The Jukebox is taking a trip in another direction this week. This time its a huge helping of some classic Funk. From down home U.S. Motown to the impact that the sound had once it hit foreign shores.


[MP3] Spider Harrison -Beautiful Day
Hitting the middle ground between soul's vocal stylings and a heavy dose of funk instrumentality, Harrison and Co. find absolute magic. One of my favorite Funk/Soul tracks: it just beams with a laid back honest delivery that carries Harrison's ineffable personality through the speakers and into a room. Try not to enjoy this song.

[MP3] Michael Liggins & The Supersouls -Loaded To The Gills
British born Liggins found inspiration in the current wave of psychedelic music that was preeminent at the time. He translated some of the style and merged it with a dirty shuffling beat that is as raw as it is perfect. Liggins & the Supersouls pulled no punches and played funk straight from the gut; hard and loose with an ever-present ear on the rhythm.

[MP3] Moussa Doumbia -Keleya
Both Funk and Psychedelic music hit the African shores late but when they hit, they hit hard and meshed with an already brilliant musical culture. Lending African rhythms to a funky horn laden track complete with some James Brown grunts thrown in for good measure, Doumbia keeps a cool bubble under the surface and rips it apart with a tortured sax line. An excellent swirl of cultures.

[MP3] Soul Seven-Southside Funk
Huge stabs of R&B horns over a tumultuous hopper of an instrumental funk track. This is the kind of funk that made a name for the sound. Bass lines roll and thump and the guitars stab in sweet short jangles. This if funk for dancin', funk for Saturday nights, hell this is funk for life.

[MP3] Di Melo-A Vida Em Seus Metodos Diz Calma
Funk also hit the South American shore a little late but with equally impressive results. Rolling funk lines mixed with an already vibrant samba culture to create a hybrid of Samba Soul dance music that was as smooth it was danceable. The congas slide right in along the ride of the cymbal and move feet like it was strictly a matter of principle.

[MP3] Lil' Lavair & The Fabulous Jades-Cold Heat
Yet another of my favorites from the period. Lavair and the aptly named Fabulous Jades were an unstoppable torrent of rock farfisa and huge R&B horns. The entire show was tied down by Lavair's heavy vocals and guitar lines that could make a bluesman blush. Hell this is what funk was, is and always will be.