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This is an undisputed gem of the diggers' variety. In terms of beginning-to-end quality, lead heavy soul, and delicious loops... this is firmly implanted on the upper echelon. It's definitely hard to think of a better overall record. If it were five...
expand review years ago, this is where I would bust into some thought-out mini-essay about the tracks, but I'll let the MP3 samples do the talking. The pressing is a tad bit noisy (nothing too bad), but it gives it that og pressing character (which of course are dumb raer). Highly recommended. -the mgmnt
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1971 funk joint with the centerpiece track "Funky Nassau" split into two parts: part one(1) is the vocal version with a break 1/4 in, and part two(2) is instrumental and begins with the break. "When She Made Me A Promise(3)" is the...
expand review other track of fame, sampled as an interlude for the Pete Rock produced TROY. The entire song kicks with an above the clouds, bottomless sound. The album as a whole is quite listenable, a good mix of funk and soul. Recently, I've been diggin the soul tracks "Sleep On Dream On" and "Pretty Girl." 9 tracks in all. -the mgmnt
quick audio picks: 1234
Long a heavyweight digger's dream, organist Doggett's rare instrumental collabo with James Brown gets its reissue dues. The highlight is certainly the opening track, a revamped and almost unrecognizable funk-up of Doggett's hit tune "Honky Tonk(1)." Besides its own ferocity, this track...
expand review also notches points as the sample source of the Beatnuts/Grand Puba burner "Are You Ready." The title track(2) kicks serious ass in its own right, with some guitar playing that defines gritty and an incredible break halfway through where the band stops cold while James tries to hold back the funk until it breaks through with a vengeance. Must be heard. OK, drumbreak heads, this one's for you: "Mad(3)" rips up ground with a nasty bassline and some flaming sax work. Rave-up versions of Edwin Starr's "Twenty Five Miles" and Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful" compliment Doggett's high tempo originals of which I like "Corner Pocket(4)" and "Make Your Move" and the mellow and perfectly named "After Lunch." Originally on the King label, this reissue places the record under the Polydor auspices, dig the hip cover art! -monk
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The apocalypse must be near, for just as the prophets foretold, the deepest depths of the digging world have come to light. Behold Bohannon, at his excruciatingly tough to find pinnacle, this Stop & Go album. This record has been a female...
expand review dog to track down since I was a wee baby digger, occasionally surfacing in scuffy circumstances that made appreciation of the exquisite quiet grooves impossible. Wise vinyl lovin' folks will jump on this semi-legit reissue that's a completely passable (and just as importantly), clean pressing of these tunes. "Save Our Souls(1)" is slow, sexy, and sampled. "Singing a Song For My Mother(2)" is the baaaadass tune here though, who's next when Ed's flexin? "Stop & Go(3)" is a Melting Pot-esque stomp with some freakout organ on top, and the rest of the album's full of open bass tones and drum hits for those with an inclination towards digital deviousness. Full color repro of the original cover and label, as is par for the course with these vinyl-only US repressings. -Monk
quick audio picks: 1234
When "Roots" gets on the turntable, it tends to stay there for a while. This has been a Lab longplayer since day one. An uplifting experience for those days when the work doesnt end. Epic soul with an emphasis on epic. Dont...
expand review get misdirected, this is some positive mellow material. The kind everyone needs, even the hard rocks. You cant deny the beautiful combination of "Now Youre Gone(1)" and "Love to Keep You in Mind(2)." the convincing voice on "Keep on Keeping On(3)" and "We Got to Have Peace(4)." Curtis has a message for the people that works as a quiet compliment to something like Marvin Gaye's equally powerful "What's Going On." Combine these feelings with Curtis skillfull orchestration and you have this beautiful, balanced album. Glossy gatefold with full lyrics inside. -the mgmnt
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An underappreciated LP from the Curtom deluge of the early 70s, Sweet Exorcist features some of post-Impressions Curtis' earliest solo compositions. More of a headphone listen than anything, this one features stripped-down funk and sweet soul, including gems like the recently repopularized...
