Search - Various Artists - R&B/Soul - Funk :: The Funk Box

4CDs, 15 Years "Bring In The Funk" On Hip-O Anthology

Anthony G Pizza | FL | 02/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Despite being incomplete even at 53 songs over 4CDs (each more than 75 minutes long), Hip-O Records' "The Funk Box" is a first-rate collection from one of music's most beloved, fertile eras. It celebrates exceptional bandleaders (James Brown, George Clinton), songwriter/poets (Gil Scott-Heron, Curtis Mayfield) and arranger/musicians (Hamilton Bohannon, Barry White, Roy Ayers). It's a musical thesaurus of rap, rock, and hip-hop samples used the last 20 years (the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Talking Heads used these recordings as textbooks). Mostly, it salutes some of the hardest-working, tightest, most organic self-contained bands one era enjoyed.Wrapped in crushed maroon velvet, introduced by an informative Steven Ivory essay/personal recollection, "Funk Box" re-introduces a style minimalist and expansive, up-to-the-minute urban reporting next to supernatural cosmis debris. Depends which disc you play first: James Brown's musical family hits fast and hard on Discs One and Two with the JBs' "Pass The Peas," co-vocalist Bobby Byrd's explosive "I Know You Got Soul," Lyn Collins' Tammi Terrell-sounding "Think," (a hip-hop cornerstone quoted by everyone from Rob Base to John Mellencamp), and Brown himself on "Sex Machine," "Give It Up," and 1974's thrilling "Payback." The slamming bass beats, scatting horns and deep Southern soul vocals cover the gamut lyrically, admonishing ("What Is Hip," "For The Love Of Money"), sexually teasing (lone entries from White and Rufus, Chakachas' forthright "Jungle Fever"), lamenting ("Slipping Into Darkness," "The Bottle," "Future Shock," with Curtis Mayfield's line, "The price of the meat/worth more than the dope on the street...") , or inspiring ("Express Yourself," Cymande's "The Message"). You also get intriguing funk instrumentals from unlikely sources: "Outa-Space" originally a Billy Preston B-side, Marvin Gaye and Jermaine Jackson's tracks originally from films, the satin-smooth mid-70s Temptations erupting with "Shaky Ground."Discs three and four would see the funk torch pass from Brown to George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic mothership. This may stem from inability to license Clinton's early-70s Westbound Records LPs like "Maggot Brain" and "America Eats Its Young." (or for that matter, early Ohio Players hits like "Funky Worm.") Discs Three and Four suffer lyrically (Fatback's "I Like Girls" is plain sloppy and annoying) but remain astounding musically: R&B #1s from Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy's Rubber Band, Brick's "Dazz," (with first-rate sax and flute solos), Walter Orange's witty, funky vocals on "Brick House," Steve Arrington's Hendrix-ish guitar soloing on "Slide," Rick James' staking his own claim to funk dominance with "You And I" and protoge' Teena Marie's "Behind The Groove."You still want more. The paucity of Brown and P-Funk tracks here are understandable given that both artists' catalogues are still in print. But a "Funk Box 2" could include more Ohio Players, Isley Brothers, Kool & The Gang (represented here by one track each), plus less remembered artists like Dyke & The Blazers, Mandrill, King Floyd, Jean Knight and Betty Wright (whose "Clean Up Woman" featured one of the funkiest rhythm guitar leads ever waxed). Even Stevie Wonder could contribute the influential "Higher Ground." Those can wait for the sequel. For now, "Funk Box" guides, glides and slides you through the 70s earthier, more influential dance music which had neither disco's tragic romance nor rock's industrial strength, but better playing, singing and, at best, vision than either. Essential for the 70s party, but also check out K-Tel Records' occassionally available "Super Bad" and "Super Bad Is Back" compilations from the era."

WOW!!! FINALLY THE REAL THANG!! THE FUNK IS HERE!

11/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How can I express the excitement? It's all here, finally, in one very exciting and beautiful boxed-set. 4-CDs full of Funk an soul. James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Rick James, Curtis Mayfield, Gap Band, Kool & The Gang, Graham Central Station, WAR... the list goes one! ALso, the velvet box and supercool packaging is the bomb. A true collector's item. The is gonna be my #1 holiday gift to all my friends and family. This anthology goes through the decade (and a half) that is know in my house as the FUNKY seventies. There's some rare gems on here too (i.e. James Brown's "Give It Up Or TurnIt A Loose (Undubbed Version)," Roy Ayers 12" Mix of "Runnin' Away," and Cymande's classic Funk Groove "The Message," which shows up less than their "Bra" single these days. If you listen closely, you'll hear where Prince, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, D'Angelo, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, even George Michael got their sound from. It's all here brothers and sisters. So do yourself (and yours) a favor and pick this up now. It's really well priced, considering the very expensive packaging (Slammin' 50-page, full color book with all kinds of really cool photos and funky graphics (animal prints and all!). They've made this a LUXURY FUNK package. It's so beautiful, I already have on display in my office (everyone is funkin' to it too!). Everyone is on this. A true Funk Essential."

I GOT LIFTED FROM THE FUNK BOX! GET THE FUNK BOX!

Anthony G Pizza | 12/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"FUNKY. PHUNKY. THE BEST BOXED SET I'VE EVER OWNED. GIVE ME SOME MO' FUNK. OVER 50 CLASSIC TRACKS (AND SOME I DIDN'T KNOW) FROM DEEP IN THE FUNKLOSET. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE PARTY STARTER...THE ORIGINATOR...ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE. EXTENDED AND FULL VERSIONS OF EVERY TRACK. THIS BOX AIN'T MESSIN' AROUND SO CATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN. THAT UNRELEASED VERSION OF JAMES BROWN'S "GIVE IT UP" IS AMAZING. THIS IS SO GREAT. AND THE VELVET BOX AND AFRO PICK LOGO IS SOOOOO COOL. BIG UPS ON THAT! YOU HAVE A WHOLE 50-SOME PAGE BOOK IN THERE TOO AND THE COOL THING IS: THERE ARE 2 PAGES OF OTHER FUNK TITLES AVAILABLE ON THE MARKET. SO I'D SUGGEST YOU RUN OUT (OR GET IT HERE LIKE I DID) AND GIT THIS SUCKA B4 CHRISTMAS. EVERYONE IS GONNA WANT THIS."