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Hi Nev, good post, on a personal stand, I like the lot, as long as its soulfull, most of the stuff I buy possibly wouldn,t be played at the majority of venues, it was the Audrey Royal Nev, and to be honest, it wasn,t a case of "not my cuppa Tea" he took it on a permanent lease, like I do with some of his stuff, :lol: If you take the Skullsnaps LP on GSF,a lot of that funk, I can tell you its one of the most played sets in my house, funk, but darn soulfull aswell.

Kev

An interesting point for me is how many uptempo funky records have a totally different style flip ?

When I say totally I don't mean lightly ..often superb vocal and ballad or maybe beat ballad and very soulful ..

Charles Simmons

Ann Bogus

Henry Brooks

Could list more but there's 3 fine examples for ya :)

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Guest john s

Thoroughly enjoyed last night, so I'll probably get my playlist together for people to critique.

Please do - I need to add to my wants list! :lol:

Glad you enjoyed it, lovely tunes sir!

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An interesting point for me is how many uptempo funky records have a totally different style flip ?

When I say totally I don't mean lightly ..often superb vocal and ballad or maybe beat ballad and very soulful ..

Charles Simmons

Ann Bogus

Henry Brooks

Could list more but there's 3 fine examples for ya :)

Nev, there are a significant amount that have deep sides. Willie Johnson is a good example of an artist and not to ignite more fires Charlene and the soul Serenaders. As I collect deeps soul I've found a lot o prices have shot up when the flip is now sort after by the Funky Northern crowd. There are a significant amount of releases on Cat, Alston, Stax/Volt, Hi, Goldwax, just to name a few that have a funky side and a ballad/deep side. They were aiming for more than one market and hoped to sell as many records as possible looking for that ellusive hit.

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What ever happened to the Deep Funk Scene Daddy Bones,Jap Jimmy,Trouble,Darge etc etc...that was a seperate scene where you knew if you were goin to one of those clubs this is the stuff that you would get.Has that imploded and been sucked in by the rare soul scene....my style of funky northern would be Ron Keneoly-Movin On,Destination Unknown,Lloyd Price-Bad Conditions,The Barons-Society...

Ron Kenoly? Always thought of that as a soul record.Just goes to show,one man's funk etc...... :thumbsup:

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Movin On (Audio Arts)has a funky wah wah guitar...am I the only one that can hear it??

I know less than nothing but I'm sure there is more to funk than a guitar. Jeez if you are going to apply that rule of thumb, God knows how many out and out soul records would be re-classified as funk

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Guest gordon russell

;

Terry, honestly I am starting to wonder if you've lost the plot! Personally I've enjoyed the few spots that I've heard George play, as a funk collector and dj he has played exactly what I had expected.......funk records! If you didn't like his spots then you chose the wrong venue to attend. A funk dj playing funk sets, thats scandulous! What dreadful surprise will come next, I wonder??

Said venues were prestatyn and bidds..........now as we're told (rightly so) to have a listen to these genres before we make up our mind.....the fact that he,s a funk dj playing sets of funk is not the point because neither of these venues are billed as funk venues so who's losing the plot........my point is these sets killed it at soul nighters because in a whole set they become very durgy it,s not georges fault it,s a matter of the genre being wrong (in a whole set form) so therefor it don,t fit, in the context of chalky's question....yes it,s a case of emperors new clothes............and thats the point everywhere just because it,s new to your ears and a few folk love it played out.........it,s not right at soul dance venues except for the funk edged stuff (ala karl) that is right to cross over. Thats why very few of these venues can really get off the ground.

p.s....f**k me even georges mates left while he was playing at prestatyn :thumbsup::)

Edited by gordon russell
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Surely soul is soul at the day...northern soul..is an accident of birth???....yes varying styles...am sure most of us...have heard records from different eras....but somewhere ..there must be a connection which goes down to the feet???.enlighten me...please...Delxxx

