MTUME - LOVE LOCK

Short & sweet today. Love Lock is off Mtume's 1978 LP, 'Kiss This World Goodbye'. The whole record is a blast but I particularly love this track because it sounds so funky and jazzy and sweet and free. It was also sampled by Joey Negro and The Sunburst Band for the track Atlantic Forest off his 'Here Comes The Sunburst Band' LP from 1998.

Mtume - Love Lock

ESTHER PHILLIPS - OUR DAY WILL COME

Driving home on Saturday night after a reasonably late night out, I stumbled across Esther Phillips' Our Day Will Come nestled at the end of the latest Good Times Australia compilation, compiled and mixed by Norman Jay MBE. Suffice to say, I had it on repeat all the way home. Our Day Will Come is a cracker of a disco track and was released as a promo only 12" in 1979. Apparently it sunk without a trace as Esther Phillips' voice was considered 'too jazz'. Well I think that's rubbish because her voice suits this song right down a tee. 21 years on Our Day Will Come still sounds fresh and it rocks because it's uptempo yet jazzy, with soaring strings and uplifting horns. And that bassline is deadly.

Esther Phillips - Our Day Will Come

THE CRUSADERS - SPIRAL

I've always been a fan of The Crusaders. They always managed to stay funky whilst still keeping their sound rooted in Jazz. And when I think of Jazz-Funk, or am trying to explain to someone what it is, I always turn to The Crusaders as an example. They were extraordinarily consistent over their time. Spiral is the first track off their 1976 LP, Those Southern Knights. Needless to say it's an extremely FUNKY Jazz instrumental and been sampled a fair bit. Most notably (at least notable to me!) by French house outfit Kojak for their Crime In The City album from 1999 on the track You Can't Stop It and also by Moodymann for his Don't You Want My Love 12" from 2000.

The Crusaders - Spiral

PRINCE - EROTIC CITY

Perhaps a bit of an obvious choice in terms of artist but I've recently reignited my love affair with Prince and have gone back to listen to a lot of his records. I won't go into how much I love his music and how much of a genius he is (the guy is insanely talented even if he is weird and mysterious). Erotic City essentially relies on a strong bassline and simple keyboard riff but despite this is still an amazingly funky track and also extremely dirty. For me, Erotic City was especially resonant during my early nightclubbing days. I used to hear this played a lot at Sunday Night Heat which was a retro night. On the nightclubs big sound system it sounded phenomenal and I would totally immerse myself in that Minneapolis Funk sound. Even after all these years it's still up there as one of my all time favorite Prince songs. Make love not war people.

Prince - Erotic City

ALEEM FEAT. LEROY BURGESS - GET LOOSE

Another classic boogie tune that I picked up for $10 bucks at my local, Northside Records. It's not exactly rare, but I was mighty excited to come across this. Featuring the great Leroy Burgess on vocals (and probably my favorite male vocalist ever) and also on production and writing duties with the Aleems, Get Loose is geared for the dance floor but combines that disco boogie sound with the burgeoning garage sound. It's reminiscent of Serious Intention's You Don't Know in the garage sense, but I could imagine people break-dancing to this, as it also has that whole Electric Boogaloo thing happening in the vein of Midway's Set It Out and Ollie & Jerry's There's No Stopping Us. It's also probably a precursor to the Freestyle genre/sound of the mid to late 80's. And it sounds suspiciously similar to Release Yourself, also by The Aleems featuring Leroy Burgess (and a classic in its own right).
But I digress. The driving bassline propels the track and there is also great use of synths and drum machines here topped off with Burgess's soulful voice. It's a dance-floor monster and it's seminal because it takes the best bits of all the things I mentioned above and makes it appeal to disco, electro and freestlye heads alike as well as, well, everybody really.

Aleem feat. Leroy Burgess - Get Loose

JASPER STREET COMPANY - A FEELIN'

Gospel house music with a kick today from 1995 with DJ Spen & The Jasper Street Company. This is another classic with an amazingly uplifting production from the halcyon days of garage's golden period in the mid 90's. This was the first release on the Basement Boys Records label out of Baltimore, which has always specialised in gospel house music which some may find to be a bit preachy. However, A Feelin' is still probably the most accessible record Basement Boys has released and is definitely geared for the clubs. And once again it sounds like it could have been released yesterday, always the sign of a classic.

DJ Spen & The Jasper Street Company - A Feelin'

RINDER & LEWIS - LOVE POTION #9

Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis helped to define the Disco sound that was coming out of Los Angeles in the late 70's with studio projects such as El Coco, Saint Tropez and Le Pamplemousse. Warriors was released in 1979 under their own names, and was the follow up to their Seven Deadly Sins album from 1977 (also released under their own names). I like Warriors because the whole thing is quirky right down to the album cover. Love Potion #9 is my favorite cut off the record, and I think epitomises the genius of Rinder & Lewis. It's a cover of a Liebler & Stoller song. The lyrics are playful, but the beat is hypnotic and solid. It's a nice juxtaposition between the silly (the lyrics) and the sublime (the killer groove). And that is what makes this song and album so good.

Rinder & Lewis - Love Potion #9

HARLEY & MUSCLE FEAT. INDIA - THEN CAME YOU

Merry Christmas all...Buff Italian duo, William Cataldo & Flavio Romaniello, otherwise known as Harley & Muscle, enlisted the help of one of the true house music divas in India and created Then Came You. I haven't heard India do a house record for quite a long time and it's great to hear her again on this. The production is soulful and beautiful, but minimal. It's perfectly designed for India's voice to soar; and she does, elevating this record into something quite special. These days I find a lot of (so called) vocal, soulful house records quite repetitive and generic. Then Came You is one of the rare exceptions. It's got that timeless quality I always rave about, and it's brilliant because Harley & Muscle keep things simple and just let India throw it down and do her thing as only she can. Then Came You was released as a white label promo on Soulstar Records about a month ago. I had a lot of trouble hunting it down as it was out of stock on every online record store almost as soon as it was released. However the effort was worth it. This is a future classic and I'm totally in love with it.

Harley & Muscle feat. India - Then Came You (Main Vocal Khanzada's Mix)

DENNIS PARKER - LIKE AN EAGLE

Dennis Parker's Like An Eagle has been recently brought to my attention (trainspotter that I am) thanks to the good folks at Firecracker Recordings (Linkwood and House Of Traps) who sampled the hook for their track Barely Eagle on the Firecracker 4 EP released earlier this year. Like An Eagle was the only album that Dennis Parker, formerly an adult movie actor, released for Casablanca Records in 1979. It was produced by Jacques Morali who is most famous for creating the Village People. Like An Eagle is a true disco classic full of sadness and longing, but it's all about the hook which of course truly soars and gives this song a really epic quality. Dennis Parker committed suicide in 1985 while suffering from A.I.D.S

Dennis Parker - Like An Eagle

MEIKBAR - FEELINGS

There's not much information at all on Meikbar a native of Amsterdam, who released this 12" in 2001 on Rush Hour Recordings. I really like this tune. It's funky, yet slightly melancholy with a jazzy, deep, textured kind of house sound and makes good use of an obscure sample that I've yet to pick. It's so good that it was repressed by Rush Hour again earlier this year. And that's the best part of this tune, it's got that timeless quality to it meaning it will still sound current and new in another 8 years.

Meikbar - Feelings