Funk Brothers Music

THE BROTHERS Johnson have Grooves For Days here.TOgether with Quincy Jones they Created Monster Jams.In the Pocket Grooves Guitar&Bass.Strawberry Letter 23 Swings&Grooves Like Nobodys Business.STOMP Is So Raw.Music Like this is Sadly Missing Today.

The Brothers Johnson are truly one of the best groups of the seventies and eighties. Their melodic funk has graced more dance floors than Donna Summer. They certainly should be gracing a lot more even now, if we were still into quality music, but we are more concerned with dubbing and reproduction than originality.

There's something about this album that just makes you feel good. The sounds are nostalgic but still fresh. It's mood music that you can turn up the volume and dance to. Pure gold.

I LOVE OO-SOUL.... I Have seen them play all over the Los Angeles area, and they just get better and better. The DRUMS are incredible. So Creative and Consuming.
Doble-O is my favorite song on this album.. the drum solo at the end. Check it out for yourself.. YOULL LOVE IT!!!!
*****FUNK LIVES*****

This CD is even better than the last. I love these guys. So much fun to dance and party to. Thanks again guys!!

Frankly, I never thought that I'd see any of these tracks appear in CD form again.They were originally issued mainly as 45's on on the SeventySeven record label, an album from the same label called "Loving You, Loving Me", tracks from a Monument album called "The beginning" and some subsequent releases on the Sound Stage 7 label which appeared at the end of the 1970's. Since when she appears not to have recorded any more tracks.This is a great shame because this album reveals her as a fantastic performer who could handle a diverse range of styles. It helped that the arrangements for all the sessions were handled empathetically with great brass charts, strings and backing vocals wherever they were recorded (Greenville and Memphis are mentioned in the sleeve notes).She seemed best suited to the slower material, where although performing in her own style, performances are redolent of Shirley Brown and Ann Peebles. Of the up-tempo tracks I rate "I had a fight with love"as the best.However, when she tackles material like "I'm his wife (you're just a friend),"I want to be loved" and especially the brilliant "Be Serious", she is really convincing, adding new dimensions to the 'hurt and neglected woman' genre. It's disappointing that the last known contact that the sleeve note writer had was a 1979 magazine article,because the artist and the album both deserve a much wider audience.If she is still with us, she'd only be 54, and a voice like this might well have matured and have an enormous amount of potential left to realise.If you are looking for an album to go with the purchase of your Joss Stone album, take a chance on paying out a few dollars to get your hands on this fantastic album, and bring the singer to a wider audience!

Prior to purchasing this cd, the only Eddie Henderson album I was familiar with was Sunburst. That cd is decent but these Capricorn albums are superb! I find myself listening to these two great albums more and more. If you are a fan of Bitches Brew or Mwandishi, it's a no-brainer. Grab this one before it disappears.If these albums ever see the light of day again they'll probably be sold separately on some import label for more money.

Realization is one of the most important works from the fusion era, grand in scope and vision, and flawlessly executed. More melodic and ethereal than Miles Davis at his best, Eddie Henderson's Realization has a spiritual center that the Prince of Darkness never achieved (though he came close in Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way). The backup band, essentially the Herbie Hancock band at the time, goes off the charts, and Henderson is ahead of them all the way. Arguably the most beautiful jazz album recorded. Also worth buying is Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings. Same band. Same sound. Same quality.

Yea, baby this is the real stuff. Bless you Soul Brother
Records for re-issuing these long lost masterpieces on cd.
Dr. Eddie Henderson (he's a psychiatrist) is a BAAAAAAD
horn player. [...]. Most of
the Mwandishi band is here (minus Julian Priester on trom-
bone) along with Pat Gleeson twirling his electronic
knobs. It all meshes so well. So timeless and so forever,
it could have been recorded yesterday. Brilliant music
for open minds and ears. Pure perfection. You go Doc.