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Said venues were prestatyn and bidds..........now as we're told (rightly so) to have a listen to these genres before we make up our mind.....the fact that he,s a funk dj playing sets of funk is not the point because neither of these venues are billed as funk venues so who's losing the plot........my point is these sets killed it at soul nighters because in a whole set they become very durgy it,s not georges fault it,s a matter of the genre being wrong (in a whole set form) so therefor it don,t fit, in the context of chalky's question....yes it,s a case of emperors new clothes............and thats the point everywhere just because it,s new to your ears and a few folk love it played out.........it,s not right at soul dance venues except for the funk edged stuff (ala karl) that is right to cross over. Thats why very few of these venues can really get off the ground.

p.s....f**k me even georges mates left while he was playing at prestatyn :thumbsup::)

Terry ,while your in this " hands up and lets be honest mood"and it's not George's fault etc ,then surely your next move (chess terminology applied) ,then surely you must go the whole hog ,complete the analogy,and level the blame with the promoter ?

No stone unturned an all that :)

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Terry ,while your in this " hands up and lets be honest mood"and it's not George's fault etc ,then surely your next move (chess terminology applied) ,then surely you must go the whole hog ,complete the analogy,and level the blame with the promoter ?

No stone unturned an all that :)

Or no turn unstoned,Nev. :lol:...here's another one to be thrown to the wolves....quite a few spins over the recent times...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQeNgn4uWd0

Edited by KevH
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I know a bit more than nothing.The record has a funky feel to it ...the guitar...the production....the vocal.Its a different type of funk to the jb style.

Not Funk or even a Funky Style but then again what do I know!!!

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At the end of the day Matt it will never change for the mainstream Northern Soul event, most want one type of music all-night, uptempo and 60's. They don't mind the odd variation as long as it is in the style of the classics. Stray to far away even for a few records and people don't want to know, they have no patience and don't care others might be enjoying the music being played. It is a very selfish scene with little patience and no or little inclination for anything other than the norm.

We can say what we like on here but the reality is much of what is being discussed here will be restricted to side rooms unfortunately and events that cater for a minority. At least until a large part of the scene disappear once again but I fear that might be too late.

I have to say, I find this side of the scene a bit bemusing. As I remember it, towards the end of the seventies, a lot of the Northern crowd started getting into the funkier side of soul music, and before you knew it, the jazz funk scene was born, and the two scenes were quite seperate, though shared venues quite often.

On another note, I read with great interest on Chalky's site that Richard Searling played You Can't Hide Your Love by David Joseph at Stafford. What was going on there??!!

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Guest gordon russell

Terry ,while your in this " hands up and lets be honest mood"and it's not George's fault etc ,then surely your next move (chess terminology applied) ,then surely you must go the whole hog ,complete the analogy,and level the blame with the promoter ?

No stone unturned an all that :)

Not really nev..........l just give up :D

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Guest john s

Much as I like this version, you wouldn't really rather have this than Jimmy Burns.... would you ??

Tony

Yep! :yes:

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Guest jb000

Very interesting read indeed!

One of the greatest 45's known to man, The Kings of Soul-"Is your love for me" (Down to Earth), its got the lot, towards the end the lead singer says, "hey fella's lets add a little 'funk' to this thing"......Thats not my words, but the words of THE KINGS OF SOUL,..so wind your neks in peasants

Edited by jb000
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Guest john s

:ohmy:

T

Well, obviously not in monetary terms! :lol:

But, never having been part of the 'northern scene', the Jimmy Burns doesn't have the resonance that it does with a lot of people, and I prefer the Mystics. :g:

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Whoopee doo for all you connoisseurs who appreciate the much broader spectrum of soul music.

Just accept that you have not been charged with a mission to convert everyone else!

In my neighborhood there is a mormon church a few blocks from me. I guess adolescents (boys at least) have to do "missionary" work when they are around 18. So lots of times you see kids in dress pants, dress shirts, and a tie riding bicycles in pairs on the street, finding another block to knock on doors. Some "funk" proponents should organize something like that and knock on pete's door a lot.

