Funky Street

Rip It Up, Issue 84, 1 July 1984, Page 28

Funky Street

Prince Purple Rain Warners In the year since Prince’s 1999 achieved bankable status, every identifiable Prince pose, scream, synth lick and production trick has been embraced by a multitude of black American acts. When you are that influential you can't recycle your last album because others, like Shalamar (with 'Dancing in the Sheets' on the Footloose soundtrack) have already mined your album for you. Prince copes with the situation his studio prowess allows him to exploit different rock styles (most notably neo-psychedelic/ post Hendrix excess) and engineer them to sound just like new. Purple Rain is more notable for its reincarnation of rock forms than funk innovation. As 1999 had a hit side, Side Two. with its extended mix of the single ‘When Doves Cry' and three other fine tracks is the hot side of Purple Rain. 'Baby I’m A Star' is a manic-paced rock dance number

and the title track is Prince's finest melodrama so far. On Side One, uptempo tracks Let's Go Crazy' and Computer Blue’ have obvious appeal, whereas the slower tracks are more indulgent. He deserves a Screamin' Jay Hawkins award for his unlistenable close to The Beautiful Ones'. With none of the filler one associates with a film soundtrack. Purple Rain is a very successful follow-up to 1999. Prince's wearing-my-eccentricity-on-my-sleeve meandermgs amuse and disturb but never drift by unnoticed.

Theatres will need a concert rig for this soundtrack. But will the movie be the biggest giggle since

the fantasy sequences in The Song Remains the Same ? Murray Cammick Nona Hendryx The Art of Defense RCA The dance track of 1984, is I Sweat (Going Through the Motions)', the track that opens The Art of Defense (a serious theme!) The tension is provided by another successful collaboration with New York musicians/ producers, Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn, also known as Material. Nona Hendryx once again provides the songs and the vulnerable, lone, assertive voice in the midst of Material's sparse, bleak funk.

It is ironic that Hendryx has written a 1984 dancefloor classic I Sweat' while her intense realism remains so different from prevailing "party party" notions. Yet 'I Sweat' is hope-drenched, defiant, inspiring in the 80s, as Gladys Knight's ('l've Got To Use) My Imagination' was in the 70s. On Defense, the emphasis is on rhythmic qualities 'To the Bone' (five minutes) opens Side Two, another tour de force, like 'I Sweat'.

The frontiers of funk probably lie less with Prince's colourful excess and more with exploring the basic beat. Material know this and rhythmic qualities are exploited to the full on Defense But sometimes the song suffers; the melody is underdeveloped and the lyric needlessly repeated on 'I Want You' and 'The Life'. The Art of Defense is a fascinating follow-up to Nona but it's confined by its theme it needs a track that doesn't fit, something different. However, it does feature Nona Hendryx's two finest moments so far and a sound refreshingly different from almost anything else on record. Murray Cammick Sheila E In the Glamorous Life (Warners) Ms Sheila is a talented singer who also writes all the songs and plays all the percussion on this strangely stylised debut album. This is a complex work on one level it's just a product from the "Starr Company" (aka the "Prince sound") with some tracks being taken beat for beat off 1999. and

on the other hand it's a reworking of 70s jazz-funk idioms. The instrumental ’Strawberry Strawcake' has that crucial Prince beat but is overlaid with assorted jazz rhythms an interesting development. Her voice has that special soul quality on the big ballads with Next Time Wipe the Lipstick Off Your Collar' standing out as something unique. The cover is in the form of a movie credits list with Sheila E as ’ director and "star" and if she keeps on making things as wild and wonderful as this, her future as a soul auteur is assured. This is funk ahead of its time don’t miss out. Kerry Buchanan Gap Band Jammin' (Polygram) A fave dance track from 1983 was the Gap Band’s ‘Party Train’ a six minute groove supreme. It's all here, along with ‘Shake A Leg' and ‘Jam the Motha’, both funk of the highest order. 'I Expect More’ is great mid-tempo material, although when these Oklahoma boys ain’t funky, they are bland, as on the ballads and 'Jammin' In America’. But with four hot tracks, that’s good value nowadays. MC Whodini Whodini Electro (Jive) We have all heard this before —. 'Magic Wand'. 'Rap Machine'. The Haunted House of Rock'

