Rediscovering lost hip hop gems from the 90s was a big thing on Soul Strut and this album always popped up in the conversation. Hailing from Atlanta, Yall So Stupid adopted a zany, whacky, eccentric west coast approach a la Pharcyde and Mad Kap. Their one and only record on LA Reid's Rowdy Records is a sprawling 20+ track rap opus with old school fast raps, boom bap beats by Spearhead X, and goofy skits. Favorites include "Monkey Off My Back," their ode to the sticky icky "The Plant," and one of their few singles "85 South." Fun Fact: The band eventually morphed into late 90s indie hip hop outfit Mass Influence.
Soul was a hobby for DC singer William DeVaughn in the early 70s when he decided to roll the dice and bank roll a session with The Sound of Philadelphia. The gamble (and huff) paid off as "Be Thankful For What You Got" became a summer smash in 1974. It later became a West Coast anthem, immortalized in gangsta rap songs by groups like NWA. DeVaughn's laid back Curtis Mayfield-like delivery (especially on the cut "Blood Is Thicker Than Water") confused the radio listening and record buying public, but he was able to withstand the confusion and enjoy a modicum of short-lived success. His debut is 8 slices of summer, laid back and refreshing, an album you can put on the turntable and kick back to.
Third and final LP from the Baltimore soul group The Whatnauts. The group had moderate success delivering their brand of sweet, harmonized soul that was all the rage in the early 70s. 1972's On The Rocks is very much like their previous albums with exception to the incredibly powerful psychedelic soul cut "Why Can't People Be Colors Too?". Its breakdown embodies the very core of hip hop, first championed by A Tribe Called Quest for the track "Oh My God" off their praised Midnight Marauders LP. Outside of the east coast, original presseing were rarely ever seen. Add some campy cover art and you have the ingredients of a wall of fame classic. The Whatnauts would sneak back into the mix in the early 80s with the boogie classic "Help is on the Way."
Cult 60s soft rock album with folk and psychedelic overtones. Wendy and Bonnie were teenage sisters discovered in San Francisco by Latin jazz great Cal Tjader in the late 60s. They were signed to his Skye label (co-owned by Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo). McFarland produced the record adding his signature dreamy pop psych arrangements over Wendy & Bonnie's unique vocal harmonies. This album would later be an inspiration to groups like Stereolab. Highlights include "The Winter is Cold" which breaks down into a neat psych funk freakout, the groovy "You Keep Hanging Up on My Mind", and the lead off cut "Let Yourself Go Another Time". Unfortunately, Skye records folded soon after this release so Wendy and Bonnie never put out another record only appearing on others.
Legendary DJ mix of insanely rare and untapped international funky psych records curated by Cool Chris (owner of Groove Merchant Records in San Francisco). This is actually the second Trap Door mix, the first being an extremely limited cassette operation masterminded by Sean Julian and Nate Price of the Vinyl Monkeys. Julian and Cool Chris collaborated for Volume 2 seeking out to make it a more widely distributed vinyl and CD release. The rest is of crate digger lore as the Soul Strut massive lost their collective minds trying to decode the mix selections. There are several entertaining threads below documenting the hysteria.
This record just has that sound. Really minimal arrangements and amazing production. Van is just killin it with this shit. It's got an almost traditional Irish folksy feel, but the loose freedom of the song structure just lets van do his thug thizzle on the vocal tip. When he hits, it's just straight up chills down the spine status. So many amazing lyrics too. When he talks about his girl "standing with a look af avarice", that shit is just too real for words.
Ungodly rare funky jazz private press LP from Indianapolis that caused quite a stir with crate diggers here on Soul Strut. It's hard to imagine collectors would pay upwards of 3k for an 80s jazz record, but some have. The Uncle Funkenstein LP has no hint of Bootsy instead reeks of uptempo Strata East soul jazz (especially on the title cut.) It's good, but $3000 good? Besides that cut and its three different iterations, the album ventures into big band territory and swing egging on haters to cry overrated. Thankfully Jazzman Gerald reissued it in the late 2000s, but even that pressing goes for $100+.
