The name of this thing?! Is Hook! And Sling! There’s funk that only true heads can appreciate – some $500 7" that Keb Darge found in a shoe box. Then there’s the funk that perhaps too many people get down with – think Wild Cherry. Luckily, there’s a happy middle in between – funk for the discriminating ear that’s cool enough to make the 45 nerds smile but accessible enough to have your Aunt Betty shaking her ham hocks to it. The secret is in simplicity. “Hook & Sling” has become a Nawlins classic because it hits you on so many basic levels: true to name, it’s got hooks, i.e. a chorus that’s easy to sing-a-long to. Bo doesn’t overload the instrumentation either, just a little guitar and horns for flavor, and the “sling” might as well refer to the drummer who’s slinging out 20 sacks of premium, second line drum breaks. Put it all together and you got one of the best funk dance cuts ever made that doesn’t have the label “A James Brown Production” attached somewhere. Parts I & II on 45 with convincing Scram labels in TUF sleeve.

• music label: Funky Delicacies 2014

reviewed by O-Dub 04/2015