The Beastie Boys - Ricky's Theme

ORIGINATION Ill Communication
LAST LISTENED TO two weeks ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT not high
RATING

In '94 the Beasties where playing their own instruments on many of their tracks. On Ill Communication, like the predecessing album Check Your Head, they used those skills to lay down some funky grooves and Ricky's Theme is one such track.

It is a mellow affair that features mainly a delightfully light electric piano by Money Mark, one of the Beastie's long time collaborators. MCA's bass playing is also particularly good here, pulling the groove along in a perfect early hours vibe. They are supported by some appropriate drumming and percussion and just a tiny touch of guitar here and there.

The mood is of the last song of the night, where the band are almost asleep on their feet, yet still in the groove. Yet this semi-somnambulance also makes it a perfect morning song. In fact, i really can't imagine a nicer song to start the day with. It has eased me gently into today in quite a lovely fashion. You should try it too.

Johnny Pate - You Can't Even Walk In The Park

ORIGINATION Shaft In Africa
LAST LISTENED TO far too long ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT sadly small
RATING

For me this has got to be one of the funkier bits of movie music ever. In fact, i actually prefer much of the music Pate composed for Shaft In Arica more than Isaac Hayes' score for the original Shaft.

You Can't Even Walk In The Park has everything you want in a great bit of funk: wah-wah, groovy organ, drum breaks and big, big brass.

(radio interference)

After a rather long lie in this morning, i was woken by Nicholas Parsons. Quite scary, actually. He was soon joined by four wonderful players of the game and the chance of there being a morning song rapidly vanished to nothing. Oh well. Had to laugh, though.

Ganger - Smorgasbord

ORIGINATION Fore
LAST LISTENED TO part of it last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT fairly good
RATING

Ganger where some buch of people from Glasgow in the mid '90s. I think there was a good chance that they had either two bass players ot two drummers or possibly both. I'd go for just the bass players personally.

Their music was instrumental and a touch avant garde. Some of it was long and some of it was a bit drony in parts (a good thing, i assure you). In some ways they had similarities to Mogwai, although whether there was any actual connection there i couldn't say.

This track is from their debut album of '96. It's medium lenght track, containing many parts. The twin basses are prominant, as are some funky little runs from the sax. It doesn't really go anywhere as such, however it fits into the album as a whole well, with some of the sax parts being quite memorable after running through seventy-odd minutes.

The Soul Destroyers - Blow Your Top Pt. 2

ORIGINATION 7"
LAST LISTENED TO last week sometime
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT not very high
RATING

New funk. Well, newish, from 2000. On Stark Reality, one of Jazzman's offshoots. Nice rolling drum. Chicken scratch guitar. Bits of brass. A touch of organ. Funky, funky bass and a bit of organ. It's got everything a nice slab of funk needs, even something that may of may not be a dance. It probably isn't, but to "blow your top" does sound like some sort of funky move.

This is actually the b-side of the single. Part 1 on the a-side is not in fact the beginning of this track, rather it is a completely different version of it that is far faster. However, it's really much too frantic. Pt. 2 has a much slower groove that makes it just much more funky and it's better for dancing too as well.

The Rolling Stones - Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) [3rd time]

ORIGINATION Goat's Head Soup
LAST LISTENED TO probably yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT improbable
RATING

It's back again! Granted it's a good song, but why it should appear three times in just over two weeks is something of a mystery, not to mention a surprise.

So, the last two times it's been: Funky. A killer chorus. Keith and a wah wah. Big brass. Love it. And you know, i don't really have much to add to that, as much as i feel that by doing so i maybe will exorcise the whole thing. Ok, i can add that the 'doo doo doo doo's are particularly enjoyable and can make a backing singer of anyone. That had better do it. Tomorrow had better be something unusual and not this for a fourth time.

Stevie Wonder - I Wish

ORIGINATION Songs In The Key Of Life
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT high
RATING

I do hope that you all know this song, because i don't really have time to write about it today. If you don't, then you should. No excuses.

Commodores - Machine Gun

ORIGINATION 7"
LAST LISTENED TO about 8 hours ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT stratospheric
RATING

Welcome to synth heaven. It's the Commodores and it's 1974.

What is not all that well known is that the Commodores started out playing instrumentals and that they were, in fact, very funky indeed. This song was released as their fifth single and it was their first hit, one so big that the album following it was given the same title to cash in on it's popularity.

Essentially, Machine Gun is the sound of the Commodores gathering all the funkiest sounds ever made by a synth and squashing them all into one floor-filling single. It's more or less as simple as that. Admittedly, that may not have been how they made the tune (ok, there's no way that's how they made the tune) but that's exactly the way it sounds.

One more thing about Machine Gun is that it's tempo of near 120bpm means that it is the perfect speed for walking too. What makes it especially good is that it's damn funky too and the resulting walk almost always ends up something more of a strut.

The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun

ORIGINATION All The Stuff And More…
LAST LISTENED TO maybe during the summer
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT subterranean
RATING

Back in '87, this was the first release by these naive-sounding Scottish indie poppers. It's a very basic song, containing simple drums, dry guitar strumming, vocals and the odd bit of piano (and at that mostly just the one key). However, it is this simplicity that makes for both it's charm and catchiness.

The clean guitar is quite lovely, but not a patch on the boy-girl vocals which where the essence at the heart of the group and, although they did not last for long (around two years), their music became something of a cult following. To such an extent that at the peak of their fame, Nirvana covered three of their songs, including this one. Indeed, Nirvana probably helped a great deal in helping their cult to grow.

However, these days it is primarily their music that keep drawing new interest and causing influence (Sons & Daughters being the most obvious example).

Big John Patton - The Turnaround

ORIGINATION Let 'Em Roll
LAST LISTENED TO October
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT low
RATING

A more groovy piece of happening '60s mod jazz you'll be hard pushed to find. It was recorded in '65 by Patton, a jazz organist in the Jimmy Smith mould, with guitarist Grant Green and Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. The track bubbles along at a fast tempo, starting with a few runs around the melody before the soloing gets under way. Patton, who takes the main melody, solos a few times and also provides the bass. Green plays some particularly fast solos and Hutcherson's vibes are light and airy as only vibes can be.

Surprisingly, given how well the combination works, The Turnaround was not originally composed for organ but was in fact a piece that saxophonist Hank Mobley wrote and played a few years earlier. However, in one of those rare occurances of an original verion being bested, Patton turns it into his own tune here, putting the Mobley's into the shade.

It's also worth noting that the rest of the album, whilst not quite reaching this height, is none the less a damn fine investment.

The Rolling Stones - Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) [again]

ORIGINATION Goats Head Soup
LAST LISTENED TO a few days ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT probably quite good
RATING

A welcome return to this funky Stones track. As before: Funky. A killer chorus. Keith and a wah wah. Big brass. Love it.