I sold a copy of Manzel's - Midnights Theme 45" a few years ago for $1200.00, and was feeling good, so I took a chance and bought this for 100$ the day I got paid. I heard "Dor E Dor" and I was shook. Tom Ze is sort of a Bob Dylanesque type figure in Brazil. He is known for his quirky anti-political folk tunes, and "Dor E Dor" is Ze gettin folk-funky for us. I played this at a B-Boy battle and my portugeuse B-Boy friend got hype all freakin out askin me what this was.
Before the days of readily available sound clips, this record was mythical with beat diggers. Cool psychedelic art work. Check. Legendary Pete Rock sample. Check. A wall record at the Roosevelt record show. Check. Must be what I need to become the next rap super-producer? Ummm. Its contents and high price tag caused quite a controversy here on Soul Strut. Hence, making it a Top 100 record "discussed" on here.
This is legendary sax player Tom Scott's debut on Impulse! It features the breezy psych pop vocals of The California Dreamers who also appeared on Impulse! records by Gabor Szabo and Bob Thiele. The album is light jazz with some groovy late psychedelic sounds (thanks to Bill Plummer's sitar work). The only reason this is a $200 record vs a $20 record is the cover of Jefferson Airplane's "Today" which contains the famous horn sample to Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s classic rap track "T.R.O.Y." If backpack nostalgia is your thing, this is the record for you. Fun fact: The Honeysuckle Breeze features Glen "Rhinestone Cowboy" Campbell on guitar.
Debut from the Norwegian prog rock band Titanic. On their 1970 self-titled debut, they unleashed a funky hard rock sound that had heavy emphasis on percussion and cocked-wah. If you are a lover of open drums, look no further, as cuts like the Procol Harum-ish "I See No Reason" (6:15 minute mark) and "Something On My Mind" will knock the wind out of you. The uptempo gem "Love Is Love" has also blessed a few b-boy events in its time. This is a fairly common score in Europe, so be sure to partake in your travels.
Maia has at least - at LEAST - five albums on Polydor, all self-titled, all featuring his big bear visage on the cover. Seriously, what's up with that? Would it kill Maia to have actually NAMED his albums? Maybe help the rest of us poor saps figure out what's what? Of the five Polydor LPs I've heard, this is the only one that I felt like really had some solid heat, namely "O Balanco", one of the funkier cuts Maia rolls with. Snappy rhythm, funky cow bells ana vocals that don't sound like Maia is trying to be the Brazilian Tom Jones. Just as back-up, he also includes a decent soul cut in "Do Your Thing, Behave Yourself" and another funky slice on "Amores". Just remember, it's the Polydor cover with "Tim Maia" written in red and he's standing up in a blue shirt and...oh...you'll probably have to get all of them and sort it out from there. Good luck.
Gorgeous slice of late 60s psychedelic pop from the Zombies. This is another one of those epic opuses that flopped prompting the band to break up only to enjoy cult like success in later years. Actually, their Vietnam anthem "Time of the Season" became a smash just a couple years after the band called it quits. Odessey And Oracle has been dubbed the British Pet Sounds by music enthusiasts later championed by the Wes Anderson hipster crowd and with crate diggers here on Soul Strut ("Beechwood Park", anyone?).
Most of my friends are into Jamaican music, and particularly dub. Having sat through many smoking sessions listening to the stuff, I can name two other dub LPs that I like ("King Tubby Meets Rockers" and "Best Dressed Chicken"), but Super Ape is far and away my favourite. It's beautifully composed, atmospheric and deceptively simple - nothing sounds out of place and I'm ready to take a nap any time I hear this music.
Unforgettable primal fuzz rock from the Detroit castoffs known as The Stooges. It's debatable which of their three records is best, but Fun House is the LP that gets named dropped the most here on Soul Strut. The Stooges were critical and commercial failures, but later lived on in infamy as it became apparent that their sound was the basis for punk rock movements in the 80s and 90s.
