Customer Reviews

Funk This

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"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.

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)

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 !

Legendary singer Chaka Khan is red-hot & fiery in this tremendous collection of stunning vocal performances that are among her best ever & opening with a self-penned funky grinder "Back In The Day", it is obvious the legendary lady is back in peak form in a grandiose & inspired production...late legendary singer/songwriter Ed Townsend's timeless "Foolish Fool" is definitive here featuring a gritty raw performance from Chaka that is soul-deep and satisfying.
Something very special about "Funk This" are winning self-penned keepers like the unique & rhythmic complex "One For All Time" and numerous others which show Chaka to be a wonderfully accomplished songwriter/composer making it easy to why this masterful & tremendous collection earned Chaka Khan two Grammy Awards...BRAVO CHAKA!
Chaka is back better than ever and a classic Khan performance is always a joy to behold so sit back and listen in wonder to "Angel" and be stunned by a performance of great depth and beauty...be enthralled by an artist at the peak of her wondrous ability to take the listener to another dimension in a haunting and brilliant way.
"Will You Love Me?" is exotic & mesmerizing with another brilliant Kahn vocal hitting scorching heights while a fascinating Jimi Hendrix original "Castles Made Of Sand" is an engrossing rocker then hold on for the Grammy winning duet with Chaka & Mary J. in awesome from making "Disrespectful" the greatest DIVA DUAL in many years while in better musical times than this current musical drought, "Sign'O'The Times" penned by Prince would have been a huge #1 Blockbuster Hit like "I Feel For You"...magnificent in every way, this funky anthem will grow on anyone who loves a brilliant magical musical ride after a just a few spins...awesome arrangement and Chaka hits incredible vocal heights!
By now it is clear the amazing team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are the perfect match made in musical heaven for Chaka Khan as every song is unique and brilliant with totally inspired musicians giving it all they've got!!! Let's wish & hope this wondrous team goes in to the studio to produce another stunning musical masterpiece as this feel good music for the soul is as good as it gets!
Bravo Chaka & Co...you guys really rock and did it all this time!!!!!

I heard Chaka Khan's new album, Funk This. I was floored! Chaka Khan is at her best, wailing and soaring soulfully on every song here! I love Back in the Day and its funky groove and bass guitars. Hail to the Wrong is another highlight. And how she closes the Prince remake of Sign O'The Times with a reprise of the whoa, whoa,whoas of I'm Every Woman is remarkably done. When I heard that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced this album, I was excited. They can do these incredible records for Janet Jackson, yet come up with some dynamite numbers and a full, live funk sound for Chaka! It's like you're at a live concert hearing Chaka sing all these songs in front of you, not just hearing her own CD! The remakes are nice, yet she keeps them 2007 instead of being too retro. This is another great album that came out this year!

The wonderful Ms. Khan has always had a problem in that her spine-chilling voice has always been levels above material. She steals every song she sings on (take a listen to the home invasion of Khan of Steve Winwoods "Higher Love"), and in the past few years, material has never equalled those magnificent chops. But on Funk This, producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis go a long way to providing a musical bed for Chaka to lie on. The album sounds more like a Rufus album than anything Khan has done in while. They even bring back the incredible Tony Maiden (late of Rufus) to write with Khan. People do not realize that Chaka and Maiden wrote a lot of their early hits. By involving Khan in the writing, she seems more connected to the music.

Take a listen to Angel (single release), Disrespectful (a slamming duet co-written and sung with Mary J. Blige), Back in the Day (a song about Chaka's early Chicago day written with Maiden), and the wonderful re-make of Prince's Sign of the Times.

Let's face it, with her contemporaries losing the power and quality of their voices, the Grand Ms. Khan has only gotten better. And with the advent of all those video princesses (Rhianna, Ashanti, etc), it is nice to hear a real, true, unfettered voice from "Back in the Day." In the Mary J. Blige duet, Chaka leaves Mary in the dust and that isn't easy. This album is not perfect but it goes a long way to showing why this lady has always ranked among the best. It opened in the top 20 on Billboard, which means there are a lot of people who agree with me, or at least, want this diva back.

Chaka Khan is back, and with a vengeance.
The new album is fun, funky and with great tunes, both old and new.
Granted, I've been a fan some 24+ years, but she still manages to amaze and enthrall.
"Funk This" is one of the must-have albums for all Chaka fans, but also for anyone who loves music with heart&soul.
Let's keep her in the charts for a while, and hope there will be a fantastic follow-up soon...

