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Music

Perlich’s Picks

Rating: NNNNN


Sucking in the 70s

Although Seattle’s Light in the Attic label is establishing a reputation for reissuing top-notch Caribbean soul ( Wayne McGhie ), Pop-psych ( Free Design ) and rare funk ( Wheedle’s Groove ), they’re not above dipping into porn soundtracks if the music’s tight, as we’ve seen with the fab reissue of the Bernard Purdie blaxploitation classic Lialeh . Their latest project is the Deep Throat Anthology , Parts I & II, bringing together both the tweaked-out score to the groundbreaking 72 classic (mastered from recently discovered tape reels) along with the funky joints from the 74 follow-up co-starring Ron Jeremy who offers his hairy insights in the accompanying liner notes. It definitely doesn’t suck.

Box of bangers

Unlike their North American counterparts, Warner Music UK understands the funk collector who secretly desires to own every rare 7-inch ever issued. So they’ve issued the stylin’ Funk 45s box set, which reissues 20 sought-after deep funk sides on 10 slabs of pristine vinyl complete with exact repro labels and company sleeves. Scratched-up original copies of Tony Alvon ‘s Sexy Coffee Pot, TSU Tornadoes ‘ Getting The Corners, the Gaturs ‘ Cold Bear and Freddie & the Kinfolk ‘s Mashed Potato Pop Corn would require a second mortgage, so this swank little set is a steal at $50.

Ghana getdown

The long-awaited second volume of the Ghana Soundz collection of rare and unreleased Afrobeat, funk and fusion grooves from the 70s is finally out, and it’s another crucial cooker. The good news here is that compiler Miles Cleret isn’t confining his song selections to the most obscure recordings. The late great Joe Mensah is represented with his jazzy Africa Is Home while the prolific Vis-A-Vis is joined by the legendary K. Frimpong for the enjoyable 11-minute throwdown Aboagyewaa. All three of these important artists really deserve career retrospective collections of their own.

Saintly Trip

Saint Etienne ‘s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have been known to moonlight as club DJs, although if you know the stuff they put out themselves, you know “funky” isn’t part of their musical vocabulary. So it’s a bit surprising to find that a smidgen has crept into their crates, judging by the disco joints on their new double-disc mix issued as part of the Family Recordings series The Trip . These lads clearly dig deeper than most celebrity pop-fops, so along with the expected assortment of soundtrack treats and creamy soft-rock ooze, they turn up the classy head-nodder You’ve Come This Way from Nancy Priddy (Christina Applegate’s mom) and Carl Carlton ‘s lovely I Won’t Let That Chump Break Your Heart. How very charming.

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