Ubiquity - Starbooty (Elektra - 1978)

Produced by Roy Ayers (his name is on the cover), this is the sole album that features Roy Ayers backing band, Ubiquity, without Roy Ayers signing or playing vibes on it. The songs switch between disco and jazz funk and are well executed by seasoned musicians and singers. Starbooty is definitely a good album but a bit too mechanical and certainly not as good as what Roy Ayers did under his own moniker. The best tracks are not necessarily the ones written by Roy Ayers himself. My personnal preference goes to the midtempo Simple And Sweet and its killing head nobbing bassline.

Download => Ubiquity - Starbooty

The Soul Side Of The Street Vol. 1 - Hot Phoenix Soul Sides From The Vault Of Hadley Murrell - 1964-1972 (Wind Hit/Grounded Music - 2010)

Like in most of major American cities in the 60's and 70's, a soul and funk scene bursted in Phoenix, mainly under the impulsion of Hadley Murrell. After several stints in local rock and roll radios, Hadley ventured into promotion and then into production and publishing with the creation of his own label, Wind Hit. Behind the control board, he produced every talent that emerged from Phoenix in soul and funk. You'll find here 15 tracks the man produced between 1964 and 1972 for bands going by the name of Freddi-Henchi & The Soulsetters, The Servicemen or Bobby Soul. You won't find any hidden masterpiece but only solid and well executed deep soul and R&B, staid forgotten until now. This compilation easily compete in quality and rarity with Numero Group releases.

Download => The Soul Side Of The Street Vol. 1

Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go (Carrere - 1979)

Once an average teen 60's French pop singer, Sheila enjoyed a huge success in France until the end of the 70's, churning out middle of the road and unbearable shitty records, completely in the hands of her producer and her record label. Her only good career choice was to capitalize on the disco craze to try a come back and to choose recording with the kings of disco Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, then at the best of their inspiration. It's even a surprise to consider that those two geniuses accepted to work with Sheila. The story goes that they were looking for a European singer to break the European market. Sheila's label, Carrere, heard the story and proposed to the duo to produce an album for the fledging artist. Nile Rodgers and Benard Edwards accepted to the condition to have a complete freedom and the final say on the record. They locked Sheila in a studio and made her work The Chic Organization way. Sheila notoriously didn't like the result of the recording sessions but changed her mind when Spacer stormed the charts and still is her biggest hit to date. If The Chic Organization fans can go for the complete album, King Of The World, the two best cuts, Spacer and Don't Go, are on the 7'. Sheila's career never really recovered from this huge success and she felt back into mediocrity and low sales. Despite several liftings and several tries, she never really came back one more time.





Download => Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go

Eighties Ladies - Ladies Of The 80s (Uno Melodic Records - 1980)

Eighties Ladies were a quintet lead by soul and disco queen Sylvia Striplin and produced by one of this blog all time favorite artist, king Roy Ayers. Ladies Of the 80s sounds in fact like an excellent Roy Ayers album but without Roy Ayers singing on it: brilliant jazz funk instrumentation, full of vibes, accentuated by pulsating disco and boogie beats, unforgettable breaks, infectious sunny choruses. The Eighties Ladies released only one album before disbanding. Only Sylvia Striplin continued recording for UMR, the classic Give Me Your Love. Ladies Of The 80s is so good and so coherent, like any soul album should be, it's hard to say which song really stands out. Turned On To You and I Knew That Love have a lot of times been pointed out by rare groove lovers. A Tribe Called Quest sampled Turned On To You for Butter, from The Low End Theory album, but it's pretty hard to guess the sample. Anyway, I thank Soul Jazz to have reissued this gem.









Download => Eighties Ladies - Ladies Of The 80s

The Bombing - The Very Best Of Bost & Bim Reggae Remixes (Beats Mob Records - 2009)

If you like reggae remixes, here are the masters of the game, French Bost & Bim, even better than Taggy Matcher, Mato or Grant Phabao. Their mixtapes serie, Yankees A Yard is already a must have. But The Bombing, their compilation of their best pop ans soul classics reggae remixes, is a pure killer. They took absolute masterpieces (Let's Get It On, Superfreak, I Want You Back, Ain't No Mountain High Enough and so on...) and succeed to remix them without sounding corny. Play any one of those tracks and you'll make any dancefloor going crazy. I just wonder where they found the acapellas to make all their remixes...















