There Is No Knowledge That Is Not Power

Hello again - it's been a long time coming but let's play the fourth quarter and finish out aught nine strong. Get your good foot on this one and expect more bangers on the way:



Mona Raye - Do Me (1981) (buy)

Menagerie Shmenagerie

Say hello to Mr. Bill Withers. If you count yourself a fan of Dr. Dre, Tupac, Jay-Z, Kanye, Will Smith or the song 'Lean on Me' then you might already know him even if you don't know it. Don't let the vaguely stern look on his face there fool you - in 9 out of 10 smoothness contests his voice tops the even the leading baby's bottoms. Similarly, don't take my word for it, check out a couple of these tracks from Mr. Withers' 1977 album Menagerie. The first one has popped up in a few other places online recently (check the blog roll, fifth from the top), but I came upon a vinyl copy a couple of weeks back so here we go:



Bill Withers - Lovely Day (1977) (buy)



Bill Withers - She Wants To (Get On Down) (1977) (buy)

If you find your interest piqued check out the upcoming documentary Still Bill, directed by Damani Baker and Alex Vlack.

Showtime

Yeah, that's Lew Alcindor and yeah that's Bruce Lee. I never quite realized just how much Law from Tekken was based on the latter, and I think I just now got the gag of his first name being Marshall. Speaking of things I just got check out a couple of red hots I just ripped from Slave's 1981 album Showtime, the last from that group to feature Steve Arrington, a drummer/singer/songwriter/and later in life minister good enough to leave Slave and form Steve Arrington's Hall of Fame:


Look into that when you get the chance. First, a couple slabs o' Slave. 'Slap Shot' was the single, but I think 'Funken Town' holds up a little better three decades later:



Slave - Funken Town (1981) (buy)



Slave - Slap Shot (1981) (buy)

Spy On You

Never really been a huge fan of discoed up versions of older tunes but now and then the reworkings are worth the while. Case in point - Ultimate's 1980 take on Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan's Secret Agent Man. Barbara Hernandez, Riti Saunders and Deborah McGriff lay down choice Philly vocals while the Ultimate Players keep things moving. Three bass players, Ron Caesar, Vince Fay and Larrey Lebes are all listed on the record so I don't precisely who to credit there. The bass line is good enough that they might have had to sit down together and do some brainstorming. Or basstorming:



Ultimate - Secret Agent Man (1980) (buy)

Chops 'n Fudge

I don't know how this one could possibly have failed (it didn't so keep reading). Checking the credits you'll find not one or two, but four instrument sections forming like Voltron. Ones and twos from the Sabu Rhythm Section, Superb (direct quote) Background Vocals by Hot Fudge, string's from Davida's Gang, and horns by Hot Chops, not to mention Exceptional (same story) Lead Vocals by Gwen Jonae. They even went and got a bonafied Disco Mix Consultant (Rusty Garner). Run DMC Run:



Sister Power - I Like Watcha Do (1979) (buy)



Sister Power - Love Potion (1979) (buy)

Oh yeah and I guess for completeness' sake, as you might have guessed the group itself went by the name Sister Power. Nothing like keeping things legitimate.

Shak Fu

Gonna come right out and say it - today's nugs are all about the bass. If I had it my way there would be extended twenty minute bassapella versions of each of these tracks - brought to you by Japanese grammy award winning funksters Shakatak.



Shakatak - Round and Round (1985) (buy)



Shakatak - City Rhythm (1985) (buy)

Apparently the band had such a following in Japan by the mid 80's that they were asked to record an new album exclusively for that country's market annually. I'm sure somewhere out there you can track down how Shaq Diesel sold in Tokyo. Here's to shattered backboards.

Vaccine Machine

If there's any subject dance music lyrics focus on as much as dancing and all it entails (thinking about dancing, not being able to stop dancing, entering/exiting dance floors etc.) its having a fever, and so today I bring you not one, but two tracks exploring this timeless facet of the human condition.

The first one comes from record you see above and below:


That cover places a pretty tall order for the tracks inside to fill, but Giorgio Moroder doesn't write checks he can't cash. In 1978 he and Pete Bellotte, aka Munich Machine, tapped Chris Bennett to lay down the vox on the alb which included this ditty:



Munich Machine - Love Fever (1978) (buy)

If you're not careful with your boolean operators, you might catch a different love fever than you bargained for:





Gayle Adams - Love Fever (1982) (buy)

Sometimes diseases find you before you find them. The Gayle Adams strain seems to be especially contagious:



Agent Stereo - Luv Feeva (2008) (buy)

Gotta catch 'em all.