Supersonic Boogie - A Snap, Crackle & Pop Disco Mix

Dirty sounds for basement dancers:

Supersonic Boogie by Mr Tear on Mixcloud

You might want to put it on your walkman, in which case you can download it HERE.

Rap Tracks - Various Artists (1982)

I've seen this compilation a few times in various boot sales and charity shops over the years, but this morning it was going particularly cheap so I thought I'd better give it a try. I'm so glad I did because every track (nearly) is a winner! I'm particularly loving the spaced-out slippy disco sounds of the Funk Fusion Band, this one really hots up after a minute or so of jazz-fusion noodling:


Also loving Count Coolout's fabulous bassline:


Anyone who enjoyed the Genius of Rap that was posted a while back should consider giving this a listen.

Tracklist:

01 Frankie Smith - Double Dutch Bus
02 Funk Fusion Band - Can You Feel It (Progressive Version)
03 Captain Sky - Station Brake
04 Count Coolout - Here To Stay (Me And My Double R.R.)
05 Doctor Ice - Calling Doctor Ice
06 Midnight Blue - Enjoy With Me
07 Treacherous Three - Put The Boogie In Your Body
08 Disco Four - Do It, Do It

Get it HERE.

Mandrill - Solid (1975)

Mandrill were a psychedelic funk band from Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1968 their sound was a heady brew that threw funk, soul, rock and latin influences together. In the early '70s their sound was characterised by energetic funk jams with acid guitar and mindblowing percussion breakdowns, by the time this album was released their sound had become a touch smoother...still cosmic though, and still funky.

Here's a clip of the band playing live on Soul Train in 1973:


Tracklist:

01 Yucca Jump
02 Peck Yer Neck
03 Wind On Horseback
04 Tee Vee
05 Solid
06 Stop & Go
07 Silk

Get it HERE.

Get Up and Get Down! - Various Artists (Philips 1974)

Absolutely top notch collection of rare mid-'70s funk, soul and disco. The record contains some sweet northern soul like this one from Brother's Guiding Light:

It also has a sprinkling of street-tough ghetto funk like Etta James' stunning 'Out On the Street Again':

My very favourite though (and also one of John Peel's all time favourites) is this classic from Don Covay:


Tracklisting:

A1	Act One -	Tom The Peeper
A2	Brothers Guiding Light -	Getting Together
A3	Al Downing -	I'll Be Holding You
A4	Joe Tex -	Cat Got Her Tongue
A5	King Floyd -	Can You Dig It?
A6	Aaron Neville -	Hercules
A7	Cissy Houston -	Midnite Train To Georgia
A8	Annette Snell -	You Oughta Be Here With Me
B1	Whispers -	A Mother For My Children
B2	Roy C -	Got To Get Enough (Of Your Sweet Stuff)
B3	Etta James -	Out On The Streets Again
B4	Joneses -	Hey Babe (Is The Gettin' Still Good)
B5	Don Covay -	It's Better To Have (And Don't Need)
B6	Ohio Players -	Streakin' Cheek To Cheek
B7	Dramatics -	Choosing Up On You
B8	Little Anthony & Imperials -	La La La At The End

Get Up and Get Down HERE.

Genius of Rap - Various Artists (1982)

This is a great archive of sounds from that delicious moment when hip hop burst out of New York's ghettoes in a blaze of spangly disco grooves and delerious, sharp tongued swagger. Here's a clip from the 1984 BBC documentary, Beat This, which featured all the great dj's, mc's, breakers and bombers of the time:

This film certainly caused a stir in my school playground, and you can watch the whole thing here.

Tracklist:

01	Twennynine Featuring Lenny White -	Twennynine (The Rap)
02	T-Ski Valley -	Catch The Beat
03	Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde -	Genius Rap
04	Afrika Bambaataa & The Jazzy 5 -	Jazzy Sensation
05	Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five -	Superappin'
06	Bon Rock & The Rythem Rebellion -	Searching Rap
07	Tom Tom Club -	Rappa Rappa Rhythm
08	Compass Point All Stars -	Peanut Butter

Get it HERE.

