Funk

I don’t know a darn thing about Jacqueline Jones, and I can’t find anything out on the Interweb. No biographical details, no other tunes. But what a voice! 

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When it comes to Filipino funk, you could write what I know on the back of a postage stamp. I didn’t know it existed, and I didn’t know it was called Pinoy Funk.

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Cymande – Dove

13th April 2023 · 1970s, 1972, Blues, Funk, Music, Soul

I don’t know if psychedelic drugs were involved in the making of this song but I would be highly surprised if they weren’t. Then again, just listening to it is a mind-bending trip.

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Randy Crawford joined The Crusaders to sing what became their biggest hit, Street Life in 1979. Or, as my old colleague used to call it, Street Light.

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This tune was released on Syd Nathan’s legendary King label in Cincinnatti four years after they put out James Brown’s landmark first hit Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag in 1965.

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Here’s another group I don’t know much about. The Du-Rites are a New York-based funk duo of drummer Jay ‘J-Zone’ Mumford (no relation, thankfully) and Pablo Martin who plays guitar and bass. 
 

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Here’s one of those songs I haven’t heard in years (decades?) but it comes right back to me the moment the needle touches the groove. I was never a fan of jazz-funk but you’d have to have a heart of stone, and feet of concrete, not to be moved physically and emotionally by the infectious groove, skittering bassline and blissful vocal of Southern Freeez.

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When I first heard The Allergies I assumed they must be some long-lost American band from the early seventies. In fact they are a white duo from Bristol.

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Hi-Tension – Hi-Tension

6th December 2022 · 1970s, 1978, Disco, Funk, Music

London collective Hi-Tension flew the flag for the disco offshoot of Brit-funk with their self-titled hit single. I have to confess the song – and entire genre – passed me by completely at the time.

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Japan – Adolescent Sex

8th November 2022 · 1970s, 1978, Funk, Glam, Music

As punk was mutating and evolving in 1978, a new band called Japan surfed in on the New Wave. I went to see them at the Music Machine, attracted mainly by their image.

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