Funkadelic [self titled]

“If you will suck my soul I will lick your funky emotions” are the first words of funkadelic’s self titled debut album, and right then you realize that these brothas got be from another dimension, a funky dimension. Throughout their debut album you get a thick injection of that raw Mississippi blues layered with fading in and out of voices and instruments, reverb, and even a bit of feed back. Just like some of their other early albums, the influence of the late great Jimi Hendrix is definitely felt. The album is rock solid all the way through but I would have to say my favorite tracks are “Music For My Mother” demonstrating bluesy call and response vocals, “I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody’s Got A Thing” a great psychedelic soulful rocker and “What is Soul” where George Clinton jokingly leads the audience to believe that soul is “ashy knee caps” and “joints rolled in toilet paper”. But really the point is , no one will ever be able to fully describe soul, you got to let loose and feel soul. This album was produced by George Clinton, the group’s main creative force, and it definitely hints toward greatness to come. The album was released in 1971, and although the era where blues players were the popular musicians of the day had already passed, this album makes you feel like there is still magic in the backwoods of the south. Funkadelic’s debut lp is truly the missing link between blues and funk.

The Beatles - Revolver

Just like the pop your ears make when adjusting to higher elevations or how a praying mantis’s old skin pops off when it grows its wings, the Beatles album Revolver had the same effect to the world of music. As soon as the first song “Taxman” fires off you know these four young troubadours have come with blazing ammunition. After the first blazing rocker the guitars disappear to give way to the song of “Eleanor Rigby” a Paul McCartney track musing on “all the lonely people” backed up by a string octet and no guitars. The other half of the great writing duo, John Lennon, begins to experiment with the effect of guitars recorded and then played back backwards on the songs “I’m Only Sleeping” and “Tomorrow Never Know’s”. This is also the album where George Harrison’s love for Indian sitars become evident on the song “Love You To”. Ringo’s song “Yellow Submarine” (written by Lennon and McCartney) first appeared on this album as well, which would inspire the Beatles psychedelic cartoon movie under the same name. And if all that wasn’t enough, this was the first album of theirs that brought horns to some of the songs. Finally, the album ends on a brilliant note with John Lennon’s psychedelic lyrics of “Tomorrow Never Knows”, solidifying the Beatles position of outpacing the rest of the competition. With a single stroke this album effectively burst the bubble of the bubble gum pop world just like the shot of a Revolver.

David Bowie - Space Oddity

Before the Ziggy Stardust album or any of David Bowie’s other conceptual incarnations there was his debut Space Oddity. And throughout this LP just like with his other LP’s, one question remains: Is David Bowie really an alien inhabiting a human’s body? Listening to the orchestral, theatrical title track documenting an astronauts’ view from space we wonder “Is he speaking from experience?” Even when one looks at the picture in the cd disc tray of a young Bowie curled up in a cocoon like pod, one may think “Maybe it’s the same pod he crash landed to earth with!” But the real meat of the album is covers the styles of folk rock, blues rock and a tinge of psychodelia. Throughout this album Bowie mixes and jumps from style to style demonstrating his deep musical understanding with lyrics to match. Space Oddity basically set the stage for later on in his career when David Bowie would make even greater successful leaps and explorations with different types of genera’s, making rock critics wonder if he was possibly an alien sent to Earth to observe and imitate human life collecting data we have yet to understand. All the tracks are great but the stand out tracks for me are “God Knows I’m Good” and “The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”. Maybe Freecloud is Bowies’ home planet? But Speculation aside, I recommend anyone who enjoys David Bowies’ music or just enjoys talented well thought out songs to pick this up at your nearest record store.

G. Love & Special Sauce [self titled]

How do you make special sauce? Well first you get a big pot, drop in a hefty serving of blues, a handful of rock, a splash of hip hop, a pinch if folk and a dash of soul, then get a guy named G. Love to mix it up with some spices and Bam! You got Special Sauce ready to serve with any listening experience. Even without listening to the song “Blues Music”; an ode to the great soul and blues players of the past you can tell that G. Love and his backing band Special Sauce have definitely done their homework. Their vintage all-American sound harkens back to the days when recordings were still raw and sounded beautiful unpolished. But unlike all the other newer nostalgic blues bands out there, G. Love adds refreshing new twist with many of the songs containing soulful hip hop stylized rhyme patterns for the verses. His voice is also unique as well, a kind of laid-back, bluesy sound which slurs across the tracks. Definitely check out the songs “Eyes Have Miles”, “Baby’s Got Sauce”, and “This Ain’t Living”. I first was introduced to this album by a friend during the middle of a long, hot summer and it instantly became the soundtrack for the summer. If you are trying to mellow out or just get in the groove, pop in G. Love and Special Sauce’s self titled debut album and you won’t be disappointed.

Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess

Classy, timeless, dramatic, theatrical, relaxing. There are many words to describe the 1959 classic which Miles Davis played on under the orchestration of Gil Evans, but to list all the musical textures and emotions that this recording takes you through would take to long. But the music of Porgy and Bess is an enduring piece of work to say the least. It was originally written as a folk opera by the late, great American composer George Gershwin with the assistance of his wife Ira Gershwin and collaborator Dubose Heyward. There has been many different versions by different leaders of the jazz world along with contemporary artists such as Bonnie Raitt or Sublime, doing their version of the popular song “Summertime”. But their version pales in comparison to Miles Davis’s version of “Summertime”, my favorite on the album. On all the tracks of this album Miles Davis replaces the vocal melody with his very personal interpretation on the trumpet. This LP is unique for the fact that there are two ways you can listen to it. The first way is by either looking at the song titles or possibly even downloading the original lyrics in order to follow the love story of Porgy and Bess. The way to listen to this album is by simply leaning back and closing your eyes and envisioning your own story of indescribable epic proportion as the music takes you on a journey. I often listen to this album to chill out but it is good any time of the day.

James Brown - Hell

Introducing the funky heavy weight champion, the godfather of soul, and the star of the show, Mr. James Brown! Owww! And just like that the album Hell knocks you the hell out. This album came at a crucial period in 1974 for two reasons: the first being the nation was in upheaval with the Watergate scandal along with a crippling recession and high gas prices hitting the country and most importantly James Brown was in his prime of earth shattering funk which would later be sampled by the nex geration of hip hop to come. Hell is the nexus of all of the James Brown personalities and where he stood wisth the issues. You have biting socio-political commentary on “Coldblooded” & “Hell”. You have the ladies man player on “My Thang”. We also hear some interesting covers: the first being a salsa rendition of his old song “Please,Please,Please” and an amped up funky rendition of the classic standard “When the Saints Go Marching In”. We also hear the introspective Brown on the songs “A Man has To Go Back To The Crossroad Before he finds Himself” and the song about his youth “Papa Don’t Take No Mess”. My favorite song on the album would have to be the ultra funky, poly-rhythmic spiritual “Stormy Monday”. The artwork on the album is also top notch, the cover being a montage of a beaten down society on the brink. But the drawing tells it all. In this picture we see James Brown fearlessly pumping his fist while a demon in back of him says “He’s too strong, we can’t stop him.” Then another demon says “That’s because he’s the Godfather.”

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The 36 Chambers

For some the legend of the Wu-Tang starts in the 70’s when Hong Kong cinema began producing a series of low budget Kung Fu flicks that captivated the minds of only the most devout martial arts film fans. But for most people in America, the legend of the Wu-Tang begins with Enter the 36 Chambers; one of the most enduring rap group debuts ever to drop, an album which simultaneously solidified the early 90’s New York rap renaissance and Wu-Tang clan’s place in music history. Enter the 36 Chambers painted a vivid picture of the harsh ghetto of New York’s Staten Island a.k.a. the Shaolin. For these young men of the slums, negativity and danger surrounded them at every turn, so in order to combat this environment these used their tongues like sharpened samurai swords. The album is filled with top notch lyricism, from red hot punch lines to the intricate stories and descriptions which show us the world through their eyes. At the time these mc’s are fresh and at the top of their form, especially Ol’ Dirty Bastard. But this album wouldn’t be a classic if it wasn’t for the RZA’s razor sharp production of obscure soul samples, kung fu movies audio samples, sound effects and other rare music samples, all within a backbone of gritty analog drums. It is almost as if this flawless, sonic patchwork tapestry has a ghostly life of its own. This is definitely the type of album you must listen to beginning to end. When you finish the album one thing will remain clear: Wu-Tang clan ain’t nothin to fuck with.