Grover Does Jazzfunk Too

Grover Washington - Feels So Good
JAZZ | WAV | CUE | COVER | 372 MBS
Kudu 1975


The aptly titled and much-sampled Feels So Good represents the creative apex of Grover Washington, Jr.'s sublime electric funk sound. Its shimmering, soulful grooves refute the argument that smooth jazz is little more than mere ambience, combining expert playing and intricate songwriting to create music that is both compelling and comforting. Arranger Bob James is in top form here, creating the spacious, rich milieus that are his trademark, but regardless of the name above the title, bassist Louis Johnson is the real star of the show. His supple rhythms percolate like coffee, adding oomph to the bottom of highlights "Hydra" and "Knucklehead" while Washington's cream-and-sugar soprano sax solos soar over the top. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide


~ TRACKLISTING ~

1. The Sea Lion
2. Moonstreams
3. Knucklehead
4. It Feels So Good
5. Hydra


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Grover Washington - A Secret Place
JAZZ | WAV | CUE | COVER | 340 MBS
Kudu 1976



Grover Washington Jr. (on soprano and tenor) is in typically soulful form on this Kudu set but the material (even with the inclusion of Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance") is less interesting than usual. Washington is joined by a relatively small group that includes pianist Dave Grusin, an all-star rhythm section (with guitarist Eric Gale), two horns (arranged by David Matthews) and no strings; this was his first date as a leader without Bob James' charts. A decent but not essential effort by the pacesetter among modern soul-jazz saxophonists. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide


~ TRACKLISTING ~

1. A Secret Place
2. Dolphin Dance
3. Not Yet
4. Love Makes It Better


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pw=lisalisa

Paint The White House Black....Yall

George Clinton - Computer Games
Capitol 1982
FUNK | FLAC | CUE | 300DPI SCANS | 297 MBS


With Parliament and Funkadelic in disarray, crazed overlord Clinton signed a solo deal with Capitol and released this, the first of four albums for the label. Updating the organic P-Funk sound with Prince-like synths and drum machines, Clinton came up trumps with the hilarious R&B smash "Atomic Dog" and the electro-funk epic "Loopzilla" (featuring snippets of Motown classics by the Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas). Computer Games also took a skewed look at the growing soul sickness of Reagan's America, not least in the haunting and oddly beautiful "Free Alterations." A vital and prescient release.
~ Barney Hoskyns, Amazon.com


TRACKS:

1. Get Dressed
2. Man's Best Friend/Loopzilla
3. Pot Sharing Tots
4. Computer Games
5. Atomic Dog
6. Free Alterations
7. One Fun at a Time


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

George Clinton - Hey Man...Smell My Finger
Paisley Park 1993
FUNK | FLAC | CUE | 300DPI SCANS | 546 MBS


Hey Man, Smell My Finger is everything a great George Clinton album should be -- conceptually disjointed, overlong, silly, sloppy, and funky as hell. Thankfully, the music here is his best since Computer Games, and the album proves just how responsible he is for much of the music of the 1990s, as the irresistible single "Paint the White House Black" illustrates with its numerous cameos. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide



TRACKS:

01. Martial Law
02. Paint The White House Black
03. Way Up
04. Dis Beat Disrupts
05. Get Satisfied
06. Hollywood
07. Rhythm & Rhyme
08. The Big Pump
09. If True Love
10. High In My Hello
11. Maximumisness
12. Kickback
13. The Flag Was Still There
14. Martial Law (single version)


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Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

George Clinton - Dope Dogs
Doggone 1995
FUNK | FLAC | CUE | 300DPI SCANS | 506 MBS

Once, George Clinton's fecundity was nothing short of miraculous. It took just twelve years from the launch of the Mothership to get to 1982's Computer Games, which stands as the very best of the dozens of excellent and not-so-excellent LPs churned out by P-Funk and their innumerable offshoots up till then. Over the next sixteen years, however, Clinton produced only seven new studio albums. And while none of these was as tuckered out as, say, 1980's Trombipulation, the sole miracle on display was how effortlessly their hard raps and boudoir grooves kept up with the changing same Clinton had done so much to inspire. Dope Dogs wants more than that, and it gets it. Incredibly, the fifty-eight-year-old Atomic Dog has decided that 1998 is the time for a concept album – about dogs. The signature tune, "U.S. Custom Coast Guard Dope Dog," which spins a fantastic theory about the substance dependence imposed on Coast Guard-indentured, contrabandsniffing canines, gets Clinton going. And in the end, only one of the album's fourteen songs stays away from retrievers named Fifi and poodles named Pepe, Dog Stars and Pavlovian dogs, wild dogs and wag-the-dog tales bitches and sons of bitches galore. This revived cartoon glee imparts a wickedly ironic edge to the theme beneath the concept: Clinton's long-running obsession with U.S. drug laws. Musically, Dope Dogs, which has already appeared in less fully formed European and Japanese versions, won't rerevolutionize the funk. But for damn sure it stays on the one, deploying every P-Funk device from Hendrixian guitar to Brownian horn motion and also adding a few more, including chicken-scratch banjo and a fast-prattling rapper who sounds about six years old. Expatiating or just ruminating, Clinton sounds his age – the man has blown a lot of smoke, and his larynx knows it. But he still knows some new tricks.
(Robert Christgau, RollingStone.com – 4 stars)


TRACKLISTING:

01. Dog Star (Fly On)
02. U.S. Custom Goast Guard Dope Dog
03. Some Next Shit
04. Just Say Ding (Databoy)
05. Help Scottie, Help (I'm Tweaking and I Can't Beam up!)
06. Pepe (The Pill Popper)
07. Back Against the Wall
08. Fifi
09. All Sons of Bitches
10. Sick 'Em (Instrumental)
11. I Ain't the Lady (He Ain't the Tramp)
12. Pack of Wild Dogs
13. Tales That Wag the Dog
14. My Dog


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Part 5 | Part 6