Holy Money

The Bar-Kays released their first single "Soul Finger" in April 1967. That same year they were chosen by Otis Redding to play as his backing band. In December Otis and four of the Bar-Kays band members died in an airplane-crash. Trumpeter Ben Cauley, Bassist James Alexander and producer Allen Jones assembled a new lineup and became the Stax house band. The 1978 they released 'Money Talks', in fact an album of unreleased Stax material. 'Money Talks' is the essence of late 70's funk. The title track is the most mainstream cut, but that's just an aperitif for the rest of the album. Two superb versions of their top ten hit-single "Holy Ghost" with a sheer percussive joy held together with prototypical Stratocaster work. 'Money Talks' is for sure a 100% Soul-Funk classic!

The Holy Modal Rounders - Bird Song - Live 1971 (2004) {Water ‎water130}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 197 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 112 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2004 Holy Modal Rounders / Runt LLC. / Water | water130
Psychedelic Folk / Folk Rock / Anti Folk / Country Rock / Acid Folk

Calling the Holy Modal Rounders 'legendary' is an understatment. Peter Stampel, Steve Weber and company were the original 'acid folk rock' band. This 1971 previously unreleased live radio broadcast, captures these wild and wacky visionaries at their peak - including their 2 biggest 'hits' - If You Want to be a Bird (featured in the Easy Rider movie & soundtrack) and Boobs A Lot (not politically correct, but still very funny). There's also a song by former Rounder and legendary playwright Sam Shepard and a Johnny Otis tune thrown in for good measure as well. This expanded seven piece version of The Rounders cover rock, latin, swing and everything in between during this nearly hour long show - all through a good time, beatnik haze.

This aptly titled release from '80s art rockers and Talking Heads side project Tom Tom Club is indeed good, bad, and funky. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz have explored a stunning amount of musical styles within the confines of this album, with every song sounding like it was produced by a different group. The use of a variety of vocalists, including Weymouth, who at times sounds like a 16-year-old Japanese girl instead of her more mature self, as well as Mystic Bowie and Charles Pettigrew only seems to heighten the variety of sounds offered. The lyrics are simple, yet clever, and laid over a variety of sampled tracks, scratching, and other turntablism and live instrumentation. The resulting sound ranges from dub to dance-pop to spacy funk. The variety does allow for some unevenness, however, though duds like the repetitive and spare "Time to Bounce" are more than balanced by gems like "Happiness Can't Buy Money" and the instrumental cleverness of "Lesbians by the Lake," among others.

A typical description of Day Blindness involves references to the theoretically similar but inherently antithetical West Coast bands the Doors and Iron Butterfly, and it does in fact play something like a cross between those two groups, though with none of the musical nuance and aesthetic vision – and none of the existential considerations – of the former and with all the unrelenting bombast and sonic pretension of the latter…

The only career-spanning collection we've ever seen on The Bar-Kays – and a set that does a mighty nice job of hitting all the right bases! The group first rose to fame as a funk combo on Stax in the late 60s – then shifted a bit after part of the group was killed in the same plane crash that took the life of Otis Redding – a tragedy that soon saw the group rising from the ashes, and sounding even better than before! Their sound was a huge part of the Stax Records funk sound of the early 70s – and the group took that groove over to Mercury once the decade got going – where they found a very welcome home, and the perfect environment to perfect their ultra-sharp talents.