seminal works in electro-rap. You just couldn't escape "He's having a rap attack!” and all those thumping drum machine rhythms just leaping out at ya 1 It's well worth getting this collection of Whodini's work especially the extended mix of Haunted House of Rock', which wasn't released out here, and Nasty Lady', which is a crucial cut. It's interesting to compare the studio work of Thdmas Dolby and the Germanic Mr Conny Plank. Dolby is the more aurally interesting but Plank is more to the point he hits a mighty groove and Whodini ride it perfectly. A mini album of fresh rhythms and hot rap. KB Various Artists Essential Soul (K-Tel) A diverse collection of R&B classics, including early soul stars Ray Charles ('What I'd Say', 1959), Sam Cooke ('You Send Me’, 1957); earthy performances by James Brown ('I Feel Good’)

and Solomon Burke; Stax label artists Eddie Floyd, Rufus and Carla Thomas: and more predictable 60s soul classics like 'Dock of the Bay’ and . Land of 1000 Dances’. A very good introduction to the soul tradition, even though one or two tracks are later rerecordings by the original artists. Imagination MC Scandalous (Powderworks) These boys are the baddest! They have an even worse clothes sense than the Isley Brothers in the mid-70s! They leap out at you from the cover, dressed in what looks like ripped plastic garbage bags, all bulging thighs and meaningful stares. Imagination and their svengali producers Swain and Jolly have in the past made some great dancefloor hits like Body Talk’ and ‘Just An Illusion’, when the group’s voices and their producers' sense of dance music really worked. Unfortunately on this album, nothing much works at all. There are some truly tacky bits in ‘The Need to Be Free’ and "Point of No Return’ really hitting the pits. The “best” tracks are 'New Dimension' and the creatively titled 'Shoo Be Doo Da Dabba Doobee'. Various Artists KB Beat Street Soundtrack (Atlantic) It had to happen a Hollywood hip hop musical. The dance film genre is usually done for the benefit of white people (Flashdance, Footloose, etc) but this time there’s a black back beat. This soundtrack is interesting,, containing, among other things, a strange amalgam of Harry Bela-. fonte and Arthur Baker. We have some crucial chilled-out work Afrika Bambaata and the Sonic Sould for and Shango as they talk about a ‘Frantic Situation’, the System hitting hard with 'Baptise the Beat' and Melle Mel being the Grandmaster with "Beat Street Breakdown’. On the other hand, from the 'Endless Love' school of balladry, we have 'Strangers in a Strange World (Love Theme)', real wimpy stuff, and the Belafonteproduced ‘US Girls’, a fairly tepid rap. The major success of the album is a beautiful beat ballad from Cindy Mizelle called ‘This Could Be the Night’, which features a great Arthur Baker production. Overall,, a good soundtrack and not the sellout it could have been. I just hope that 12" versions of the Afrika

Bambaata and Cindy Mizelle songs come out so we can enjoy the longer versions. KB Malcolm McLaren Would Ya Like More Scratchin’? (Charisma) Can you stand it? Yet another remix of 'Buffalo Gals' ('DJ cut Special Stereo Mix’, no less)! This mmi-LP also contains two versions of D'Ya Like Scratchin?' and two of ‘She's Looking Like A Hobo'. Now I’m a great fan of dub and remix technology (X-ray music for the mind and body) but only if it extends the possibilities of the original. This is unfortunately not the case with these cuts, apart from the New York remix of Scratchin' ’, which uses contemporary beat-box rhythms and phasing to great effect, and Hobo Scratch', which has a crucial beat. But maybe all you want to know is can I smurf to it? The answer is yes. KB

Crusaders, Ghetto Blaster (MCA) I've never liked penthouse jazzfunk it reeks of jacuzzi pools and gold cocaine spoons hanging from the necks of the upwardly socially mobile. The Crusaders have always been a step beyond such things but of late their commercial viability has been slipping and, with the recent loss of drummer Stix Hooper, their future did not look too bright. Ghetto Blaster comes as a pleasant surprise. It's an album of commercial pop songs, jazzy dance music and even an Africantextured track. Most of the tracks have that easy mid-tempo funk feel with nice bubbling bass synth that reminds me of Marcus Miller's work with Luther Vandross. All this and my favourite cover of the year, a wonderful painting by Ernie Barnes. KB Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (RCA) For most, the only significance of this 1976 reissue will be the presence of August Darnell, now svengali of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Others may recall a very 1940 s single called Cherchez La Femme'. In this ensemble, Darnell took a back seat as lyricist and bass player, the mainstay being Stony Browder Jr. What you get is a very frothy collection of updated nostalgia, palm court orchestras and a lightweight Latin beat. I listened while cleaning the bog. DC