Content tagged 'Funk'

38 years ago today, Chic landed atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. They would, however, return to the #1 spot two more times…with the same song! Written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, “Le Freak” was written as a tribute to Studio 54, paying sarcastic homage to the nightclub’s notorious tendency to make customers wait in line for extended periods of time, only to be turned away on the whim of whoever was working the door that evening. The bit where they say, “Freak out”? Yeah, it didn’t start out saying that: Chic just ended up going in a more polite direction

Break out the champagne: it’s been 35 years since Bootsy Collins released the album that would prove to be his final full-length outing for Warner Brothers. Looking back at that opening line, we should probably clarify – even though we’d like to hope that it’s self-explanatory – that the champagne is to toast the anniversary of the album’s release rather than Collins’ subsequent departure from the label. After all, you can take one look at his outfit on the album cover and know with complete certainty that nobody enjoys saying goodbye to Bootsy. The guy is a one-man party. THE ONE GIVETH, THE

43 years ago today, the Average White Band landed atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the first and only time of their career, but if they were always destined to only have the one hit, then at least they made it one that stands the test of time. Credited somewhat uniquely to saxophonist Roger Ball and guitarist Hamish Stuart individually as well as to the band as a whole, “Pick Up the Pieces” is one of the easier #1 hits when it comes to memorizing the lyrics, as the effectively consist of the four-word title of the track, which the band members can be heard to holler at various points during the

45 years ago this year, the horn-driven dynamos known as Tower of Power released their second full-length album, an effort which put singer Rick Stevens in the spotlight from start to finish. When Tower of Power released their debut album, East Bay Grease, in 1970, the gentleman fronting the band for five of the LP’s six tracks wasn’t Stevens, it was a fellow by the name of Rufus Miller, who – after spending a lot of years flying under the radar – has been working with Sting in recent years. Stevens, who joined the band in 1969, wasn’t completely absent from that first album: he took lead

Today we celebrate Al Jackson, the legendary percussionist who sat behind the kit for Booker T. & The M.G.’s during their ‘60s heyday, into the ‘70s, and until his death in 1975. To celebrate the date, we’ve got the most recent MG’s best-of set for your listening enjoyment, but we’ve also put together a six-pack of tracks that you may not have realized featured Jackson’s playing. 1. Moms Mabley, I LIKE ‘EM YOUNG (1972): The biggest reason you probably weren’t aware that Jackson played on this album is that it’s virtually impossible to find a copy of it nowadays. There’s no clip from it on

Talking Heads, Danny Elfman, Talk Talk, oh my! Rounding up the delicious vinyl releases of January 2021.

The album that brought us "Flash Light" and "Bop Gun" took funk to heaven in 1977.