[RATING: 5] Now then, what have we here? An LP comprising ten covers of 70s and 80s jazz-fusion obscurities with a name, Necksnappin’, that conjures up 80s and 90s hip-hop and a band name (Dopegems) that defines the end goal of every crate diggers’ searching. Er – well, yeah – what’s wrong with that? Absolutely nothing my friends, you’ll be pleased to hear.
The way I understand it is that Necksnappin’ is the end product of drummer/ producer/ arranger Slikk Tim’s lengthy odyssey to recreate various – er – dope gems he’s discovered, in new arrangements, with a live band that understand the rhythm of the streets. You dig? Good – since this is pure quality from start to finish. You can feel the love with which it was made and it positively reeks of the summer-heated blacktop of 70s San Francisco. There’s everything from narcotic-fuelled flights of jazzy fancy like Journey to stuff with McLaughlin-like guitar antics (First Come, First Serve) and cop/ crim alleyway chase sequences like Like A Thief In The Night. The sampler with the keen ear will also detect numerous opportunities for audio theft – something you’d like to think might not be total anathema to the man behind the project since that seems to have been the effect he was going for…
(Out now on Heavenly Sweetness)