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I know a bit more than nothing.The record has a funky feel to it ...the guitar...the production....the vocal.Its a different type of funk to the jb style.

I know next to nothing about funk because I don't care for it (as a rule). That said, I know what it sounds like.

I do know a little about soul music however and on this particular note I give up!

Edit: Have you read this thread? It is the out and out funk type tunes we are talking about here

Edited by jumpinjoan
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One of the interesting things at a weekender last year there was a funk room. Only about 10 people in there but the music was interesting and plenty I'd not heard before. However I don't think I could spend the whole night in there either (and didn't). ALthough I like a lot of it, and collect some of it, it has to be said it does have very limited appeal amongst the Northern fraternity in the UK, unless a few are mixed in to a more varied set.

Now onto George, when I have heard an hour of George at a venue I was very interested, when I heard an hour of another fella trying to do the same thing in London (with different records) I was bored senseless.

The other thing is that everyone's in a different place on this, one man's oldie / dropped from the box, another man's top want (maybe a bit harsh, but it's true Nev :yes:). Probably because it's such a small part of the scene and takes a long time for people to hear the best of what's on offer, and it gets diluted with the crappy stuff played by those that 'get it wrong'.

Russ - Mystiques another fantastic sweet side on the flip! :thumbsup:

Jordi - Mystics - agreed another blinding B side there. :thumbsup:

Edited by Steve G
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I have heard George a few times and sometimes he has played more soulful style tunes (some crackers too I must say) and other times full on funk.

In his defence (not that he needs me or anyone to come to his defence) he is a funk DJ asked to DJ at a soul do which is a million miles away from a soul DJ playing funk

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Well, obviously not in monetary terms! :lol:

But, never having been part of the 'northern scene', the Jimmy Burns doesn't have the resonance that it does with a lot of people, and I prefer the Mystics. :g:

I wasn't talking money-never likely to be able to get Jimmy in this lifetime :lol:

As i said, quite like the Mystics, both sides, but JB is Northern, Mystics ain't. Simples :thumbsup:

Tony

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Guest john s

Exactly.

Fair enough - it reminds me a lot of the Specials 'Can't find another', which I love but probably isn't Northern either! :D

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Fair enough - it reminds me a lot of the Specials 'Can't find another', which I love but probably isn't Northern either! :D

I have a vendetta against it anyway, I had it a couple of years back and nobody would take it off me at any price, so I more or less gave it away, about three weeks later people started asking if I'd still got it...same old story, nobody wants em when I've got em then someone plays them..

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Guest john s

I have a vendetta against it anyway, I had it a couple of years back and nobody would take it off me at any price, so I more or less gave it away, about three weeks later people started asking if I'd still got it...same old story, nobody wants em when I've got em then someone plays them..

I didn't know it till it was posted by Tony, just bought a copy... sorry it wasn't off you a couple of years ago!

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I didn't know it till it was posted by Tony, just bought a copy... sorry it wasn't off you a couple of years ago!

Bought it off the guy who had the label stock and acetates a couple of years back, I'm sure folks will remember, he had a Bobby James and all sorts

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Guest rodw

Here's a few funky soul records that float my boat.....