Cult classic early 80s dub production by The Barrett Family (see their resume with the Upsetters and the Wailers). Its existence is a bit of a mystery yielding many pressings across different countries with no definitive first pressing that I could find. BTW, there was no Volume 2, either. Regardless, this beast has your typical deep bass and hard hitting drums for the sound system. The Sound Of Macka Dub Vol.1 starts off a bang on the cut "Bradsta Dub" which is commanded by a soulful bass line reminiscent of "People Makes the World Go Round" embellished with ringing piano stabs and patented chaka guitar strums. A true dub treat. The next track "Ista Episode" exaggerates the same groove with even more echoes, modulating delay, and environmental ambience. There are other monsters on here like the head nodder "Kc Black" that makes this a must for any dub dabbler.
The Soft Machine's debut was an ambitious blend of jazz-rock and psych pop. Hailing from the UK underground scene, similar to Pink Floyd's upbringing, they were behind the eight ball with their debut after losing guitarist David Allen to visa issues. They recorded 1968's The Soft Machine as a trio; organ, bass, and drummer phenom Robert Wyatt on vocals (be sure to check his solo releases). The album has long been considered a prog / psych masterpiece even if there were no real standout singles. This later became a sought after record for crate diggers and sampling hip hop producers looking for something interesting that was not James Brown. Check the wah drenched "Joy of a Toy," the fuzz organ of "Save Yourself" with Wyatt's signature soulfully white vocals, and the most popular track "Why Are We Sleeping?". Their next album 2 would become at lot more pop focused and introduced the great Hugh Hopper on bass. For me, though, their debut stands out more with its raw power and experimentation. Consider this a no-brainer $20 album that you should cop and file.
These girls were just on their own shit. I mean, look at that album cover. So, this is some kind of unholy post punk / reggae / disco alliance but not in that Bad Brains heavy sort of way. Sounds kind of like The Raincoats if you ever heard that (same drummer), but more dance oriented. There's all these keyboards that just twinkle in and out and all these spaced out dub effects laying back in the mix just ready to pop out. Shit sounds absolutely nuts on headphones. Plus this is mixed like a dub record with a huge soft bass pillow to rest your head upon. You'll need it. 'Typical Girls' is the real jump off with it's no disco throbbing bass and morphing time signatures.
The S.O.S. Band's third album 1982's S.O.S. III featured a sophisticated roller funk sound thanks to legendary producer Leon Sylvers III (The Sylvers, Whispers, Brothers Johnson, etc). Sylvers III along with producers Gene Dozier and brother Ricky orchestrated a solid album of tight, dry boogie tunes that are a nice balance of organic and electronic instrumentation. The S.O.S. Band would later ditch the sound for 80s keyboards and drum machines working exclusively with R&B hit squad Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis have a small involvement on this record penning the slap-happy old school hit "High Hopes". Other highlights include the jazzy R&B of "Groovin' (That's What We're Doin')" and the robotic funk riffs of "Looking For You". All in all, if you're looking for a solid modern soul / boogie album that won't break the bank, look no further.
The Roots major label debut Do You Want More?!!!??! unleashed a groundbreaking sub genre of hip hop (an impressive mixture of jazzy live instrumentation crossed with a Native Tongue style verbal delivery). Lead by drummer Questlove and rapper Black Thought, Do You Want More?!!!??! featured a much more refined, expanded sound than their stripped-down 1993 independent debut Organix. The album also features a young Scott Storch on keys before all the boats and hoes. The hip hop purists on Soul Strut hated this band, especially when they explored "poppier" territory with 2004's Tipping Point. The die-hard crate diggers were also quick to critique Questlove's public persona as a drum break and sample spotting vinyl fan boy. This made for some entertaining forum threads over the years as evident in a couple of threads below.
Oh lord. I haven't heard anyone name drop this piece. A flea market find that gave me the chills at first sight. "Dynamite rock beats to back you up when you play your own instrument." This ain't no late 70s drum drops nonsense either. It's heavy early 70s raw drum breaks and percussion that just straight hypnotize the listener. I need to drop "The Hard Rock" track at a b-boy event and see what happens. It reminds me of "The Riot" off the RPM soundtrack, but a zillion times doper. It's this ill hypnotic drum pattern with heads palm muting guitars and other heads making Les Pauls sound like sirens. The "Latin Rock" track is disgusting too.
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