Funk This

Chaka Khan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Strategic Marketing
• ASIN: B000TP5ST4
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,198 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first track off Chaka Khan's first album since 2004's Classikhan unspools the vibe she's going for instantly--in the space of a single boing-y guitar lick--and a little deeper in, the lyrics seal the deal: "Those very sounds floating in and out of my head/Created the magic that sealed my fate," she hollers in the don't-hold-back style that's made her an icon. We get the picture--Funk This is Chaka reflecting on three decades of full-bodied, fevered-up soul music and examining how it is she got to be so funkalicious in the first place. Where a lot of legends retrace their backstories and end up with albums that sound warmed over, though, Chaka forges forward (and back) with fresh and fiery swagger; you wouldn't want to handle any of these 13 songs without an oven mitt. That's not to say they aren't familiar. In addition to several just-written songs (the pretty, provocative "Angel," the heartfelt "One for All Times," and the pointedly honest "Will You Love Me"), Chaka covers Prince's "Sign o' the Times," Joni Mitchell's "Ladies Man," and Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made of Sand," and she also twists a couple of songs she originally recorded with Rufus, "Pack'd My Bags" and "You Got the Love," into a juiced-up medley. Carly Simon's "You Belong to Me" gets the cover treatment in a likable duet with Michael McDonald, but it's another duet that earns this disc five stars for sizzle: "Disrespectful," written by Mary J. Blige and sung with her, busts out glorious grit and gut-level soul, the kind that'll leave listeners quoting Chaka in her "I'm Every Woman" phase: "Whoa, whoa, whoa-oh." --Tammy La Gorce

Product Description

Chaka Khan's Funk This showcases some of her powerful vocals and most compellings songs to date. In perfect form, Chaka has recorded both new material and covers of some tracks that are near and dear to her heart. This incredible funk album takes us back to Chaka's roots, with much of the feel and instrumentation used in her Rufus days. Includes guest artists Mary J. Blige, Michael McDonald and original Rufus member Tony Maiden.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crank up the volume and Funk This!!!, September 24, 2007

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Funk This (Audio CD)

"Funk this" is Chaka Khan's debut for label Burgundy, which was set up just for music veterans like herself, Gloria Estefan, Aaron Neville and Donna Summer to mention a few acts. It features Chaka at her funky and vocal best.

Produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, it comprises covers, as well as original songs.

Opening cut "Back in the day" is a slice of choppy guitar driven funk. "Foolish fool" is a lovely guitar/piano/organ sprinkled mid-tempo song with a nice retro feel. "Will you love me" is a beautiful mid-tempo number with a chugging bassline.

"One for all time" and "Angel" are lovely ballads, and Chaka Khan even covers Prince (again - remember "I feel for you"?) on "Sign `o' the times" (even getting in a few notes of "I'm every woman" - Whoa whoa whoa - towards the end), Jimi Hendrix "Castles made of sand" (nice rock/blues treatment), Joni Mitchell "Ladies man" and a superb cover of Carly Simon's "You belong to me" (performed with Michael McDonald who co-wrote it with Simon. Their voices sound excellent together).

Highlight in my opinion, and lead off single, is the fiery feminist anthem, the contemporary sounding "Disrespectful" (nice jerky tune with lovely harmonies), a duet with Mary J Blige (who penned the tune), and of course it is a diva fest.

This is a highly enjoyable collection. Ms Khan is back so crank up the volume and "Funk this"!!!

P.S. While this is Chaka's first studio release in a decade, her album of covers, "ClassiKhan" was released in 2004.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chaka Brings the Heat!!!, September 25, 2007

By 

BA "SoulFanMan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funk This (Audio CD)

Harkening back to her days with the groundbreaking r & b group Rufus, Funk This is an excellent set of originals and remakes that provide ample evidence why Chaka is considered perhaps the greatest funk vocalist ever. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have assembled a set of first-rate musicians and compositions that fit Chaka like a glove, further reminding us that Funk This is going to be something we have not heard in quite some time.

Several reviewers of Funk This have claimed this to be Chaka's first release in 10 years (since "Come 2 My House"). Those reviewers negligently overlook 2004's wonderful Classikhan, which had Chaka teamed with the London Symphony Orchestra. Though almost entirely remakes, it cannot be flatly said that this is her first release in 10 years. But while on "Classikhan" Chaka lends her formidable jazz and blues chops to re-imagine some classic songs (including scorching versions of "Diamonds Are Forever," and "Goldfinger"), she brings pure, unadulterated funk to her latest endeavor.

From Tony Maiden's guitar licks on the opener "Back In the Day," and Chaka's first line "Guess I grew up fast/in Chi-town," you know you are in for a singular performance. There are too many other highlights to mention: the hook-drenched "Will You Love Me?" (with its "wall of Chakas), the funky "Hail To The Wrong" (those handclaps!), the beautifully rendered and structured "Angel," the aching "One For All Time," Chaka's reading of Joni Mitchell's "Ladies Man" and Jimi's "Castles Made of Sand," (the latter featuring Jesse Johnson's guitar doing a darn good Hendrix interpretation), the gritty version Dee Dee Bridgewater's "Foolish Fool" (with Aaron Spears' kickdrum at the bridge), and the blistering duet with Mary J. Blige, "Disrespectful." Though on the last, we've heard the backbeat before (Amerie's "One Thing"), nothing (and noone) can match the vocal pyrotechnics on display. When Chaka belts out the last verse--" You so/Shady/Lowdown/Crazy/You think that I want to see you?/You out yo' mind??!!"--and she hurls that last word "mind" into the stratosphere, you know you are in the presence of a style that can never be duplicated.

