Funk Brothers Music

M Detko is right on the money. "Some Skunk Funk" is one of the best jazz-rock tunes of all time. Michael Brecker's scorching solo on that song is mind-boggling. Bozzio never sounded better. This album was made at a time when creativity and complexity in music was not considered crime. If you find this disc anywhere, buy it!

Listening to this album was almost as good as sitting in the "Bottom Line" club in New York, digging it live again! Ah the memories! My personal condolences to the Brecker family... I too will miss Michael and his music very, very much.

This is just an absolute JEWEL. Zappa fans will recognize Terry Bozzio in addition to the Brecker brothers themselves, and MAN, what a combo! Michael Brecker just shreds on every solo, and Randy finds nuances with the "electric trumpet" that have never been heard before or since. Some will want this for the novelty of the electric tenor sax and trumpet, but there are FINE examples of modern BeBop solos here, over a high-powered rhythm section that kicks and jumps all over everything the soloists lay down. This is the kind of rhythm section that can make ANYBODY sound good, but the Brecker brothers talent is unmatched; a combination that presents an order of magnitude. Bass players NEED to hear Neil Jason, and guitar players NEED to hear Barry Finnerty on this. Blistering tight unison lines will prove once again why Zappa saved his most intricate horn passages for these guys, and why you won't hear them at tempo with anybody else. I sincerely hope for more of this largely unexplored flavor of jazz. I haven't found anything else that quite measures up to this.

This is the most incredible music ever, no BB album has surpassed this. A live album with Terry Bozzio having just joined the band after leaving Frank Zappa. The version of Some Skunk Funk is worth the whole price. Phenomenal! Will leave you out of breath and panting for more. One studio track kind of ok, an attempt at top 40, but the rest is - wow! Line up is guitar, bass, drums and Breckers. Randy plays some organ and uses a harmonizer to add 5ths and 4ths to his trumpet, so it sounds like more than just 2 horn players. Just hard to imagine what this would have been like to see live. Too bad it wasn't a double album when it was released in the late 70's. I want more of this!

Who said white boys can't play funk. This album just blows your mind with an explosion of Brecker Brother magic!A must for any fan of this studio duo.

M Detko is right on the money. "Some Skunk Funk" is one of the best jazz-rock tunes of all time. Michael Brecker's scorching solo on that song is mind-boggling. Bozzio never sounded better. This album was made at a time when creativity and complexity in music was not considered crime. If you find this disc anywhere, buy it!

Listening to this album was almost as good as sitting in the "Bottom Line" club in New York, digging it live again! Ah the memories! My personal condolences to the Brecker family... I too will miss Michael and his music very, very much.

This is just an absolute JEWEL. Zappa fans will recognize Terry Bozzio in addition to the Brecker brothers themselves, and MAN, what a combo! Michael Brecker just shreds on every solo, and Randy finds nuances with the "electric trumpet" that have never been heard before or since. Some will want this for the novelty of the electric tenor sax and trumpet, but there are FINE examples of modern BeBop solos here, over a high-powered rhythm section that kicks and jumps all over everything the soloists lay down. This is the kind of rhythm section that can make ANYBODY sound good, but the Brecker brothers talent is unmatched; a combination that presents an order of magnitude. Bass players NEED to hear Neil Jason, and guitar players NEED to hear Barry Finnerty on this. Blistering tight unison lines will prove once again why Zappa saved his most intricate horn passages for these guys, and why you won't hear them at tempo with anybody else. I sincerely hope for more of this largely unexplored flavor of jazz. I haven't found anything else that quite measures up to this.

This is the most incredible music ever, no BB album has surpassed this. A live album with Terry Bozzio having just joined the band after leaving Frank Zappa. The version of Some Skunk Funk is worth the whole price. Phenomenal! Will leave you out of breath and panting for more. One studio track kind of ok, an attempt at top 40, but the rest is - wow! Line up is guitar, bass, drums and Breckers. Randy plays some organ and uses a harmonizer to add 5ths and 4ths to his trumpet, so it sounds like more than just 2 horn players. Just hard to imagine what this would have been like to see live. Too bad it wasn't a double album when it was released in the late 70's. I want more of this!

