Get Off Your Ass and JAM with The Rolling ILX Funk Listening Club: New Selections Weekly! Updated Mondays and Fridays! All ILXors and Lurkers Welcome!

nah, too busy loving the yooouuutuuube vid thread.

lol you lazy you you you (tell me who a lazy arsenal player is quick)

hah, I just realised i have your email anyway

I'm surprised you went for a modern pick, but I dont think a 90s RHCP album will go down well.

Sir Winston Samuel A-Hoy-D'Voidoffunk's picks (as emailed to me, but with added amg reviews)

#1
Parliament - Motor Booty Affair
http://newmind666.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/parliament-motor-booty-affair1.jpg
AMG Review:

By this point Parliament was one of the most accomplished and intelligent bands in music. With albums like Mothership Connection and The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein,
George Clinton's druggy and patently eccentric humor often obscured the enviable musicianship throughout. Motor Booty Affair is no doubt another classic album
and the perfect follow-up to 1977's Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome. On Motor Booty Affair, Clinton decides to yuck it up more with a great underwater concept
and a few of his stronger alter egos, including the rhythmically challenged Sir Nose D' Void of Funk and his friend Rumpofsteelskin.
The deft and airy "Mr. Wiggles" has Clinton taking on the persona of Wiggles, the "DJ of the affair" as he says: "Mr. Wiggles here on roller skates
and a yo-yo/Acting a fool." The hypnotic "Rumpofsteelskin" has a great bassline and inventive and infectious background vocals. The closest thing to a ballad here
is the astrologically savvy "(You're a Fish and I'm A) Water Sign." The well-produced "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" with its handclaps
and high-pitched basslines basically set the standards for the sound of R&B in the coming decade. The sleeper of the album, "One of Those Funky Things,"
is filled with timbales, congas, and Bernie Worrell's great synth signatures. The last track, "Deep," has great, understated riffs from the Horny Horns.
Although many Parliament efforts can't be fully appreciated unless the whole catalogue is nearby, Motor Booty Affair
stands on its own merits and sustains the laugh throughout.

#2
James Brown - Hell
http://www.thefunkstore.com/CurrentCDs/StartUp/JamesBrown-Hell-CD-Cover.jpg

AMG Review:

Brown's early-'70s run of classic singles and good-to-great albums is still impressive. Hell was the double album released a year after the gold selling The Payback.
To some, the title might put this effort in the realm of kitsch, but in many ways Hell was one of Brown's strongest albums. The album was the pinnacle of his work
as the Minister of the Super New New Heavy Funk. From the tough and nimble Latin rhythms of "Coldblooded," and "Sayin' It and Doin' It" to the title track,
all are prime pre-disco Brown. "My Thang" is probably as hard and unrelenting as he got without spontaneously combusting. The biggest surprise of Hell is that
no matter how odd the song choices seemed, practically everything worked, excluding a few key songs of course. Both "When the Saints Go Marching In"
and "Stormy Monday" don't belong in James Brown's catalogue, let alone the same album. Ballad-wise, Brown fares better. "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You"
has him getting all warm and fuzzy as he inexplicably throws in an "I'm hurt, I'm hurt" for good measure. That song, as well as the weepers "A Man Has to Go to
the Cross Road Before He Finds Himself" and "Sometime," were produced by David Matthews who could always get good ragged yet poised vocals from Brown.
Although Brown did roll snake eyes on all of side three, he did leave Hell on a good note. "Papa Don't Take No Mess" is laid-back, funky jazz that's worth each of
its 13-plus minutes. Despite a few detours, Hell is worth listening to.

Spotify Link

#3
E.S.G.- Come Away With ESG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DA6F63mYW-Y/SmZqZqXbf_I/AAAAAAAAAYs/WGimKtVLeJA/s400/esg~~~~~~~~_comeawayw_101b.jpg

Dustygroove said

The only reall full length album that ESG ever cut back in the day -- and a great little set that's filled with tightly-snapping funk all the way through! The vibe here is one that strongly continues the groove laid down by the first ESG EP -- a hypnotic blend of simple basslines, vocal chants, and punchy percussion -- often produced with a bit of darkness in the mix, so that the music comes off sounding a lot colder than typical small combo funk! There's almost an arty post-punk sensibility to the music here -- a sound that got ESG an audience in places most other funk groups could never reach, and which still stands up tremendously over the years! Titles include "Moody (Spaced Out)", "The Beat", "Tiny Sticks", "Parking Lot Blues", "You Make No Sense", "My Love For You", "Chistelle", "Dance", "Come Away", and "It's Alright".

Spotify Link

Sam will tell us what Arsenal players they are when he gets home

Henry; Lehmann; that one season Wiltord was awesome, honest, I remember seeing it.

Naw, that was a dream.

off the cuff thoughts:

- Classic Parliament, was actually just listening to it yesterday in the car on the way to the park. Title track's bassline is probably my favorite moment, altho the whole album never lets up and is packed to the gills (sorry) with great bits. Wish I had the comic book that came with this originally. Inner photo of Clinton riding two dolphins in a cowboy suit with a boombox is such a great WTF image.
- Don't think I've ever listened to the entirety of Hell, altho I know some of the tunes (including Papa Don't Take No Mess, which is prime stuff). will listen. Think I've always been suspicious of this one because of the weird-o song selection
- Been aware of ESG for years (thx to back-in-the-day shoutouts from Luscious Jackson, lol) but never heard anything. this stuff used to be impossible to find. will dig in

I love the souljazz ESG comp, so I'm looking forward to that one. Definitely more of a Funkadelic fan than Parliament, but I do like Funkentelechy.

