Funk Factory : Rien Ne Va Plus

I was first introduced to the Funk Factory via the Beastie Boys' "Car Thief" (from their 1989 opus Paul's Boutique) which was built almost entirely on top of samples from this jazz-funk masterpiece.

"Rien Ne Va Plus" is a slow burn of a funk song, scored with delicious analog synths, bass, chicken scratch guitar and rock drums.  The synthesizers bubble and flutter throughout the song, wrapping it in deep 70's shag, very P-Funk in it's sound.  The song is super-funky, nearly polyrhythmic, in that there are often multiple bass lines running at once.  The ensemble vocals draw a lot from the psychedelic soul bands, like Rotary Connection and the vocal lines are very jazzy, slightly angular, with almost progressive melodies.  But the real clincher is the excellent extended scat sections.  The first, sampled almost in its entirety by the Beasties, is performed by a heavily modified, almost vocodered voice and the second nearly verges on ecstatic screaming.

At first I thought "Rien ne va plus" was just some French thrown in for, you know, pretentious continental flair.  And, I guess it is, but it does have meaning within the song.  "Rien ne va plus" is what they say at a French (or more likely Moroccan) roulette table for "no more bets" (it literally translates as, I think, "Nothing goes anymore.").  The song is all about riding the lucky roulette wheel of love.  Or something.  It all ties together. Trust me.

"Rien Ne Va Plus" can be found on Funk Factory's 1975 self-titled sizzler.  It can also be found on the very nice four disc What It Is! Rhino funk sampler, which is pretty good.

[You can listen to Funk Factory's "Rien Ne Va Plus" by navigating to the post "Song056" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Paul Simon : Night Game

Let's end the week on a quieter note. "Night Game" is an ethereal song from Paul Simon, a ghost tale of sorts, about a pitcher who dies in the middle of a ball game. Or maybe it's about war. I think there's an allegory in there somewhere, since the body count goes from two to three, but I can't exactly figure out what it is. So, like any good poetry, apply where needed.

It's a beautiful song, frail, with a quietly lilting melody that plays threes against twos for some nice syncopation. It's instrumented primarily with Paul's wonderful voice, nearly whispering, and accented by acoustic guitar, jazz bass and a nice harmonica solo by the great Toots Thielemans.

There's not much else to say about the song except that I can't figure out why there's not more buzz about it on the Interwebs, because I do really like it. It comes from Paul's 1975 release, Still Crazy After All These Years, which has some fantastic songs on it, including his biggest solo hit ever, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". By the way, they recently remaster Paul's back catalog, so if you're out shopping, make sure you pick up the remastered version.

[You can listen to Paul Simon's "Night Game" by navigating to the post "Song055" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Mandingo : Manhunter

Mandingo is a weird band. First of all, I'm not sure they were actually a band per se, but rather a set of studio musicians who did library music for some of the British production companies, although I read somewhere it was actually the Geoff Love Orchestra. They played music that was composed primarily by folks who wrote for soundtracks and production companies, like Brian Fahey and Mike Vickers.

The music is a cross between the pop orchestras of yore and the funk of the day. It's full of brass, strings and percussion (though I suppose you could say the same of the Love Unlimited Orchestra), but it's anchored by a funk backbeat, some heavy bass and even some rock guitar, which tends to make it sound like the soundtrack to a 70's cop show, which is to say, it sounds awesome. Plus it's really percussion heavy. In one interview, Mike says they had four drummers and seven percussionists in the studio at once.

"Manhunter" is the kick-off song for the album, and rightfully so. It's some seriously heavy funk, anchored by the tight bass-line and the rhythm guitar. The horns carry the tune with full-on intensity and the whole thing is buoyed throughout by the non-stop barrage of percussion. Apparently, Mandingo LPs were the go-to records for hi-fi salesmen back in the day. When you 'drop the needle' on this one, you'll see why.

The records were on EMI and were released primarily in the UK. Also, they used to release in quad as well as stereo and I can only imagine how this would sound remixed for 5.1 surround. You can find "Manhunter" on Mandingo's 1975 release Savage Rite. Their albums have been repackaged as 2-for-1 deals, which is a pretty good deal, except they don't seem to be in print any longer. And I was first introduced to Mandingo on the excellent Sound Gallery compilations, both of which are worth owning, although they too seem to have passed on.

[#43]

American Gypsy : Golden Ring

This one's hard to classify. There are flutes and a string section, and the whole thing has a close, dark feel to it, but there's also some upbeat funk and scatting going on. I think it falls somewhere between psychedelia and soft rock; between Santana and America. It's tough to say.

Regardless of where you try and pigeonhole it though, it's a great tune. There's not much out there about American Gypsy on the interwebs, so I can't give much background, except to say this is off their third album.

The songs starts off with a bit of psychedelia, some acoustic guitar, light organ, light echo on the vocals, all vaguely trippy. There's something about the way they process the vocals on this track that makes them sound very close-up, almost like the singer is in your head, whispering in your ear. Then, about 90 seconds into it, they funk it up, bringing up the speed, adding wah-wah guitar, more strings and a bebopping scat solo. Then they slow it down and do it all again. It trips and grooves, it's alternately spooky and funky, which doesn't seem like it would work, but they really make it go.

You can find "Golden Ring" on American Gypsy's self-titled 1975 release. But I found it on this most excellent compilation, As We Travel: Folk Funk Flavours & Ambient Soul. It's full of 70s psychedelic funk like this. A superb compilation; highly recommended

[#41]

MFSB : Sexy

I feel like ending the week on an up note, so let's go with a little disco. MFSB (which stands for Mother Father Sister Brother, although it's never written that way or as an acronym) was a house band in Philadelphia that backed all sorts of classic soul singers from Wilson Pickett to The O'Jays to Billy Paul. The label also had them put out their own albums of instrumental funk (obviously). MFSB had their biggest hit in '74 with "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", which was later adopted as the theme to Soul Train. They also did the incredible "K-Jee" on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in '77.

"Sexy" falls somewhere in between. It starts with a bit of Meters-like guitar, which pretty much completely disappears once the song gets going. Then it dives straight into that rump-shaking dance beat. After a couple of cycles it's joined by a wisp of porn guitar (chick-a-wow), and then a little later by a super-funky bass line. After four more trips around the beat, there's a bit of a build up, a drum roll, and the strings kick in.

Ahhhhh, the strings. Like hot water down the back of your neck on a cold morning, or good Swiss milk chocolate diffusing across your tongue, the strings swoop in and carry you off, leaving you with a warm melty feeling inside. There's nothing like it. After a bit more of the floaty strings, the band drops back into the main groove and cruises along, carrying on with a little solo sax and keeping up that peppy dancefloor vibe. They try the string trick a few more times, and it's always nice, but it's never quite as good as your first time.

"Sexy" comes from MFSB's '75 album, Universal Love, which isn't available on CD. You can also find it on Love Is the Message: The Best of MFSB which has all their hits and then some.

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