With everyone hopping the vintage funk compilation bandwagon of late, will the vaults eventually run dry? Not, apparently, as long as there are obscure 45s still languishing in thrift stores and the attics of the aging, oftentimes forgotten, musicians themselves. Tobias Kirmayer, who pulls triple duty as collector, DJ and indie label operator (Germany’s Tramp Records), certainly did his homework assembling this collection. Just the inclusion of the Blowflys’ lascivious, psychedelicized “Funky in the Hole” is worth the price of admission; the Blowflys were one of the performing outlets of songwriter Clarence Reid (aka X-rated comedian Blowfly). Other highlights include the Prepositions’ fatback marriage of James Brown and Bobby Womack, party anthem “(Do) Whatever Turns You On”; Latin funkateers Nombres’ sinewy “Todos”; and the kinetic, Afrocentric grooves of the Soul Shakers’ “You Ain’t My Brother” (which features a sleek, Hugh Masekela-like trumpet solo). Smartly laid out in an eye-catching digipak and with a fold-out booklet containing incisive liner notes for each track plus reproductions of the original records’ labels, Movements will, er, move you on multiple sensory fronts — tactile, visual and, most assuredly, aural.
Fred Mills writes about music for Metro Times. Send comments to [email protected].
