Womack, Bobby - 1999 - Soul Brother

1 What Is This? Womack 2:36
2 I'm a Midnight Mover Pickett, Womack 2:04
3 If You Want My Love, Put Something Down on It Womack, Womack 3:43
4 Don't Look Back Robinson, White 2:49
5 How I Miss You Baby Carter, Womack 3:18
6 I'm Gonna Forget About You Cooke 2:28
7 I Can Understand It Womack 4:06
8 You're Welcome, Stop on By Thomas, Womack 3:45
9 I'm Through Trying to Prove My Love to You Womack 3:50
10 I Don't Wanna Be Hurt by Ya Love Again Womack 3:24
11 Check It Out Womack 3:51
12 So Many Sides of You Ford, Womack 3:46
13 Where There's a Will There'sa Way Ford, Womack 3:04
14 Across 110th Street Johnson, Womack 3:52
15 Just My Imagination Womack 5:08
16 If You Think You're Lonely Now Griffin, Moten, Womack 5:30

¡Aquí!

VA - 2004 - World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing - The Funky Fuzzy Sounds Of West Africa

A1 Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Dahomey* – Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome
Written-By – Eskill Lohento 3:16
A2 Super Eagles – Love's A Real Thing
Producer – E.K. Royce
Written-By – Badou Jobe, Papa Touray 2:57
A3 Moussa Doumbia – Keleya
Producer – Albert Loudes, Catherine Loudes
Written-By – Moussa Doumbia 6:41
B1 Sorry Bamba – Porry
Executive Producer – Songhoi Records
Written-By – Sorry Bamba 8:16
B2 No.1 De No.1* – Guajira Van
Written-By – Maguette N'Diaye 5:11
C1 William Onyeabor – Better Change Your Mind
Written-By, Producer – William Onyeabor 8:21
C2 Ofo & The Black Company – Allah Wakbarr
Producer – Dave Bennett
Written-By – Larry Ifediorama 3:29
D1 Bunzu Sounds* – Zinabu
Written-By, Producer – Faisal Helwani 3:19
D2 Tunji Oyelana & The Benders – Ifa
Producer – Odion Iruoje
Written-By – Tunji Oyelana 4:59
D3 Orchestre Regional De Kayes* – Sanjina
Written-By – Orchestre Regional De Kayes* 6:00

¡Aquí!

Incredible Bongo Band - 1973 - Bongo Rock

Unlikely godfathers of hip-hop, the Incredible Bongo Band was a revolving-door group of studio musicians led by bongo player Michael Viner, who by day worked as an executive at the MGM label and ran its short-lived Pride subsidiary. Viner had worked on Bobby Kennedy's ill-fated presidential campaign before entering the music industry as a talent scout and A&R man in Los Angeles. By the early '70s, he was successful enough to start his pet side project the Incredible Bongo Band, taking unused studio time to record percussion-heavy instrumentals and pop covers with African and Latin influences. He placed two songs on the soundtrack of the 1972 B-movie The Thing With Two Heads, released on Pride, and the following year issued the first Incredible Bongo Band full-length, Bongo Rock, which reportedly featured a guest spot by Ringo Starr. Viner's funked-up version of the Shadows' "Apache" went on to become one of hip-hop's earliest breakbeat staples, as first-generation hip-hop DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash came to rely on its percussion breaks to get block parties moving. "Apache" went on to provide the basis for the Sugarhill Gang's hit of the same name, and stands as one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history. The single "Bongo Rock" charted in the lower reaches of both the pop and R&B lists, and eventually assumed a status similar to "Apache" in the hip-hop world (though with lesser magnitude). Viner assembled a follow-up album, The Return of the Incredible Bongo Band, in 1974, but the band came to a halt not long after; Viner was getting overly ambitious (a planned session with the London Symphony Orchestra fell through), and mainstay drummer Jim Gordon fell prey to severe mental difficulties, all of which spelled the end of the road. The British Strut label later reissued both of the group's albums on a two-fer titled Bongo Rock: The Story of the Incredible Bongo Band.

