Maceo is the real deal, funkier than the funkiest cat. A sax player with James Brown, this is his signature tune in his own right. If you don’t wiggle to this, what’s feckin’ wrong with you? Parker is still going strong at eighty three years old, bless him. It’s the weekend so treat yourself toContinue reading “Lost In Music: Maceo and The Macks- Cross The Tracks”
Tag Archives: Funk
Five Of The Best… Michael Jackson
With the recent TV documentary, Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy and the apparent hagiography Michael dividing people, I’ve been thinking a lot about the late singer, dancer and all-round eccentric and somewhat broken man. We’ll never know the truth, will we? And while that’s undoubtedly tainted Michael in many ways forever, he still left behindContinue reading “Five Of The Best… Michael Jackson”
Lost In Music: Prince- Controversy
It’s, almost ridiculously, a decade since we lost the visionary Prince. So, with no fanfare at all, here’s one of the earliest hits which put him on the musical firmament. Drink a purple coloured beverage to him and his legacy tonight. He was the full package, a total visionary, a funky one-off.
Goodbye Sly
Sly Stone, aka Sylvester Stewart, has passed away at eighty two. Raise a glass to a true icon, whose multiracial, mixed gender band Sly And the Family Stone influenced everyone from Prince to Primal Scream. Even Pee Wee Herman covered ‘Stand’! Having formed the band with his family in San Francisco, he expanded the line-upContinue reading “Goodbye Sly”
Overlooked Classics: Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different
In her spacesuit collars, hot pants and big boots,prowling around the stage, Betty Davis made Tina Turner look something of a shrinking violet. With her wild, hard -living reputation and unrestrained presence, Davis was allegedly too much for husband Miles, from whom she divorced after just one tempestuous year in 1969. This second studio album,Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different”
Album Review: Sinkane-We Belong
Sudanese- American Ahmed Gallab, who records as Sinkane, reflects the global village in this glorious new album, his eighth. Whether joyful and gospel inflected (Come Together, We Belong) disco workouts (the campy How Sweet Is Your Love) or songs of resistance (Everything Is Everything, and the fiery standout track Invisible Distance) which feel like anContinue reading “Album Review: Sinkane-We Belong”
Neo-Soul in 2023
Something glorious is going on in music right now. Soul and funk is back in a big way. It’s never really gone away, but the likes of Cleo Sol (main picture) Say She She, Gabriels and Black Pumas have soundtracked this year with soul and funk -infused tunes that are evocative of the greats: thinkContinue reading “Neo-Soul in 2023”
Lost In Music: Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation
Before the all-time conquering Beyonce, there was Janet Jackson. Prior to Rhythm Nation, she’d been something of a sweetie pie, the wholesome, apple- cheeked kid sister to Michael, forever in his shadow. A few good singles aside, she hadn’t really resonated in the UK . But, teaming up again in 1989 with super-producers Jam andContinue reading “Lost In Music: Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation”
Lost In Music: A Certain Ratio- 1982
Already one of the finest albums of tthe year, A Certain Ratio ‘s 1982 is a series of neon squiggly graffiti lines – not least because it references Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol in ‘Samo’ , an old school funky jam named after Basquiat’s graffiti tag. But that very specific nod to the 80sContinue reading “Lost In Music: A Certain Ratio- 1982”
The Future’s Here Today: Say She She
Now this is something potentially incredible. A female -led seven piece band from Brooklyn, Say She She fuse the sass of Luscious Jackson with the rhythms of ESG and the ethereal fluttering harmonies of Cocteau Twins. Three amazing singers- Nya Gazelle Brown, Priya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham- make up said harmonies, and the restContinue reading “The Future’s Here Today: Say She She”
Hit The North 