Tracklisting:

1- Marvin Star - Let's Get It On
2- Supa James - Superfreak
3- Little Stevie - For Your Love
4- Diana Supreme: My World Is Empty
5- Fabulous Five - I Want You Back
6- Little Stevie - Uptight
7- Marvin & Tammi - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
8- The Thieves - Message In A Bottle
9- John & Paul - Girl
10- Smokey Miracle - Tracks Of My Tears
11- Sista Janis - Mercedes Benz
12- Marvin Star - Sexual Healing
13- Diana Supreme - Baby Love
14- John & Paul feat. Ras Pidow - Because

Download => The Bombing - The Very Best Of Bost & Bim Reggae Remixes

Taggy Matcher - Hip Hop Reggae Series Vol. 3 (Stix - 2010)

My two Hip Hop Reggae Series posts are my two most successful posts. Nobody left any comment but a lot of people have downloaded the first two volumes of the serie. The master Taggy Matcher is back behind the producer board for the third volume and those ten new scorching reggae remixes of R&B and hip hop classics. By order of appearence you'll find Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg, Nas, Erikah Badu, The Beastie Boys, Gravediggaz, Method Man & Redman, Public Enemy and an instrumental bonus (Nautilus). Enjoy.









Download => Taggy Matcher - Hip Hop Reggae Series Vol. 3

The Mighty Clouds Of Joy - Mighty Cloud Of Joy b/w Everything Is Going Up (ABC Records - 1974)

Once a gospel quartet formed in 1960, The Mighty Clouds Of Joy were clearly influenced by the secular sound of the time mixing religious and uplifting texts with soul and funk. Produced and penned by Dave Crawford, Mighty Cloud Of Joy and Everything Is Going Up are two perfect examples. While Mighty Cloud Of Joy is a pre disco bluesy stomper with blasting Memphis style or Muscle Shoals style horns, Everything Is Going Up is clearly going the deep soul way. I found this record in a pile of crap 7", paid 50 cents for it and absolutely never regretted them !!!



Download => The Mighty Clouds Of Joy - Mighty Cloud Of Joy b/w Everything Is Going Up

Dayton - Hot Fun (Liberty Records - 1982)

Recorded in 1982, Hot Fun is Dayton (Ohio) based band, Dayton, third album in two years of existence. Created by David Shawn Sandridge and Chris Jones, Dayton lasted six years, frequently changing its roster of members and producers and vanishing after five albums in the mid 80's without scoring any real hit. Hot Fun is a really curious album, switching style frequently, mixing 80's boogie songs with a radio friendly Sly Stone cover (Hot Fun In The Summertime), P-Funk oriented tracks (Krackity-Krack featuring Bootsie Collins, Grunch) and a soulful ballad (Never Repay Your Love). Lack of coherence will say some while other will notice that the band is just as good in every style they try. A nice piece of work that,I think, has never been sampled.

Download =>Dayton Hot Fun

Kid Loco presents French Funk Experience (Nascente - 2010)

Ex-indie kid and trip hop French producer Kid Loco digged deep in his 70's library music records collection to gather this brilliant volume of the Funk Experience serie. This is an excellent opportunity to discover funky pieces composed for specialized labels like Tele Music, Sonorama or Pema by unknown studio or session musicians called Bernard Estardy, Guy Pedersen or André Ceccarelli. Two tracks on the records cannot to my sense be linked to library music: Course De Ten, by Alain Goraguer, an extract from La Planète Sauvage OST and Africadelic by Manu Dibango. For the rest, you'll find what you can expect: groovy shit clearly inspired by blaxploitation soundtracks with plenty breaks to sample. Don't miss especially Basse Duettino by Raymond Guiot.

























Download => Kid Loco presents French Funk Experience

Roy Ayers - Lots Of Love (Uno Melodic Records - 1983)

Reedited recently on Soul Jazz, Lots Of Love is a really strange album, Roy Ayers switching style on each song. It starts with an afrobeat number, Black Family, clearly inspired by Fela Kuti with whom Roy Ayers signed the album Music Of many Colours 3 years before. But the track, after a vibraphones solo, ventures into hip hop territory with the introduction of an MC. The second track, Fast Money, is clearly inspired by electro funk with its drumbox beat and its robotic voice on the chorus. The tracks Lots Of Love and And Then We Were One are a bit cheesy, mixing post disco boogie beats with jazzy elevator melodies. On D.C. City, Roy Ayers produces what he does the best: sultry vocals with uplifting soul music. The strongest cut on the album is probably the last one, Chicago, a seminal hypnotic track that clearly inspired Chicago and Detroit house music masters a few years later (Moodyman, Theo Parrish and co).



