George & Gwen McCrae - Together (Cat Records 1975)

Great Miami soul from George and Gwen McCrae. This album swings between the smooth soul sound of songs like 'You and I Were Made for Each Other', and the dirty, sex-funk of songs like 'Mechanical Body' or 'The Rub'. Gwen McCrae has a really fantastic voice and this album has been getting a lot of play in my house over the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

A little taster:

Track list:

01 I'll Do The Rockin'
02 You and I Were Made for Each Other
03 Mechanical Body
04 I'm Comin' At You
05 Let's Dance, Dance, Dance
06 Winners Together, Losers Apart
07 Home Sick, Love SIck
08 The Rub
09 Let Your Love Do the Talkin'

Get it HERE.

Carl Craig - The Detroit Wizard (1991 -1996)

Its hard to believe that two of these records are 18 years old. I was working in a record shop back in 1991 when Carl Craig's 4 Jazz Funk Classics was released, and it pretty much blew my mind, opening me up to a whole host of musical possibities. These records pretty much defy categorization. They rode in on the back of the Detroit techno invasion, but the sonic palette employed is coloured with a range of sounds and rhythms and textures that were unique in the dance music of the time. Carl Craig draws on a disparate range of influences that includes funk and soul and disco, cosmic italo, industrial, rock, jazz, modern experimental composition; the whole of musical history is probably in there somewhere, distilled down into a dizzying gritty mess of euphoric confusion. Perfect for Interplanetary Disco Dancing:


The tracks:

69 - 4 Jazz Funk Classics (Planet E 1991)

01 69 - Ladies & Gentlemen
02 69 - If Mojo was A.M.
03 69 - My Machines (pt 1)-Extraterrestrial Raggabeats (pt 2)-My Machines (reprise)
04 69 - Frequency Finale

69 - Lite Music (R&S 1994)

05 69 - My Machines
06 69 - Microlovr
07 69 - Jam the Box
08 69 - Desire

Innerzone Orchestra/Shop - Untitled EP (Planet E 1992)

09 Innerzone Orchestra - Bug in the Bassbin
10 Shop - Nitwit
11 Shop - Surreal

FRS - Harder (Global Cuts 1994)

12 FRS - Harder
13 FRS - Love is the Message
14 FRS - Theme from FRS

Carl Craig presents Paperclip People - The Floor (Open 1996)

15 Paperclip People - The Floor
16 Paperclip People - Reach
17 Paperclip People - Steam

Get it HERE.

Bohannon - Bohannon's Best (Brunswick 1975)

Hamilton Bohannon was a drummer, a band leader and producer who started out with Motown in 1965 working as a drummer for Stevie Wonder and as an arranger for many of the label's top acts. Bn 1972 Detroit was no longer a booming centre of industry, but a symbol of urban blight and post-industrial decline; poverty, deprivation, rioting and crime all played a part in creating a new image for the city as one of the most dangerous in America. In 1972, Motown Records left Detroit to Los Angeles. Hamilton Bohannon stayed behind to form his own band with other Motown refugees. The resulting music is some of the uncompromising dance music of the era. This stuff was popular in the inner city discos and dancehalls, but there is nothing fluffy about these rhythms. This is hard-edged, stripped down, lean and aggressive dancefloor funk, rough and dirty, the real sound of '70s Motortown.

Here's a little taste:

Track list:

01 The Stop & Go
02 Keep on Dancing
03 South Africa Man
04 Disco Stomp
05 Truck Stop
06 Getting to the Other Side
07 Footstompin' Music
08 Happy Feeling
09 The Pimp Walk
10 Have a Good Day

Get it HERE.

B.T. Express - Non-Stop (1975)

The Discotizer is here to Funktify ya! This is some killer ghetto funk from the Brooklyn Trucking Express. Dirty disco from the wrong side of the tracks. Guaranteed to get the party started, this album is fun, fun, fun from start to finish.

Track list:

01 Peace Pipe
02 Give It What You Got
03 Discotizer
04 Still Good, Still Like It
05 (They Long To Be) Close To You
06 You Got It I Want It
07 Devils Workshop
08 Happiness
09 Watcha Think About That

Get it HERE.

