g****h called me today and told me to get to cheapo with the haste, as they had a bunch of new hiphop 12"s in really good shape. he was right; i passed over some utfo and mantronix 12"s, biz's 'goin' off', and other gems that i had to put back. here's what i escaped with:

1. jonzun crew - pack jam - the tommy boy 12" sports a vocal on one side and an instrumental on the other. it's one of those classic electro jams that i've just never owned. now i can rectify that. yes, it was capitalizing on the pac man fever that swept the nation in the early 80s. good stuff.

2. johnny hammond - higher ground - kudu 16, this is the one with big sur suite. but that's not all; the version of 'higher ground' is very funky and 'summertime/the ghetto' starts w/ drums. dre introduced my ears to the bassline of 'big sur suite', and it looks likes a lot of other folks have too. good record. i remember copping an mp3 of that sample off xombi's page, back in the day, too.

i went out today to pick up what i missed last time. here they are:

1. country funk - s/t - what's not to like about this name? put out by polydor in 1971, my copy is stamped "demonstration not for sale", so i guess that's a promo copy. the record has a regular red polydor label, not white. enough about the jacket, standout tracks are 'poor boy' which grooves throughout, and 'when i'm without you', with a nice and long drum + bass workout. i also like the intro to 'another miss', till the dist. guitars kick in, and after that is standard 60s pop. this album is more country than funk, but its still funky in parts of it. oddly enough, some of the guitar work on 'not this time' and 'want' recalled for me the meat puppets. the only personnel listed on this are verne johnson on 'percussion, vocals sept. 1968 to march 1969; january 1970 to' and joe pfeifer on 'percussion, vocals march 1969 to january 1970'. i'm sure there's a vh1 country special about this somewhere.

2. bobbi humphrey - bobbi humphrey's best - she was a jazz flutist for blue note during the mid 70s when the mizell bros were arranging things, so this has some classic tracks, like 'chicago, damn', 'harlem river drive', and 'san francisco lights', and even a funky 'satin doll'. no 'jasper county man', but what can you do? excellent material that producers are still biting out there. now, if you didn't know her name, this looks like some disco/electrosoul type ish, with the soft focus closeup of the artists face on the cover. if you had read her interview in wax poetics #15, you'd know better.

3. atlantic rhythm and blues - v. 6 1966-1969 - my mom used to have this tape in the car (with the tape artwork obviously ripped from the 8-track, remember when tapes used to be like that?) and so this is nothing but excellent tunes for me. wicked wilson pickett's 'land of a thousand dances', otis and carla's 'tramp', booker t's 'hip hug-her', bar-kays 'soul finger' (which i heard at soul-le-lujah on saturday, nice!), the drells 'tighten up', and brook benton's 'a rainy night in georgia'. classic soul. this is prerequisite material, folks!

update: well damn, o-dub beat me on the 'country funk' record by almost two years. thanks for the hint from gareth.

it was so nice outside today, i went and bought some records! here's the haul:

1 - disco circus - no, not the martin circus lp (if there is one). this is on lollipop records and has a bunch of european names on it. keith fosey is drumming on this. i picked it bc it had 'inna gaada da vida', 'soul sister', 'get up and dance', and 'the mexican' on the tracklisting. the iron butterfly track is too fast for my taste (140bpm, there are a few perc bboy breaks in there), as is the next track 'dig it'. 'soul sister' is a good track though, clocking in around 115bpm. second side starts w/ 'over and over' which opens up almost exactly like that old edit of 'i feel love'. its soon clear that its original disco and ok. 'get up and dance' is a moog-led jam thats alright. a couple of times, it breaks down with eight bars of flute followed by a nice synth lead. finally, 'the mexican' stays pretty true to the babe ruth version (staying at that tempo, too), with a synth lead instead of guitar. its pretty funky in places, actually, esp. the break. did i mention this is a promo copy?

2 - herbie mann - push push - yes, the sexiest herbie mann cover of all. the cast includes duane allman, cornell dupree, david spinoza, chuck rainey, bernard purdie, ralph mcdonald, duck dunn, al jackson jr, and richard tee. these are funky flute-driven jams, just like you'd expect. 'push push' is just a jam, while 'what's going on' mellows out w/ tee's organ swells adding color. 'spirit in the dark', an aretha franklin tune, has a great half-time groove. the flipside starts w/ a beautiful intro of flute + piano, a mann original. the album is good, you should buy it, enough said. this is a promo copy from embryo because i rock it like that.