Because the two albums that are reissued here -- combined in their entirety onto one CD -- have been out-of-print for so long, REALIZATION and INSIDE OUT are relative unknowns in comparison to the most acclaimed fusion-jazz era CDs by the likes Of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, and others. Yet after several listens to this collection I'm seriously pondering if trumpeter Eddie Henderson may have done the best job of them all in highlighting the strengths and creativity of the fusion era while avoiding its weaknesses and excesses. At the very least the albums collected here should be counted alongside the best 1970s efforts by those other artists I mentioned. It's great to have this music finally available in CD format.

Much of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band -- including HH himself on keyboards -- are in on these sessions. Yet given that Henderson wrote most of the tunes and has his own distinct ideas on how to focus the diverse textures that comprise this electric-meets-acoustic jazz approach, it would be unfair to look at these cuts as Hancock sessions issued under Henderson's name (as sometimes might be the case due for contractual or other reasons). As for the music, you get consistently brilliant playing by Henderson, equally strong statements by reedman Bennie Maupin, Hancock, and others, timeless instrumental textures (where you might find a combination of acoustic bass, fender rhodes, and synth washes blending seamlessly together), and a bold mix of funk and straight-up jazz rhythms. Despite all that is going on, there is a uncluttered sense of wide-open space on these tracks. Also, while the musicians are in a progressive frame of mind, the results should be easy-to-grasp for anyone who doesn't have an anti-electric jazz bias.

This is a brilliant CD. You'll think you have died and gone to heaven. If you love electric era Miles or Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band you'll love this. (Actually this is the Mwandishi band!)

It would've made sense to review vol 1 first but since I own most of those tracks already, it wouldn't make sense to review a CD I don't have. But if you don't own any of the songs on the first volume to Leroy's anthology, by all means get it.

In any case, I found vol 2 to be an excellent anthology of this underrated muti talented artist. Out of all of the r&b/ disco artist, Leroy burgess music is the most down to earth. His music was more aimed towards feel good times in the hood more than the posh atmosphere of a discotecque . It also helps that he was artist more influenced by soul music than pure dance thus foreshadowing the house music movement by several years. But of course if you're a dedicated Leroy fan, you know that already!

If you don't buy this anthology for anything else, buy it for Black Ivory's "Mainline". This forgotten gem has all of the elements that a classic disco/house songs should have; warm strings, soulful vocals,and a chunky drum beat holdin' it all together. And the climax of the song-"nothing is the same, every since you became my baby" ends the track perfectly. The classic one two punch by Convertion is here " Let's do it" and "Sweet thing". One of the more interesting track is Class Action's remix of the Phreek's "Weekend". Their version sounds just as good as the original and stands as one of Larry Levan's best remix moments. He strips the original of all of its disco gloss and gives it a funkier hip hop edge. Suprisingly, it works well and the synths at the break adds a stuttering type of effect that would've impressed any break dancer from the Bronx. Much respect due to Christine Wiltshire for being able to bring back the same magic that made the orginal a instant classic (and added some more in the process). Even when dives deep into the 80's He's still able to keep a ton of soul in his recordings. Check for "100%", "You can do it" and "Fly Girl" to catch 80's r&b music without the watered down excess that defined it during the pre new jack swing era.

While there's no weak tracks on here some of the tracks could've used improvement. Black Ivory's "Hustlin" is the laziest track on here as they sound burned out after "Mainline" (it's a coincidence how Hustlin track comes after that highly energetic song). "You dazzle Me" could've used a Tom Moulton or Larry Levan remix as the original sounds a bit flat and hides the beauty of the song. With "Summertime", Leroy's slow and awkward delivery keeps it from being the standout track it could've been.

Those flaws aside, Leroy Burgess "Vol. 2 : The Producer" more than shows why he's one of the most highly regarded producers of his time in underground dance music. The quality of the music more than compensate for the few detours. The import may be a little pricey but for beats this phat, the satisfaction is no less than "100%".