Soul Emissaries Super Funk – Various Artists CD (BGP)

SuperFunk returns with its most soulful offering yet. Rare black American music from the 1970s and 80s.

It’s been a few years since the last “SuperFunk” compilation, and in that time there has been a marked change in the world of funk collecting. In searching for a new sound, something that hasn’t been played before, the rare soul scene has developed a taste for funkier rhythms. Some of the newly popular records had been big with the funk crowd a decade earlier, while others had in the past been rejected for one reason or another. Another category involves records previously considered too soulful for fans of heavy James Brown-style funk and too funky for the soul world. While soul clubs have not completely change their playlists, these emissaries from the world of funk have certainly perked up their musical selection.

Demand for these types of records has been fuelled by a younger crowd who cut their teeth in less-structured club scenes that happily played funk and R&B alongside more traditional forms of soul. Clubs like these attract a whole new audience to the music. On the first and third Saturday of every month, for example, over 1500 people, mainly under 25s, flock to South London Soul Train in Peckham to dance to a playlist dominated by funky sounds. In this age of digitised, streamed, pre-packaged music, it is a sight that is as surprising as it is wonderful.

Our latest “SuperFunk” collection is informed by the more soulful side of things. That isn’t to say we have ignored our roots; none of the tracks here would sound out of place at Deep Funk or South London Soul Train. The 20 cuts we have put together include in-demand rarities, previously unreleased gems, a smattering of classics and more than a few obscurities that are due their time in the spotlight. All in all, this is soulful funky music at its finest. – Dean Rudland – Ace Records