LAY IT ON ME

This is how it happens. I'm randomly visiting blog bookmarks buried in some old posts just to see if any still exist. I ran into one, Don’t Stay Up Too Late, started poking around and ran into a Candi Stanton song that reminded me of Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff", so I went looking for that. I ran into a different Knight song, "Carry On", every bit as funky as "Mr. Big Stuff". It smokes. It was posted with four other songs by funky ladies. So I'm off on that. You know as well as I do, once you've heard a few of those, you can't stop.

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Listen:
Candi Stanton -  Do It in the Name of Love mp3 at Don't Stay Up Too Late
Jean Knight - Carry On mp3 at Boogaloo Time
Lyn Collins -  Give It Up Or Turn It Loose mp3 at Boogaloo Time
Three more funky workouts at Boogaloo Time

GIVE IT UP OR TURNIT A LOOSE DEPOT

I can't get enough of Jame's Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose". It's an awesome song, funky as JB gets, and up until a few hours ago I hadn't heard a version, be it a cover or one of several by Brown himself, that I didn't like. That streak has been broken. Today I heard a version of it by Dick Hyman, an early adopter of the Moog, the first commercially available analog synthesizer. Hyman pretty much banked on the novelty of the Moog, recording more pop oriented material then other early adopters. His version was released in 1969, the same year as Brown's original and is pretty out there for that early, but lacking the organic feel of the original. Funky it is not. To wit, I listened to it sitting down. I didn't even have an urge to get up and shake ass. Not so with other versions, particularly the Godfather's.

Besides Brown's original and instrumental versions, a rerecorded version and a remix, two members of Brown's extended funky family also recorded it, Lyn Collins and Marva Whitney, both maintaining the groove of the original.  Black Randy and the Metro Squad's instrumental version, released on a predominantly punk label, sounds more like no wave ala the Contortions than funk or punk rock. That they were a fixture in the late seventies L.A. punk scene speaks to the diversity of the era. Like many records put out back then, in hindsight it's amazing that it exists at all.

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Listen:
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (LP Version) mp3 at ATumbler(?) With the JBs. Lethal. 1986 extended version of 1970 version.
James Brown - Give It Up or Turnit Loose (original) (streaming) at YouTube 1969
James Brown - Give It Up or Turnit A Loose (instrumental) at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban Note: Although credited to the James Brown Band, it is from an Iranian pressing that includes an instrumental Sly and the Family Stone cover, so...
Lyn Collins - Give It Up or Turnit A Loose (streaming) at YouTube
Marva Whitney - Give It Up or Turnit A Loose (streaming) at YouTube
Dick Hyman - Give It Up or Turnit A Loose (streaming) at YouTube
Wilbert Longmire - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose mp3 at Funky 16 Corners Go there to get it.
Black Randy and the Metro Squad - Give It Up or Turnit A Loose mp3 at Killed By Death Go there to get it.

BLACK RANDY, WHO?

A chance click-by through Funky 16 Corners just ate about an hour, obsessing over a single song. Larry, the guy over there, posted a version of "Give It Up or Turnit A Loose" by Wilbert Longmire. I know, who? That's what Funky 16 Corners is good at, digging up this stuff by people you've never heard of. It just made me want to hear James Brown's original version, recorded in 1969. And, what the hell, his extended version from 1970. And it made me want to hear Lyn Collins's version, produced by the GFOS in 1974, capped off by Black Randy and the Metro Squad's 1979 version. The latter floors me, as do JB's versions. The (technically Black Randy-less) Metro Squad tearS it a new one. It's pretty crazy in context, because Black Randy and the Metro Squad consisted of members of the L.A. punk scene, with a rotating roster that included, at one time or another, members of the Bags, X, Go-Gos, the Germs, the Eyes, and an early member of the Screamers. You might have had to be there, but I still find it more than nuts.

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Listen:
Wilbert Longmire - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose mp3 at Funky 16 Corners Go there to get it.
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (single version) mp3 at ATumbler(?)
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (LP Version) mp3 at ATumbler(?)
Lyn Collins - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose mp3 at Groove Nut Records
Black Randy and the Metro Squad - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose mp3 at 7 Inch Punk

A FEW FROM THE FUNKY FAMILY

There could be a genre unto itself, "Anything that James Brown so much as sniffed". Everything that came under the umbrella of James Brown's Funky People (an excellent compilation series by the way) has the indelible stamp of the GFOS. And there is a lot of it. After posting the Marva Whitney thing a couple days ago, I've been on a JB associated bender. So here's another one from her, Brown's iconic "Funky Drummer" (from the highly recommended, bordering on essential In the Jungle Groove compilation) and a few others. It's surprisingly hard to find mp3s of much of his extended funky family floating around, so after an hour of digging, I'll have to leave you with these, all bona fide jams as they are. You would do yourself well to pick up some some of those James Brown's Funky People compilations, the J.B.'s Pass the Peas compilation, or In the Jungle Groove, just for starters. He was the template.

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Listen:
Marva Whitney -Unwind Yourself mp3 at Snuhthing Anything 
James Brown - Funky Drummer mp3 at Isoamerica
The JB's - Givin' Up Food For Funk mp3 at Smiles Davis 
James Brown & the J.B.'s - Doing It To Death mp3 at Frederator
Lyn Collins - Think (About It) mp3 at Aerial Noise