The 3rd season of Ain't it Funky Now! begins tomorrow (Jan. 26) at 2pm eastern time, so I've decided to give a wee bit of a prelude to the show and then to finish this journal after the show...


Some of the artists that will be played include The Velvelettes, Johnnie Taylor, The Kinks, De La Soul, The Turtles, The Rolling Stones, The Five Stairsteps, Buddy Holly and Tyrone Davis. If you just can't get enough of the show's funky stuff, you can always listen to my playlist, which features only songs played on the show.

Hope y'all tune in: http://wvau.ods.org/listen.pls


UPDATE!

And the show went off without a hitch. Me and co-host Nathan were unusually funny. Anyhoo, the music is the real star of the show and here it is...

Clarence Carter - Strokin'
Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time
Bell & James - Livin' it Up (Friday Night)
Peter Brown - Dance with Me
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Let the Beat Hit 'Em
The Five Stairsteps - Don't Change Your Love
The Rolling Stones - Let's Spend the Night Together
Joe Tex - Men Are Getting Scarce

The Moments - My Thing
Ike & Tina Turner - Baby - Get it On
CCR - Sweet Hitch-Hiker
The Dramatics - Get Up and Get Down
The Velvelettes - Lonely Lonely Girl Am I

The Isley Brothers - Seek and You Shall Find
Johnnie Taylor - Take Care of Your Homework
The Dells - Run for Cover
Luther Ingram - (If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right
Tyrone Davis - Get on Up (Disco)

Al Wilson - Show and Tell
Gladys Knight & the Pips - Daddy Could Swear, I Declare
The Kinks - Victoria
Tommy James & the Shondells - Mony Mony
The Turtles - Can I get to Know You Better
Donovan - Riki Tiki Tavi
Elvis Presley - All Shook Up
Bobby "Blue" Bland - That's the Way Love Is

Roy Orbison - I'm Hurtin'
Buddy Holly - I'm Looking For Someone to Love
Fats Domino - Wait and See
Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly
De la Soul - 4 More

Another year, another batch of artists added to my ever-expanding library. And just like last year, I'm up to the challenge of ranking the importance that each artist had on my year in music.

Honorable Mentions: Bobby "Blue" Bland, The Allman Brothers Band, The Box Tops, Buffalo Springfield, Buddy Holly, The Delfonics, The Kinks, Malo, The Turtles

*WARNING: This list is heavily weighted towards the 60s*


10) Michael Henderson
A bass viruoso, he played with well-known asshole and trumpet player Miles Davis before making some fine funk and soul music of his own. And I recommend listening to "Wide Receiver" about 30 times so that you can hear all of his hilarious witticisms laced throughout the song's 8 minutes.

9) Moses Mayes
This fantastic band from Winnipeg specializes in groovalicious music. Truly refreshing to hear an actual funk band these days. Luckily for y'all many of their songs are downloadable from last.fm!

8) Three Dog Night
So I was at a barbershop getting my hair cut, when somehow my barber gets to talkin' about Three Dog Night. His synopsis of the group? "Man, them was some harmonizin' crackers!" 'Nuff said, though I don't approve of the saltine vernacular.

7) The Guess Who
Another band from Winnipeg! Their fusion of blues, rock and ,quite often, jazz made for an always interesting listen. We all know "American Woman" and "These Eyes" but "Undun" and "When Friends Fall Out" are my Guess Who jams. Plus they begat BTO. Now that's takin' care of business.

6) The Association
Furthering the impression that I was in a sunshine pop mode this past year, I became addicted to "Never My Love" and "Everything that Touches You". Could it be that I've grown soft? Yep, cuz the next artist is...

5) The 5th Dimension
I became addicted to their rendition of "Never My Love" as well. I was at least able to salvage some bad assness by boogieing down to the second half of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".

4) The Black Crowes
I got my mojo back now. These boys could kick some hard-rockin' ass. They arguably outdid Otis Redding on "Hard to Handle", no easy feat, and even got some soul sisters to take care of back up vocal business on such gems as "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye".

3) Tommy James & The Shondells
My mojo restoration continues with the delightful garage rock of "Mony Mony" and "Hanky Panky". Were the Shondells limited to such repetitive rockers? Nope. "She", "Crimson & Clover" and other mellow classics provided a nice change of pace but a listen to "Cellophane Symphony" shows that these guys were not at their best in the psychedelic mold.

2) Creedence Clearwater Revival
An artist I've known about for quite some time, I finally got around to getting all their albums and Cosmo's Factory would easily make a top 50 album list if I ever found the time to do so. "Ramble Tamble" rumbles and tumbles magnificiently, justifying its 7-minute length. Same goes for the 11-minute interpretation of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine".

1) The Byrds
The most important discovery of the past year. I purchased a box set of theirs almost exactly a year ago, as of this writing, and how could anyone not love the jingly jangly guitar or the harmonies? And for the record, "Chestnut Mare" has to be one of the dumbest songs ever written, but that don't mean it ain't good!


So there you have it. My year was filled with lots of sunshine 60s pop harmonies and crunching southern rock with just a pinch of funk.

Happy New Year!

It's been close to a year since I purged my charts and I got a hankerin' to do it again. My music tastes have changed, yet many of the new artists I listen to are buried deep in the bowels of last.fm charts. So, for the sake of The Association, The Box Tops, Three Dog Night, Buffalo Springfield and others, I'm deleting my stats, but not before posting the top 50 for posterity!