Bill Coday - Find a fool bump his head

Eddie Parker - Body chains

Ronnie North - I've gotta hear it from you

Ebonystic - Ain't it good to you

Spiritual Four - If you think god is dead

Johnny Williams - Breaking point

Denise LaSalle - Do me right

Ann Sexton - I still love you

Rising Sun - Good loving

Master Keys - I done got on the right road

Claude & Hank Carbo - Fox in a mini skirt

Bobby Patterson - Right on Jody

Neal Kimble - If it was'nt for the children

Tommy Tucker - That's how much

Little Milton - Grits ain't groceries

Al Danner- You are my happiness

Bobby Byrd - Lost in the crowd

Clarence Murray - Let's get on with it

Buddy Lamp - Devil's gonna get you

Vikki Styles - The tears won't stop falling

Bobby Bland - Yum Yum Tree

Delegates Of Soul - I'll come running back

Charles Spurling - Let me be your steppin soul

Eddie Jackson - Memories of a dream

Kool Blues - I'm gonna keep on loving you

Mariann - Motivation

Shirley Caeser - Stand the storm

Rex Garvin - You don't need no help

Ann Peebles - 99lbs

Buddy Guy - Buddy's Groove

Darondo Pulliam - How I got over

I would put all these in the funky soul catagory......

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Guest rodw

Terry, George was booked for Bidds when I was running it as an Upfront /Anything goes event...which definately included funky soul / soulful funk (call it what you like), as well as Northern, R&B, Latin etc

He was booked to play what ever he wanted to play, and if he chose to play a funk heavy set then so be it.

He did 2 x half hour sets approx 4 hours apart if my mind serves me right......can't be arsed to go check the DJ times but that's how it usually worked out.....the majority of folk attending Bidds knew that the night was then about many mixed genres (yourself included), it was advertised in this way and it most certainly didn't need to be advertised as a funk nighter for 2 half hour guest spots.

Ultimately, if hearing 2 x half hour sets of stuff you don't know/don't like upsets you so much you surely should be sticking to oldies only events, or those venues you feel comfortable with?

I obviously didn't instruct or coach him to play anything other than his own choices Terry, so if it helps in any way you can feel free to lay the blame at my door......some folk may feel at ease trying to convince less predictable DJs to 'tow the line' before DJing at their favourite venues :wicked: ...... but I certainly wasn't prepared to do the same at Bidds.

Was my policy for letting DJs do their own thing the main reason for the Upfront nights eventually failing at Bidds....was it my DJ line-ups or the set times I arranged.....?

Maybe, maybe not, to be honest I don't really care either way....what's done is done.....I ran the venue this way for 6 years, the first 5 of which were pretty successful, so I'm quite happy with my lot.

I've obviously since had to review the music policy at Bidds to a more Northern friendly nighter, and whilst I would have preferred to carry on with my original ethos for the night, since viewing these types of thread to often witness such predictable infighting amongst those who champion hearing 'something different', I feel quite relieved to be removed from it all.....

Big shame it's not still going....it was BRILLIANT !!!
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Big shame it's not still going....it was BRILLIANT !!!

Well, it still is going, though obviously with a much more 'user friendly' music policy Rod.....and not in the terms of an purely out and out overplayed top 500 oldies fest either (despite the odd ill informed rumour)....numbers are back up and the music is still top notch stuff....the feedback for August 4th on Facebook looks very promising...

As for the nighters original format.....well it certainly had its moments of brilliance Rod, morseo in the first 4 years or so, but rose tinted specs aside, the last 12 months were on the whole, poorly attended.

Truth is, 60 payers in a 200+ capacity does not make a brilliant event (whatever your state of mind) or pay the necessary bills, nor does it make the venue any respectable bar takings.

On top of which, other nighters had started adopting a similar music policy for 2nd rooms and they can afford to offset any financial shortfall off the main room doortake.....the nighter calender is choc-a-bloc as it is, but at least the event used to be different enough to survive on it's own merits.

Regards

Mace

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I have a vendetta against it anyway, I had it a couple of years back and nobody would take it off me at any price, so I more or less gave it away, about three weeks later people started asking if I'd still got it...same old story, nobody wants em when I've got em then someone plays them..

I dismissed it as a fairly avegare at best record years ago and decided it was never going to have any appeal......

the flip is quite nice though.

