Dad's Album of the Week Month is back. This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.

Yes, it's been a few months since I ran one of these.  Clearly, I'm not cut out to review an album every week, let's try to get to one each month instead, ok?  

Do you remember when you would have a CD jewel case, and you would open it, and there would be two discs in there?  One disc would be the actual CD that was supposed to be in the case, and the other one would be a disc from something else, and at some point you "temporarily" put it in the case, but then you forgot, and forevermore you have two discs in one case.  Did you know this can happen with vinyl as well?  The last time I did one of these posts, I wrote about Exit...Stage Left.  Look what I found in the gatefold along with the two Rush records:

Yes, another double album is in there with the Rush records.  Ok then.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome

I don't even know what to think of this one.  The second song - which is the title track - is 13:40 long, and has some funky bass that I didn't expect... that comes and goes through the length of the song.  Here's the thing though, the Internet tells me that this band is English, so why does this one sound like Dayton funk?  I think you can draw an influence line straight from Lakeside to this song, at least.

The third song is "Relax", which I have certainly heard on the radio, albeit a LONG time ago.  The Internet tells me that this song was banned by the BBC because of the lyrical content, which is odd to me, as I've never paid attention to any words in this song except for "relax", but now that I've read them out of context, yeah, I can see how this might rankle zealous censors. That one is followed by a cover of "War", where some of the funk-imitating sounds are brought back.

In all, this album is very synth-y, very poppy, and very eighties.  It's not really my thing, but it might be yours.

It's been awhile since I've done one of the Ohio Spotlight entries.  I attempted to draw a logo for it using my tablet and the drawing pen that came with it.  As you can see clearly here, this is not a skill set that I possess.

You know something that I can do? I can identify when a band is funky.  You know who's funky?  Lakeside.

Lakeside is from right here in Dayton, Ohio.  They were one of several well-known funk bands from The Gem City around forty years ago.  I've only listened to three of their albums - Shot of Love, Rough Riders, and Fantastic Voyage - but I'll surely catch up with the rest of them. These songs make you want to, as they say, get on up and jam.  The groove is infectious, which is, of course, a characteristic of funk bands.

Here's their most well-known song:

Yeah, this still holds up.  This specific song, along with many other Lakeside songs, have been often sampled by hip hop and rap artists over the last thirty years.  It's good music, and since I'm currently taking inspiration for bass lines from their songs, this music is timeless.

Dad's Album of the Week is back.  This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.

Return to Forever featuring Chick Corea - No Mystery

Another fusion album from my father's collection.  There is funk here.  There is rock here.  There is jazz here.  Why did my dad like this so much?  Well, he was a drummer.  The drums on the opening track, "Dayride", are insane... there are brief periods of frenetic fills and explosivity... it's much more than just keeping time.  Oh, and look, that first track was written by bass legend Stanley Clarke. 

It's an interesting approach to collaboration here.  On the first side of the album, each member of the band gets a song, and the last song is credited to all four of them.  On the second side of the album, well Chick Corea wrote all of those, but that's ok, as he put this band together.

The bass lines are awesome, and mostly so advanced that I don't know if I'll ever have the chops to play them.  There are blistering guitar solos.  There are all sorts of interesting keyboard licks from both normal acoustic pianos and all kinds of electric pianos and synth.  Even congas and a marimba show up on this album.   

Summary:  I very much dig.  If you are a musician, go listen to this.  The musicianship on display here is outstanding.  If you're the sort that is swayed by critical acclaim, this won a Grammy.

Dad's Album of the Week is back.  This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.  

Mandrill - Mandrill Is

If this were released today, we'd call it fusion.  I don't think that term was used for music back in 1972, which is when Mandrill Is was released.

Mandrill was founded by Panamanians who grew up in Brooklyn.  That explains the Latin influences heard on this album, as well as the prevalence of the horns.  (The founding brothers play trombone, saxophone, and trumpet.)  There is also funk and soul here, as well as a track or two that sound like they have been lifted right out of a blaxploitation film... the album is certainly a product of the time, and of the experiences of the musicians.

I think I might adopt the song "I Refuse To Smile" as a personal credo, but my favorite song on this album is "Here Today Gone Tomorrow", which just plain rocks.  Go listen to that one.

Welcome to the first installment of a new series over here on my blog.  It's called Dad's Album of the Week, to be commonly abbreviated as DAOTW.  My dad died a couple of years ago, and I am now in possession of a bunch of his vinyl.  I haven't listened to most of it.  Telling myself to write about the music will be an incentive to listen to all of it.  (Well, I won't listen to any of the Chicago albums.  See, that was his favorite band, and I heard them all way too many times growing up.)  This series will run on Thursdays, and will generally be brief.

Parliament - Mothership Connection

Even those who have never heard this album have absolutely heard this album, if they have listened to rap or hip hop over the last 30 years.  The music here is often sampled, and the vocabulary here is often imitated.  (Might "gangster lean" and "the bomb" have originated from this album?)

What we have here is legendary music from a legendary crew (including fellow Ohioan Bootsy Collins), and music that will make you move, all the way from 1975.

Sing it with me now: we need the funk, we gotta have that funk