The funkiest tune ever...

[Maggot]

Blind Lemon reckons Spank-A-Lee off Flood (Herbie Hancock).
Me, I'm with a Meters tune that I can't remember the name of neither can Blind Lemon...he's playing it on his guitar right now....

Cissy Strut?

Look Ka Py Py?

 

[Batboy]

'Got To Get Your Own' - Rueben Wilson. Class

'Solid' - Michael Henderson. The funkiest bass driven instrumental of all time which no fucker has probably heard of...go check it out if you can.

shit loads of others... Jimmy McGriff/Ohio Players etc etc

Best stuff quite obviously from the 70's

 

[bristol_citizen]

"That's the law 'round here. You gotta wear your sunglasses."

Luv 'n' Haight - Sly and the Family Stone
Pusherman - Curtis Mayfield
P-Funk (Wants to get funked up) - Parliament

 

[Dr. Furface]

Singer/bassist Alan Gorrie, guitarists Hamish Stuart and Onnie McIntyre, tenor saxophonist Malcolm Duncan, keyboardist/saxophonist Roger Ball, and drummer Robbie McIntosh comprised the original Average White Band lineup. When exactly was Archie Kirkwood in the band? I dont remember that name to be honest.

It's news to me as well, but I googled it and found something that said Kirkwood and Onnie McIntyre were in a 60's blues band together called the Kingpins - so maybe that's where it came from. But I don't think Kirkwood was ever in AWB.

 

[Wolfie]

I don't know about "the funkiest tune ever" but I do have a soft spot for What is Hip by Tower of Power

 

[Jazzz]

"Only So Much Oil" by Tower of Power has got to be up there

 

[Jangla]

Hybrid featuring Peter Hook - True to Form
Tom Neville remix of Moloko - Cannot Contain This

 

[Yetman]

I'm A Good Man - Martin Solveig [Mousse T Remix]

Bette Davis - Yo mama wants you back

Prince - I feel for you

 

[Maggot]

And how can I forget Dexter Wansel's Life On Mars?

I'd never heard this tune (or even heard of Dexter Wansel) until Elmsy played it on Funky Friday last week. Tis well funky.

 

[Passdout]

"Only So Much Oil" by Tower of Power has got to be up there

Another great band on the trail of AWB. I like 'Diggin on James Brown' by them - its a bit corny but quite catchy.

The only thing I dont like about it is that it reminds me of 'Kiss' by Tom Jones.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

i find alot late 90s 2step garage is just kinda almost too funky, but let's not forget it was incredible music the vocals/programming were just brilliant but like you have to the be athlete to dance to it properly, but heh i'm an unfunky white bloke what do i know

 

[Bob]

It's news to me as well, but I googled it and found something that said Kirkwood and Onnie McIntyre were in a 60's blues band together called the Kingpins - so maybe that's where it came from. But I don't think Kirkwood was ever in AWB.

I found out a few years back (I've worked with him) but I can't remember how. Could well be that it all happened before the AWB actually recorded anything... anyway the point of my trivia was that it was amusing that somebody who looks so straight and is now a Lord was in the AWB.

BTW thanks to everyone for their recommendations - they're forming the basis of a fantastic funk collection to take on a long holiday for me.

Good idea for a thread.

 

[top_biller]

A mate of mine gave me a copy of a funk mix he'd done at the weekend and it had the most amazing track half-way through, which I now know is entitled:

"Another Day in the Life of Mr Jones" by the Limp Twins (Bamboo Shack Remix).

I don't know if it's famous or obscure but I'd never heard it before and it required an immediate telephone call to reveal its identity, so i'm sticking that one into the mixer.

 

[pk]

"Just Kissed My Baby" by the Meters

I put that down earlier as being by the Neville Bros.

Maybe that's the same tune Mrs Magpie is thinking of?

 

[tarannau]

I put that down earlier as being by the Neville Bros.

Maybe that's the same tune Mrs Magpie is thinking of?

The Neville Brothers were an offshoot from the Meters IIRC...

 

[Xanadu]

Anything by UB40


*runs*

 

[Jazzz]

I'm sure I've mentioned this before: when I was a nipper, I was convinced Zapp were actually singing 'Move Out To The Alps'.

At the time, it seemed entirely plausible to me that a couple of brothers from Ohio would be singing all about relocating to a European mountain range...