Who said white boys can't play funk. This album just blows your mind with an explosion of Brecker Brother magic!A must for any fan of this studio duo.

"Heavy Metal Be-Bop" is a land mark fusion recording. The first tune is from the studio and the rest are recorded from a smoking live set. "East River" is the studio tune and is vocal. The song has a funky bassline and is fun but compared to the rest of the disc it is out of place. The rest of the disc is unreal. The band consists of Neal Jason on bass, Barry Finnerty on guitar, Terry Bozzio on drums, Michael Brecker on Sax, and Randy Brecker on trumpet. "Inside Out" is a Randy Brecker tune and Randy, Michael and Barry all have some fun with it. The tune is basic (For the Brecker Brothers) and they all play over the groove set by Bozzio/Jason. "Some Skunk Funk" is another Randy Brecker composition and a classic. This is one of the funkiest tunes that I have ever heard and the brothers play some of the greatest horn lines that you will ever hear. There are also some unison lines and the power of the band is on par with metal. "Sponge" is another funky piece and it features the explosive drumming of Bozzio. The band trades fours throughout Bozzio's rhythmic wizardry. "Funky sea, Funky Dew' is a Michael Brecker extravaganza. He takes the studio version and improves on it. Not only is his playing during the song great but there is a solo at the end that is amazing and then he is joined by just the bass of Jason which elevates him to a level that is beyond words. "Squids" is the closer to this set and has the brothers ,once again, playing over some serious funk. This disc is one of the greatest I've ever heard and is the greatest Horn orientated fusion disc ever. I only wish that there were more than five live songs but those five are worth any price. As highly recommended as anything can be.

JULY 2008 REVIEW: I purchased this particular box set a little over a month ago, and I must say: it does NOT disappoint. You really can't complain; although the box set was released several years ago, and therefore the early 1990's CD mastering here isn't necessarily as strong and powerful sounding as a 2008 mastering might be, the tracks presented here are bright and clear. Approximately 100 tracks fill out this 4-CD box set, and most of the songs are winners. And they are presented here in their original mono sound mixes as originally released (an apparent problem for some reviewers here, but I had no issue with it; the songs sound the same as they always have). I was certainly surprised upon listening, track after track, that I was familiar with almost every song on the set. And this many songs for the price!?! Right now, you really can't beat it.
I am very aware of the new MOTOWN box sets chronicling every "single" released over the years ("The Complete Singles Collection-1967" for example), but at roughly 100 bucks each, those exhaustive sets are very pricey and really only for hardcore Motown fans (and I for one would love to collect all of those sets one day, but purchasing the entire 1960's collection would run over one thousand dollars!!).
With this box set, of course everything cannot be represented, but a 100+ song collection for (as of now) 35 bucks is a real bargain for a casual fan looking for a basic overall Motown song experience.

After visitng the Motown Museum, this complilation of hits was just what we needed for great memories. Takes one back to their dancing days!

I was a little torn about whether to purchase this box set. I already own many of the cuts. But there are so many great songs from the time when I was a huge Motown fan that I decided to get it. Putting all the hits (and not just the most familiar) together makes for a fun collection. It is great to listen to while at work or on the road.

The Motown Hits Collection is absolutely marvelous! It is a varied collection of memories and history of music in the 60's and 70's from the African-American perspective. It is music for those who enjoy excellent musical arrangements,clear and wholesome lyrics, and music that is filled with love and inspiration from the Motown writers, arrangers, and singers. Above all, it is tribute to Barry Gordy who founded Motown when our world was in racial and political turmoil. He reached in and made some sense of it all. Thanks to him, Smoky Robinson, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford and Simpson, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terell, Kim Weston, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, The Marvelettes, Martha and The Vanellas, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and The Pips, Diana Ross, and many others for making this magnificant music that we have today. This music is timeless and universal. It's guaranteed to please, to soothe, to stimulate, to conjure up memories, and to entertain your deepest sense of pleasure. Sit back, quiet your mind, listen, snap your fingers, stomp your feet as you journey into a galaxy of historical and musical delight.

