A trio of
albums from Jimmy Castor – complete with bonus tracks too! First up is Butt Of
Course – a funky funky classic from Jimmy Castor – a set that kicked off a
tight run of records for Atlantic – and which firmly established his rep as a
master of 70s funk! The sound of the set follows nicely from Jimmy's work on
RCA – some of the fuzzy "Troglodyte" guitar work of those years, lots
of earthy rhythms on the bottom, and Castor's trademark sense of wit – which
was firmly in place even during his Latin Soul years! There's a few smoother,
sweeter moments too – but these all come off nicely – and as always, Castor's a
one-man soul music machine – able to handle plenty of sounds and styles with
effortless ease! Titles include "Bertha Butt Boogie", "E Man
Boogie", "Hallucinations", "Let's Party Now",
"Potential", and "One Precious World".
On Supersound, Jimmy
Castor bursts forward with a groove that's different than his fuzzier work for
RCA Records, but still equally funky throughout! Castor's still quite the
multi-instrumentalist on the record – as in addition to singing lead, he plays
plenty of soprano sax and timbales – the latter of which have this great
skittish energy that really pushes the grooves forward strongly! And although
the timbales are quite different than in Jimmy's earlier Latin work from the
late 60s, there's a definite Latin-izing element in the way they're used – kind
of an "it's not heavy enough – let's add more percussion" approach to
the core 70s funk styles of the combo! Tunes are nicely quirky, and have a
sense of humor in keeping with the cover – and titles include "Magic In
The Music", "Supersound", "Bom Bom", "King
Kong", and "A Groove Will Make You Move".
E Man Groovin is a
great extension of the funky style that Castor first started forging at RCA –
touches with plenty of Jimmy's multi-instrumental touches on tenor, alto, and
timbales – and given that great monster-inspired approach to lyrics – which
ensures that the whole thing stays plenty vivid throughout! Vocals are nice and
rough, and the instrumentation is heavy on basslines and clavinet – on titles
that include the two part "Dracula", plus "Super Love",
"I Love A Mellow Groove", "E Man Groovin", "I Don't
Want To Lose You", and "Space Age". 2CD set features bonus
tracks – "Space Age (12" disco version)", "King Kong (part
1)", "Supersound (7" version)", "The Christmas
Song", "Merry Christmas", and "Bertha Butt Boogie (7"
version)". ~ Dusty Groove
No comments:
Post a Comment