The Detroit Emeralds - Feel The Need (Westbound 1977)

The title track here will be familiar to many people, gorgeous soulful dancefloor R&B that I'm loving on these warm days. I often find that the b-sides of these '70s soul or funk albums are weaker than the a-side...that's certainly the case here, but side one is pretty great all the way through, though I'm sure you're more than capableof mking up your own mind.

Tracklist:

01 Set It Out
02 Take It or Leave Me
03 Feel The Need
04 Wednesday
05 Love For You
06 Look What's Happened To Our Love
07 Sexy Ways
08 Love Has Come To Me

Get it HERE.

Disco Unusual - Various Artists (2002)

12 killer cuts of ghetto disco. This isn't your glossy Studio 54 stuff, it's the tough funk of the block parties, the sound of 1970s inner city America. Personal favourites here are the groovy 'Peace and Love' by Brooklyn People, the Funkadelic cover by the New Ghetto Express and the fabulous 'I Can Do It' by Louise Freeman.

Check this amazing documentary, 80 Blocks from Tiffany's about gang life in the New York ghettos.

Tracklist:

A1	Sam Peake & Metropolis	Metropolis
A2	Brooklyn People	Peace And Love
A3	Spaceark	Do What You Can Do
A4	New Ghetto Express	Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
A5	Ross Carnegie & Co	Open Up Your Mind
A6	North By Northwest	Disco Unusual
B1	The Projections	Groovin To The Music We Play
B2	C. Henry Woods Troupe	The Stranger
B3	Louise Freeman	I Can Do It
B4	East Coast Connection	Summer In The Parks
B5	South Side Coalition	Get Off Your Seats And Jam
B6	The Endeavors	Who Shaft Where

Get it HERE.

A Cheeky Little Disco Mix

Tracklist:

01 Goody Goody - It looks Like Love
02 Salsoul Orchestra - Love Break
03 Montana Sextet - Heavy Vibes
04 First Choice - Love Thang
05 Salsoul Orchestra - Nice 'n' Nasty
06 The Winners - Get Ready (for the future)

If you like it, you can download it HERE.

Coati Mundi - The Former 12 Year old Genius (1983)

This is the 1983 solo album by Coati Mundi, vibraphone player and founder member (along with August Darnell) of Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band and Kid Creole and the Coconuts. The humour, creativity and potent latin-funk grooves associated with those bands are all on proud display on this great album. Listening to this immensely enjoyable and polished record, its easy to forget that these disco groups were part of the same New York Mudd Club scene that spawned artists like Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth or Nan Goldin. The album features a great cover version of Captain Beefheart's Tropical Hot Dog Night and the (maybe) egalitarian proto-house classic Pharoah (can't take it to the grave) that was included on Strut Records' fantastic Kid Creole compilation last year.

Tracklist:

A1		Sey Hey!
A2		Oh! That Love Decision
A3		Beat Back The Bullies
A4		Como Esta Usted?
A5		Everybody's On An Ego Trip
B1		Prisoner Of My Principles
B2		Pharaoh (Can't Take It To The Grave)
B3		I'm Corrupt
B4		Hold On To That Lovely Lady
B5		Tropical Hot Dog Night

Check it out HERE.

Big Break Rappers Party - Sounds of New York U.S.A. (1980)

A fantastic compilation of early hip hop and slippery disco from way back in 1980, all lovingly produced by Peter Brown of P&P Records. Includes Spoonie Gee's classic 'Spoonin' Rap' and Cloud One's 'Patty Duke'.

Tracklist:

01 Scoopy - Scoopy Rap
02 Family - Family Rap
03 Cloud One - Patty Duke
04 Johnson Jumpin' - Johnson Product

05 Chain Reaction - Dance Freak
06 Spoonin Gee - Spoonin' Rap
07 Woody Wood & the Wood Crew - Woody Rap

Get the fresh sound of the Harlem block parties over HERE!

ElectroBoogieDiscoFunk

Now the party season is upon us, this is for your dancing feet. Just press play...

Tracklisting:
01 Was Not Was - Tell me that I'm dreaming
02 Aurra - Get In the Mood (To Groove)
03 Electrik Allstars - Groove the Box
04 Slave - Slide
05 Jimmy Bo Horne - Is It In?
06 Jimmy Castor - Don't Do That

If you like,the mix can be downloaded here.