Back in the late 80s I had the pleasure of working with some vocalists from the Akron area who were putting together some demos. They went by the name Overnight Male and consisted of vocalist Loren Qualls and vocalist, bassist Chuck Moorer. I played guitar on one of their tracks (I’ve Been Watchin’ You) and in the process was able to get a hold of some of the other cuts they’d recorded. I don’t know who’s on the rest of the instrumentation but they’re smokin’. Which might explain why I’d held on to these tracks on cassette all these years. Well I finally digitized them and they’re only slightly worse for the wear.
I never heard these cuts on the radio and lost touch with the fellas (if you’re out there holla’ at your boy!). They’re worth hearing, A prime example of mid-80s funk served up Northeast Ohio style. Reminds me a bit of Cameo with some exceptional keyboard and bass work. Wish I knew what happened to these cats. They may have been too funky to make a buck1
1 Too funky to make a buck: An individual or group so talented or original that the corporate suits have trouble putting them in a convenient niche. When given an opportunity the audience many times hasn’t the proper funkentelechy to appreciate what they’re listening to.
I did a breakdown of Ernie Isley’s guitar rig a while back. I didn’t realize how spartan it was until I started looking at the list of gear used by Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Here’s a list of effects and such that he uses to get all those strange and unique sounds he’s known for. I scraped this off the web a while back and I have the feeling that his rig might change quite a bit as new stuff hits the market:
Psst. Come here I got a secret to tell you. No, lean in a little closer. I don’t want this to get out . . .
I don’t really know how to play the blues.
There, I said it. And it’s a huge load off my mind. For a experienced, black guitar player to claim proficiency on his instrument and not know the blues is somewhat embarrassing.
If you’ve visited the site recently you’ve noticed a “glitch”. Funky Parts had been redirected to a blank page with a .ru domain. I got hacked. The bad guys got me. Don’t know what they got out of it maybe it was just for kicks.
It’s been about a week but I’m back up and running. There are still some issues but I’ll be fixing things as I go. Hang with me.
Q. What do you call 20 record company executives at the bottom of the ocean? A. A good start.
Can there be any doubt that the music industry is one of the slimiest rackets on Earth eclipsed only by the boxing game, Vegas casinos and legalized prostitution? If you’re suffering under any delusions to the contrary this story may start to clear that up.
The website Funkprobosci tells the story of how George Clinton was robbed of the rights to his most iconic music and his fight to regain control. And how, in the meantime, his name was dragged through the mud as the robber used his pilfered product to suck the life out of Hip Hop, suing artists over samples he had no rights to.
The term “genius” tends to get thrown around a lot. Usually by marketing reps in promoting their latest, corporate manufactured “Idol”. It’s very rare that the term is actually appropriate, so when I call Prince a genius I don’t say it lightly. I only use it for an individual who is way more talented than his peers and who leaves his/her industry visibly different than when they first arrived. I won’t go into detail about his career, you can get that here. These bullet points should give you the right idea.
The past year has not been kind to funk fans. A number of the greats have moved on. It saddens me to inform you of the death of Mark Adams, legendary bass player with the group Slave. It’s been reported that he passed away on March 5, 2011 though no official details of how he died can be found. There are some rumors though. Adams was one of the pioneers of funk bass as covered earlier on this site under Top Ten Funk Bassists of All Time. For more about Slave, see our other article on the group.
For some reason I thought that creating top ten list of funk guitarists would be easier than the one I did for bassists. Turns out that there were way more guitarists worthy of praise than had earlier sprang to mind. This list is heavy on the lead players and not much focused on rhythm players. Feel free to call me out on anyone you feel was overlooked. Let’s try this one in order of importance from number one.
If you’ve followed the funk for any amount of time you’re familiar with the classic Earth, Wind, and Fire album That’s the Way of the World. What you may not be familiar with or may have forgotten is that the album was the soundtrack to a movie of the same name. It turns out that when the film was released in 1975 the response was so disappointing that the movie studio pulled the film out of circulation after just 3 days. It remained in limbo for over 30 years before being released to DVD in 2006.
To be honest the film is not an example of great cinema. It’s produced by Sig Shore (who also brought us the film Superfly), and is of similar standards to the typical “blaxploitation” films of the day. That said, it presents a bleak picture of the record industry and their shenanigans promoting sugar coated “product” over “art”. That may seem a bit old hat in 2011 but in 1975, when this movie was filmed, recording artists were just starting to gain some bits of control over their careers and recordings. The sad part, of course, is that the record companies are still trying to pull the same tricks. Read the rest of this entry »
I got a message in my email with a link to this video and these words:
“Funk upon a time (in the chocolate Milky Way)” is a short film based on the concept of “Mothership Connection” created by George Clinton and his P-funk band Parliament_Directed by Baptiste Jaquemet aka Baba 3000
I don’t know anything about the artist except what’s on his website.