3 - kaygees - find a friend - i think ive mentioned this before, but i'm trying to get every track that was featured on ub&b. so it was excellent that i found a copy of this album. the cut i'm after is 'i believe in music'. ronald bell from kool and the gang wrote or co-wrote nearly every track on this album, which was recorded in de-lite studios and released on gang records. some of this is pedestrian disco, but the aforementioned track is incredibly fresh. the rest is downhill from there. 'together' is decent enough. there's a not particularly great break in 'inspiration', 'mr. nothing' has a long hihat-only section, and there's an ok drum break in 's.t.p.' (as well as a marimba break!). this album shows a heavy kool and the gang influence, so be prepared for that if you're not a fan. surprise, this was a 'dj-only' copy!

4 - gary burton - good vibes - from 1970, the berklee president comes through w/ eric gale, richard tee, steve swallow, chuck rainey, and bernard purdie to put it down. vibrafinger has a distorted vibe thing, similar to stark reality in tone if not in composition. it's got a couple parts where everyone lays out and the drums and bass groove together. 'las vegas tango' is a chilled, smoky version of a gil evans tune, and the source for cypress hill's 'illusions'. the track is dope. 'boston marathon' is a cute little shuffle that turns into a funk getdown. pain in my heart is a gospelly track. 'leroy the magician' starts w/ a quick break before getting down to the nitty gritty. finally, we close out with a cover of 'i've never loved a man (the way i love you)' that's pretty good, with the guitar taking the lead for most of the song. i definitely slept on this album for too long.

5 - ramsey lewis - maiden voyage - i'm a big ramsey lewis fan, even if that makes me a lil' dude. funky serenity, sun goddess, these are timeless albums. so why didn't i have this one? 'maiden voyage' is good and 'mighty quinn' has some drums. his take on 'lady madonna' is not that stellar, even if he's playing either a harpsichord or a harpsisynth. and then the next track comes on and i'm shopping. trust me on this. 'ode' is better. 'les fleur' starts the second side, and it's a nice, slightly darker tune that a bunch of people have used. the rest of the album is a couple of funky piano tracks, 'afro-boogaloo twist' being especially effective, meditative jazz, and 'eternal journey', a latin-sounding track that charles stepney drapes crazy strings onto. it's got a nice bass intro, too. this album isn't as good as his aforementioned classics after a first listen, but its still good stuff.

6 - va - cadet-cadet/concept sampler january 1969 - here's something interesting, featuring ray bryant, the dells, lou donaldson, yusef lateef, ramsey lewis, jack mcduff, and soulful strings, woody herman, and howlin' wolf. lou opens things up w/ a standard jazz track. the yusef lateef track is from a live date, entitled 'let every soul say amen', and is drony and unresolved. brother jack opens things up w/ 'black is', with some heavy bohannon-esque drums underneath the horns and organ. ray bryant does a very (at first) somber 'little green apples' that eventually starts to groove. woody herman tells us to 'hush', a cover of the pop tune by that name (i think, it's definitely a cover). soul strings plays 'listen here', with a nice intro that stays in the pocket. ramsey lewis plays 'medley of three tunes' and its wild electronic intro into a souljazz track that fades into more electronic sounds that serves as an 'intro' of sorts to a version of mother natures son that becomes theramin sounds that introduce his version of cry baby cry what the hell is this? i am confused. the dells provide 'hallelujah baby' and 'agatha van thurgood', a pair of standard vocal soul tracks with big sweeping string sections. howlin wolf gives us open drum intros and hellafried soul on 'spoonful' and 'red rooster'. this must have been a distributor-only thing, as the track listing (found only on the label) only has the catalog numbers for the lps. this pressing is loud as fuck, too.

7 - bodacious df - bodacious df - this is pretty much rock with a drummer who listened to tower of power occasionally. its really not that good, i'm telling you. but the track good folks does have a nice long break, and the entire song grooves, _and_ theres drums later on, too. this song is pretty hot, i'm telling you. 'roberta' could almost work. 'twixt two worlds' has a nice funky part near the end. i'm not sure why i picked this up, other than the wierd name, but 'good folks' made it worth it. should i know who marty balin is? he's the lead singer here.

i got some records today. they are:

1. bette midler - the divine miss m - clean copy, only paid a dollar for it too. why the fuck would i touch this? daytime hustler, that's why. you can walk out of any thrift store in america with a copy of this, too. much cheaper than the almost identical break from dennis coffey. the whole song isn't bad, and 'do you want to dance?' is alright. this version of 'leader of the pack' is ok, as well, with a slower intro before they start accelerating and things get a little crazy. i listen to all the records i get all the way through at least once, even this one, as much of a headache as it can be.