01 - Let There Be Drums
02 - Bongolia
03 - Kiburi
04 - Apache
05 - Sing Sing Sing
06 - Dueling Bongos
07 - In a Gadda Da Vida
08 - Raunchy
09 - Bongo Rock
10 - Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley Your Tie's Caught in Your Zipper
11 - Sharp Nine
12 - Okey Dokey
13 - Pipeline
14 - When the Bed Breaks Down, I'll Meet You in the Spring
15 - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
16 - Wipeout
17 - Last Bongo in Belgium
18 - Got the Sun in the Morning and the Daughter at Night
19 - Slightly Reminiscent of Topsy

¡Aquí!

Prince - 1982 - 1999

With Dirty Mind, Prince had established a wild fusion of funk, rock, new wave, and soul that signaled he was an original, maverick talent, but it failed to win him a large audience. After delivering the sound-alike album, Controversy, Prince revamped his sound and delivered the double album 1999. Where his earlier albums had been a fusion of organic and electronic sounds, 1999 was constructed almost entirely on synthesizers by Prince himself. Naturally, the effect was slightly more mechanical and robotic than his previous work and strongly recalled the electro-funk experiments of several underground funk and hip-hop artists at the time. Prince had also constructed an album dominated by computer funk, but he didn't simply rely on the extended instrumental grooves to carry the album -- he didn't have to when his songwriting was improving by leaps and bounds. The first side of the record contained all of the hit singles, and, unsurprisingly, they were the ones that contained the least amount of electronics. "1999" parties to the apocalypse with a P-Funk groove much tighter than anything George Clinton ever did, "Little Red Corvette" is pure pop, and "Delirious" takes rockabilly riffs into the computer age. After that opening salvo, all the rules go out the window -- "Let's Pretend We're Married" is a salacious extended lust letter, "Free" is an elegiac anthem, "All the Critics Love U in New York" is a vicious attack at hipsters, and "Lady Cab Driver," with its notorious bridge, is the culmination of all of his sexual fantasies. Sure, Prince stretches out a bit too much over the course of 1999, but the result is a stunning display of raw talent, not wallowing indulgence.

		1		1999	Prince	06:15
		2		Little Red Corvette	Prince	05:03
		3		Delirious	Prince	04:00
		4		Let's Pretend We're Married	Prince	07:21
		5		D.M.S.R.	Prince	08:17
		6		Automatic	Prince	09:28
		7		Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)	Prince	04:02
		8		Free	Prince	05:08
		9		Lady Cab Driver	Prince	08:19
		10		All the Critics Love U in New York	Prince	05:59
		11		International Lover	Prince	06:37

¡Aquí!

Giusti Funk Corp - 1997 - Barrio Funk

¡Aquí!

Otis, Shuggie

Guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis may not be a household name, but his "Strawberry Letter 23" is in the record collections of millions of households. The Brothers Johnson's cover of "Strawberry Letter 23" has sold over a million copies, peaking at number one R&B and number five pop on Billboard's charts in summer 1977. It was on their LP Right on Time, which went platinum, selling over a million copies, holding the number one R&B spot for three weeks and making it to number 13 pop in spring 1977. Otis wrote "Strawberry Letter 23" for his girlfriend, who used strawberry scented paper for her letters to him. Another Otis favorite, "Inspiration Information," received substantial airplay in Chicago and other markets, charting #56 R&B in early 1975.

Born Johnny Otis, Jr. on November 30, 1953, in Los Angeles, CA, Otis' formidable musical talents appeared at an early age. He began his professional career around 1965. He played a guitar solo on his bandleader, father Johnny Otis' 1969 number 29 R&B hit, "Country Girl," issued by Kent Records. His guitar skills were so adept that during his teen years, he would have to wear dark glasses and strategically apply black ink between his nose and mouth to appear old enough to perform in clubs with his father.

Signing with CBS Records, Otis began recording virtuoso guitar-laced R&B/West Coast blues sides. His first LP was Al Kooper Introduces Shuggie Otis on CBS. Johnny Otis produced 1970's Here Comes Shuggie Otis, which was issued on the CBS imprint, Epic Records. Otis' Freedom Flight was issued September 1971 and included the original version of "Strawberry Letter 23," the heart-tugging "Someone's Always Singing," "Ice Cold Daydream," and the bluesy "Me and My Woman," co-written by Otis and Gene Barge (known best for his association with Chess Records, Chuck Willis, and Natalie Cole).

