VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Funk Box (Hip-O)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson


Hip-O's 4-CD collection of old school funk, creatively titled The Funk Box, has had some shots taken at it by several critics for not having certain tracks that they expected. For example, Curtis Mayfield is represented by "Future Shock," not by "Superfly," while they chose "Shaky Ground" over any of a number of better known tunes to represent The Temptations.

This, it seems, is a bad thing.

Actually, this is why I play these CDs so much. There are a zillion collections of old school funk with the same songs over and over, so why spring for a box set of four CDs full? Why not go for a set that has War performing an alternate take of "Slipping Into Darkness" instead of collecting your 5th copy of "Low Rider" or "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Sure, there are a few obvious cuts here, like Tower Of Power's "What Is Hip, but let's be honest here: you can't do a legit funk collection without that song. It's like the National Anthem for funk. Before any funk concert, I believe the crowd and the band should turn toward a flag that is made in the image of the Tower of Power album, bow their heads and listen in reverence as "What Is Hip" is played. Sure, James Brown's "Sex Machine" isn't new territory on these compilations, but it, too, is required to get your ass bouncing in the proper way before the less exposed killers kick in. Billy Preston's "Outa-Space," The Ohio Players' "Skin Tight," The Gap Band's "Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me?), "I Like Girls" by Fatback... The list just goes on and on for 55 tracks.

Many of these are alternate takes that are never truly inferior to the released versions and are, in some cases, more interesting. On top of that, you get the 12-inch single versions of most of the songs, which means extended for maximum dancibility and serious booty sweep action on the floor. That can lead places you wanna go, which is one of the things that always made funk so much fun. Honest. As Chaka sings on disc 2, "Tell me somethin' good..." Yeah, here's one: funk isn't one letter removed from fuck by accident. It's a groove thang. If you want just the hits, just the way you heard them on the radio in 3-minute spoon-fed doses, go with all the Rhino and Warner packages. Hey, you're not gonna suffer. Those are hot, too. If you want something more because you really care about your funk music and you figure you've heard enough of the same ol' same ol, forget what the critics have said and take a long look at The Funk Box. After all, if this box had been filled with exactly what they're whining about not being there, they'd condemn it for being just another funk retrospective with the same old songs to glut the market. Jeezus. No pleasing some people.

Track Lists:

Disc One:
Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine (Brown, James) * Express Yourself (Wright, Charles / Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band) * Give It up or Turnit a Loose (Brown, James) * Rock Steady (Franklin, Aretha) * Slippin' Into Darkness (War) * I Know You Got Soul (Byrd, Bobby) * Jungle Fever (Chakachas) * It's Just Begun (Jimmy Castor Bunch) * Outa-Space (Preston, Billy) * Think (About It) (Collins, Lyn (The Female Preacher)) * Goin' to See My Baby (Fatback Band) * Pass the Peas (J.B.'s) * "T" Plays It Cool (Gaye, Marvin) * The Message (Cymande) * I Can Understand It (New Birth) * I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More,... (White, Barry)

Disc Two:
Future Shock (Mayfield, Curtis) * The Bottle (Scott-Heron, Gil / Jackson, Brian) * What Is Hip? (Tower Of Power) * The Payback (Brown, James) * For The Love Of Money (O'Jays) * Hollywood Swinging (Kool & Gang) * Tell Me Something Good (Rufus / Kahn, Chaka) * Do It, Fluid (Blackbyrds) * Do It (Till Your Satisfied) (B.T. Express) * Just Kissed My Baby (Meters) * Skin Tight (Ohio Players) * I Get Lifted (McCrae, George) * Shakey Ground (Temptations) * School Boy Crush (Average White Band) * Erucu (Jackson, Jermaine) *

Disc Three:
Fight the Power, Pts. 1 & 2 (Isley Brothers) * The Jam (Graham Central Station) * Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give up the... (Parliament) * Get the Funk Out Ma Face (Brothers Johnson) * Changin' (Brass Construction) * Dazz (Brick) * Superman Lover (Watson, Johnny Guitar) * The Pinnochio Theory (Bootsy's Rubber Band) * Slide (Slave) * The Hump (Rushen, Patrick) * Running Away [12" Mix] (Ayers, Roy) * Brick House [12" Mix] (Commodores) * Let's Have Some Fun (Bar-Kays) *

Disc Four:
You and I (James, Rick) * I Like Girls (Fatback) * Let's Start the Dance (Bohannon) * One Nation Under a Groove (Funkadelic) * Bustin' Loose (Brown, Chuck & Soul Searchers) * I Just Want to Be [12" Extended Mix] (Cameo) * Glide (Pleasure) * Behind the Groove (Marie, Teena) * More Bounce to the Ounce (Zapp) * Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) (Gap Band) * Atomic Dog (Clinton, George)

© 2001 - DJ Johnson