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some great funky soul i've had and I would enjoy listening to at a soul night / nighter

barbara hall "tell me tell me"

buddy cantrell "you ain't no good"

sarah simpson "never a dull moment"

little beaver "i'm a man"

little beaver "do right man"

innersouls on plemmons (then somebody could flip it over for the equally good if not better mid pace soul masterpiece)

fred knight on maxine

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Guest john s

some great funky soul i've had and I would enjoy listening to at a soul night / nighter

buddy cantrell "you ain't no good"

innersouls on plemmons (then somebody could flip it over for the equally good if not better mid pace soul masterpiece)

frederick knight on maxine

Would love these three - Innersouls has been reissued though, hasn't it?

Never really been a fan of the Little Beaver 45s - a bit too '70s' for my taste.

Anyway, it would be boring if everyone liked the same records... :D

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I dismissed it as a fairly avegare at best record years ago and decided it was never going to have any appeal......

the flip is quite nice though.

the flip of the specials "can't find another" is the instrumental version of the song

Pete, records go up and go down in value. I think the specials is on its way down, there was a buzz with lots of wants posted, then in the last year or two there's less talk about it. I don't see how you could be mad about not getting the maximum price a record went when it shot up when there's no way to know which records will go up or how high they would go.

I had an extra copy of double o demingos "color one tear black". I sold it to someone for $275, I thought I did well, the next week it's going for $1000+. Last night I saw on ebay some random boogie record that has been bid up to $2500. I knew I had it. I looked and I got it on ebay in 2009 for $4. You win some, you lose some. It helps to keep up with all the price changes though.

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Here's a few funky soul records that float my boat.....

Vikki Styles - The tears won't stop falling

Bobby Bland - Yum Yum Tree

Delegates Of Soul - I'll come running back

I would put all these in the funky soul catagory......

Maybe just me Rod - and certainly not a pop mate in any shape or form - but I just wouldn't 'class' any of these as 'funky soul', at least not in the sense that I understand or interpret the term. (They're tried and tested northern records and pretty much known and accepted the length and breadth aren't they?). Once you start calling it something I reckon you're on a hiding to nothing because some smart arse somewhere will tell you it ain' :lol:t :dash2:

Maybe that's one of the issues here, and I reckon I'm as guilty as anyone of this and its really crap but ... ... as soon as I hear that term, or anything aligned to it, my brain says 'brace yourself for a dollop of noisy mediocrity, switch off and start moaning to yourself until its over'.

How bad is that! I'd be the first to hold my hands up and say that I should be a bit more grown up and open minded by now (not least because not being is highly likely to cause me to miss out on the really good stuff which is undoubtedly in the mix with all the rest). Like anything though, some of it just ain't good enough and no matter how many times people play em or tell me they are they're just not according to my lug'oles.

I don't think many who've contributed to this thread would put themselves forward as a fan of done to death 'top 500' tackle but I do honestly think there's something bordering on an obsession in some quarters with being 'different', 'upfront', 'cutting edge' - or wtf you wanna call it- which is maybe why, again, to my ears anyway, so much of what gets presented as that just ain't good enough. The records simply aren't there on the whole are they, at least not to orientate regular nights / nighters around?How could they be after 40+ years of people looking for, listening to and playing em, especially now with the access that folk have to stuff?

Several have said it several times on this thread (and others) but it's the categorising and pigeonholing which does so much to inhibit people and feed the stereotypes and misconceptions imho (guilty as charged, again). Same with 'rare and underplayed', 'oldies', 'upfront', rnb, etc etc; seems to me to alienate and switch big chunks of people off before they've even heard 75% of it - guilty, again. (Others have and will argue of course, and there's mileage in it too, that 'across the board' and other such labels do precisely the same thing: too nebulous/ not specific enough etc - can't bloody win).

The events that run and run with decent numbers seem to me to avoid the dreaded labels, or at least much emphasis on em, and too much of one thing - cos that's more likely to put and/or hack more people off i.e. striking a balance, stylee / dj-wise, seems more likely to keep more people happy more of the time - which is probably about as good as it gets these days.

