Search - Fatback :: Fired Up 'N' Kickin'

Fired Up N' Hard Pressed To Get Funkier!

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 03/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is strangely devided into two halfs-the 'freak party' side (aimed at disco lovers I guess) and a 'foot stompin' side for funk fans.There is one little problem here though:almost the entire album is FUNKY BEYOND ALL BELIEF!!!"I'm Fired Up","Boogie Freak" and "Get Out On The Floor" are highly rhythmic grooves filled with clapping percussion and wild bass/guitar interaction that couldn't have LESS to do with disco or anything like it!Of course by time we get to the foot stompin' stuff we've been treated to a warm cover of the classic love song "At Last".Then back to the show with two double funky WHAMMY's with seven plus minutes of "I Like Girls" with it's lightly JB-ish rhythm and the manic "Snake"-the whole shabang ends off with the surprisingly high quality ballad "Can't See You".So what would I say if one wanted me to make a judgement call on this album?Well I would say this:over the past two years I have just gotton into Fatback they have recorded some true funk and soul classics and never seem to have made a bad album but some of the albums I do have by them have a small ammount of filler,almost always in the form of a ballad or a slow jam.On 'Fired Up 'N Kickin'' there isn't any and for any longtime Fatback fans out there this will remind you why you liked the band so much in the first place.If you've never had any Fatback in your funk,soul or R&B collection and want a full lengh CD then this is the first one I'd recommend!There are others for sure such as the wondefully grooving 'Tasty Jam' from '81 and the primal 'People Music' from '73 or even 1983's electrofest of 'Is This The Future?' but this particular album has that unique quality of thourough consistancy that some of their other albums lack."