LIQUID SOUL
Here's The Deal (Shanachie)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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The band that critics tag with the "acid jazz" label is back with more of what they've always done: funky, funky funk! Chicago's Liquid Soul cut some of the deepest grooves this side of Walter "Wolfman" Washington, throwing in dashes of jazz, hip-hop and Latin spices along the way without ever diluting the essential funkiness. For Here's The Deal, the band recorded both in the studio and on stage, and while the studio stuff is as powerful as ever, the live recordings are blowaways. "The Diz," a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie that taps his spirit for Afro-Cuban energy, sounds deliciously rich and full, revealing one of the best live bands on planet Earth. The cover of Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" may piss off purists, but I say Tom Sanchez's funky guitar chopping is a revelation, and Rick Showalter's bass solo is nasty nasty. (Relax, guys, Davis' memory isn't harmed in the recording of this album.) The energy emitted by this disc is contagious, and it doesn't let up. The last of the twelve songs, "Spam Sucker," brings the house down in a sonic typhoon of crazed horns and rocketing drums, the bass kicking you right in the heart like good funk bass should. Makes ya dance. I'm talking 'bout out of control, full speed ahead, sweatin' like a pig and huffing like a demon dancing. Scarf it up. Ain't much of this kind of funk around anymore.

© 2000 - DJ Johnson