio CD)

This is high energy, earthy, intelligent, players (i.e., non-mechanical) funk. The grooves are deep, tight, and supple (brilliant bassist Kim Clarke doesn't play repetitive patterns over and over again), the lyrics aren't your run-of-the-mill party stuff ("I need loud music/to keep quiet/a piece of ass/for piece of mind/heart keeps the beat and I keep breathing/gave up a lot but I won't give in", "You looked at me as if you had no eyes/and when you touched me I had no skin/I made love to a photocopy/and left your room in perfect order/by leaning out of my window/and travelling by ambulance", "I got dreams/riding in a spaceship/turning the controls/heading for outer galaxies/escaping culmination/from a burning earth"), but it'll make your body dance while your mind contemplates some of life's complexities (end of the world, love, addictions, etc).

This is a celebratory snapshot of the last golden age of hipster/junkie life in downtown NYC before the yuppies gentrified it out of existence.

Nothing else like it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Streel Level NYC Jazz-Funk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, October 11, 2008

By 

Loco Sonador "Xango" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defunkt/Defunkt + Thermonuclear Sweat (Audio CD)

I'd give this album 50 STARS!!! I grew up on this band in NYC part of the downtown Jazz Funk scene of the late 70's and early 80's that included other artists like Ronald Shannon Jackson and James Blood Ulmer as well. But, Defunkt were THE KINGS of the groove. Their live shows were INTENSE to absolutely COSMIC dimensions. Kinda like James Brown reincarnated as JAZZ. The funk guitar playing as well as the rock solid grooves and awesome horns left us drenched in sweat from dancing so hard everytime we saw them. I gotta lotta love for this band. This CD is a combination of their first 2 albums and some extras including a 12" and some live cuts. God Bless You Joe Bowie!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, May 14, 2010

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Defunkt/Defunkt + Thermonuclear Sweat (Audio CD)

Defunkt is probably the best funk band you never heard in your life. These guys were jazz musicians who flowered from the early 1980s downtown New York scene . Joe Bowie was Lester's-Art Ensamble Of Chicago-brother, and Melvin Gibbs one of the most dexterous bassists around: later worked with musicians as varied as Henry Rollins and Catano Veloso.

Such a musical DNA pool has an impact on this funkiest of funk. Horns blast, cymbals snap, the bass pops and slides. There is an extreme busyness to this music-brass clusters that border on free playing, extremely intricate bass patters filled with sixteenth note runs, and neck ranging slides.

If lesser musicians tried to pull this off, it would be a complete flash disaster. But Defunkt are so in the eternally in the pocket, such masters of the tone of their instruments, they make what would be gloss indulgence from most others and turn it into rich, layered, substance

But this is funk, and all the visceral assshake and soul of the music is in 1000% tact--it is just more thick, more detailed.

Play this on the stereo, though, and more likely than thinking of jazz nuances and the different take Defunkt has on their genre, you will be shaking your hips, and most everything else, loud, for a long, long time