Ah, another killer funk set dragged from the corners of obscurity by the Licorice Soul label. John Wagner was a 70’s studio producer who’d worked with various funk / R&B outfits, and – having been exposed to the music of one James Brown from an early age – thought he would produce an album of cover versions which would have a much broader market appeal than their immediate R&B base. So he put together a band of session musicians and worked his way through standards like “Sex Machine”, “Aint’ It Funky”, “Cold Sweat”, “It’s A Man’s World”, et al, creating a funk fusion album that sounded like nothing else around, then or now. Raw in attitude, yet polished in delivery, the posturing James Brown-like sound that results – powered by heavy percussion and earth-moving bass – is possibly the best album the hardest working man in show business never even recorded. Superfly alternatives to evergreen classics, this is one to dig on forever and a day.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: DARREN WALL