2. le pamplemousse - le spank 12" - a water-damaged jacket made this mine for $2. now i've got doubles of 'monkey see, monkey see', one of my favorite tracks to use the echo with. 'le spank' is good, more on a disco tip, but the b-side wins in my opinion. seriously dope jam here.

3. boz scaggs - silk degrees - putting this on, i think to myself 'why did i get this again?' just b/c soulstrut has a graemlin with this doesn't make it good; after all, leo sayer's got one too. (for the record, i don't think i bought this b/c of said graemlin.) i'm thinking i got fooled into buying this. bad bar rock. there's about half a bar of drums on the intro to 'what do you want the girl to do', and the intro as a whle sounds choppable. still a garbage song though. 'harbor lights' has an ok intro with some electric piano and then quickly goes downhill. side b starts much better though. 'lowdown' is a track i have heard before, with a nice drum intro, reminiscent of sly's 'a family affair' if i'm not mistaken. the-breaks says some people have used this, maybe that's where i've heard it. i'm not expecting anything else on this album, but 'love me tomorrow' kinda grooves. 'lido shuffle' has a gary-glitter-esque intro that you probably couldn't do anything with. and 'we're all alone' is a slow ballad! this album is so common, its not funny. cheap, its probably ok to get.

4. cold blood - lydia pense & cold blood - i've got sisyphus and cold blood and i thoroughly enjoy both of these, so when i saw this for cheap, i picked it up. it's 1976, but they're still playing that uptempo funk that gets folks spinning on their heads. the production is cleaner than before, an artifact of the times, no doubt. 'i get off on you' has a wicked intro with some synth action before a very disco chorus. has anyone used this? 'drink the wine' is a nice track that starts out quiet and then steps it up (and down). 'i got happiness' starts very cheesily and slowly improves from there. 'feel the fire' starts very nicely, with some quick funk drums + bass in the intro. this one stays up the whole track, a real stormer. side b starts with some midtempo funk w/ some disco hihats. i've definitely heard the intro to 'back here again' before, w/ it's drums + horn hits. 'i love you more than you'll ever know' is a slow ballad. premo used this? 'blinded by love' is good funky music. the last track doesn' do much for me.

5. chuck brown & the soul searchers - bustin loose 12" - you know this classic track. i've got it on 45, and this is the first time i've seen it on a 12". excellent track from a gogo don. gimme the bridge now! and it's got breaks on both sides, as opposed to the 45 i've got, which starts the b-side w/ the break.

6. mutabaruka - check it! - this cat did some unique tracks, almost like a ragga hiphop delivery over dub tracks. very cool stuff. this pressing is on alligator, so it's probably a reissue, but i'm fine with that. earl 'chinna' smith produced this w/ mutabaruka at tuff gong studios in kingston, and it features players such as augustus pablo and carlton barrett. if you're not familiar with this guy, you should definitely check him out.

today, i went up to in your ear records to see what they had. i walked out empty-handed b/c i left my wallet at home to avoid any impulse buying. when i returned, here's what i grabbed:

1. procol harum - procol harum - yes, the one with a whiter shade of pale. as banging as that choon is, there's drum intros to repent walpurgis and she wandered through the garden fence. a good cop if you can get it cheap. this is the deram pressing, too.

2. babe ruth - kids stuff - my quest to obtain everything from the ub&b series takes another step forward as i land keep your distance. i'm really feeling the slide guitar on the intro to this, too. not much else good on this album.

3. steam - steam - i think i heard about this from bam's beat list in the book of rap lists. otherwise i wouldn't have fucked w/ this, sporting six white guys in towels in a sauna. but bam likes it, so i'll get it. and as it turns out, this is not that bad an album. not only is there a break in na na hey hey kiss him goodbye, there's also a drum intro on the next track as well as a really nice drum+bass duo on new breed, now generation. thanks bam, this was a good cop!

4. madlib - blunted in the bomb shelter (unmixed) - 16 complete tracks from that nice mix he did a few years ago, including theme from shaft by the chosen few and cocaine by sly & the revolutionaries. this pressing sounds a bit messed up though on some of the tracks, but they're all loud.

5. my best find - black uhuru - the dub factor - i've enjoyed this shit on cd for a long time and so it's cool to be able to actually play it through my system. this is just classic, classic dub stuff from sly & robbie. incredible stuff. if you don't know this, you need to find out. og mango pressing, too!