The Funk, the whole Funk, and nothing but the Funk…Wikipedia describes the stylistic origins of Funk music as soul music with a more pronounced beat and influences from R&B, rock and roll and psychedelic music. And who thinks that funk has had its heydays in the 70s and is dead today couldn’t be more wrong. The compilation Stay On The Groove is a great example that funk these days is neither dead nor does it smell funny. There’s a vivacious funk scene out there that continues to develop the music James Brown, Lyn Collins, The Meters and others brought us in the 70s. These days funk is not only recorded in the USA but also in the UK (Quantic, Snowboy), Sweden (Jaguar), Netherlands (Lefties Soul Connection), Germany (The New Process aka Poets Of Rhythm) and Australia (The Bamboos) as you can hear on this compilation.
Label owner Adrian Gibson chose twenty damn funky songs for this compilation. All are sure to make you move and start any boring party. But - like in the 70s - there’s more to the music than just the feel good factor. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings remind us that you can have a message in your funky rhythms. What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes? is a great song against oil moguls, war profiteers, overfed corporations, and other assorted a-moral billionaires (btw here’s a video of a live performance at the Knitting Factory).
There are a few other names you may know besides Sharon Jones. M.F.O.S. is Mark Cotgrove aka Snowboy and his El Padrino is a latinesque groove with a great organ solo.
Will Holland aka Quantic is featured with two excellent tracks Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man (from his Mishaps Happening album), which features the delightful Spanky Wilson on vocals and a great arrangement of vibes, strings and horns, and a cover of 4 Hero’s Hold It Down (from QSC’s Stampede album) with Alice Russell on vocals.
If I Had A Band by Context has only been released as a limited 7″ on Denmark’s Sonny B imprint and is a great piece of of music with tight horns, bass and drums based around a Bunny Sigler vocal hook. Also only released on a limited 7″ single was the cover of Sharon Jones’ Give Me A Chance by Lee Fields & The Dapkings. Like you would expect from the Dapkings this is another crisp funky groove.
With twenty great tracks on offer this is really value for money which saves you a fortune if you had to buy the single releases. The funkiest compilation of 2005 that will keep you grooving in 2006, 2007, 2008…
Tracklisting of Stay On The Groove - 20 Modern Funk Anthems: 1. New Master Sounds - Stay On the Groove/ 2. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?/ 3. Troubled Soul - Funky Me Pt 1 & 2/ 4. The New Process - Freedom/ 5. Jaguar - Battle of Funk/ 6. Breakestra - Show & Prove Pt.1/ 7. Lefties Soul Connection - Doin’t The Thing/ 8. Cookin on Three Burners - Gravel Rash/ 9. Poets of Rhythm - Ham Gallery/ 10. Quantic feat Spanky Wilson - Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man/ 11. M.F.O.S - El Padrino/ 12. Speedometer - Work It Out/ 13. Quantic Soul Orchestra - Hold It Down/ 14. Context - If I Had a Band/ 15. Ria Currie & The the Deep Soul Messengers - Everythings Gonna Be Alright/ 16. The New Mastersounds - Two Note Brown/ 17. Lee Fields & The Dapkings - Give Me A Chance/ 18. B.D.M - No Rest for the Wicked/ 19. Sharon Jackson & The Soul Destroyers - Fakin’ It/ 20. The Bamboos - Tighten Up | released 2005 Freestyle Records
For more infos visit freestylerecords.co.uk and kudosrecords.co.uk and grooveattack.com.