Cymande

An album i've been listening to a lot lately is the wonderful "Cymande" by Cymande.This London based Afro/Caribbean outfit started out in 1971 and blended together a very eclectic fusion of funk, soul, reggae and raw afro funk which can be heard on classic tracks "Bra, Dove, The Message, Promised Heights and Brothers On The Slide". The Band released four albums in the few years together from 1971 to 1974 with three of them released on US label Janus Records.A very talented group which took them years to gain any financial rewards until groups like De La Soul,The Fugees,EPMD and others came along and sampled their music.I could have posted a few of their tracks but i decided on "Bra" from this their first album and as a special treat you also get an edit from New York pioneer Danny Krivit.A Paradise Garage veteran with over 25+ years experience spinning records, producing, editing and hosting the legendary New York club night Body & Soul.DK on his edit "Bra was a street classic that I would hear everywhere, a highlight of most gigs and a difficult thing to constantly manoeuvre live.Originally 5 minutes long,this edit was a way of extending the break without it just sounding like it was repeating.I teased it a little each time and the peak happens 3 times instead of once."


Cymande - Bra


Cymande - Bra (Danny Krivit Edit)

Funky Nassau

Once again Quinton Scott pulls out all the stops on Strut Records with the latest release being Funky Nassau:The Compass Point Story 1980-1986.Set up in the Bahamas by Island Records Chris Blackwell,Compass Point Studios attracted various artists eager to capture the magic of the Nassau sound with the genius of Sly & Robbie,engineers Steven Stanley & Alex Sadkin and The Compass Point Allstars Band.Some of the tracks are pretty well known with Tom Tom Club "Genius Of Love" ,Gwen Guthries "Padlock" mixed by Larry Levan and Talking Heads "Born Under Punches" which is from one of my favourite Talking Heads albums "Remain In Light" being the ones that you would instantly recognise.There is other lesser known gems though with the Skids offshoot band Set The Tone getting the remix treatment from Francois K on "Dance Sucker", Sly Dunbar's dub workout on "River Niger" and the amazing Seven Sea Players take on Ian Dury's "Spasticus Autisticus".All in all a great package that comes with a booklet containing extensive sleeve notes and some pretty cool pictures.The track i'm posting is the last on the album and it's an absolute corker.It's a slow mo,scratchy,dub,funky tight jam that has a real groove to it.
Go Buy and get another history lesson by the always as ever reliable team at Strut.

Will Powers - Adventures In Success(Dub Copy)