The Jam: The Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Anthology

Larry Graham, Graham Central Station

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 2, 2001
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00005Q3AL
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,105 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We've Been Waitin' (for GCS on CD) For So Long, December 19, 2002

By	Karl Miller "kemspeaks" (Phoenixville, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Graham Central Station, with Larry Graham on bass and Lady Chocolate doing some monster vocals was always one of the greats for pure funk music. Harder than the Ohio Players, more underground than Earth Wind and Fire or the Isleys, the Station's influence is clear on successors such as Prince, Rick James and Red hot Chili Peppers, among others.
This compilation certainly has a lot of filler (most of the 2nd disc, in fact), but it deserves 5 Stars plus for getting such funk classics as Release Yourself and Feel The Need onto CD. The bass/drums/keyboard combinations of GCS are a generation out there from Larry's earlier work with Sly and the Family Stone. If your feet don't move during thiese tracks, you need to see a doctor.
We've Been Waiting, an acapella treat, is a sheer joy, and hard not to sing along with.
NowDoUWant2Dance percolates, with a popping rhythm that reminds you of everything you enjoyed about 70s funk music. (It's a shame that the album this came from, "Mirror" probably will never see the light of day on CD, because it was one of the greatest funk albums of all time).
Anyone who thinks funk is merely a thick bass line needs to hear this disc to understand the evolution of the genre, and to listen to it being executed by one of the greatest (and most underrated) bass players in history. It's a shame that Larry Graham will probably be best remembered for the syrupy "One In A Million", than for his true talent.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FUNKY 5, October 3, 2001

By	[e-mail] "mistermaxxx" (usa) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

finally a Complete Overview on Graham Central Station&some extra tracks.Larry Graham is a Strong Band Leader with His Group here but His Bass does all the talking from start to finish.70's era GCS is Nasty Stanky&FUNKY."the Jam' Alone puts alot of Groups out of Business Showcasing GCS'S Chops How many Groups Nowadays would be as Bold??Larry Graham deserves madd Props because the Average Act would just be happy after they played with SLy&THe Family Stone but thank Goodness Larry Graham didn't He kept The Funk Going.Slamming Grooves&Laid-Back Ballads.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From Sly...to Sly?, October 31, 2001

By	J. Lund "jazzbrat" (SoCal, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Much of former Sly & The Family Stone member Larry Graham (Central Station)'s first few albums picked up on the "take you higher" vibe of Sly's greatest music, with a run of energetic, bass-driven funk tracks...Larry and the Family Graham wouldn't be that inaccurate of an alternative title. To me, the peak came with the 1975-1977 tracks (THE JAM through EARTHQUAKE).

After that, somehow the funk seemed to get diluted in various trends of the day, from disco (STAR WALK) to pop/soul ballads (ONE IN A MILLION YOU), albeit I do appreciate the latter track more now than when it was first released. An indication how how times change is that on the early-1980s track SOONER OR LATER a synthesized bass is heard, not Larry's trademark plucking and popping.

The album ends with a faithful-to-the-original 1990's concert remake of Sly's HIGHER, which in a way brings it all back home. Overall, this is by far the GCS collection to own, even if the group's initial consistent vision gets obscured on parts of the second disc--five stars for half of the tracks here, three for the remainder.