(I think there's only one 'Zapp'... = Roger Troutman)

 

[Dr. Furface]

The original Kool and the Gang were funk pioneers and this compilation cd contains all their early best stuff - recommended

 

[pk]

The Neville Brothers were an offshoot from the Meters IIRC...

I trust your recollection far better than my own.

 

[pk]

Depends on your definition of funk, which is what this quite exquisite thread is all about, and I have to take my hat off to the Jazzzmeister.

For me, "the funk" is that deeply disturbing and sexy honest sound that is defined when there is a succesful blend of the following:

1/ A Funky Drummer, really bitchin', whacking those snares and cymbals and drilling out the bass kicks in an almost perverted stop-start "on the one", whilst allowing ample silent pauses for the ...

2/ An Evil bassist, not only curving and slurring notes but alternating the timbre of each pluck in a way that only a true soul cat can.
There's no way you'll ever hear a computer take a bassline the way Lequient Jobe used to.
And the think that bassists the world over have to remember, above all, is that they are an important part of the rhythm section, just as important as the bass drum itself, because people can just feel the funk better that way, when there's a deep authoritative synergy between a drummer and a bassist you can throw all manner of shit down, especially if you have ....

3/ A Twisted Guitarist, specifically trained to pull off those obscure scales, that kink in the melody that can come from a comfortable set of tight riffs suddenly lurched toward a jazz-esque keychange, especially during a nice arpeggiation sequence, leave you gasping for the breath of life itself, just as the solo begins from our next ingredient ...

4/ The sax player. OK I'll settle for a bassoon if it's played with flair, and I guess if you have a tight enough yet subtle enough wind section it'll all blend the way you want, but assuming all the above is in place, a dirty-minded pipe blower will take the rhythm and melody away from the regimented funk-time frame, and into the casual sleazy fragments of subdued frustration that outlines all true funk, in an abstract way that on rare occasion can work in absolute chemistry and harmony and emphasis with ...

5/ The Vocalist, your story maker, your heart breaker, your butt shaker, because if he or she cannot convince you to drop everything you are doing and shake your arse right there and then, you'll have nothing with which to truly empathise.

All the rest is about ducking compression and microphone technique.

Funk is not confident, it is not masterful and swaggering, it is the nervous hand stroking the hair of a beautiful girl, with no guarantee of anything more, rather than the fucked-up fake ambivolence of Snoop Dogg and the like, with their "bitches and ho's", it's far more old-fashioned and respectful, and it will be around long after people tire of hearing evermore whiny rap songs about "duh shtreetsh".

Anyone can programme a fucking drum machine.

But the true 'funk' is a human thing, all the way live...


pk

 

[Andy the Don]

Another vote for The Stone Roses - Fools Gold.

The Jackson 5 - ABC

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Frankenstein - Edgar Winter

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Living for the City - Stevie Wonder

Love Hangover - Donna Summer?

 

[Signal 11]

Ride On - Parliament
The Booger Man - Frank Zappa & the Mothers

 

[knopf]

.... just realise I have 2 votes left, so: -

Another vote for "Flashlight" - Parliament, and the blindingly obvious, "Sex machine" - James Brown

 

[iROBOT]

"Just Kissed My Baby" The Meters (infact anything by the Meters).

"Stop The Rain" The Average White Band

"Your So Good to Me" Curtis Mayfield.

"Hotter then July" (the whole damn thing) Stevie Wonder

This list is endless.........................Respect to the funk.................

 

[DJ Squelch]

Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up (especially the last minute). Drop The Bomb is'nt bad either.

 

[Bob]

I extensively tested a lot of these tracks while on holiday in mountains and deserts. My favorites were:

Apache - Incredible Bongo Band
The meters - cissy strut
Winstons - Amen Brother
Fred Wesley & the JBs - Blow your head
The meters - just kissed my baby
The 45 King - the 900 number

I excluded any Sly & the family stone or Stevie Wonder because they're so good I'd take full albums. However if I was to add some I'd add Superstition, Higher Ground and 'If you want me to stay' by Sly.

Thanks to all the posters on this thread for giving me a funkier holiday.

 

[eeyore]

Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On - Edwin Starr

Rocksteady - Aretha

Rock Me Again and again and again and again and again - Lyn Collins