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Hand picked records important to the history of Soul Strut.

Commodores - Machine Gun

  • Commodores

    Machine Gun LP (1974)

    Motown ‎

Ranked #152 in the Soul Strut 200

This is not your mother's Commodores chock full of beauty salon ballads. This is recorded in the raw, 1974 funk, anchored by the greasy clavinet grooves of Milan Williams. Highlights include the title track (famously sampled for the Beastie Boys classic "Hey Ladies" ), the moogadelic disco funk bomb "Rapid Fire",  and the Sly Stone inspired "I Feel Sanctified" (among others).  Their following albums shared the same vibe, but were weighed down with slicker production that ventured to what's known as "tepid funk".  By 1979, Lionel Richie' soulful hit making formula began to take hold and the rest was history.


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