Oh and just for fun: the first song of the new era was Pink Floyd - Echoes

1 The Isley Brothers 448
2 The Beach Boys 438
2 The Supremes 438
4 The Beatles 375
5 The Byrds 348
6 The Temptations 282
7 James Brown 265
8 Stevie Wonder 260
9 Barry White 246
10 Earth, Wind & Fire 240
11 Yes 239
12 Funkadelic 224
12 Donovan 224
14 Creedence Clearwater Revival 222
15 The Four Tops 221
16 Al Green 219
17 The Jackson 5 206
17 Booker T. & The MG's 206
19 Led Zeppelin 204
20 The 5th Dimension 202
21 The Clash 198
22 Michael Henderson 196
23 Sly & The Family Stone 194
24 The Lovin' Spoonful 190
25 The Rascals 189
26 Aretha Franklin 179
27 Kool & the Gang 177
27 Parliament 177
29 Blood, Sweat & Tears 175
30 Wilson Pickett 173
31 Marvin Gaye 171
32 The Delfonics 170
33 The Guess Who 168
34 Electric Light Orchestra 161
35 Steely Dan 157
35 Rufus 157
37 Gladys Knight & The Pips 153
37 Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble 153
39 Isaac Hayes 152
39 Donna Summer 152
39 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 152
42 The Spinners 149
43 Pink Floyd 146
44 The Rolling Stones 145
44 Jimmy Smith 145
46 The Doors 143
47 Chuck Berry 142
48 Jackie Wilson 138
49 The Dells 137
49 Bobby "Blue" Bland 137

The longest-running group in pop music history, The Isley Brothers have, unsurprisingly, quite a voluminous catalogue to sift through. Luckily for you, dear reader, I've decided to knock out the fat and present to you the 10 essential Isley Brothers albums to own. And as a note, I've excluded compilations and this list is very heavy on the 3+3 years.

#10 Harvest for the World: Released in 1976, this album saw the Isleys make a return to their hybrid of hard funk, soul and soft rock from the early 70's. The big single, at the time, was Who Loves You Better which features a soaring Ernie guitar solo and rose to #3 R&B. However, the two most endearing songs to come from this album is the socially conscious title track and (At Your Best) You Are Love. The only dud on this album is the dreary and quite weary Let Me Down Easy.

#9 Eternal: I'm not gonna lie. This album is by far the weakest here, but it's also the strongest album that the Isleys have put out over the past quarter century. And very much unlike the other albums over the last 25 years, Ernie is allowed to cut loose (Ernie's Jam and Secret Lover). Guest stars and production aplenty: Raphael Saadiq's Move Your Body, R. Kelly's (as per usual) melodramatic Contagious and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis's Think.

#8 The Heat Is On: The funky brothers first #1 album, and well deserved. The first side of the album is uptempo nasty funk-rock and the second is filled with sultry (at times a little languid) ballads. This album would serve as the template for the others up until Between the Sheets.

#7 Showdown: Hard to find, but worth the search. This 1978 gem hasn't a single weak song and all are outstanding, but it doesn't have any truly bona fide classics, except for Groove With You.

#6 This Old Heart Of Mine & Soul On The Rocks: ok, so I lied about the compilations, but since their two Motown albums were thrown onto one CD, why not? Aside from the H-D-H penned This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You), none of the songs were hits. However, it's good fun to hear the Isleys do their take on songs like Nowhere to Run, Baby Don't You Do It, and I Hear a Symphony.

#5 Brother, Brother, Brother: The last album before the 3+3 years, this album was the pinnacle of their folk/acoustic rock years. Featuring three big singles (Work to Do, Lay-away and Pop That Thang) and solid album tracks galore (Love Put Me On The Corner, which showcased Chris Jasper's piano skills) there's little wonder this is the album that got the brother's back on track after struggling to follow up the massive success of "It's Your Thing".

#4 Live It Up: An often overlooked classic, Live it Up features what I think is the most frantic guitar solo Ernie ever had (Need A Little Taste Of Love) and Ronald's best vocal performance (Ain't I Been Good To You).

#3 Between the Sheets: The last hurrah for the 3+3 years, and it was well executed. Chris Jasper layers on some interesting synth work and the backing vocals from Rudolph and O'Kelly are as lively as they'd been in years (Choosey Lover). Aside from the ridiculously good title track, there's the electo-funk of Way Out Love and ode to Vietnam vets Ballad for the Fallen Soldier. Also, the last track (Rock You Good) is an instrumental, the only one I can recall from the Isleys.

#2 Go For Your Guns: Incredibly short, but incredibly good. This is THE hardest rocking Isley Brothers album. The only respite from the funk & roll is Voyage To Atlantis and even that song's groove is just too damn funky. Go for your wallet and buy this one now.

#1 3+3: Pound for pound not the best Isley album (hello, Go for Your Guns!), but it includes everything you expect from the Isley Brothers: nasty funk-rock (That Lady), covers that best the originals Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight), Ernie's maniacal guitar solos Summer Breeze), Rudolph and O'Kelly's doo-wop influenced backing vocals (If You Were There), Marvin's THUMPIN' bass (Sunshine (Go Away Today)), Chris's funky keyboards (Listen to the Music) and Ronald's pleading lead (Highways of My Life). And the best song on the album (What It Comes Down To) combines all of those into one nice little package.


So, after having read all that, if you want to know what the Isley Brothers are all about, just go out and get the song "What it Comes Down To".