Reviews
Various Artists - Texas Funk (2002)
Released on JazzmanAdded Sunday, January 31, 2010
UK funk enthusiast Gerald Short plays this compilation game legit and releases a fully licensed, long overdue 21 track collection of rare and unreleased hard funk tracks circa 1968-1975 from the Lone Star state. Texas has been a cult hit for funk 45 diggers for years… and as Josh Davis (a.k.a. DJ Shadow) put it in the album forward—he always had a soft spot for the place due to its plethora of raw, down-home, small label dirty funk 45s.Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find any of the titles featured on this compilation and Short is just scratching the surface. Highlights include cult favorites on the funk 45 circuit like Majestics “Funky Chick,” Timothy McNealy “Sagittarius Black,” and Sunny and the Sunliners “Get Down.“Other tracks include a tight low budget rendition of Ike Haye’s “Do Your Thing” performed by San Antonio’s Zapata, the butter funk hip hop funk beat instrumental of “Every Man for Himself” by Road Runners, and my favorite Vern Blair Debate’s “Super Funk.“Just about every track on this compilation is nice and of the highest sound quality. The CD package is well put together with liner notes, funk 45 scans, press photos, and a forward by Mr. Private Press himself. Sleep on this and might get a midnight visit from your boy Leatherface, ya dig?
Filed under: Music, Funk, Soul