This set was PURPOSELY mastered in all mono, for the uninformed complainers among you! These are the tracks THE WAY THEY WERE ORIGINALLY RELEASED AND THE WAY YOU STILL HEAR THEM ON THE RADIO TODAY!

Motown had been releasing stereo versions of these songs on CD for YEARS starting in about 1985-86. Many customers complained that those were NOT the versions they had remembered hearing, in the 1960s OR the 1980s (on oldies radio). The artists' voices sounded wrong, for one thing. That's because the stereo versions were usually NEW recordings made with the artist RE-SINGING the song--and they sounded different--not the way we remembered. So, Motown in 1992 brought in top remastering engineers to go through the original tapes and re-master the original hits, the way they were originally cut, as SUNG originally.

This set represents the fruit of those efforts, and it is SUPERB. The mono recordings at all times have more punch than the stereo verions, since the stereo cuts were made for albums compiled LATER. The stereo effect itself was often a phony "stereo-like" dilution only, not true stereo. The true hit versions are what you hear on this unrivaled set.

The complaining reviewers here simply have no idea about the history of this set, which was a MAJOR project undertaken to bring back the best and ACTUAL sound, period.

My only concern . . . "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye was, as I recall, the name of a song and its album. It was released on the album first, hence the mono version on this boxed set (which isn't as smooth and is more "funky" to me), was the afterthought version. While mono, it's NOT the original, so I don't see why it's here.

Otherwise, the only omission of real substance on this set appears to be some of the early Supremes hits . . . though, to me, if anything has been overplayed for years, those were the songs, and hence were the best choice to be omitted.

This set is the definitive Motown box set, ESPECIALLY CONCERNING AUDIO QUALITY. Those who desire stereo are just asking for the inferior versions. And those versions were available for years, because the Motown executives interviewed in the early 1990s indicated that they thought (wrongly) that stereo would be preferred on CD, even at the expense of having the true hit versions. They admitted their error, sought to correct it, and this project is the end result.

This CD is quite simply one of the very best cover projects that I've ever heard... The silky smooth vocals from the one and only Chazz Dixon are nothing less than ethereal... The production and musicianship of Two Brothers Records Founder "J" are more than worthy of paying tribute to the music made famous by the legendary "Funk Brothers" of Motown fame... These are not your typical "run of the mill" variety covers of Motwon hits... No, these are some of Motowns best "Under the radar" hits!! True connoisseurs of the Motown sound will appreciate the love & care taken to bring back these not quite so well known songs to life... To the casual listener, get ready to get down!! When you purchase this CD, listen to it prior to reading the credits and see if you can pick out the original song included on the CD!! Chazz & "J" have taken these songs to a whole different level while staying true to the originators... Hitsville's legendary "Funk Brothers!" Stand out tracks for me include, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, You Must Be Love, & That Won't Stop Me (From loving you) I applaud this latest effort from Da' Soul Recordings Artist Chazz Dixon & highly reccomend it.

Now I love Joan, she can sing like a ringing a bell, but this album stinks. It's one thing to perform your take on a classic song, but these tracks are producer updated with fake drums and other instrumentation that doesn't fit the legacy of these songs. NG for no good.

It's difficult to write a review of Joan's work because I'm rather biased about this woman. You see, the sound of her voice weakens my knees and causes me to smile uncontrollably. I could listen to Joan sing the phone book and still be be reduced to weak-kneed smiling fool. What a voice! What an artist!

