james polk

power struggle

Album : funk45.008a
Time : 204
Year:
Comments : funk 45s jazzman records funk45.001 the brothers seven - funky smunk / evil ways funk45.002 mickey & the soul generation - we got to make a change / give everybody some pt 1 funk45.003 the chefs - "mr. machine" part 1/part 2 funk45.004 the fabulous mark iii - "psycho" part 1/part 2 funk45.005 the "great" deltas - tra la la / stand up and be a man funk45.006 the fabulous originals - 'it ain't fair but it's fun' part 1/part 2 funk45.007 latin breed - i turn you on / hard to handle funk45.008 james polk - power struggle /just plain funk funk45.009 the soul lifters - hot, funky and sweaty / brothers and sisters funk45.010 the majestics - funky chick / coming on funk45.011 the pcs ltd - fast man / stickman funk45.012 arthur monday - what goes around comes around part 1/part 2 funk45.001 the brothers seven funky smunk / evil ways we have chosen our first release on the label with great care. the brothers seven hail from texas usa, and the two tracks either side of this great 45 are prime examples of utterly tough heavy duty deep funk, the kind that collectors, djs, dancers & funk fans around the world are screaming for! two very rare tracks on one wicked 45! if you're into deep funk then you cannot avoid having this record - the alternative is to spend well over 1000 to get the originals (if you ever see 'em) or spend many years wandering through the hot texas desert trying to find them!!! check it out - the first of many of the very best in hot, sweaty & funky 45s!! funk45.002 mickey & the soul generation we got to make a change / give everybody some pt 1 our second release on funk.45 follows exactly where the first release by the brothers seven left off: hard hitting & heavy duty funk from texas usa! and not only is this record the super heavy deep funk that you will only find on this label, but the two tracks on this wicked 45 have never been previously released! last year malcolm catto and myself were nosing around in texas. all of a sudden we stumbled across a lost master tape of a complete album by the legendary mickey & the soul generation that nobody knew existed! an incredible find from one of the hottest deep funk bands the world has ever known! famous for incredible funk classics such as 'iron leg' and 'get down brother', mickey & the soul generation cooked up hot, greasy funk for the obscure mr g label out of san antonio. and now, after having been forgotten for over 30 years, this music has seen the light once more, brought to you only on funk45!!! funk45.003 the chefs "mr. machine" part 1/part 2 our third release on funk.45 can only be described as an utter monster of a tune! as funk 45s go, this is also one of the rarest and most obscure of them all - only 500 copies were pressed on a tiny milwaukee-based rock label, making them notoriously difficult to find, so much so that you'd have to fork out over 1000 to get your hands on an original! like many groups the chefs were inspired by the early '70s robot craze, and 'mr machine' is one of the best examples of the tight, rhythmical funk that was the 'in' sound. in music we all know that 'practice makes perfect' - brothers don & fred had been practising drums and bass together since they were old enough to walk, the result is one of the tightest rhythm sections ever to be caught on wax! and as for the psychedelic guitar twangs that make the track, can you imagine a wilder sound to blow your mind?! this is a funk 45 that has everything you want: hard heavy deep funk for the listener, dancer, collector, everyone! funk45.004 the fabulous mark iii "psycho" part 1/part 2 if nothing else funk.45 number four certainly lives up to its name - psycho means nothing but wild, frantic and choatic - that's exactly what you get! throbbing uptempo bass, screaming wah guitar, frenetic percussion and a crazed flute solo all add to the insanity. funk 45 nutter dj keb darge has been driving his dancers mental with this tune for years at his infamous london sanitorium deep funk - now you can too! it was the summer of '69 and funk maestro james polk had just recorded a couple of tunes for his small twink label (soon to be reissued on funk45). one of his neighbours was a member of a local band called the fabulous mark iii. polk heard them play 'psycho' live and was promptly blown away. 