Download => Roy Ayers - Lots Of Love

Rhyze - To The Top (20th Century Fox Records - 1981)

This 1981 forgotten album truly deserved to be rediscovered. Rhyze started to play together in New Jersey in 1970 under The Nu Sound Express moniker. They released a couple of songs and then switched their name to Rhyze. To The Top was their third album, is produced by their childhood friend, Paul Kyzer and deserves clearly its disco funk classic status. After a decade of turning the funk circuit, this unknwon band reached an incredible level of inspiration and musicianship, near the heights of the best bands of the same time. Horns blasts like in Earth, Wind & Fire while the guitar and bass lines matches easily Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers productions. Try it at home: play this record and you won't prevent your feet and your neck from moving while feeling this melancolic little twist. Killing subtle shit, plain and simple.









Download => Rhyze - To The Top

Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Red Black & Green (Polydor - 1973)

Roy Ayers discography is slowly being reissued those last few years, even if at least the half of his discography stays unavailable for the common people. This is a real shame, the guy being one of my most favorite artist ever and having blessed the surfaced of earth with his talent since 1963 without any real mistake or failure. Consequently, let's enjoy this hip-oselect new edition of Red, Black & Green, a classic collection of covers (Ain't No Sunshine, Day Dreaming, Papa Was A Rolling Stone) getting the Roy Ayers vibraphonic treatment and a true masterpiece, the title song Red Black & Green. For the record, Red, Black & Green has been sampled a few times, from the X-Clan (Raise The Flag) to former Stetsasonic Daddy-O (Flowin' In File) but not that much.

Download => Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Red Black & Green

Fela Anikulapo Kuti And Roy Ayers - Music Of Many Colours (Phonodisk/Celluloid - 1980)

Fela and Roy Ayers together: white rockers were not the only ones to create supergroups. Roy Ayers and Fela collaborated only for one album, Music Of Many Colours but what an album. There are two songs of it but both are near 20 minutes long and by the two geniuses at the top of their inspiration. Africa 70 incandescent afrobeat is smoothed out by Roy Ayers vibes and disco fused soul, making of the first track, 2,000 Black Go To Be Free, a sure dicerning dancefloor filler. Africa - Centre Of The World is more into Fela traditionnal mold: 3 drummers on fire, blasting horns and Roy Ayers riding the funk with his vibraphone solos. I found on You Tube a rare Louie Vega remix of 2,000 Blacks Got To Be Free I didn't know. But sorry I don't have any link to download it for free so I'm afraid that if you really want it, you'll have to buy it.

Download => Fela Kuti & Roy Ayers - Music Of Many Colours

The Zapp & Roger Anthology - We Can Make You Dance (Warner Bros./Rhino - 2002)

The Zapp & Roger Anthology CD 1

The Zapp & Roger Anthology CD 2

If the Troutman brothers wouldn't have existed, nor P-Funk nor West Coast gansta rap would have been the same. Discovered by, guess who, Georges Clinton himself, the band led by Roger Troutman, rapidly acquired a major status amongst funk players. Zapp live shows, for those lucky to watch them, were unique moments of funky madness while their infectious singles, even if not that successful outside the R&B charts, set the definition of black music for the next decades: a strong emphsis on the drum and bass lines, the use of talkbox, easy texts and infectious chorus. Sounds kind like the definition of R&B today right? Zapp and Roger have been so much sampled, especially More Bounce To The Ounce, that using their songs is now the ultimate music production cliché. Dre gave to Cesar what belongs to Cesar revitalizing Roger career by offering him the chance to sing the hook of 2Pac's hit California Love in 1996. The saddest thing in Zapp glorious story is the end with the violent and mysterious death of Roger and Larry Troutman in 1999 by gunshots. This anthology selects the 29 best tracks from Roger Troutman's various incarnations: The Human Body, Zapp, Roger and H-Town. This is a must.

In The Pocket With Eddie Bo - New Orleans Rock&Roll, R&B, Soul & Funk Goodies 1955-2007 (Vampisoul - 2008)

In The Pocket With Eddie Bo

Getting a hand on Eddie Bo recordings for a decent price a rare experience. During 50 years, Eddie Bo was a funky hurricane, one of the go to guy from New Orleans funk and soul scene. He wrote, recorded, produced or arranged hundreds of records for a good dozen of different labels, mostly 45s, and staid a lot of times uncredited. It was really time to rehabilite this guy and its storming recipe: raw drums, tick bass lines and a catchy hook, enhanced from time to time by horns or strings. The 28 songs on In The Pocket With Eddie Bo features Eddie Bo under his own moniker or the numerous bands and artists he worked for: Barbara George, The Barons, Eddie Lang or Chuck Garbo & The Soul Finders. Raw swampy sweaty shit but it's just to bad this records lacks what is probably Eddie Bo's most sampled song and used breakbeat, Hook And Sling.