Some people like cover tunes, other don't. For me, a cover tune is great when the new artist puts a unique spin on the orginal "classic". Given that, I say that this disk is a top-ten favorite in a very large CD collection. Joan molds each of these songs into her own, yet the quality of the orginal "hit" is still to be found. I wish more artists would focus on re-doing some of the excellent songs that are already out there, rather than feeling like they should penning original tunes (most of which are average or below). BUY THIS CD!

I find it impossible to believe that this album is getting any poor reviews. I play this in the car, and can't keep from dancing in my seat! I play it when I'm down and need a lift. Great arrangements, and her version of "War-What Is It Good For," should be playing on every radio station in the country.

I recently bought this CD after hearing (and liking) "I'll Be Around" on the radio. I was impressed by Osborne's earthy vocal style on her "Relish" CD a few years back, so I figured an album of classic soul covers by her might be pretty good. Sad to say, I found this CD somewhat disappointing overall.

To my ears, Osborne's delivery on this CD sounds like that of a good hotel lounge singer--technically competent but emotionally superficial. Too often, she sounds like she is coming from outside the songs (i.e., performing them), rather than from inside (i.e., living them). The worst examples are "Think" (delivered in a passionless rapid-fire monotone) and "The Weight" (delivered awkwardly, as if she doesn't even understand, much less feel, the lyrics).

To Osborne's credit, she gives several of the tunes new readings that give fresh life to the material. She slows down "How Sweet It Is" and gives it a touching plaintive quality. Her pop song reading of Jimi Hendrix's trippy "Axis: Bold As Love" is totally unexpected and amusing. Her Bill-Murray-lounge-lizard reading of the Vietnam-era anti-war song "War" is so surreally campy that it forces you to pay attention to the words.

There are several solid covers here, including "I'll Be Around," "Smiling Faces," and "Why Can't We Live Together." However, "These Arms of Mine" probably best captures both the strengths and weaknesses of this CD. The opening verses are gorgeous, with Osborne's soft, aching vocal commanding your attention over a spare musical background. But when the song gets to the bridge, which demands that the vocalist build to a big emotional climax, Osborne fails to deliver. She never lets herself go, and the song just peters out.

I notice a number of prior reviewers rave about Osborne's "soulful" vocals here, and I have no doubt that these people are sincere. I think it boils down to a matter of taste and cultural background. If you like music with the rough edges sanded off, Osborne's interpretations may help you appreciate some classic soul songs you would otherwise ignore. If, however, you are a serious fan of R&B, you will likely find this a pale imitation of the real thing.

I discovered this after discovering the song Fifty Yards of Soul on the stellar album Raw Funk and learned about the Whitefield Bros. Fifty Yards is in my opinion one of the strongest funk numbers of all time -like one reviewer said, if you're not moving to it you're dead.
This album however, is on an entirely different plane. These songs have the same elements - stripped back sound, ridiculous beats, Meters-like interplay - but is much deeper, experimental in its rawness, almost trancelike funk. It sounds both primitive and futuristic. Very fun to sink into after multiple listenings. Wow.

LA funk team again !
Same as soul investigator but from east coast...
Good and cool sound.

I just discovered this whole world of funk revival and i love it. This album is laced with heavy funk beats, ... trumpets, funky flutes and more. A couple tracks take it back to the Afrikan roots, incorporating tribal chants. It gives the album more diversity to the edgy yet repetative beats. It sounds just like another day of jam sessions at Soul Fire records.
I got this album when I was in New York City over the summer and was on a search for funk record stores. I mistook Soul Fire for a retail shop and found myself at this low-key apartment studio in Upper Manhattan where all the Soul Fire recording is done. They mainly put out 45s so the guy there gave me this CD and a 45 of my choice.
I also highly recommend one of my favorite joints of all time on the 45" "Answer Me Softly" by Fabulous Three which recently appeared as 45 of the Month in Big Daddy Magazine (an awesome source for funk and hip hop fans)

Nu funk is gonna bridge the generation gap between the old and new school... and I'm telling you this from the perspective of a high school student. Support indie labels and the cool people at Soul Fire and check this album out.