The Jungle Band - Jungle Groove (Charly Records - 1988)

I wonder why the cover of this CD reissue is so ugly. Jungle Groove dates back to 1988 when a bunch of James Brown tour musicians hooked up with local talent in Augusta, Georgia, get locked up in a studio, The Hut, for furious nights of jam session and decided to produce a real old school funk album in a time when American R&B was a field of ruins. Even if a few keyboards lines or drum beats here and there sounds a bit cheesy and dated, the overall result is a piece of furious deep and p funk with fabulous breaks. The Jungle Band released only one album and then its members went back to their separate ways. It took almost 20 years and the actual old school soul revival to take funk where The Jungle Band let it. This 1994 reissue holds all 1988 original tracks plus 3 bonus tracks.

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Quincy Jones - Walking In Space (CTI - 1969)

Walking In Space is considered like one of Quincy Jones best albums. When he moved into studio in june the 18th and 19th of 1969, he was surounded by killers: Ray Brown on bass, Eric Gale on guitar, Grady Tate on drums, Bob James on electric piano, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, Toots Thielemans on harmonica, Hubert Maws on flute and tenor sax, Jerome Richardson on soprano sax, Roland Kirk on tenor sax and reeds. Hilda Harris, Marilyn Jackson, Valerie Simpson and Maretha Stewart were used for vocals. Rudy Van Gelder served like engineer while Quincy shared the arrangement duties with Bob James. Quincy had already back then completed his solid jazz reputation by a Hollywood stint that made him one of the go to Hollywood musician when it was about making a soundtrack. You mix those jazz masters with soundtracks like melodies, blues and gospel influences and you have Walking In Space.

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Ennio Morricone - A L'Aube Du 5ème Jour b/w Le Carnaval Des Truands (RCA - 1974)

A L'Aube Du 5ème Jour (aka Dio è Con Noi aka Gott Mit Uns) is a spaghetti war film made in 1969 by Giuliano Montaldo. All I can say is that it didn't aged very well. It's not the case of the soundtrack, made by Ennio Morricone. The title theme was largely used by French radio and television at the beginning of the 70's and was consequently edited in France on a 7" with the theme of another movie, the 1967 made Le Carnaval Des Truands (aka Ad Ogni Costo), as a B side. This latest song sounds closer to the work of Burt Baccarcah or Herb Alpert than what you can expect usually from Morricone. Good stuff, cheap and easy to find.

Download => Ennio Morricone - A L'Aube du 5ème Jour b/w Le Carnaval Des Truands