More Adventures of Funk Soul Brothers

• Artist: Various Artists
• Release Date: May 25, 2004
• Total Time: 57:45
• Type: Collection (various artists)
• Genre: Rock

Review

Like several other funk and soul compilations from the Union Square umbrella of labels, this offers 1960s and 1970s soul-funk hybrids from names both legendary (Curtis Mayfield, the Meters, Joe Simon, Lee Dorsey), way-obscure (Leroy Hutson, Clemon Smith, Skull Snaps, Natural Four), and somewhere in between (Cymande, Alvin Cash, Billy Butler, Eddie Bo, Pee Wee Ellis, the Five Stairsteps & Cubie). The quality of the material varies, too, but overall it's a worthwhile and eclectic compilation, though some might find its focus too hazy. Certainly a few of these 16 cuts have relatively little of what many listeners would classify as "funk," and a whole lot more of the smooth grooves associated with sweet soul. If you're willing to be relaxed about definitions that some adhere to more rigidly, there are some mighty cool cuts here, like Alvin Cash's quite late-'60s James Brown-ish "Keep On Dancing"; the British Afro-reggae-influenced Cymande's "The Message"; the quite pleasing, if derivative, New Orleans funk of Eddie Bo's "We're Doin' It (Thang)"; the more esteemed Crescent City funk of the early Meters on "Chicken Strut"; and the Five Stairsteps & Cubie's Curtis Mayfield-penned "Love's Happening," which is in the main a nice harmony soul ballad, but topped with psychedelic space-ship electronic swirls. Then you have a couple genuine big fat famous hits in Joe Tex's "I Gotcha" and Joe Simon's "The Chokin' Kind." The proceedings do drag a bit during the few mid- to late-'70s cuts with a glossier sheen, and the sole Curtis Mayfield track, 1980's "Tripping Out," is a disappointment, as he'd passed his prime by that point. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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