Francis and the lights – The Top

Ok..  I was hanging out with Jay from Names today – this video is a testament to his adventurous nature…   The end is the best part!

-AD

CAN’T HELP BUT GET DOWN: ROD TEMPERTON (HEATWAVE/MJ/FUNK IN GENERAL)

What a horrible quality photo!! It’s the best I could do when trying to track down pics of this mysterious musical master! You may not know Rod Temperton, but you KNOW Rod Temperton. The dude has written some of the dopest, groundbreaking and most memorable music in the history of humankind/supafunkadelicishdoperythms….and he’s white.

Rod Temperton wrote a little song you might remember called THRILLER.

But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. It all started back in the 70’s when dorky looking white British dudes could go out there and kill it on stage every night. Rod cut his musical teeth with a band called HEATWAVE.

This is a pic of their second record, but I recommend starting with their first album “TOO HOT TO HANDLE”.

Dig this –

YOU KNOW YOU ARE THE SHIT WHEN ALL 5 BLACK DUDES IN THE BAND GIVE PROPS TO YOU (THE WHITE ORGAN PLAYER).

-Way to match outfits guys –

Not to be pidgeonholed by the “PIMP FUNK” genre, Rod really proved his worth when he was hand picked by Quincy Jones to write for Michael Jackson’s first solo effort OFF THE WALL.

After writing the title track, he banged out the karaoke spectacular ROCK WITH YOU.

In reality, the list of amazing material he’s composed is too much to get into, so I’ll condense it into some of “my faves”.

George Benson- Give Me The Night

Anita Baker – Mystery

Brothers Johnson – Stomp

Bob James – Sign of the Times (NOT ON YOUTUBE, BUT SOOOO DOPE)

Even LL COOL J/BOYZ II MEN got into it (via MJ)

but i’m sure he can explain it better than me.

ROD TEMPERTON=THE BLACKEST WHITE MAN IN MUSIC.

-ZF

CAN’T HELP BUT GET DOWN: WILLIAM DEVAUGHN

HAS A SONG EVER MADE YOU FEEL GANGSTA?Think about that for a second. Cuz, in most cases the rapper you’re listening too is trying REALLY HARD.

WELL, this track could be the MOST gangsta song EVER written.

WHO? WHAT? HOW?

Listen to this:

Spinning records can leave you memorized….

About two years ago, I bailed out of Edmonton just before the summer and escaped into my Grandmas back bedroom at her residence in Vancouver. She made me get a job, so I did part time shifts at Rogers Video (lol) up the street. I spent every other spare second sitting in my room on my KORG Triton writing, making beats and practicing keys. I was in preparation to take on the world!

Naturally, I would take breaks in the backyard while laying under the hot Vancouver sun listening to 70’s funk (my fave) on my ipod. It was the ultimate inspiration at the time for the beats I was creating.

William Devaughn was it for me – I had this on repeat. It was the dopest vibe I could find at that moment, and the lyrics echoed.

Story goes….Mr. Devaughn recorded tha track for like $900 in the summer of 1973. It blew up and hit the number 1 spot on the charts selling over 2 million singles (not that I knew this at the time.)

I just dug how GANGSTA it made me feel.

Even the lyrics had the words:

“sunroof down, diggin the scene with the gangsta lean….gangsta white walls”

Turns out the dude was a devout Jevoha’s Whitness, and after the song exploded released a full record with strong religious undertones. The people couldn’t get into it, and he kinda faded away.

But this track still lives on:

Dig this reggae remake by Winston Curtis.

Mr. Devaughn even tried to re-capture the magic with his own 1980 remake (minus the dancing girl in the vid).

ICE CUBE sampled it most recently

But I like the way LUDACRIS did it better

We even pumped this track a bit when SEX-ED was chillin’ in L.A. a couple months back.

He maybe stumbled upon it, but the guy wrote a timeless GANGSTA classic, that inspired a generation of pimps and playas.

Well done.

-ZF

I CAN’T HELP BUT GET DOWN: ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

WOW. ELO is a band of musical God’s. Especially the dude holding the large Cello.

Some people say they cheesed out when they made this:

But I personally think the bass in the verse is MAGNIFICENT. Plus it’s the early 80’s and the Bee-Gees were popular. FUCK. Cut them some slack.

This song redeems anything bad you have to say about ELO.

Bonus points for having a SUPER DOPE front kick drum logo!

I once managed a videogame store in West Edmonton Mall for this old Jewish guy who was obsessed with Roy Wood (the guy that got kicked out of ELO after only one album).

He looks like he would be fun to JAM with…..After he was kicked out of ELO, he got back at his bandmates by forming WIZZARD!

I constantly was forced to listen to this record while working. It’s actually kinda good.

FAR LEFT: now you know where Rob Zombie bit his style from!

TAKE THAT!!!!

-ZF

I CAN’T HELP BUT GET DOWN: BROTHERS JOHNSON

Does anyone appreciate really good funk anymore??

Brothers Johnson have always killed it! BUT my fave will always be Strawberry Letter 23 – I bit a sample off this track once!

Seriously amazing, although the album art was rather…..questionable.

I would describe this cover as ______________.

I CAN’T HELP BUT GET DOWN!