Funky female soul galore – a killer set of rare tunes that's one of the best sets of this type we've ever stocked! The SuperFunk crew at BGP have gone through the rich array of labels handled by the company – pulling out some massive tunes that really push our understanding of female soul – taking things way past the obvious hits and girl group numbers, into hard and heavy-stepping territory that we really love!
In 1978, Herbie Mann came out with two very different LPs. The more improvisatory Brazil: Once Again fulfilled his need to record a serious Brazilian jazz-pop album, while Super Mann is a commercial disco effort that finds Patrick Adams doing most of the producing. The two LPs aren't anything alike – while the instrumental Brazil: Once Again makes extensive use of the flutist's jazz chops, Mann doesn't do any improvising on Super Mann. This album isn't about his virtuosity as a soloist – it's all about the beat and the groove. So naturally, Super Mann was trashed in the jazz press by critics who made the mistake of judging it by jazz standards and wouldn't have known a good disco record from a bad one. Judging Super Mann by disco standards, one hears an LP that is uneven and isn't in a class with Chic, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, or Sister Sledge but has its moments. While "Jisco Dazz" and "Rock Freak" are mechanical, stiff, and forgettable, Mann gets into a nice samba/disco groove on "Etagui" and demands attention with a speeded-up version of the haunting "Body Oil" (which he had previously recorded for 1975's Waterbed).
The original Banda Black Rio were one of the great Brazilian bands of the 1970s and 80s. Formed by saxophonist Oberdan Magalhães, they were pioneers of the country’s soul, samba and funk movement, and played a key role in Rio’s black music scene in the days of the military dictatorship. The band stopped playing after Oberdan’s death in 1984, but have now been revived by his son William, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who wrote or co-wrote every track on a set that’s remarkable mostly for the number of celebrities who agreed to join in. Left to themselves, as on the title track, the band play cool, tight and rhythmic jazz-funk with a Brazilian edge, mixing brass with keyboards and guitar.
The making of Congo Funk!, our long-awaited journey to the musical heart of the African continent, took the Analog Africa Team on two journeys to Kinshasa and one to Brazzaville. Selected meticulously from around 2000 songs and boiled down to 14, this compilation aims to showcase the many facets of the funky, hypnotic and schizophrenic tunes emanating from the two Congolese capitals nestled on the banks of the Congo River.