expand review title cut(1), the feel-good "Power To The People(2)," "Kung Fu(3)" (later covered by the Dirtbombs), "Ain't Got Time(4)" and the melancholy "Suffer(5)." Comes in a full color reproduction sleeve. 7 tracks total. -Larri Byrd
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First of all can I just say that this is a 100 d$$lar record, so everyone sit the fuck down. I'm actually surprised this wasn't reissued before, in the wake of the whole "black rock" flavor of the week shit that was...
expand review happening a couple years ago. What a dope ass album though. Demon Fuzz sounds like a combination of Fela, Cymande and Parliament. From the first notes of "Past Present and Future(1)", you already know you came up on something serious. It's like a straight Black Sabbath riff going into some little two note build ups, with shuffly funk drums underneath and these huge majestic horns breathing in and out. By the time they devastate a 7 minute jam session and it crashes down in a resolution that would make Africa 70 jealous, people are straight floored. Nothing sounds like this. And even though that's far and away the best song on here, the rest is more than eminently listenable. The songs are real complex and methodical, lots of little starts, stops, breaks and crescendos- check "Mercy(2)" and the second movement of "Another Country(3)". Shit is definitely drugs, look at that cover. More than a little disturbing. Fuckin tribal gimps and shit. The music is so dope it makes me forget it's a bunch of British dudes and the guy is kind of a fey ass singer ("Disillusioned Man(4)") and the song titles are beyond gay like "Hymn to Mother Earth" wow we're so spritiual and relevant right now, maaaan let's leave a trail of bread crumbs to the Nigerian embassy and drink San Pedro cactus juice. Really fuckin good roof music. -Bob Bannister
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Cadet is quickly becoming one of my favorite labels. Something about their recordings have an unscripted funkiness to them. This is the prime example as producer Richard Evans (of Soulful Strings fame) and Harpist Dorothy Ashby team up to create a funky...
expand review harp album? And with all those NY producers sampling harps and strings, this record has achieved that on the record store wall ooooh that's that harp shit fame (and easily goes for $100-200). Once "Come Live with Me(1)" was featured on the Dusty Fingers, the secret truly was out. That wicked drum and bassline intro took heads in, then snapped it with the unfamiliar harp floating over the beats. The other big tune here is the drum heavy Soul Vibrations(2) with the eerie "Dunwich Horror" synthesizer thrown in for a haunting effect. Listen here as Dorothy solos like you never knew a harp could. The rest of the album is more in the bossa-nova style, but as witnessed this is one of those infinite sample records. A legit quality repress with gloss cover. -the mgmnt
quick audio picks: 1234
One of the most hyped records in diggin. Some call it one of the Holy Grails of the diggin scene... there's a Staple T-Shirt dedicated to it... in our Record Check someone says "maybe the greatest record ever made," ... it fetches...
expand review mad loot at shows. But then there are some who question its exalted status. At the Lab, we're split. Pete thinks it's all that, but Jasper thinks it's overrated. However we do agree that the instrumentation on this record is undoubtedly some of the baddest grooves ever pressed on wax. Complex movements with the hard drumming of Alphonse Mouzon. Sampled to fame by Tribe for their Low End Theory interludes (1), Beastie Boys' "Get It Together,(2)" Pete Rock's first album and Babu's Comprehension, this album presents buckets of sample-able moments. The vocals is where it gets sticky. McDaniels' religious vocals are not what you'd call traditional good singing. He sounds like a drunk cocktail lounge singer /chump choir singer/armageddon folk singer. But somehow over the funky arrangements his vocals are bizarrely engaging. On some tracks it gels perfectly like the RAMP-like "Jagger the Dagger,(1)" but on others it creates a strange clash like the catchy "See What's Happening..." during "Headless Heroes.(2)" This is where you go left or right. Whatever you think, this album is definitely intriguing and it tests the foundations and legitimacy of this whole diggin scene (quality vs. rare quality). This record has been the subject of multiple late nite conversations here at the Lab. -the mgmnt
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Have you listened to the full version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised(1)"? If your answer is no, don't front: buy this 9 dollar slice of rugged soul. 9 dollars for a piece of raw angst that will get you hyped...
