Back with some vintage guitar funk

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:08:40 -0800

I've been laid low by illness for the last few days, too sick to blog, but I did manage to listen to some music and find a nice trifecta of funky guitar instrumentals from the 70s. The grandaddy of them all is Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" from 1971. As one of Motown's in-house Funk Brothers band, Coffey, with his wah-wah guitar, was one of the architects of the "psychedelic soul" sound that would later become the de facto soundtrack music for the entire blaxplotation movie genre. (Template: poverty and discrimination force ghetto residents into moral compromises.) In "Scorpio" Coffey's guitar sounds like an electric knife cutting through a steel rod (that's good, BTW), which I assumed to be the work of an effects pedal or three. I was wrong, though, it's simply nine overdubs (thanks to Oliver Wang for doing the research on the occasion of "Scorpio" being NPR's Song of the Day on January 18, 2007). Wang also gives the details on one of the funkiest, most generous (and therefore sampleable) percussion breaks ever, which involved four percussionists. Get down!

09-Scorpio

Dennis Coffey

"Scorpio" must have spawned a galaxy of imitations (Coffey did some himself, such as "Taurus" and "Son of Scorpio"), since I found two this weekend without even trying. First up is Donald Austin's "Side Saddle" from his sole solo LP, Crazy Legs (1973):

09 - side saddle -1974

Donald Austin

Then there's "Dr. Abraham" by Janne Schaffer of Sweden (and ABBA), from his 1974 album Andra:

A1 Dr Abraham

Janne Schaffer

Coming soon, some new vinyl rips of 80s obscurities I just received from Platters That Matter Records!

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Back with some vintage guitar funk