The whole point of this blog is to write about new stuff that I buy. Hopefully it will share some new music with other fans of soul and funk, and it also means I actually have to listen to stuff I buy before it gets slotted into the record shelves. But of course, rules are there to be broken, or at the very least bent a bit. So for this post I'm going to cover an LP I've had for years, but had never listened to properly.
I guess we all have those "That's f**king brilliant! But what is it?" moments when in a record shop, and the shop assistant plays something totally blinding that you've never heard before and you simply HAVE TO OWN IT. Of course you never just come out and say that. Instead, you wait until the next track has started, and nonchalantly sidle up to the counter and say 'what was that last tune?' as casually as possible, while in reality your pulse is racing and panic is setting in with the thought that this might in fact be the only copy of said tune ever made, and that bloke on the left looking through the racks of 'Pop goes Brass' albums has already decided to buy it - even though you, as a true music lover, deserve to own it more than him.
Anyway, if you are anything like me, 9 times out of 10 it turns out you already own it and either a) have totally forgotten where you put it or b) listened to the first 10 seconds the first time you got it home and decided instantly that it was sh*t.
I had one of the b) moments last week. The LP in question turned out to be 'The best of Cymande'. Now Cymande are one of those groups that you have to own music by if you profess to love funk music. It's one of those universal unwritten laws, like 2nd hand bookshops having at least one copy of 'The Moon's a balloon' by David Niven, or every record shop having a pristine copy of Stevie Wonder's 'The secret life of plants' that nobody wants to buy, ever, because it's rubbish.
Cymande are also one of those bands which produced a dollop of music of sheer genius, and quite a lot of music that's really not that great. (for other examples of bands like this, see Mandrill, Brass Construction and T-Connection, amongst many, many others). So you end up just playing tracks like 'The Message', 'Dove' and 'Bra' and forgetting the rest.
What made be go back to this LP was hearing what turned out to be 'Getting it back'. It's a brooding, urgent tune, with discordant strings and horns at the start giving it a bit of a scary vibe. As with most Cymande tracks, it's got a great rhythm with congas and drums in unison. What makes it special are the vocals, which aren't done in harmony like many of the better known tunes. Even though it's a bloke, it really sounds like Nina Simone - quite gritty and tough. Choon!
I also 'rediscovered' the track 'Genevieve', which was covered by Greyboy in a bit more of a hip-hop stylee a year or so ago (weirdly enough, it's the tune that is currently playing on his website. Spooky).
Anyhow, enough waffle. If you already own this album and like me have only really listened to the good bits, dig it out and give it another chance. If you don't own any Cymande, then you are a bad person and need to get some immediately.
Right-click here to listen to Getting It Back by Cymande
i agree about cymande and brass const. occasionally brillance. the first three B.C. records kind of hold up. after that watch out. btw, do you want a copy of the new cd from the brand new heavies (feat n'dea d.) ? i'm with delicious vinyl.
you can find a stream of the entire Lp at heavieslisteningparty dot com
Posted by: pmoshay | 02 July 2006 at 04:06 AM