TITLE: Think (About It) 45
ARTIST: The Female Preacher Lyn Collins
LABEL: People 1972

An obvious choice. This is the track that kept us working late at night. You can say it's kinda our theme song. I can honestly say that this is one of the best productions ever made. With multiple bridges + changing drumbreaks, this is one complex groover. This track embodies the James Brown genius.

Lyn Collins is at her hyped best delivering wicked lines like only she can: "If it's not in your vision, don't make no decision." Words to live by. When I double up the 45s and it never fails to bring the house down.

If you don't know, this is the sample basis for "It Takes Two." This track is on the pretty common People lable.

TITLE: Alive
ARTIST: Grant Green
LABEL: Blue Note 1970

Blue Note at its fonkee best. This might be Green's best 70's album. A solid all the way funky LP. Side one starts with a cover of Kool and the Gang's funk monster: "Let the Music Take Your Mind." Green's interpretation is stellar fusing of a clean jazz foundation and straight-up funk. The horns here provide the off-kilter chorus that frames Green's blazing guitar solos. And with some hard drums by Idris Muhammed, this track is on fire.

Side two starts with a track Green is famous for: "Sookie, Sookie." You've probably heard this song before in some version, but the bottom line is that this track bumps. I played it a party last week and it had stiff whities gettin down and dirty. The combo of Idris' hard drums and a ...'s thumping bass line create a funk force. I know im using funk a lot in this review but it's describes this album perfectly. The second track on side two is a rare groove delight. The opening break is instantly recognizable as the sample from Tribe's "We've Got the Jazz" and 1A of Needle Thrashers 1. This track has a more laid back sort of groove.

All the players on this album are at their best, especially Green and Idris. A complete work. S'on fire tonite.

TITLE: No Need for Alarm
ARTIST: Del the Funky Homosapien
LABEL: Elektra 1993

Go tell your mother, Go tell your sister. One of my favorite hip hop full lengths. Lyrically wordplay at its best, don't really know if it's been matched yet. Del seems to have a way of rhyming thins that aren't supposed to rhyme.

Special appearances by Souls of Mischief, Casual, and Unicron. What ever happened to Unicron, I thought that kid was dope? Somebody told me that Unicron was really Del with some vocal effects. Go figure. Production is from out there, sampling truly hidden gems. I kinda wish Hiero stayed with this style of production.

I never see this lp on vinyl anymore. Pick it up if you see it and sell it on e-bay for jackpot.

TITLE: Give the Drummer Some More 45
ARTIST: Little Hooks with Ray Nato and the Kings
LABEL: Enjay 1969?

Found this 45 in DC. On the Enjay label with a bright orange label. Don't know much about these guys, but the track is a gem.

Can't go wrong with anything entitled: GIVE THE DRUMMER SOME. Starts with an unconventional break ripe for a new track. Then Little Nato comes in with: "Gonna give the Drummer some." Then he counts downs to three as the drummer lays down some deep drum rolls. Then Nato sings the chorus: "cause drummer ain't had none in a long time." Ahhhh... I love songs about the drummer. Apparently this 45 is super rare and worth $$$.

TITLE: The Skipper
ARTIST: Henry Franklin
LABEL: Black Jazz 1972

On the famed Black Jazz label. Black Jazz is one of the most sought after labels in digging. Some of it is overrated due to scarcity, but the special ones are some of the finest recordings in rare groove.To beat diggers Black Jazz is known for its unconventional rhythms over solid grooves (design heads will dig the most solid identity). Required listening: Gene Russell TALK TO MY LADY and The Awakening lps.

Henry Franklin is a little known bassist who briefly made it into mainstream jazz recording with Hugh Masekela and others. His best work however was with the Black Jazz label. Franklin has been popping up on comps for his track Soft Spirit (Tribe's THE HOP sample), but this track does him little justice.

On THE SKIPPER Franklin stays strong with some deep lazy but funky bass work. "Plastic Creek Stomp" is one of my favorite rare groove tracks. It begins with some heavy bass over some nice drum work. Then comes the slightly off-kilter horns manipulating the chorus in so many ways. This combination of the floating horns and the solid bass and drum foundation provides a unique groove. The juggular on this track is the final ten seconds where Franklin goes off over the drum track. Ripe for sampling and repeated rewinds.

Side two features one of the baddest breaks around. "Beauty and the Electric Tub" starts off with some ambient horn playing than busts into a super hard rolling drum break again perfect for sampling. Then Franklin comes in with another fat bass line. The track stretches out over 12 minutes keeping the same groove but getting more "out" with the horn playing. And finally ends in a frantic conclusion but all the while with Franklin's calm funky bass.

