Customer Reviews

Florida Funk: 1968-1975

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you love old-school funk you'll love this swampy CD full of Sunshine State obscurities -- especially Pearl Dowdell's "Good Things" and James Knight and the Butlers' "Save Me."

This music surely represents the best that 70's music & funk in particular has to offer. Must have been a blast to be there. Production is often raw but only serves to emphasis the reality of where these cats were coming from - late night after gig recording, one off attempts to make a statement, & just plain being funky. My fantasies of lost funk gems & a lifestyle, hard though it may have often been, lived through raw enthusiasm for expressing the times through funky music, has come true.The booklet is a great document of the times as well.I cant recommend this highly enough.Catch the others in this series as well, for continuing satisfaction.

Top prize goes to CAROLINA FUNK: First In Funk... and this comes in an almost imperceptively close second...

If you're a fan of early '70s type PEOPLE label JB funk you'll really flip on this... the beats, bass lines, guitar syncopation, horn lines and soul shouting (both male and female of the species) makes this album an all time REPEAT LISTEN purchase....

Like some of the other releases in this series, virtually all the tracks are varied, well picked and stand on their own, with two toppers: The ridiculously off center, yet funky/horn driver SPIDER WEB, and the ultra streety born to be sampled QUIT JIVIN', which sounds a bit like D.C. go go long before GO GO... (If you like this track, be sure to check out WHAT ABOUT YOU IN THE WORLD TODAY from FUNKY 16 CORNERS!)

Other tunes include FUNKY FAST BUMP is almost the perfect JB meets TOWER OF POWER hybrid tune, the LYN COLLINS-ish SUPER COOL, CUTTING ROOM (hot pants) which has elements of the ISLEY BROTHER'S ITS YOUR THING, but goes in a whole different direction (especially with the screaming horns)... oh and let's not forget MONTEREY'S "GET DOWN" which sounds like like a classic CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD type funky drummer beat done half time with the band on WEED, yet still flawlessly tight despite...

Get this and the CAROLINA FUNK compilation and you WILL have 2 out of 10 HARD CORE FUNK-A-TEER desert island disks set in your collection...

This is the only one of the four funk compilation CD's that I have from the UK outfit, Jazzman Records. But I have to say, after listening to it, I'm seriously considering buying the remaining three! There's some seriously raw, rare, incredibly funky music on this compilation. It's really difficult to pick out any stand-out tracks because they're all so good! But if forced to choose, I'd say New Generation, Super Cool, Na Na, Spider Web and Lay It On Me are the ones that I can't get out of my head. And without a doubt, 90% of Me Is You is easily my favorite song on here. If you're tight with your money like I am, and definitely want to get your money's worth, get this CD. You will not be disappointed.

This amazing album of obscure Floridian funk just hasn't left my CD player. With enough tight drum breaks, wah wah guitars and heavy bass playing to make your ears bleed it was a winner for me.

Standout tracks are "Save Me", "Na Na", "Its Gonna Be A Mess", "Cutting Room (Hot Pants)" and "Butterfly Theme".

Really.....if you don't tap your foot to this you need to be locked up! A hit for any James Brown and hard funk fans out there.

I can't rave enough about this series. All the artists for their contribution, along with the Jazz Man/Now Again label should get a Grammy for this. From the superb reproduction of the original mono sound, from the choice of material, from the muted colors of the photos used, to the color of the graphics, the liner notes, everything was done by people with the sharpest of the sharpest artist's eye. It does not matter which you choose, Midwest, Florida, Carolina or Texas, they are all incredible. My hat off to the label, too, for not issuing this in a cheapo box set. Just buy them all. This music has put me in other worlds. The next best ones are Searching For Soul and Getting It Off.

A cool blend of light dancy funk for those laid back social evenings with good friends or an all out party.