Search - Village People :: In the Street

The SECOND best Village People album

Harry Wang | 12/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Next to "Renaissance", this is the best VP album. It follows closely on the heels of "Renaissance"'s ground-breaking, eclectic sound and vision. You really can't compare the two, although they are somewhat related. Like "Sgt Pepper" was related to "Magical Mystery Tour" in a way, but it was a totally different album with a different feel to it, and its own sort of "vibe" with different songs. Just like "Magical Mystery Tour" shows that the Beatles had grown up and "learned" from the psychedelic experiments of "Sgt Pepper", so too does "In The Street" have remnants of the "Renaissance" era, but with a new twist.



This was the Village People's attempt at hip-hop, but not rap. One look at the cover and you can tell that these guys are coming to break-dance. The boom box on the shoulder, the whole brash, excellent New York attitude, it's all there, they look like a bunch of b-boys coming to battle Rock Steady Crew at the Roxy or something. It gets you prepared for the first few tracks which are SONIC FUNK BOMBS. Many of them are elongated funk jams that rival Parliament-Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" and James Brown's 1970's output like "Make It Funky" and "Hot Pants".



The break in James Brown & The JB's "Give It Up or Turnit A-Loose" is one of the best pieces of funk ever, but this is even heavier. The instrumentation is OFF THE HOOK funky and no one will be able to sit down during songs like "Success" and "Radio Freak". "Success" is a little better, with a sleek bass line that sounds like Bootsy or Busta Cherry Jones. In fact, "Spaced Out" sounds like Talking Heads' "Remain In Light" it is so loose and FUNKY, and just builds and builds. Many bands around this time (the Heads being one of them, Blondie, even The Clash tried it) made an attempt to match the new hip-hop sounds with their own style, and this one deserves a spot among all of them. How this album is out of print but The Clash's "Sandinista" gets 5-star reviews is beyond me, because "Fox On The Box" is as good an album opener as "Magnificent Seven" is from that album. This album is right up there with the crucial 80's releases, and the production is so heavy that you'll swear you were listening to George Clinton.



This is good, hard funk played excellently by a group of musicians who branched out and blew away alot of the bands from that time, but because everyone focuses on YMCA, no one wants to look at the true talent lurking beneath this classic. Buy It.

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