On a positive note, this is definitely a welcome return to the music scene from one of my favourite female vocalists ever (second only to Ella Fitzgerald). This is her first album of new material in well over ten years and her voice is intact, rich and powerful as ever. The production is tight and razor sharp; Jam and Lewis have done an incredible job of creating a modern funky sound that is nothing like what I've heard them create in years gone by for people like Johnny Gill or Ralph Tresvant or, more notably, Janet Jackson or The SOS Band. Songs like "Back In The Day", "Angel", "Castles Made Of Sand", and the updates of the classics "Pack'd My Bags/You Got The Love" are all pretty respectable and somewhat reminiscent of vintage Chaka at her best.

I also find "Disrespectful" very interesting indeed and it reminds me of the stuff Amerie is known for. Mary J. Blige does a good job at keeping up with her idol (though she does sound like she's straining in places) and the whole song is charged with an exciting energy.

I also really like "Ladies Man", "You Belong To Me" (though I'm still waiting for the Michael McDonald duet to beat the one he did with Patti LaBelle back in '86), "Hail To The Wrong" and my personal overall favourite, "Super Life". These are what make the album worth keeping.

But I'd be lying if I said I was totally happy with the CD. In my view, the songs - even the best of the bunch - are a bit lacklustre and that's where this album falls slightly flat in my view. They're okay by today's dismal standards, I guess, but they're not very memorable and are not even remotely close ('somewhat reminiscent,' was the phrase I used) to the stuff Chaka used to give us back in the day. It's not a bad album but I was hoping for much more. The reviewer (not on Amazon) who cooed: "Chaka makes her best and funkiest album for over 2 decades!" simply doesn't know what he's talking about. No way is this better (or funkier) than 1988's C.K.. Not in my opinion anyway. Not with funky gems like "Baby Me", "Make It Last", "Where Are You Tonite", not to mention those two awesome jazz tunes, "The End Of A Love Affair" and "I'll Be Around" (which featured Miles Davis, no less) on it. And those are just the tunes on side two of the LP!

And to make matters worse, other songs like "Foolish Fool", "Sign 'O' The Times" just got on my nerves. (No, I'm not a Prince fan, though I do adore Chaka's version of "I Feel For You". Who doesn't?)

Any song I haven't mentioned, and that includes "One For All Time" and "Will You Love Me?" simply didn't make an impression either way, which is hardly a good thing. I think it's as my good friend Joseph says: When it comes to GOOD QUALITY and REAL music, the best days of our lives are behind us. There can never be any doubt that this woman is one of the best singers of our generation but she does need good songs to sing. My overall impression of this CD is that she was let down. Not by her voice, not by her producers but by weak material. The album gets three stars from me. The extra star is because, well, it's Chaka Khan.

From start to finish this CD is sheer perfection. Back to REAL music on so many levels. One For All Time is so CHAKA/RUFUS 1977. Angel is a heartfelt ballad that invokes so many emotions. My favorite though is SIGN O' TIMES which she turns into a new anthem(sampling I'm Every Woman and adding new lyrics). On Will You Love Me we get the famous WALL OF CHAKA backing vocals. Back In The Day & Hail To The Wrong - funk at it's best. Castles Made Of Sand is way to short - just when she start to go off it ends DAMM! Ladies Man - she works it. Even Foolish Fool works(although i was skeptical). Disrespectful is like my black coffee in the morning - WHEW !What's great about this CD is U can put it on and just let it flow. No skipping through tracks on this one. She really done it this time! Can't stop listening to this CD - I MAY NEED AN INTERVENTION !

It's been a long time since a Chaka project has gotten such buzz! Her last two overlooked cd's CTMH(1998) & ClassiKhan(2004) did not get the promotion they deserved! Now Chaka is back with 'Funk This' a cd that will remind everyone why Chaka is a legendary Vocalist! her powerful voice is in full form! What you get with 'Funk This' is real instruments being played which is lacking with alot of today's artists, Jam & Lewis have produced a strong cd that recalls the days of Rufus with 'Back In The Day', her cover of Dee Dee Warwick's 'Foolish Fool' takes you back to late 60's soul, her take on Prince's 'Sign O The Times' is so funky!! love this track, 'One For All Time' has to be the best track, great lyrics and those incredible background vocals(which includes her daughter Milini), 'Angel' a very nice ballad and what some others have mentioned 'the Walls of Chaka' on 'Will You Love Me?' and many more highlights! I recommend 'Funk This' for every Khanfan!!