Lost In Tyme Blog

V.A. - What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves (1967-1977)

Ninety-one tracks deep and five hours long.
This may be the desert island comp for funk and soul fans. From the New Orleans ' R&B of Allen Trousie Toussaint," to the funk universalism of Earth, Wind and Fire, this comp touches nearly all the bases.

There are seminal jams such as Bay Key's "Soul Finger," but much of this focuses on rare gems from many of soul's biggest names. Perhaps the disk's greatest virtue, though, is the attention paid to lesser known acts, which makes this collection as much a beginning as it is an end.

Track Lists:

Disc 1
01. Spreadin" Honey -- Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band
02. Soul Finger -- Bar-Kays
03. The Shadow Of Your Smile -- Brother Jack McDuff
04. Gangster Of Love (Parts 1 and 2) -- Jimmy Norman
05. The Memphis Train -- Rufus Thomas
06. Get Out Of My Life Woman -- Grassella Oliphant
07. Live Right Now -- Eddie Harris
08. Pig Snoots, Part 1 -- Natural Bridge Bunch
09. Soul Sound System -- The Freedom Sounds featuring Wayne Henderson
10. Snatching It Back -- Clarence Carter
11. Stoned Soul -- Artie Christopher
12. Getting The Corners -- The T.S.U. Tornadoes
13. Sexy Coffee Pot -- Tony Alvon & The Belairs
14. Don't Come Around Here Anymore -- Mark Putney
15. Keep On Dancing -- The Commodores
16. Right On Brother--Part 1 -- The Southshore Commission
17. Pop, Popcorn Children -- Eldridge Holmes
18. It's Your Thing -- Cold Grits
19. It's All In Your Mind -- Soul Angels
20. Funky John -- Johnny Cameron & The Camerons
21. Help Me Make Up My Mind -- Joyce Jones
22. Rock Me Baby -- Lou Johnson
23. Sing A Simple Song -- The Noble Knights
24. Do You Dig It -- Titus Turner
25. Funky Canyon -- Phil Moore Jr.
26. Jan Jan -- The Fabulous Counts
27. Tampin -- The Rhine Oaks

Disc 2
01. Gossip -- Cyril Neville
02. Somebody In The World For You -- The Mighty Hannibal
03. Stanga -- Little Sister
04. Jumpin" Jack Flash -- Ananda Shankar
05. The Deacon -- Brute Force
06. Sookie Sookie -- Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band
07. Right On -- Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers
08. (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go -- Curtis Mayfield
09. Stepping Stones -- Johnny Harris
10. I'm Just Like You -- 6ix
11. Funky Thing--Part 1 -- The Unemployed
12. Messie Bessie -- Shirley Scott
13. Fairchild -- Willie West
14. Cold Bear -- The Gaturs
15. I Can't Get Next To You -- Mongo Santamaria
16. Feelin" Alright -- Lulu
17. Soul Bowl -- Memphis Horns
18. Tuane -- Hammer
19. Take It Off--Part 2 -- Johnny Tolbert & De Thangs
20. Seeds Of Life -- Harlem River Drive featuring Eddie Palmieri & Jimmy Norman
21. Engine Number 9 -- Wilson Pickett

Disc 3
01. Hard Times -- Baby Huey & The Baby Sitters
02. What So Never The Dance--Pt. 1 & 2 -- Houseguests
03. Headless Heroes -- Eugene McDaniels
04. Spinning Wheel -- Wade Marcus
05. Bad Tune -- Earth, Wind & Fire
06. Mr. Cool -- Rasputin's Stash
07. Don't Cha Hear Me Callin" To Ya -- Junior Mance
08. Hang On In There -- The Stovall Sisters
09. Funky Nassau (Part 2) -- The Beginning Of The End
10. Whatever's Fair -- Mark Holder & The Positives
11. Face It -- Ed Robinson
12. Wah Wah Man -- Young-Holt Unlimited
13. Rock Steady (alternate mix) -- Aretha Franklin
14. Won't Nobody Listen -- Black Haze Express
15. Goin" Down -- Allen Toussaint
16. Suavecito -- Malo
17. You Gotta Know Whatcha Doin" -- Charles Wright
18. Mo Jo Hanna -- Tami Lynn
19. Ridin" Thumb -- King Curtis
20. Almendra -- Macondo
21. Nuki Suki -- Little Richard

Disc 4
01. Getting Uptown (To Get Down) -- United 8
02. 8 Days On The Road -- Howard Tate
03. Moon Shadow -- Labelle
04. Let It Crawl -- Society's Bag
05. Wanaoh -- Black Heat
06. If It Was Good Enough For Daddy -- Clarence Reid
07. Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky -- Claudia Lennear
08. Cosmic Sea -- The Mystic Moods
09. Kissing My Love -- Cold Blood
10. Flute Thing -- Seatrain
11. Chug Chug Chug-A-Lug (Push N" Shove) Part 2 -- The Meters
12. Funky To The Bone -- Freddi/Henchi & The Soul Setters
13. Try It Again -- Bobby Byrd
14. . Teasin" -- Cornell Dupree
15. (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away -- Dr. John
16. Chicken Heads -- Oscar Brown Jr.
17. Rien Ne Va Plus -- Funk Factory
18. Cajun Moon -- Herbie Mann
19. Improve -- Darrow Fletcher
20. Riding High -- Faze-O
21. Four Play -- Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns
22. California Dreamin" -- Eddie Hazel

Preview of What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves (1967-1977)

The fine people of Rhino put together another fine compilation with What It Is! From the Vaults of Atlantic, Atco & Warner Bros. Records, four discs of awesome soul and funk music. It's jammed back with all the obscure tunes that artists like the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, DJ Shadow, Tupac and Biggie sample from. I got the advance and haven't taken it out of my messenger bag or portable CD player since. I guess I've been going on soul and funk kick lately with my regular listening of Mr. Fine Wine on WFMU's Downtown Soulville show and following the progress of The Dansettes in the local music scene.

You could pretty much put any disc in and feel like a funk soul brother or sister. It's all up-tempo music that you can your groove on.

There's a few recognizable names in this mix. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a novice when it comes to 60s-70s funk/soul music, but it's not a necessity to know the history behind some of these bands to get down with it. I recognize Earth, Wind & Fire, The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band (because they were on the Jackie Brown soundtrack), The Commodores, Wilson Pickett, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin (a rare alternative mix to "Rock Steady"), Allen Toussaint, Charles Wright and Little Richard (performing a dirty sex song called "Nuki Suki").

Links removed as it doesn't fit our credo of "...we post only records that are out of print and you can't buy them at the record stores (physical or digital)" as our friend shmzr noted in his recent comment. I don't know if shmzr shows the same zeal for similar situations in other blogs, but l have some doubts if the 91 artists featured in this collection did get any royalties from this release (there are many well-known stories about the small print in the contracts and, in many cases back then, the deal was one-off payment and no royalties). Anyway.