Diversification of my Blogfolio

Vinyl rips seem to be popular around here lately, so I thought I'd share an album I recently transferred to digital for you dudes.



I recently discovered the 'Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story' compilation Strut released last year, which chronicles Island Records mastermind Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studio- based in Nassau, Jamaica. Many hit records of the 70s and early 80s were cut at this studio, but a certain contingent of studio musicians and producers carved out a unique sound there and eventually became known as the 'Compass Point All Stars.' This loosely-defined group was basically the house band for the studio, a Jamaican Nashville of sorts that instead focused on a dub-tinged pop/rock/funk/disco hybrid music. Many recognizable songs and influential albums were associated with the group- which consisted of duo Sly and Robbie on drums and bass, synth-guru/keyboardist Wally Badarou, and several other noteworthy session musicians. Their recordings include hit albums by Grace Jones, the Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Gregory Isaacs, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer, and a bevy of other notables.

Not too long ago I picked up the album soul/disco vocalist Gwen Guthrie recorded with the All Stars, which was produced by Sly + Robbie and features mixes by DJ legend Larry Levan. It's actually more like a mini-album, but features plenty of great material nonetheless- including jams like "Getting Hot" and "Seventh Heaven". See for yourself:

Gwen Guthrie - Padlock

01. Hopscotch
02. Seventh Heaven
03. Getting Hot
04. Getting Hot (prelude)
05. Peanut Butter
06. Padlock

ALSO--- I don't mean to be all spammy, but I'd really like to announce that I recently began writing for a new blog, which will likely end up taking the place of that new one I announced a few posts back. It's called Disco Horror, which (as you may have guessed) is all about house/beardo/disco/balearic type jams and is more of a traditional, single-track-posting kind of blog. It's updated quite often, and you can always trust that the stuff they post will be of super high quality. Check it out, I even posted a new all-vinyls mix for your listening pleasure!

Z for Zafra

A little background helps for this post. H&L Records is a soul and disco outpost that broke off from Avco records in the late 60s. They founded their label on Philly soul balladeers the Stlyistics, who threw down some major jams like "Betcha by Golly, Wow," "Break up to Make Up," and "You Are Everything." Those guys made an indelible mark on the Philly sound for the 70s. check the youtube

Other notable H&L jams include Van McCoy's little number called "the Hustle," Sandy Mercer's You Are My Love, and the Softones' "Call it Love." Needless to say, you guys have most likely seen the memorable orange label in your crate-digging over the years.

Z for Zafra is a one-off for the H&L label. The record is soul-disco gold, and the cuts "Now That I've Found You" and "IF You Never Wanted My Love" seem to have been the most popular songs from the album, fitting snugly into the label's more soul grounded sound. Not to bash the songs, they are great as they stretch down the middle between disco like "Dancin' Round the Clock" and funk like "This Cat's on Fire." Personally, I really love the disco funk of "This Cat's on Fire," the ultra-hook laden, late-night, Marvin Gaye-meets-the-Archies "Tell Me Baby" and the sexually charged jazz fusion of "Sweet Juice."

Something about the genre bending nature of this find really jumped out at me. Z for Zafra pulls from all reaches of the pop spectrum the way only disco has room for; the album is charged with Philly soul vocal harmonies, disco hooks, funky bass lines, dreamy synthesizer boogie, fuzzy guitar solos, and a blues/dub/reggae influence adding the strophic accent to the catchy composition of some of the choruses. This LP has definitely been on a high rotation in my apartment the past month, and I'm definitely spinning this every chance I get to DJ this summer.

Click below for download.
Z for Zafra (self-titled), 1978, H&L Records
side A
1. This Cat's On Fire
2. Tell Me Baby
3. Sweet Juice
4. Skateboard Shuffle
side B
5. I Can See That
6. Now That I've Found You
7. It's in the Music
8. If You never Wanted My Love
9. Dancin' Round the Clock

Blo - Phase IV

This was definitely the highlight of my finds at Good Records a few weeks back. This record sells for upwards of $200 on the interweb, so I was lucky to find it in G to VG condition at a super reasonable price. Phase IV takes the band's psychedelic funk to a Grandfunk or Sly & the Family level with hints of a measure of disco in this 1976 release.

Two of the members toured and played with Ginger Baker even before their first LP in 1972 got them voted best band in Nigeria. Their guitarist Berkely Jones, who contributed his soloing to the Ofege self-titled debut recently rereleased by Academy Records, has some remarkable work on this record. Drummer Laolu Akins really shines as well, where "Number One" starts out the B Side with some major breakdowns. They have been one of my favorite bands to get "resurrected" during this time of intense Afro beat reissuing. Their Chapter One LP is phenomenal, and would definitely fetch more money than Phase IV, but Phase IV is often referred to as the Holy Grail of Afro-Boogie (i mean, i read that once, and now that I have it I am definitely spreading the rumor).

Regardless,I haven't heard anything of theirs that I didn't love. Chapter One has a stronger psychadelic sound, seemingly closer to the Zombies, Dr. John, or even the Rolling Stones, while Phase IV displays the more distinctively funky sound that the band pursued after being dropped by EMI. Enjoy!

Side 1:
1. Trace of Suicide
2. Scandi Boogie
3. You're So Kind
4. Music Makes You Happy

Side 2:
5. Number One
6. Save Me (Vocal-Lynn Thompson)
7. Move Up
8. I Miss Your Lovin'

-this was my first time ripping from vinyl. Any suggestions for improvement let me know. I didn't have time to cut each track into individual tracks. You can easily do that yourself if you need to.

Heads Up!

Ahh, i love going on records shop tours. I was up in NYC briefly and just stopped in for a minute at Good Records. That link takes you to their blog, which is worth checking from time to time as they post downloads of rare albums that they actually have hanging on their walls. The store is well curated, they have a man on the ground in Nigeria sending crates of LPs to stock their shelves. Only downside is the prices. They know how rare stuff is and how much they can get for it on the internet. Good news is if you talk music with them for awhile they might knock off ten percent and throw in some of the dollar bin albums that line the floor. Solid collection of global releases, and most of the albums were in great condition. Worth noting the disco and hip hop 12"s and soul/funk sections as well (they also had a fair number of 45s that were deep cuts). Plenty of gems to be had, the best stuff ranging from $8 to $150.

My friend has a turntable that can digitize LPs, so I'm going to either upload the LP rip or the digital version of the records I snagged this morning. Finds include Blo (phase iv), Z for Zafra (wait till you hear this!), Quarteto Em Cy, Melvin Ukachi (bring back the ofege beat!!!), and Los Bravos. So check in later this week for some uploads.

Until then, here is a promo mix that Good Records put out called "Fire Keep on Burning: Afro Caribbean Funk & Deep Disco Heat."

ERIK'Z NEW BLOG

Check out my new PERSONAL blog- Live! At The Black Lodge- chances are it'll be updated FAR more often than this one.

And there are a couple dope tracks on there already!