Funkentelechy is awesome. No doubt that will be picked by someone soon enough.

I'm weeks behind on these, but I'll chime in on the ESG -- excellent choice! I actually own that one already (in digital form, but still).

well you can comment on any of the albums at any time.

ESG album is awesome! Deserves to place in all essential album lists - there is NOTHING to find fault with about it. heard a bunch of the tracks before, and seen them live at least twice - so, so great and fun live with their daughters in tow.

Not yet heard the other two. Distracted by Ambient and HipHop club at the mo'

the ambient club has brilliant albums this week so I cant really blame you i suppose but you gotta play the Parliament.

Sam, got anything to say to tempt people reading this, to listen to your choices?

funk music is awesome and made by awesome musicians.

also you suck if you dont like these records.

The ESG is great and while a lot of it is on that souljazz comp, I actually preferred the brevity and focus of this. I'm struggling in some of these clubs to find anything worth saying about stuff like James Brown (he's pretty good?). Not that I'm saying people shouldn't pick major albums or anything, just explaining my own lack of commenting.

what ESG album is "Six Pack" off?

I think that was just a single? Though it's on souljazz's sequel comp A South Bronx Story 2.

Tannenbaum has traded me a friday bonus jazz pick for a funk one, so it will be interesting to see what he chooses, will find out in a few days! But please keep commenting on Sam's picks!

motor booty affair is for real og's only

James Brown never had an idea he didn't enjoy repeating ad nauseam

― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, April 27, 2010 3:40 PM (2 weeks ago)

Heh, was gonna answer "Yeah, howbout JB's Hell album, on which every single track is preceded by the sound of a gong?" And there it is! JB trying for a piece of the Kung Fu/Bruce Lee zeitgeist of '73-4, probably.

Haha, I need to check that out

It's a bit patchy, but you just know that everyone has different favourite tracks they wouldn't leave out to make a single cd.

listening now - lol this version of Cold Blooded is totally different from the original

also, who's the band on this...? I'm guessing that this is post-Maceo/Fred Wesley departure, the arrangements seem a little busier than what they would do. Drumming doesn't really sound like Jabo or Clyde either.

James Brown never had an idea he didn't enjoy repeating ad nauseam

speaking of which, jesus christ how many versions of Please Please Please did this guy record?!?

lol wait I think I was mixing up Coldblooded with Cold Sweat before

speaking of which, jesus christ how many versions of Please Please Please did this guy record?!?

about 3 million?

That's a lot of Pleases

i wonder if anyone got any royalties they were due from it

oh please

naw, just bullshittin.
Douglas is the right guy to ask JB q's to; I think he's the board expert.

It wasn't really a serious question..

who is in the band on Hell was a serious question!

hmm Wesley left in '75 so he's probably on this, not sure about Maceo or the drummers though

I dont own the cd so i cant check

in general I'd say the album's uneven - I'm partial to the trance-inducing epics so obviously my favorite here is Papa Don't Take No Mess, and there's plenty of other nice, muscular workouts on it but on the whole it's a little too busy. JB works best as a minimalist in a lot of ways, the showier the arrangements, the less interesting he becomes.

My James Brown jam is 'Lost Someone.' It's one of his rare moments of going into deep soul. I wish he had explored that kind of soul more.

Sorry pfunk to come late to this listening party, Thanks for making me listening to The Ohio Players again. I love the slow jam on that album. They still had moments of a soul vocal group on that album. By far my favorite of theirs. The Parliament and Funkadelic on this thread was fun listening to, but for me they start treading close to jamming land. I know that's my fault as a listening and not their fault. I love the Dr John Album! There needs to be more louisiana on this funk thread. Some Of the songs on that record remind me of Willie Tee.

Echoing a thanks for the Dr. John mention on this thread. I got 'Destively Bonaroo' because of this thread and wound up getting a bunch of other Dr. John albums as a result. So good! I was put off because it seems he has worked to become, like Wynton Marsalis, a conservative guardian of NO music and has been pilloried for it (whenever I hear him it reminds me of Patton Oswalt's crack about Dr. John wearing a hat made of meat!) But listening to his early stuff and knowing he had worked with Spiritualized made me think that getting these early albums would be worth it and they have.

I have a lot of funk stuff, but when I see you guys dropping obscure stuff like Mandrill, Chairmen of the Board, or letting me know that, yes, before they picked up one of his songs for that stupid Helen Hunt/Paul Reiser sitcom, Dr. John was funky -- all I have to say is thank you for this thread!

heh, that stuff isnt obscure, we went for established classics first! you wait until we go obscure on your funky butt!

everything Dr. John did between like 1968 and 1975 is pretty awesome btw

ESG is definitely my fave this week, I'm going to listen to it again now and try to come up with something interesting to say about it. The Parliament and JB are fine, but they just kind of sound like yet another Parliament or JB album (though admittedly WITH GONGS).

It's not the best Parliament album by any means I'd rank about 5 ahead of it, but it's still great, Parliament just set very high standards!

I'd rank about 5 ahead of it

?? really? that seems like a lot

I mean Mothership Connection is obviously THE Parliament album, but I'd put Chocolate City, Funkentelechy and Motorbooty Affair right behind it

Osmium, Mothership Collection,Funkentelechy vs the placebo syndrome,The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, Chocolate City.

In fact up for the down stroke I prefer too