Funky Funky Baton Rouge: Rare and Unreissued Baton Rouge Funk and Soul 1968

• Artist: Various Artists
• Release Date: 2003
• Type: Collection (various artists)
• Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

While the New Orleans funk and soul community has deservedly been the subject of numerous retrospectives and compilations, it was hardly the sole Louisiana city to midwife the groove. Baton Rouge was host to its own small but thriving scene, as well, and even if none of the four acts documented on this excellent entry in Tuff City's Funky Funky series achieved any kind of national notoriety, the music certainly deserves revival. Somewhat surprisingly, the Baton Rouge sound owes little to its Crescent City counterpart, instead boasting a heavier, rumbling groove far closer to the New York/New Jersey funk ideal -- this is deep, driving music geared toward connoisseurs of bone-rattling basslines and thick, chunky drums. Highlights include Earnest Jackson's "Hogwash," Underground Express' "I Never Found a Girl," George Perkins' "Groove Making," and the brilliantly named Black Blood & the Chocolate Pickles' "Mississippi Mud." ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide