Review: Princess Freesia - The Rainbow Ride

There's a saying, "never judge a book by its cover", or in this instance, "never judge an album by its cover", but when I saw the cover of this album, I had a feeling it would be excellent, and as I listened to it, I was damn right about that! It most certainly is excellent!

Princess Freesia was born over in Australia, but has since come over here to dark and damp England and is assigned to the UK label "Digisoul", working with Soulpersona who released the album entitled "The Lapdancer" in 2011. One year later in 2012, Princess Freesia released this album, "The Rainbow Ride" also on Digisoul, in which she was both singer and songwriter to all the material on this CD.

"The Rainbow Ride" as an album is a beautiful spectrum of really luscious funky grooves, which as Princess Freesia put it on the liner notes, "each track has its own personality". Yet as any beautiful rainbow appears in the sky, all different colours shine together perfectly, and this album hangs together in the exact same way. There are so many audible influences going on in this album: one moment there's a strong presence of a retro jazz-funk, and then the next moment Princess Freesia is dropping a 90s style drumbeat, but everything hangs together with the same boogie feel. It's obvious by the cover and the overall late 70s/early 80s boogie feel that this album is strongly retro, and here at The Flagship For Funk, we ADORE those who go unashamedly for the retro, but Freesia also manages to keep a modern and digital feel to the whole project without the classy retro feeling being compromised in any way, which is just awesome! The production and engineering is also flawless on this album, giving the tracks the richness of sound that they deserve, and giving the best of both retro and modern.

Princess Freesia has a fantastic voice that sets the grooves alight time and time again. Her vocals are similar in sound to Pauline Wilson of Seawind, but Freesia has her own style in her own right which matches perfectly with her equally fantastic groove making abilities! And damn, the grooves are tight! 13 tracks of brilliance! Immediately she locks onto the classy early 80s boogie feel with her second track "Gonna Be Allright"; a nice paced dancer with a totally relaxed ambiance that hits the peaks of brilliance for modern soul and funk. After which, the third track, "Stellar Sight" is a marked contrast. It has the sounds and the feel of an early 80s slowjam; the kind of song that would be on a Raydio or Instant Funk album as a slowjam, but Princess Freesia has added a more midtempo pace to this type of sound with a nice modern sounding drumbeat which speeds it up nicely to make a very unique sounding track. To hear a song like this is a really refreshing change and shows that there's still clever songwriting abilities about these days: as most songwriters opt comfortably for a "modern soul stepper" or a "slowjam", Princess Freesia takes us back to the days of Slave's "Let's Spend Some Time", Maze's "Joy And Pain" etc, where a song couldn't be as easily pinned down between "stepper" or "slowjam", which makes "Stellar Sight" a fascinating and unusual song in the fold of this album!

"Playgrind", the fourth track brings out that retro jazz-funk groove, with the flute breaks in the background. Freesia uses her vocals very artfully on this track, using her "vocals like a jazz instrument" as Steve Arrington would put it. The following track "Taffeta" brings some nice smooth saxophone work with a heavy 90s drumbeat, which hangs together beautifully and might just be my favourite track on this album. Track eight, "Thinkin About You" is the slowest paced track on the album, and has some really nice playful synth work in the background with a nice squelchy synth bass. Again, although this song is the closest to a "slowjam", it isn't entirely like a slowjam, and is written in a nice and unpredictable way. Princess Freesia then lays down a really nice groove on the tenth track, "Play With Me", which is really reminiscent of the mid-late 80s indie modern soul, done with a nice smooth electro style drumbeat and then on track 12 lays down a heavy bass driven boogie called "I Can See", which has a nice EWF vibe to it.

This album is easily one of the best funk/soul/boogie albums of the past 10 or twenty years. It is definitely the best one of the new decade, without competition. There are so many musical influences flourishing within each track, yet Princess Freesia has spun everything together in a unique way which is one heck of a rainbow ride!! Let's just hope there's a second rainbow ride coming from the amazing Princess Freesia!!

Happy Holidays Everyone And A Great 2014!

Hello everyone!

The Flagship For Funk would like to thank everyone who has committed to funkiness over this year and kept it real in these homogenised times!

To celebrate the end of the year, I've added a huge 18 track mix of "90s Funk" on my new mixcloud account. I'll probably be posting more mixes there as opposed to this blog, but you never know, I may alternate between one platform and another...

Enjoy everyone, and have a great 2014!!!

http://www.mixcloud.com/TheFlagshipForFunk/1990s-funk-mix-end-of-the-year-celebration/

Review: Aurra - Satisfaction

It took me a while to get this one through the post, but it finally arrived! The mysterious fifth album of Aurra, which has only surfaced in the record world this year!

There was a cloud over the whole matter of Steve Washington's departure from Aurra during the mid 80s, after the "Live And Let Live" album. Steve Washington recorded a solo album from 1984 called "Like A Shot", but I had no idea or couldn't have imagined before that he recorded an Aurra album in the same year. 

So the basic story of this album, according to the liner notes in this album, is that Steve Washington wanted to go beyond the relationship with Curt Jones and Starleana Young. He wanted to sell the rights of the performing name, "Aurra" to Starleana and Curt, but they felt that they shouldn't be sold something they believed they created in the first place. Steve Washington then met the singer for The Brides Of Funkenstein, Sheila Horne, soon to be Sheila Washington!

The liner notes also said that "Aurra" was created initially to be a more vocally based funk group, as opposed to the more instrumentally and musically based Slave. Steve Washington opted for a softer sound as opposed to Slave's harder sound. But in this particular album, Steve Washington deliberately went for basslines and grooves that evoked the memory of Mark Adams and his playing style. Without a doubt, this album generally leans to a more "harder" sound than the other Aurra albums. Washington also recruited the legendary Mark "Drac" Hicks, a fellow former Slave member for the guitar work on this album, and also recruited session musician A.C. Drummer, whom worked previously on other Aurra albums and Mark Stevens: brother of Chaka Khan.

The album has a total of eight tracks on it, but I'll go through what I think are the highlights of the album .(of which there are plenty!)

The first song, "Turn The Lights Down Low" has a really nice squelchy synth bass (Poly-6?) laid down throughout the groove, along with Washington's bass playing. This song has a very nice  atmospheric spookiness about it, which is a perfect way to start this "mystery" album, giving it even more charm! One of my favourite songs on the album, easily, and it's obvious to see where this song represents the way that later 80s funk would be shaped; it's important not to forget that Steve Washington was actually very important for shaping late 80s funk, via his role on George Clinton's "R&B Skeletons In The Closet" album from 1986. 

"Satisfaction" was a song where Steve wanted to bring out the style of Mark Adams! Stevie definitely gave justice to The Hansolor's pioneering and unique style of bassing on this track! 

"Never Met No One Like You" has some really nice keyboard work on it; Steve Washington uses the Prophet and other synths to give this song the classic spacey/sci-fi synth-funk sound that Slave heavily opted for from the time of "Visions Of The Lite" onwards. 

"My Lovin' Is For You" is a nice slow soul song that is more typical of what Aurra did, but Sheila Washington definitely gave that song a quality in its own right that's very different than Starleana and Curt! One to ride in the sunset with, definitely!!  

"Perfect Date" was released previously this year as a 7 inch, and has a more disco/boogie feel to this track than the previous four - more similar to the early Aurra albums. Really classy track here!

...."Hello World!!" The sixth track on the album is called "Something Tells Me", which also is in the style of the early 80s boogie. Beautiful uptempo soul song, and Sheila really sets the song alight with her awesome vocal work!

"Maybe I'm Wasting My Time" is possibly my favourite track on this album; the synths in the background of this song are golden - this song sounds more like the material on the solo album by Steve Washington in the same year as this album. 

The last track on this album, Steve and Sheila do a slightly 80s P-Funk sounding groove, with lots of insane vocoders, vocals spinning here, there and everywhere, and Drac giving his gritty and hard guitar riffs in the background! 

The release of this album has been a real highlight to the year for the world of funk! It has all the makings of becoming a classic 80s synth-funk album in time which will be highly regarded by everyohne, so it definitely should not be slept on! Get it now if you haven't!

Bedroom Glamour

Here is the sixth mix by the Flagship For Funk! A nice way to start an approaching Winter; while many people are potentially housebound by the coming snaps cold weather and possibly snow (depending on where you live), this mix will add some spice and glamour straight to your bedroom! A nice collection of late 70s, early 80s boogie, funk, disco and others - all pure quality. Enjoy!

1) Air Power - Be Yourself (1979)
2) Trilark - Love You Up (1982)
3) Chanson - All The Time You Need (1978)
4) Chic - What About Me (1979)
5) Tony Chambers - Rocking Me In Your Arms (1981)
6) Stacye Branche - Precious And Special (1983)
7) Sir James - Sho' Is Good (1981)
8) Sister Sledge - Easier To Love (1979)
9) Faison - Talking Bout Love (1981)
10) Sweetness - Get Yourself Together (1983)
11) Sky - Love Is Forever And All (1979)

Review: The O'Jays - Emotionally Yours

Back to the 1990s again!!

