Summer Madness might’ve been the last single off Lance Ferguson’s covers LP Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 2, but the cover madness isn’t over yet, for here is brand new 45 Got Myself A Good Man backed with Mango Meat. Indeed if the artwork is anything to go by, this looks like being a harbinger of Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 3. The
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Tag Archives: Freestyle Records
LANCE FERGUSON: Got myself A Good Man/ Mango Meat (Vinyl 7″)
LANCE FERGUSON: Summer Madness
The final single to be relased from the forthcoming Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 2 LP from The Bamboos’ Lance Ferguson is his crack at covering Kool & The Gang’s super chilled-out and therefore (presumably) ironically named Summer Madness instro from 1974. You may recognise this from its having been heavily sampled alongside multiple appearances on film and video-game soundtracks
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Cub Vol. 6
As much of an institution now as both his BBC Radio 6 Funk & Soul Show and the club night it is named after, Craig Charles’ annual Funk & Soul Club compilation series is up to Vol. 6 and if that isn’t an excuse to wear a cowboy hat when you’re djing, I don’t know what is. As usual, Mr Charles drives a mighty trail through the vast territory of contemporary funk and soul, rounding up prime
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Cub Vol. 5 (2017)
The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club compilation series has been bowling along for half a decade now and as Vol. 5 hoves into view you realise that it is showing all the signs of having a similar longevity and appeal of, say, TV series Red Dwarf. No wonder the front cover shows our man soaking up the adoration at one of his club nights. Talking of the club nights, which can vary musically from
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Cub Vol. 4 (2016)
Released very slightly later in the year than we’ve come to expect since The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club album became an annual event, Vol. 4 finds Freestyle Records and keeper of the funk flame Craig Charles conspire to ensure that the festive season this year is righteously funky. And soulful. And latin. And afro. And could there be some four-to-the-floor business too? After all –
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DEEP STREET SOUL: Come Alive! (2016)
Rating: 
Melbourne-based Deep Street Soul‘s brand of garage-rock tinged funky soul has been a firm MB favourite since the band’s classic cover of the MC5’s Kick Out The Jams rocked up in the monkey’s inbox all the way back in 2009. In the intervening years they’ve put out two LPs, acquired themselves a full-time soul queen singer in the form of Mighty May Johson and been
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DEEP STREET SOUL: Souls Come Alive (2016)
Rating: If you like your funk raw, it’s always worth checking out Deep Street Soul who keep it dirty, down on the floor. Originally a blistering four-piece live experience occasionally joined by a vocalist, they netted themselves a full-time singer in the form of ‘Mighty May’ Johnston for last LP Look Out Watch Out and single Souls Come Alive is their long overdue return in the run-
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BRIAN AUGER: Back To The Beginning: The Brian Auger Anthology (2015)
Here’s a brand new Brian Auger compilation then: Back To The Beginning: The Brian Auger Anthology – to give it its full snappy title – as Freestyle Records gathers up no fewer than twenty-four tracks from the sixties mod icon who went on to explore the outer reaches of jazz fusion in the seventies where he’s pretty much been ever since. But don’t let that scare you off. The comp.
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club Vol. 3 (2014)
As the PR blah for this notes, among the many ways in which Craig Charles spread the sound of good grooves around the globe in the last year was taking his ‘trunk of funk’ to Australia. I speculate that he must have really dug his time there given that he’s now enjoying a sojourn on that TV show which makes people eat centipedes and chew kangaroos’ bollocks. Luckily he’s
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LACK OF AFRO feat. JACK TYSON-CHARLES: Freedom (2014)
The next single from Lack Of Afro‘s well-received Music For Adverts LP is the soaring stadium funk of album-opener Freedom featuring Jack Tyson Charles. Then it gets complicated. The 7″ vinyl flip is exclusive Blue Note-ish soul-jazz-funk instro Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances while the digi-single consists of the JTC-featuring title cut, a stripped back Gene Dudley Group remix
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