What can you say about Stevie Wonder – he became a celebrity at 12, has a string of top 10 hits, and has won more Grammies then any other artist. His voice is amazing, his grooves funky, and his abilities on a range of different instruments prodigious to say the least.
Check out this clip (poorly recorded, probably straight off the TV) of “Living in the City.” His vocals are incredible, as his the band and backing vocalists.
My first exposure to Kool and the Gang was “Celebration” – the ultimate wedding, bar mitzvah, party hit. If I remember correctly, I think I first heard the song when it was still getting airplay.
Years later, after college, one of my roommates turned me on to “Jungle Boogie” and I became a born-again Kool and the Gang junkie (also on the album I bought was “Open Sesame” with gongs and everything).
Dig the funky grooves, great clothes and guttural grunts.
I was deep into JB and P-funk when my roommate turned me on to Sly Stone – one of the most important pioneers of funk. I bought his albums “Fresh” and “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” and I was hooked. Many of the songs on these albums are open funk vamps that were probably extended indefinitely live – I am sure the band was incredible to see in person, especially as the night wore on. (There are one or two goofy songs on these albums as well – I can only blame them on the seventies – they were goofy times).
Larry Graham played bass with Sly for many years and is credited with inventing slap bass (the technique used in this video clip – I don’t know what Larry Graham looked like and I am not sure if he is the bassist featured here).
In spite of the seventies, wild clothes, and whatever else was going on – Sly’s voice sounds great (as do the backing vocals) and the band is extremely tight – early funk at its best.
“Disco Inferno” was a huge hit when I was in elementary school. It was the highest charting release by the Trammps and was featured in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (not that I knew this before doing a Google search – “Disco Inferno” was just always “one of those songs”).
Dig the video, so amazingly seventies – great clothes, happy people – everything, and they really do sound great – especially the killer lead vocals.
Am I the only person who thinks KC and the Sunshine band rocks? Listen to the grooves in this video – the bass lines are killer and the horn section is so tight. Also dig the great guitar sound. True, the backing vocals are lost in the mix and don’t have the same bang they have in the studio recording – but so what – the band grooves, and this is in spite of what they are wearing (what were people thinking in the 70’s?).
KC and the Sunshine band came out when I was in elementary school and for years I confused KC with magician Doug Henning – go figure.
What more is there to say about James Brown? He invented funk, rap and disco. He is the most sampled man in music. His grooves are incredible, universal, innovative and extremely funky. He is a great singer, awesome bandleader, amazing dancer, and toured more and for longer then any other musician ever.
This video was all over the internet when James died last year. It is mid-70’s JB – his band is extremely tight and his mustache is awesome. I once heard that he would fine band members for any hit or move they missed – that probably explains why his band is perfect (aside from being great musicians). Also dig the audience – James had to work to get them out of their seats – how could it be?
P-Funk, like all the great funk bands, started out as a doo-wop group. James Brown and the Temptations were also big doo-woppers, and I am sure Sly Stone could doo-wop if he had to. I don’t understand the connection.
Parliament (the “P” in P-Funk) morphed into the prototypical funkateers and Funkadelic (the “Funk”) emerged at some point as initially the more experimental, avant-garde side to the band releasing cool albums like Maggot Brain – including acoustic funk, Free Your Mind…, etc. (A lot of weird legal things happened throughout the early seventies – read this for the low down.)
By the seventies P-Funk (releasing albums both as Parliament and Funkadelic) were the preeminent funk hipsters (though my roommate in college insisted P-Funk was “disco” and wouldn’t listen to them – some people just don’t get it), boasting a line up of awesome funk-notables like Bootsy Collins*, Bernie Worrell, Maceo Parker, Eddie Hazel, the dude in the diaper, and obviously George Clinton.
NWA sampled P-Funk grooves (instead of James Brown like everyone else) and George Clinton produced Freaky Styley, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album. They still tour (now as the P-Funk All Stars), play three hour plus sets, and are amazing.
George’s outfit is unusually conservative in the video clip.
*The hype about Bootsy (I don’t know if this story is completely true) is that he played bass for James Brown, left James to be a roadie for Sly Stone (I believe Larry Graham – the inventor of slap bass – was in Sly’s band at the time), and then finally joined P-Funk (along with his brother on guitar).