BetaFunk

The Residents 'George & James' (American Composers Volume One) LP is good if you like your JB and Gershwin done a little differently. Here's a little James..... http://youtu.be/kINqjKyQ43c?list=PL465ABDD21A242D3C

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1418351229' post='2629518'] You're not supposed to chuckle. This is music. This is serious business. Having said that....[list=1] [*]"[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa%27s_Got_a_Brand_New_Bag"]Papa's Got a Brand New Bag[/url]" (sung in German)[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Reich_%27n_Roll#cite_note-papa-4"][size=2][4][/size][/url][/sup] [/list] [size=6][sup]How can you not chuckle at that?[/sup][/size] [/quote] Indeed! Long before the days we were all on t'internet i made a cassette copy of this and gave it to a musician friend who was a massive Jim Morrison/Doors fan. He hated it, couldn't see the funny side of it and i still don't think he's ever got over it to this day. Enjoy!!!! http://youtu.be/LBznPAirdzA

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1418350296' post='2629512'] Thank you ever so much for that insight. I did laugh when I read your comment about Eskimo as I had literally just been reading the comments on Amazon about that very album. I almost bought it immediately after having read them! I tend to avoid compilations unless there is material present that is unavailable elsewhere, because if I get into it I'll end up buying it again anyway. Third Reich N Roll it is then. Anyone want to suggest a second purchase [/quote] Don't get me wrong, Eskimo has it's moments ok but let's say it's not the best place to start. The Commercial Album is a good un but seems to be very expensive on Amazon. There are also a few Snakefinger LPs worth checking out too. I look forward to hear what you think about Third Reich N Roll. It makes me chuckle just thinking about that LP!!!

I got into them around 1977 after buying Third Reich & Roll. The two earlier albums Meet The Residents and Fingerprince soon followed and then every LP until the mid 90s. Third Reich & Roll is a must for early period Residents but all of those plus Not Available, Duck Stab/Buster & Glen interesting but i do prefer the early stuff best. Those Ralph LPs were difficult to find back then over here but worth the patience to track them down. 1980s Commercial Album is fun and one of the most accessible as is the Nibbles compilation which was released by Virgin in 1979. Other worth having compilations are Residue Of The Residents (1983) and Petting Zoo (2002) and probably best to avoid Eskimo for now. If it was down to one album then it would be Third Reich N Roll for me. Worth the price for Sunshine Of Your Love/Hey Jude/Sympathy For The Devils guitar and cheesy synth. Wonderful!!! I've played a lot of this recently (I still have the vinyl LPs) but it doesn't seem half a whacky as it sounded at the time so i'd be interested to hear what anyone just discovering this stuff thinks about it.

[quote name='RoRi' timestamp='1418298577' post='2628882'] @BetaFunk Exquisite choice, thanks! [/quote]

I've always thought that Vernon Reid's best work was outside of Living Colour. His playing when he was with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society was amazing and the Smash and Scatteration LP with Bill Frisell is a gem. His banjo playing is a bit special too.

[quote name='RoRi' timestamp='1418232325' post='2628274'] The singer sounds a bit like Bobby Byrd. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb73FC6I_0U[/url][/media] [/quote] It made me feel bad and to do this.............. http://youtu.be/i8IbvVTXOIo

[quote name='Bo0tsy' timestamp='1418202754' post='2627836'] So I finally got round to watching the BBC4 program. It was OK, but some strange omissions & odd choices. I know you can't fit everything into an hour, and the program correctly went for funk founders such as James Brown. Sly & George Clinton, but no mention whatsoever of the Meters, Rick James, Zapp, (early) The Isley Bros, or The Gap Band?. And then only very rudimentary mentions of other primary funk groups such as Ohio Players, Slave, Cameo or Bootsy? No real coverage either of '80's electro funk (so funk suddenly went from its 70's heyday to Tribe Called Quest's I Left My Wallet in El Segundo??? - what about Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock? or George Clinton's Atomic Dog?). The program also covered a bit of Acid Jazz, but no mention of that genre's roots in Jazz Funk (Roy Ayers, Donald Bryd, Blackbyrds, etc). Too much focus also on EW&F who, whilst having elements of funk, to me at least have a much smoother R&B, disco and pop sound (I would not say that they are a raw funk group). If you are going to classify EW&F as Funk then why not mention Chic? Anyway despite my rant, there was some good vintage footage, and I quite enjoyed the Genius of Funk footage (despite the errors in that too - don't get me started again! ) [/quote] The whole thing was either poorly researched or they just didn't understand what they were talking about. They seemed to think that Acid Jazz came from Funk when we all know it was from Jazz Funk which was a different genre altogether. That fact that they thought EW&F were a Funk band is just ignorance and they seemed to think that when Disco came Funk was finished which was not the case at all. AWB were again never a Funk band but they didn't seem to understand that just because a band is Funky it doesn't necessarily mean they are a Funk band. it was just a poor show all round.