Highly Recommended.

TITLE: Studio One Presents the Battle of the DJs
ARTIST: Various
LABEL: Coxsone (says 1982, but I suspect more like 78)

Just to clear this up- in Jamaica, the mc's are actually known as "dj's". Their style originated from the live Jamaican sound systems, which would have one man to make the selections and one to announce the songs and get the crowd hyped. Of course as they became more popular, people like U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone emerged, revolutionizing the music by chatting over entire dubplates and pressing records of their own (cica 1967-71). The name "dj" stuck. So the chatters are still known as dj's and the people who play the records are usually known as selectors.

This really isn't a battle, but a live album recorded in a dance. Some of the greatest djs of all time are on here including Prince Jazzbo, King Stitt, Lone Ranger and Dillinger. The sound is super heavy with some of the great dancehall rhythms to come out of Studio One. Sir Coxsone's Sound at it's best. My favorite track is Dillinger's "Take Me to Jamaica Where the Collie Come From". The song begins with Dillinger chatting a bit acapella and then firing up a spliff on the mic. "Yuh done fire de supa?" The recording quality is also excellent for a Jamaican pressing (the vinyl is about two inches thick) and I haven't ever seen another copy.

TITLE: Afro-Desia
ARTIST: Lonnie Smith
LABEL: Groove Merchant, 1975

This record is really varied in it's content. There's some excellent straight ahead jazz ("The Awakening") and a little disco-jazz that's cool, but the killer for me is the 15 minute "Spirit's Free" where the musician's really get loose. Yes my man Ron Carter is on the bass...

After the intro there's a great drum break and bass solo that sets the tone for the madness and really should be sampled by now. Ron just keeps moving strong from there. He stays with the theme, but reworks his lines constantly. Funk straight from the bottom. Great cover too (with extra help from previous owner Peter Lewis "What the FF?"). I got this in a dollar bin in Boston..

TITLE: Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires
ARTIST: Scientist
LABEL: Greensleeves, mixed at midnight Friday the 13th, 1981 (Grel 25, for anyone counting)

Produced by Junjo Lawes, backed by Roots Radics, engineered by Scientist, mixed at King Tubby's 1981: a rhythm lovers dream combination. One of my favorite dub albums of all time. Most of the rhythm tracks come from the Wailing Souls' Waterhouse Rock album and were also used on Toyan's How the West Was Won. All on Greensleeves, all from the same time period and all amazing.

Great album cover (in case you can't tell, that's Scientist on a boat blasting rhythms at the monsters from behind his mixing console) and the monster theme runs throughout. The first time I realized how crazy this record was I was laying in a hot bath with the record turned up. I had to jump out an pull it back. The best track is the first one on the second side (Toyan's "Capitol Offense") where Scientist rewinds Toyan's lyrics and fires up the bassline. This is the curse of the zombies!

TITLE: DJ Clash Vol. 2: Little Harry Vs Billy Boyo
ARTIST: Little Harry and Billy Boyo
LABEL: Greensleeves 1982

The baddest youths to ever grip a mic in a studio, these guys were talkin about drinkin Heineken, smokin lambs bread, meeting ladies and doing homework way before The Youngsta's, Kris Kross, or Da Brat even thought about pickin up a mic. I think they were both about 12 when they made this album. Look at that photo! Badass kids. Backed up by the hottest dancehall rhythms of the time (produce by Junjo, backed by Hi Times) these guys knock out any dj competition.

As far as I know, both Little Harry and Billy Boyo were murdered a few years after this came out, so there is not much other material around by them. "Billy Boyo in de area...murderah, Likkle Harry in de area....murderah."

TITLE: I Left My Wallet in El Segundo b/w Pubic Enemy
ARTIST: A Tribe Called Quest
LABEL: Jive, 1989

First of all, a great record from a great time period. Brings back good memories (remember that video?). Luckily I picked this up when it first came out, in Providence. B-side wins again: "Pubic Enemy Remix" is one of my all-time party rockers. It's got the bass line from "Bounce, Rock, Skate,Roll" that gets the crowd jumpin and the ladies wigglin. Just watch out though: "in the mornin/ woke up from sexual pleasures/ looked at my sexual partner/ her pretty face showed fright" Yikes!

Not too much hip hop vinyl was being pressed back then, so this one is pretty hard to find now. Clear green vinyl too.

Whoo taught you hairy palms?
NEXT ISSUE: Joe from Desco Records