Charlie Funk – Give Me A Groove (True Groove) EP REVIEW

Charlie Funk 3BROOKLYNโ€™S TRUE GROOVE label reignites the halcyon days of the half-serious/half-fun political/sociological parties best exemplified by Princeโ€™s New Power Generation (NPG) and the Parliament/Funkadelic collective. The extension is natural, as Charlie Funkโ€™s Give Me A Groove features performances by former P-Funk All-Stars members Michael โ€˜Kidd Funkadelicโ€™ Hampton and Amp Fiddler, on guitars and keyboards respectively.

Produced by James Dellatacoma and Tomas Doncker (whose The Mess We Made I reviewed here), we are served up more superb arrangements and tight exposition of such that Iโ€™ve come to expect from the label self-described as global soul. Give Me A Groove being Charlieโ€™s EP-length solo debut, comes across primarily as aimed more at a dance market, in contrast to Donckerโ€™s politically savvy protest album. As a result the EP is lighter fare with apparent focus on song and more on getting butts off seats.

Thatโ€™s not to say that tracks like โ€˜Itโ€™s Not A Jokeโ€™ and โ€˜Lunch In Babylonโ€™ donโ€™t point in a lyrically political direction, but the ideas are couched in less dominant funk grooves that allow the lyrics to make their subtle but non-laboured points. Technical treats tickle the fancy nevertheless, like the chord in โ€˜Itโ€™s Not A Jokeโ€™ that fades in under the trombone solo at 2m:23s and hangs over the tri-tone modulation – An ear-pleasing transition of a high order.

Charlie Funk 4The trackโ€™s angular and ear-teasing horn lines help to delineate, as do โ€˜Lunch In Babylonโ€™โ€™s chromatic chordal moves and crunchy lead guitar slices that bring to mind classic Parliament/Funkadelic anthems like โ€˜Iโ€™ve Been Watching Youโ€™ and โ€˜Miss Luciferโ€™s Loveโ€™. Speaking of guitar, the title track opener with its Prince-like True Groove self-references features a solo that suggested I was being introduced to โ€œMy little friend the Blue Angelโ€. Now thereโ€™s a deep reference for those that get it.

Towards the end, the inclusion of the Tom Jones chestnut โ€˜Itโ€™s Not Unusualโ€™ confused me a tad, but added an unexpected dimension to an already sonically rich collection otherwise authored by Funk, Doncker and the east-side True Groove tribe. PETER KEARNS

Sound =4/5

Music = 3/5

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