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/205794-noah-and-the-whale-p-bass-in-new-kings-rd-guitars/page__p__2102519__hl__noah%20and%20the%20whale__fromsearch__1#entry2102519

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1418136183' post='2627202'] The BBC4 programme was ridiculous. It had some good footage but I've rarely witnessed such shoddy journalism on BBC4 - it basically started by stating that the only black music in the 60s was the 'vanilla pop' (??) of Motown so James Brown created funk all by himself when he wrote Cold Sweat. That was it all over and done in the first 5 mins. Then we went to Sly & the Family Stone. [/quote] ......and not forgetting that all time classic 'Picking Up The Pieces'...............

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1417985996' post='2625802'] The might end up paying Focus the royalties if they do. [/quote]

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1417984856' post='2625778'] Any other spottings I've missed? [/quote] Nothing spotted yet but i live in hope that the South West England Tourist Board will soon have an advert on TV with a nice song containing slightly rearranged lyrics along the lines of 'Stairway To Devon'.

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1417974255' post='2625649'] In fairness, I haven't heard the entire catalog, only tunes here and there and I simply didn't hear anything that made me want to investigate. It's funk, of course, but I wasn't hearing enough of a song or a hook in what I heard to turn me on to it. Recommend some and I'll check it out. [/quote] I won't recommend anything because like all music it's down to personal taste but if anyone thinks that funk is just a the few commercial snippets that was on the BBC documentary then look a little further and you may well be surprised. That's really how it was in the 60s and 70s when you bought or heard an LP which you liked then heard that another group were like that so you bought that LP and so on and so on. We discovered as we went back then. Now with the internet it's all so much easier but also easy to miss the occasional gem. I said i wouldn't recommend any Funk tracks as i can remember back to the 70s when i was into a lot of Jazz as well as Funk plus lots of other varied stuff (i saw The Clash, Earth Wind & Fire and Gil Scott Heron live one week) having to listen to something like Dark Side Of The Moon would have been like torture to me and would have had me climbing the walls within minutes. The same with ELO whose music was a joke to me (and everyone else i knew) back then (still is as it happens) and was bought by teenage girls, grannies and blokes who wore cardigans and leather string backed driving gloves and drove Triumph Spitfires and thought they were really cool. As the Floyd and ELO are favourites on here it just goes to show that it really is all down to personal taste and how far you want to search out music that you might like. Whatever the outcome the journey is always worthwhile.

This is a great podcast on ZappaCast (the Dukeycast!!!) about his time with Zappa's band. [url="http://zappacast.podomatic.com/entry/2013-10-07T06_51_47-07_00"]http://zappacast.pod...T06_51_47-07_00[/url]

....and more P-Funk that may surprise you [media]http://youtu.be/_Rq1kvZXrA4[/media] http://youtu.be/9XoHZ43zxgM?list=PLgQALxWfVkwe19rL7R1prQ9U2VRGmwDuo

This may not convert anyone to the Funk but it does show that P-Funk isn't always as many think it is.............. http://youtu.be/2i8xxJb3KKE [media]http://youtu.be/T50UmHwGeSI[/media]

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1417960920' post='2625439'] I did a couple of P funk gigs and strangely enough I didn't feel free at all as a bass player. [/quote] Do you mean you played in a George Clinton related band or collective or a band that played funk?

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1417962479' post='2625462'] FWIW, I'm a big funk lover but P-Funk does nothing for me. It feels particularly aimless. [/quote] There is so much variety on those P-Funk albums. Great tunes on Parlet and Brides Of Funkenstein to heavier funk on Parliament and those horns on the Fred Wesley LPs to the political lyrics and madness of the Funkadelic ones. I can't see how any funk fan could resist the guitars of Garry Shider, Michael Hampton & Eddie Hazel or the Hammond of Bernie Worrell, the great Junie Morrison (playing everything) and the beautiful vocals of Jessica Cleaves. There's something for every fan o funk somewhere in the P-Funk catalogue but if you don't get it then you don't get it. I expect that most peoples impression on P-Funk is the few hits that they've heard but there is a lot more to it than that.

As discussed on this very forum.......... http://basschat.co.uk/topic/250714-a-new-level-of-road-worn/

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1417905368' post='2625072'] sorry this is not the George Duke project. i thought you were talking about a certain album Geoff.. ha ha. whoops [/quote] No worries Andrew. It just sounded like an interesting gig.

When the fashion changes (as it undoubtably will) and everyone wants nice shiny guitars that have escaped the flame thrower there's going to be a lot of roadworn guitars and basses for sale all of a sudden.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1417685323' post='2622949'] I'm a recent convert to the roadworn look But I have to say, these guitars and basses are a bit OTT for my taste [/quote] But that isn't a 'roadworn' look. I've never seen a genuinely roadworn bass look like that. [quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1417685323' post='2622949'] Someone is buying these guitars so I suppose it's a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.....? [/quote] I can only imagine that people of a certain age are buying basses like that who are new to buying basses and probably don't know what genuine wear looks like. I really do hope that's the case because if they are older then surely they should know better.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1417901130' post='2625014'] yes i have Geoff. [/quote] What was it like Andrew?

Music of my youth. I used to see Rod around that time drinking in my local.

I'd watch every X-Factor if they had groups like that on.