Musically, the 1990s was far kinder to soul than it was to funk. After traditional 70s soul took a bit of a hit in the mid - late 80s, the 1990s felt a nostalgia and affinity towards the old soul groups of the 70s. The most prolific example of this was the legendary Barry White, whom completely resurged himself from this tide of old soul nostalgia. Because of this nostalgia, the traditional soul groups had slightly more license to be what they wanted to be, and not tow the line of the current musical trends. They were able to get away with more of a fusion of old and new.

That's exactly what The O'Jays went for in their 1991 album, "Emotionally Yours". This album did very will in the R&B charts at the time, getting up to #2 both as an album, and the single from the album called "Don't Let Me Down".

This album is a beautiful mix of everything in the black musical world, made ultra-fresh by the mighty O'Jays! A mix of old school 70s Philly soul, jazz, swingbeat and even funk! One of the main songwriters on this album was a man called Dwain Mitchell, who was very active on the indie funk tip in the 80s. When reading the liner credits for this album, many familiar names can be seen: Dunn Pearson (Of Dunn Street/Dunn & Bruce Street), Najee etc. Not to mention the fact that they recorded a gospel choir cover version of Bob Dylan's "Emotionally Yours" recruiting all kinds of legendary vocalists like Evelyn "Champagne" King, Keith Sweat, Fonzi Thornton, James "J.T." Taylor, Phyllis Hyman, Gerald Levert, Will Downing and others.

Basically, this is a very fine, fine soul recording that you really ought to check out, but there's four tracks on this album to date that absolutely blow me over:

"Something For Nothing" is the second cut on the track; a smooth blend of everything with some nice, righteous lyrical messages for post-Reagan America, condemning the "something for nothing" mentality of people in the modern world. A nice James Brownish feel to the lyrics, and the nice soul fusion with funk resembles The Pasadenas' style. (Unfortunately I don't think The Pasadenas broke through in the US, so the similarity is most likely unintentional!)

"Love And Trust" is the sixth song on the album, and combines beautiful string melodies with a nice swingbeat drum machine and some light New Jack Swing production. Written by the O'Jays with Dwain Mitchell, this song really brings out the best of both worlds and highlights the artistic freedom these cats had!

The third song I adore on this is a KILLER funk hit, "Don't You Know True Love", also written by the O'Jays and Dwain. Predictably, this one wasn't released as a single at the time but the bass on this one slams the hell out the speakers! The song structure on this one is pretty unusual as well, as the chorus shifts gear several times with some very seductive synth work in the background. A really well layered and structured masterpiece. Play this beauty whenever you can!!

And finally, a really, really beautiful song called "That's How Love Is" is the fourth song on this album that absolutely grabbed me. If there was such a thing as an uptempo slowjam, this song may be the nearest thing to such a contradiction! Again, written by the O'Jays & Dwain, and it somehow manages to perfectly blend smooth, laid back guitars, synths and smooth, seductive vocals with a quick drum machine rhythm. Absolutely stunning songwriting, and the O'Jays absolutely crack it with their gorgeous vocal harmonies on the chorus and verses.

Funk & Soul Promotional Batch Vol. 1

I'm now going to start a miniature collection of promotional photoshoots, posters and magazine articles from back in the day of various funk/soul artists! Here's the first batch for the blog!!

Cassette-Funk, Swing And Rare R&B Reels Vol. 1

This is the fifth Flagship mix on this blog, and the beginning of a minature project for this blog. The world of indie 70s and 80s soul is well documented, well regarded, well known and well represented. At the moment, none of those things can be said for 90s soul, and part of the reason is that most of it is on cassette. There is no "popsike" dedicated to cassettes, nor is there specialist sites for cassette sales, and consequently, most of it gets ignored. Here, I'm going to try and represent as much of the cassette only releases as I possibly can, by a series of mixes. Some of these are from unreleased demo tapes, but most are from cassette singles or albums at a time when vinyl releases were becoming outdated, and CD production was exorbitant in price. This is the first volume of the mixes, which I hope you'll enjoy!

*NOTE: The audio quality of the songs in this mix will vary greatly, because of the age of the tape*

1) Elektrikk Sparks - Mo' Bounce (1994)
2) Bill Scott - Midnight Tease (1993)
3) Fonte - Boogie Bang (1998)
4) Iron Horse - Peace In America (1991)
5) Andre Williams - I'll Wait For U (1991)
6) Sterling G. - Special Occasion (1993)
7) Kim Washington - Can't You Tell (1995)
8) T.R. McRae - All About Me, All About You (1990)
9) The Uptown Crew - All I Want To Do (199?)
10) Candell - We Can Work It Out (1990)
11) Mel Strong - Kiss U All Over (1991)