From painful, first-hand experience LOL, if you don't it's empty room / dancefloor / bloody pockets time - which is pretty crap wherever you're stood. It has to be possible to compromise, and maybe contribute, without feeling like you've sold-out, without bashing yourself to bits because you're not actually as near the cutting edge as you'd like to be or thought you were, hasn't it? It's supposed to be a bloody hobby and, therefore, enjoyable - still have to remind myself sometimes though :lol:

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Good post Phil.Another thing is that we,as a scene ,will never replicate what's gone before.There'll be no more Tomangoes,Cecil Washington's,Little Richie's,Mickey Champion's. etc etc.etc.

If switching off for 3 minutes at a venue is all it takes to miss the funky stuff ,that's ok.

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the flip of the specials "can't find another" is the instrumental version of the song

Pete, records go up and go down in value. I think the specials is on its way down, there was a buzz with lots of wants posted, then in the last year or two there's less talk about it. I don't see how you could be mad about not getting the maximum price a record went when it shot up when there's no way to know which records will go up or how high they would go.

I had an extra copy of double o demingos "color one tear black". I sold it to someone for $275, I thought I did well, the next week it's going for $1000+. Last night I saw on ebay some random boogie record that has been bid up to $2500. I knew I had it. I looked and I got it on ebay in 2009 for $4. You win some, you lose some. It helps to keep up with all the price changes though.

I prefer "Baby i need you". - Specials.

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Personally not too keen on a lot of it, especially the 70's stuff, maybe a few Northern ones like The Constellations I Don't Know About You.

I personally like the stuff I got into after I stopped going to Wigan, In the early eighties Colin Curtis was playing some sublime stuff in (Berlin Manchester), although moving over to jazz in those days, Tania Maria, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ronnie Laws.

Some of the dance stuff at the time in was great too, D Train, Change all that stuff too.

Just love this, still stands up today as 'real' funky soul imo. Sharron Redd R.I.P.

Aid.

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Would love these three - Innersouls has been reissued though, hasn't it?

Never really been a fan of the Little Beaver 45s - a bit too '70s' for my taste.

Anyway, it would be boring if everyone liked the same records... :D

yes i'm pretty sure innersouls has been reissued.

"do right man" is a bit special for me one of my all time favourites.

The other "i'm a man" hardly ever gets a mention. It will when one of the big boys gets behind it and all the sheep get a bit excited.

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the flip of the specials "can't find another" is the instrumental version of the song

Pete, records go up and go down in value. I think the specials is on its way down, there was a buzz with lots of wants posted, then in the last year or two there's less talk about it. I don't see how you could be mad about not getting the maximum price a record went when it shot up when there's no way to know which records will go up or how high they would go.

I had an extra copy of double o demingos "color one tear black". I sold it to someone for $275, I thought I did well, the next week it's going for $1000+. Last night I saw on ebay some random boogie record that has been bid up to $2500. I knew I had it. I looked and I got it on ebay in 2009 for $4. You win some, you lose some. It helps to keep up with all the price changes though.

bob i'm referring to mystics not specials with my comment you quoted.

i've never bought a record for $4 that i've since seen sell for $2500 I doubt I ever will, thats impressive.

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Well, if Delegates Of Soul - I'll come running back, isnt funky soul, im at a loss :yes:

Well, if Delegates Of Soul - I'll come running back, isnt funky soul, im at a loss :yes:

Inevitably, one person's 'funky soul' I guess Tim... Why does it need to be called or labelled anything - other than a really good record?

atb

Phil

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is another purpose of the term to try and create a new scene that distances itself from the oldies crowd by putting them off wanting to attend ? And the music that gets played may not actually always be funky soul............

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is another purpose of the term to try and create a new scene that distances itself from the oldies crowd by putting them off wanting to attend ? And the music that gets played may not actually always be funky soul............

Another cunning plan exposed Dylan. :lol:

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