Larry Ellis & The Black Hammer
Album : FUNK45.014
Time : 367
Year:
Comments : Its 1am and youre all ragged and jet-lagged from flying half way around the world. You swagger into a fancy retro club, a bottle of beer is thrust into your hand and some headphones jammed onto your head. The club is hot and sweaty inside and rammed with expectant looking faces, but the dancefloor is empty. You know that there is only one record that you can pull out of your box capable of creating an instantaneous hotpants-drenching-explosion-dancefloor-madness. You scramble through your record box in search of that mesmerizing black and silver, star covered label, the perfect start to any funk frenzy there it is - now you have it in your hand: Larry Ellis Funky Thing Pt. 1. The patrons shuffle back and forth nervously, you drop the needle and an earth-shattering organ screams through the smoke-filled air. Suddenly the entire room is transformed into a mind-blowing psychedelic freak-out session ala 1969
This recording came about by accident. Larry Ellis and his Black Hammer band were in their clapped-out van on their way to the recording studio in upstate New York. The van broke down on the way and cost them a few hours, but they managed to limp their way to the studio before it closed. Theyd booked a long session, but by the time they got there, there was only 30 minutes left to record! Larry plugged in his B3 and the guys set to work. They launched into Funky Thing, their regular warm-up tune, but no sooner had they finished than the studio engineer called it a day luckily he had the tapes rolling, and this record is the result!
But really, this record is no warm-up. Its hotter than jalapeno peppers fried in jalapeno oil in Death Valley on a summers day on Pam Griers ass. Warm up your dance floor and watch the dancers sweat play Larry Ellis!