His LP Inspiration Information was issued in October 1974, with Otis playing all of the instruments on jazzy and Latin-tinged R&B numbers. The LP was one of the first releases to showcase the electronic rhythm box then found usually on organs. Besides "Inspiration Information," the LP included the sly "Sparkle City," the sweet ballad "Outtamihead," and the lush, strings-laden "Island Letter," which was the B-side of "Inspiration Information."

George Johnson of the Brothers Johnson was dating one of Otis' cousins who gave Johnson a copy of Freedom Flight. Immediately, he liked "Ice Cold Daydream" and "Strawberry Letter 23." The latter song was played at his brother Louis Johnson's wedding during the wedding march. Louis suggested the song to their producer Quincy Jones for an album track. The track's complex guitar solo was played by Lee Ritenour. The Brothers Johnson version is quite close to Otis' original version.

Later on in the '90s, Otis played with his own band around northern California and toured extensively. His son, Lucky Otis, played bass with Johnny Otis' band. Shuggie Otis is featured in the book Alligator Records Presents West Coast Blues, issued in August 1998 by Milwaukee, WI, publisher Hal Leonard.

1974 - Inspiration Information

Otis, Shuggie - 1974 - Inspiration Information

Ignored upon its release in 1974 and celebrated upon its reissue in 2001, Shuggie Otis' fourth and last album Inspiration Information exists out of time -- a record that was of its time, but didn't belong of it; a record that was idiosyncratic but not necessarily visionary. It was psychedelic soul that was released far too late to be part of any zeitgeist and it was buried at the time. Yet no matter what Luaka Bop's grand poobah David Byrne claims on the sticker -- he says Shuggie's "trippy R&B jams are equal to Marvin's and Curtis', but somehow more contemporary sounding...closer to D'Angelo meets DJ Shadow" -- this isn't revolutionary. It can occasionally sound modern, such as on the rolling head trip "XL-30," but only because it's the kind of groove Shadow would sample and build on; the slow, liquid instrumental head trips sound the same way. Perhaps that's why it can seem more contemporary -- contemporary ears are more attuned to these relaxed, warmly trippy soundscapes. Otis crafted all of this essentially alone, playing each instrument himself, and it's quite clearly a reflection of his inner psyche, and no matter how much it floats and skates upon its own sound, it's a welcoming, inviting sound. But, no matter how much the partisans claim -- and their effusive praise is plastered all over the liner notes, with Sean O'Hagan claiming that it shocks you out of a rut, Stereolab's Tim Gane says it is "almost like a new style of music that could've developed but never did" -- this isn't revolutionary, even if it's delightfully idiosyncratic. So, don't fall for the hyperbole. This isn't an album that knocks your head off -- it's subtle, intricate music that's equal parts head music and elegant funk, a record that slowly works its way under your skin. Part of the reason it sounds so intriguing in 2001 is that there just aren't that many musicians that doggedly pursue their individual vision while retaining a sense of focus. But it isn't a record without precedent, nor is it startling. It's a record for people that have heard a lot of music, maybe too much, and are looking for a new musical romance. [Luaka Bop's reissue contains four fine bonus tracks, including the original version of "Strawberry Letter 23," which the Brothers Johnson later had a hit with. The reissue also replaces the original cover -- which is nowhere to be seen in the liner notes -- with a "hip," self-consciously retro cover. Also, it has put in the "World Psychedelic Classics" with Os Mutantes, which is slightly misleading and a little unsettling -- with that subheading, there's just a little too much self-conscious, scholarly distance at play.]

		1		Inspiration Information	Otis	4:12
		2		Island Letter	Otis	4:41
		3		Sparkle City	Otis	5:57
		4		Aht Uh Mi Hed	Otis	4:15
		5		Happy House	Otis	1:16
		6		Rainy Day	Otis	2:42
		7		XL-30	Otis	2:08
		8		Pling	Otis	4:28
		9		Not Available	Otis	2:30
		10		Strawberry Letter 23 [*]	Otis, Otis	3:58
		11		Sweet Thang [*]	Otis, Otis	4:02
		12		Ice Cold Daydream [*]	Otis	2:30
		13		Freedom Flight [*]	Otis	12:55

¡Aquí!