Slave - Slave (Cotillion - 1977)

Slave - Slave

After years of hiatus, Slave lead singer, Steve Arrington, is back in business, collaborating with new school funk master Dam-Funk and Stones Throw Records. I had the chance to hear one title released with a French newspaper and the result is quite good even if far away from Slave best days. Probably one of the greatest funk band to come from Ohio, Slave signed the stellar single Slide, which stormed the charts even before any album was even recorded. This single alone allowed Slave to tour intensively and they only had a few days to record their first album, Slave. It explains probably the raw energy and the live feeling of every track, the emphasis being on the bass and drum lines and less on the melody or the arrangements. For the record, Public Enemy A Tribe Called Quest, Success-N-Effect and Professor Griff used Slide for respectively Can't Truss It, Go Ahead In The Rain, Feeze and Pawns In The Game.

The Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle - Original Old School Breaks & Classic Funk Bombs (Vampisoul - 2007)

The Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle

Everything is said in the title about the content of this record. Blow Your Whistle gathers tracks from the two LPs Go-Go music king Chuck Brown's Soul Searchers cut for Sussex in 1972 (We The People) and in 1974 (Salt Of The Earth). This nice Vampisoul release is the cheapest and easiest way to get inalterable heavy funk break classics like Salt Of The Earth or Ashley's Roachclip, largely sampled and used by the hip hop godfathers of the late 80's (Eric B & Rakim, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Public Enemy and co).

Letta Mbulu - Naturally (Fantasy - 1973)

Letta Mbulu - Naturally

Naturally is the kind of album that can change your life forever and goes directly to your desert island playlist. Benefiting from the help of Cannonball and Nat Adderley, Letta Mbulu mixes perfectly well deep soul with her south african jazzy roots. This is just amazing that this album didn't enjoy any success when it was released and staid ignored for so long. I consequently give all the respect due to BGP for bringing back this pure moment of magic from the vaults.

Sunnyview - Fresh Beats (Hi & Fly Records - 2007)

Sunnyview - Fresh Beats

Sunnyview is born on the ashes of Miami TK Records at the begining of the 80's. TK founder Henry Stone associated with Moris Levy to reissue TK catalogue and explore the possibilities of a new musical trend of synthetic music, electro funk. Exploring all the possibilities of keyboards and drum machines, electro funk can be divided in numerous schools, all represented on this compilation. From hip hop to freestyle, from funk to minimalist instrumentals, from Pretty Tony to Newcleus, all the subgenres and its underground heroes are here represented. Hi & Fly is a reissue label with pretty bad reputation. If all its compilations are excellent, there no editorial work to create liner notes, tracklisting is erratic and I'm not sure if they paid artists their due share of royalties. Anyway, with Fresh Beats it's breakdancing time again and it will make you start crazy move like the windmill, the back-spin, a couple of freezes and the thomas.

Skyy - Inner City (Salsoul - 1984)

Skyy - Inner City

Inner City is Skyy last Salsoul album and the last album ever released on Salsoul. Created in 1974 by The Cayre brothers in 1974, Salsoul was one of disco era most celebrated label. When disco age faded away and soul music entered in a tunnel that ended only at the end of the 90's, Salsoul stopped all operations. The mid 80's were a pretty bad time for African American music lovers. Black music seemed to have lost its mojo. After 20 years of charts domination and trendsetting, R&B charts were devitalized by two vampires that attracted all the light: Prince and Michael Jackson. Things in fact were still bubling in the underground: hip hop was a couple of years away from the begining of its golden age, freestyle was preparing what will be R&B 90's sonic revolution and house and garage were getting ready to take over European dancefloors. But for mainstream ears, radio was boring like hell. Skyy was created in 1970 and was Randy Muller's creature. Randy charted hits all over the 70's and 80's with Skyy or his other dancing machines like BT Express, Brass Construction, Funk Deluxed or Rapheal Cameron. Kenny Dope released a pretty good compilation of his best tracks on Plaza records in 2005. Inner City is probably one of Skyy most overlooked album and is clearly inspired by the freestyle sound of the time. It is one of the album of that era that aged the best. Dancin' To be Dancin', close to what Jellybean Martinez did for Madonna, is still able to full up a dance floor everytime it is played.