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Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk 2 1xCD, 2xLP BBE |
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Volume 2 Eh? Shows that plenty of people in the world have shown
enough good taste to sample the almost lost world of Deep Funk by
bying Volume 1 and making it a succes. My night at Madame Jo Jos
is now packed every Sunday and i'm constantly flying off to
foreign places to DJ; what a wonderful world! Now, how do I
follow this, by taking the chosen path of some less caring
compilers, put in a couple of good tracks and rely on these and
the strenght of Volume 1 to sell Volume 2? Na! Bollock to that.
Rather reward the supporters by picking twenty of the top tunes I
selfishly refused to put on Volume 1 and make this volume better!
This time I have kept the chronological order correct tracing the
development of this underground form. "Silly Savage"
and "Coffee Pot" are both fine examples of the early
experimental days. Both from the mid Sixties. Both featuring the
hammond and both reflecting the fun and excitement the musicians
must have had in making what at the time was considered
futuristic music. T Jones And The Group was first played by that
fine upstanding youth Snowboy, and is from the label M&M
which gave us a number of dull 'allmost there' jazzy
instrumentals. This however has "Champ" like appeal. A
simple riff repeated with enough small changes, not to make it
boring but infectious.
"Power Struggle" takes us to the Lone Star state, home
of many excellent (though almost always very rare) funk
recordings. The vocalist certainly adheres to the Vicki Anderson
school of belting it out, though sadly her name will probably
never be known. Aalon Buttler will be a familiar name to deep
soul fans - like Steve Davis, a wizard when he gets his balls
out. But for funk fans this (which is Jerry IDJs favourite) is
the only worthy recording I know of at the moment
Rene recorded many R&B jazz tracks, "Smokie Joes La
La" being the most famous. This track is relatively unknown
yet is on the same New Bag Label as Count Yates "At the Soul
Inn". The date on both is 1966 which tells us either that
the label was way ahead of its time or simply that Class records,
of which New Bag is a subsidiary, was founded then. As a train
spotter I would like to believe the former.
Back to Texas and James Polk's Twink label again, this time for
"Psycho": a hard bastard of a record in both senses of
the term. Hammond, flute, wah wah, Heaven! South Carolina is the
home of Carleen And Her Groovers, Carleen being the drummer but
yet again the vocalist's name is a mystery. They recorded two
other tracks at the Music World studios, "Right On" and
"The Thing"
are both good and came out as a single on the studio's own label.
Like this track they are super rare. "Get It Right" was
recorded in Tennessee, home state of Elvis, rockabily, and that
great man Nathan Bedford Forrest. Though probably not Ricky
Callowasy's home, as I have of earlier recordings of his from
Florida, he probably thought recording this in Memphis might have
opened
the door to a whole new audience. Nope, it didn't, but if you're
reading this Ricky you may take some consolation in knowing that
this is a favourite of Lloydie the Boogie Boy.
There are very few details on Billy Ball availlable except he did
record a few soul records in the late sixties. No singing here
though, but a heavy funk instrumental from '69. Leon Gardner
recorded several funky blues numbers but none as strong as this
Arthur Monday arrangement. Judging by Mr Monday's other records
it is he who is responsible for this being one of the best
funk tunes of all time.
Moving into the early seventies with "Trespasser". With
this track the signs of experimentation are obvious, making it a
masterpiece when you consider the limitations of the equipment of
the day. The Rappers do not live up to their name on this track,
instead we get another early seventies instrumental, not as
adventurous as the previous track but certainly as strong. It's
ideal for the '90s club scene and beyond. Joe Washington And
Society where both introduced to me by fellow collector now
turning producer Ian Wright and are both excellent early to mid
seventies vocal funk tunes without any thacky p-funk gimmickry.
In defence of that statement,
Guy Hennigan (my old northern soul DJing partner) was told: 'The
Golden World and Revilot days were the best days musically for
Parliament, the rest was just for the money.' These words were
said to him at a party in Detroit for the old '60s soul producer
Richard Popcorn Wylie by a large black gentleman with multi
coloured hair sporting the name of George Clinton, so there
neah!
The Blenders is quite common and well known to serious
collectors. It came out on two seperate labels but rarity isn't
everything so I've included it here. It is, after all still a
floor packer at Deep Funk clubs. Into the soulful finish, as is
normal when I'm DJing and so shall it be here. About Beverly
Crosby I know nothing except she wrote, sung, and produced this
for Magic People records which was probably her own label, as I
know of nothing else on it.
Harris And Orr who wrote and recorded "Spread Love" had
an album out on the Sunstar label in 1975 which is still sought
after by deep soul and crossover collectors alike. Mainor Ramsey
wrote, recorded, produced and arranged and with his own money
released "Love Call". It was the one and only release
on his own Label Ramco and probably even distributed by himself.
First
played on the Northern soul scene in the early eighties as one of
the few 'modern' sounds accepted by us Sixties die hards. Like
Family of Eve on Volume 1 this is the one that had damp patches
appearing round Ben & Pete's guessets. So much so that they
had it remixed for today's market. However, unlike Family of Eve,
the original of this is still super rare.
"Modernization" is a gospel recording from 1980
released on the tiny Kingdom of God label. Not being a big fan of
the Big Yin myself, I would have ignored this had it not been for
the fact that those who do his (whoops! or hers, must stay PC)
singing for him/her/it, have the most soulful of voices and the
production on this makes it a dance floor winner.
Keb Darge, 1997