'let's record that thing and release it on my label' he said. and so it was done - few funk recordings have ever been so utterly demented as this! funk45.005 the "great" deltas tra la la/stand up and be a man a short time ago i went down to keb darge's legendary deep funk in london. like everyone else i was struck down by the intensity of the music played there. but there was one tune keb played which stood out above the others that made me flip, no mean feat considering the quality that continually pops out of that man's record box. a quick word and i heard it was by the 'great' deltas. great tune, never heard of it! in fact, nobody had heard of it - keb had the only known copy! but thanks to the detective work of respected soul 45s dealer garry cape, another copy was located and the business tracking this mysterious band down began most people into funk 45s love a bit of wild hammond screaming away. a few heavy beats don't go amiss either. add some chicken-lickin' guitar and you're nearly there. put them all together with an infectious & heavy groove and you end up with this record. listen to it (click below!) and you'll see why i flipped. i just had to have it - now you can too! heavy heavy heavy hard funk - guaranteed! funk45.006 the fabulous originals 'it ain't fair but it's fun' part 1/part 2 the fabulous originals hail from dayton, ohio and they cut 'it ain't fair but it's fun' back in 1967 while still attending high school. produced by the drummer's grandmother, margaret harris, this record truly represents the enterprise and spirit of bands who made music for fun and the love of it - the song title itself is a comment on the ethics of the music business at the time. only 1000 copies were pressed, and needless to say they have almost all disappeared over the years, leaving original copies to have become prized collectors items. and when you hear the music, you can hear for yourself exactly why that is so a fast moving yet rock solid supertight bassline and choppy guitar are the rocks upon which everyone gets to solo, include an inspired maniac on the flute! wild and heavy funk with the sound where you just know they were really enjoying themselves, you even get to hear the shouts of jubilation at the end, listen through and you'll be joining in with them! funk45.007 latin breed i turn you on/hard to handle the latin breed were formed from the ashes of another band responsible for solid texan funk, sunny & the sunliners. unlike sunny, the latin breed had the privilege of recording in maverick producer manny guerra's famed amen studios in san antonio, with mickey & the soul generation watching on! although recording mostly tijano music, luckily for us they had the good taste to include deep funk in their repertoire too! this incredible version of the isley brothers classic i turned you on is an explosive combination of mexican heat, texan grit and super funky soul. pressed in limited numbers on guerra's gc label as a promotional tool for the newly-formed band, the combination of breathy organ, swaggering bass and perfectly arranged cantina horns give this version the edge. otis redding's hit hard to handle was also recorded in the same style, and both tunes feature the deep, throaty vocals of singer jimmy edwards. both tracks have long been known by clued-up funk djs as being surefire floorfillers. with a loud, heavy pressing on beautiful 7" vinyl, now's your chance to join them! funk45.008 james polk power struggle /just plain funk james polk comes from one of the most musical of american cities: austin, texas. there was and still is stiff competition amongst the numerous bands and musicians in the town, and in 1969 james polk managed to rustle up some of austin's finest to create his band the brothers. good enough for james brown himself to ask them to open for him, they promptly won the local talent contest 2 years in a row! polk then knew it was time to commit his sound to wax. in the spirit of many other funk 45s, polk bypassed the local and major record labels to release his music on his own label, twink records. trainspotters and clever people will notice that we have already reissued one twink 45, that being 'psycho' by the fabulous mark iii (see funk45.004). polk released two singles on twink, and we've taken the best track from each to form this extra super heavy funk double-sided single. it'll take you a long, long time and a fat wallet to collect the originals, but we've done the hard work for you - check it out! 'power struggle' is an uptempo stormer with polk on organ and bass, yvonne joseph's wailing vocals making her point known. 'just plain funk' is a loping head-nodding deep funk groove that'll leave you looking to the sky craving an explanation as to why this fantastic band didn't record more like this. funk45.009 the soul lifters hot, funky and sweaty / brothers and sisters nearly all funk collectors will agree that one of the tightest lps ever made was maceo & all the kings men doing their own thing. this lp was released on the tiny independent label house of the fox, run by the late lelan rogers from his studios in nashville. rogers had the foresight, bravery and good taste and to release this lp by maceo and his pals following their departure from the james brown band. they were without doubt one of the hottest bands the world has ever known. lelan rogers certainly had a good ear for good funk. he even released a 45 by eddie bo under the moniker curley moore & the kool ones. but what were interested here is the soul lifters. their sound is harder than maceo!