expand review and wanting to bust some man named Spiro Agnew. "The Revolution" is Gil's poetic classic with a heavy funk backing by Pretty Purdie and the Playboys (on the entire LP). This album is probably Gil Scott's strongest work on the Flying Dutchman label, and for me ranks closely behind his Strata East classic "Winter in America." Although "Revolution" features Pretty Purdie at his funk best, most of the album has a more of a soul feeling to it. But let it breathe, and youll understand this record's true depth. "Pieces of a Man" is one of his most powerful and recognized works: "I saw the thunder and the lightning and felt the burden of his shame." Lead material. (Sampled nicely by KMD). The rest is up for the listener to discover and judge whether it hits in the gut or your personal wall. -the mgmnt
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Originally released in 1974 on the Flying Dutchman label, this LP compiles Gil-Scott's best and most popular work from his crucial 1970-1974 Flying Dutchman period, released shortly after he left the label to record first with Strata East, then major label Arista....
expand review Although this is a compilation, it has the integrity and continuity of an LP drawing his most musical and moving works. Features Revolution Will Not Be Televised(1), Lady Day and John Coltrane(2), Sex Education: Ghetto Style(3), Pieces of a Man, Home is Where the Hatred Is(4), Brother, The Get Out of the Ghetto Blues(5), No Knock, Save the Children, White on the Moon, Did You Hear What They Said?. Musicians include: Brian Jackson, Ron Carter, Benard Purdie, and Hubert Laws. Gloss gatefold cover. -the mgmnt
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This album is about living. Gil Scott's true masterpiece of soul, poetry and politics. It goes way beyond just some hip rare record. It's timeless' meant to be taken in. I've bought 4 copies over the years giving them to close friends...
expand review hoping that they would find something in it. Although the entire album carries weight, side 2 is the one that really breaks the bridge. It starts with Gil Scott's biggest hit, the paradoxical dance hit about the fall of a man to alcoholism, "The Bottle(1)." The combination of "Song for Bobby Smith" and "Your Daddy Loves You(2)" is sweet soul defined. Take a break from your ninja turtle shell to get down to this. "H20 Gate Blues(3)" brings dynamicism to the side as a spark-lighting, spoken word piece. Less serious than "Revolution Will Not be Televise" but more subtly effective. Hyper than teen spirit. "Peace Go With You, Brother" brings us back down to the ground with the weight of Gil-Scott's voice serving like a warning. Discover the a-side for yourself. Starts off with the full version of the song that closes the album, "Peace Go With You, Brother." The original Strata East copies are drying up, so this quality reissue comes just at the right time. Gatefold identical to original. -the mgmnt
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Harlem River Drive, although brief in its existence (this is their only LP), was an important part of musical development led by the guidance of Eddie Palmieri. This record is generally known as the first prominent musical fusion of black and latin...
expand review musicians and art. Eddie enlisted an all star lineup of local New York Latin musicians with prominent jazz musicians (including Bernard Purdie). The album gained fame through the dancefloors with tracks like the monster "Idle Hands(1)" and "Seeds of Life." The title cut(2), "If," and "Broken Home(3)" have more of a soul tint to them and truly bring out the gut of the project. Very rare in the original (usually goes for over $100), this album has also been accused the familiar "over-hyped" tag, but in my opinion, it's the way you listen to it. Although Purdie and the rhythm section shine on the dance tracks, the album functions more as an excellent study of styles with the quality found in the blend and the message. Yada, yada. Feel it. -the mgmnt
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By now everybody knows the famous "God Make Me Funky (1)" break on this record, but in fact the whole album is incredible. These are more or less the same musicians that played on Herbie Hancock's best selling "Headhunters" album and they...
expand review bring that same feel here, but with a less-produced, raw sound. Without the control of Herbie, the Headhunters unleash a much funkier sound and get busy with a lot of instrument experimentation (one of the percussionists plays about 20 different instruments on here).This experimentation is held down by the incredibly consistant and funky drumming of brother white man Mike Clark. Weather you like to relax with your lady friend, get down on the dancefloor or just sit around and meditate on the moods of apartment life, you will find something to speak to your funky soul on "Survival of the Fittest".Other moments of pleasure include the killer bassline of "Daffy's Dance" and just the general funkiness of "If You Got, You'll Get It." -the mgmnt
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