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V.A. Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk BBE 2xLP, 1xCD |
Keb Darge is een volbloed
Funkateer en alleen hij heeft zo'n grote collectie onvindbare
funk juweeltjes om een compilatie als deze samen te stellen.
Daarom laten we hem zelf aan het woord:
" Being the selfish, egotistical collector that I am, I
initially told Ben and Pete (de oprichters van BBE records, S.V.)
to bugger off when they asked me to compile this album. I had
spent over 23 years fighting with giant cockroaches in dust
filled warehouses across the Atlantic to find some of these
tunes, others came into my happy collection through throwing
barrow loads of £20 notes at gentlemen from 'up north' who had
similar fights with different cockroaches. Why should you have
access to these tunes by simply walking into the shop you've just
walked into and paying the paltry amount you've just paid?
"Well Keb," quipped young Pete, "this will give
people a chance to sample a Keb Darge set, and when they realise
how strong and exclusive it is you'll get loads more work, and
women will want you." Bearing in my mind that my egotistical
side is stronger than my selfish side that was enought to inspire
me.
Side A: (the sixties funk side) kicks off with a version of the
Richard Evans and Donny Hathaway penned Zambezi which pisses on
the others from the moment that pulsating bass line kicks in over
the wailling hammond intro. I've been playing the Dap Walk since
the days of Leave My Wife Alone at the Wag Club. You can hear the
influences of James Brown mixed with Tighten Up style arranging.
Ray Frazier, bugger me he's got a voice. Super rare, infectious
hard funk with exellent crossover soul on the flip of the
original. Ray had an earlier recording released on Chess, which
is semi-rare but not as strong as this. When I heard the grinding
bass, subtle hammond, horny horns, and 'fatback' drums (as
Snowboy calls them) on Gimmie Some Skin , and realised it was
probably the only release on Frank Pen's own label (making it
very rare) I snapped it up from avid collector Ian Wright for a
healthy three figure sum. Same formula as above for Kick the
habit though the hammond is more in yer face. This was the first
release on the Saxton label, the second and surprisingly not
nearly as rare It's Football Baby is a classic amongst
collectors, and both have been rocking the floors of Deep Funk
venues for a few years. The UFO's track was a tip from another of
Britian's handful of serious collectors, Malcolm Cato. Again it
features all the right ingredients: hammond, bass and this time a
hell of a drum break that takes no prisoners, ideal for those
vulgar people who sample these records. Tut! Tut!
Side B: and we're into the seventies, starting with the very
mellow and very sought after Sagittarius Black. The last copy to
turn up was sold by a dealer pal of mine in Texas for $650. There
are three albums doing the rounds just now from Ray Fernandez,
Ray And His Musical Family, Ray And His Court etc. Pearly Queen
is the same group, this track however only came out on 7"
and is much rarer and stronger than the album tracks. In my well
researched opinion this is the norm for this kind of music -
albums were made for the home, 7" singles for the clubs. I
got this from LA based collector and Mo'Wax superstar DJ Shadow.
Billy Guy is well known to soul and R&B collectors, (thats
real soul and R&B not the nasal shite that's around today).
He's done a few good funk tracks, Put Your Own Words To It is the
most popular with our dancers. The last two tracks on this side
are very similar 'chase scene' style, both made in the period
just before it all went horribly wrong, i.e. P-Funk and disco. If
ou're a budding DJ just put them on and watch de dance floor.
Side C: focusses on the mid sixties sound. Not strictly funk,
these were the formative years, the kind of tunes that pack the
floors of the nouveau mod clubs I do like Blow Up, Happiness
Stan's, etc. The Backbeat of The Rocking Courtroom is sixties
hip-hop, hard and agressive. How About It is a straight, driving
R&B mover. Other versions of the Monk Higgins classic Who Dun
It (including the original) pale into insignificance when played
alongside the version here, booming brass to match any northern
soul horn section. On first listening to Soul Power on the
earphones of my portable record player whilst in one of those
dusty warehouses, I thought "Bugger me, The Mohawk's Champ
with added flute, perfect" and played it 'covered up' as the
Mohawks for four years. There still only 2 copies known in the
collectors world. Dale Serrano is a jazz drummer who here covers
The Marketts' classic Last Night, known to British Comedy fans as
the theme from Bottom. Sadly for other collectors mine is the
only known copy of this version.
Side D: and we're back to the seventies for some soulful grooves.
Going Down For The Last Time was sampled by collector/DJ/producer
(and my next door neighbour) Raw Deal. It became his first
release under the name The Three Funkateers, the start of a very
promising musical future. Sadly I know very little about Joyce
Williams except that she sure can sing, and was probably ignored
by the music industry, though this track did come out on two
independent labels. Can't Fight The Feeling features the vocal
talents of Johnny K, a man who previously enjoyed mediocore
succes under the TK banner out of Miami. This track hails from
Georgia and no doubt failed miserably when first released. It is
the blend of soul and late seventies funk known today as boogie.
Finally, Family Of Eve is the group that had Ben and Pete wetting
their pants. Here are the A and B side of the single on the very
small Jeree label, reissued in the early eighties on Full Sail
Records along with a very disapointing piece of disco shite by
the group. I first played this over 15 years ago on the Northern
/ Modern soul scene and as DJs like Soul Sam and Arthur Fenn were
also hammering it, it went massive. Though it is nowhere near as
rare as most of the tracks on this album it is very hard to get a
copy, because trying to get a good record out of a Northern soul
collector is almost as hard as trying to get me to play a Michael
Jackson track."
Keb Darge April 1997