But what gives this set a five-star: Chaka's rendition of Prince's "Sign `O The Times." Her sizzling interpretation is put atop a rhythmic stew of swirling, punctuating guitar licks, bass, keyboards, and drums. As if that were not enough, it morphs into sonic nirvana as the "whoa, whoa, whoa-aa" coda from Chaka's classic "I'm Every Woman" emerges, and Chaka adds a hopeful declaration to Prince's excellent but darker lyrics, while belting out highs and lows that are simply not on the charts.

Chaka, Jimmy, and Terry have created a set that reminds us all what great musicianship and singing is all about. With an unparalleled combination of vocal range (four octave) and power, Funk This demonstrates once again why Chaka deserves the distinction of having one of the most amazing and influential voices in modern popular music. Note to the academy: don't overlook this performance at Grammy time.

(also Posted to ITunes)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the funk-soul siren's creative rebirth., July 10, 2008

By 

a tois (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funk This (Audio CD)

Chaka makes her best and funkiest album for over two decades, and her powerful voice -- that first hit the airwaves with Chicago funk band Rufus in the 1970s and punched out the mighty "Ain't Nobody" and "I'm Every Woman" in the 1980s-- on this recording shines throughout.
"Funk This", which debuted at number 15 on America's top 200 album chart - her highest chart position since her first solo album in 1978 peaked at number 12 - is a return to Khan's purity.
Recorded in analogue, it's how she sounded before the "I Feel for You"-style disco anthems of the '80s.
The album opens with an autobiographical song she co-wrote with Terry Lewis. Over the slap-wristflick of retro-funk, Chaka recalls growing up fast in "Chi-town" where her "Momma was strict about them kids".
The vocals are tight and scratchy-raw. They capture the pent-up frustrations of a young girl whose curfew meant she was "Missing the funk of the night".
The mid tempo dancer "Back In The Day" has that Rufus sound to it, and that is also evident in the covers of two Rufus classics "Pack'd My Bags/You Got The love" featuring Tony Maiden.
The funky mid tempo dancers "Superlife" , "Sign Of The Times" and "Hail To The Wrong" keep up the pace, whilst the melodic mid tempo floater "One For All Time" is also classy.
Most of Khan's musical heroes are women: she's particularly effusive on the subject of her friend Joni Mitchell, who she says is "a genius and always just a beat away from funk." The new album features a cover of Mitchell's "Ladies' Man", on which Khan pours the ache of personal experience into lines such as: "Couldn't you just love me like you love cocaine?"
The beat ballads "Angel" and the raunchy version of "Foolish Fool" are also good. On "Angel", Chaka works through of her own drug use. "Troubled little angel," she sings "inconsistent flying blind most of the time/ Drama Queen/ Preening and untangling the feathers in her wings/ Captured by her dreams desperately she sings".
"Funk This" is a mixture of originals and covers of some of the best Rhythm and Blues, Funk, Blues, and Soul music from the past thirty to forty years.
One of the songs to show off her delicacy of touch is her cover of the Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made Of Sand". A mid-tempo song about the impermanence of dreams and the dangers of living in a fantasy world, where Ms. Khan utilizes her voice to help generate a mood appropriate to the song.
This song is also a good example of her ability to put the song ahead of her ego instead of making it about her and her talents. While younger, less mature singers will look for any excuse to unload pyrotechnics and show off their abilities, Chaka is content to let the mood of the song dictate her performance. Listening to her duet with up- and-coming powerhouse singer Mary J. Blige on the most exciting track of the album "Disrespectful" that difference is made perfectly clear. The song is a Blige composition.
"It's the kind of song two women can really sing together," says Khan, who admits that when she listens to the track now she can hardly tell where her voice ends and the younger singer's begins.
You certainly wouldn't want to be the man on the receiving end of this duo. As the jerky beat smacks you round the face, Blige and Khan take total control of the song and the relationship it describes. "You can't make me lose my mind," they roar. "I'm too strong for you".
Also amazing is Chaka's versatility as a singer as demonstrated by the range of material that "Funk This" has to offer : from the full throttle Funk of the opening track "Back In The Day" to the ballad "Angel".
She shows that slowing the pace down does nothing to detract from her sincerity as a singer.
Too often people with strong voices become stentorian when faced with a ballad and equate emotion with loudness and straining for the upper regions of the scale.
Music icons like Chaka Khan are often stifled by the pressures of delivering a successful album to their fans.
"Funk This" is an album for all skeptics.
Through the preparation for this album, Chaka has admitted that she has "been on a little journey in the last few years".
Sometimes the path to re-discovery leads us back to where originally we began. Chaka Khan's "Funk This" reminds us why we fell in love with her over 30 years ago.
The reason is because she's hopelessly...FUNKY !