Favorite 70s/funk songs? Looking to shake up my MP3 collection.

June 27, 2004 9:14 AM

Favorite 70s/funk songs? Looking to shake up my MP3 collection.
posted by Aaorn to media & arts (17 comments total)

In no real order. I can list more if you like, but don't want to do a huge post. Let me know if I'm off genre, I get confused by labels.

Voices of East Harlem - Wanted Dead Or Alive Jackson Sisters - I Belive in Miracles Bobby Byrd - I Know You Got Soul Herman Kelly - Dance To The Drummers Beat Banbarra - Shack Up Fred Wesley & the JB's - Blow Your Head King Curtis - Instant Groove Maceo And The Macks - Cross the Track (We Better Go Back) Rick James - Superfreak The 3 Degrees - You're The Fool Chaka Khan - Tearin' It Up Grover Washington, Jr - Funkfoot Isaac Hayes - Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile James Brown - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (+ the rest) Labi Sifre - The Vulture Osibisa - Sunshine Day Parliament - Give up the Funk Placebo - Humpty Dumpty Ripple - A Funky Song Ripple - I Don't Know What It Is (But It Sho' Is Funky) Stevie Wonder - Living For The City The Commodores - Machine Gun Young Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut Lyn Collins - Take me with you

posted by Flat Feet Pete at 9:39 AM on June 27, 2004

Oops. that last one should be Lyn Christopher
posted by Flat Feet Pete at 9:41 AM on June 27, 2004

You can't forget Superstition by Stevie Wonder, nor Sir Duke.
posted by gramcracker at 9:47 AM on June 27, 2004

Getcha some P-Funk -- Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton. This stuff is critical to any Soul/Funk collection.

Edwin Starr is always good for some hard soul.

Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes/Teddy Pendergrass for some harmonious soul.

Early Commodores (Too Hot Ta Trot, and such) for more upbeat tunage.

You can even throw in some Kool & The Gang, pre-"Joanna" days.
posted by davidmsc at 9:58 AM on June 27, 2004

Stevie Wonder - Living For The City is one of the best songs from the seventies.

See also Ohio Players and War.
posted by the fire you left me at 10:19 AM on June 27, 2004

Sly & the Family, anything up to and including "Small Talk".
posted by transient at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2004

And a good song is Express Yourself - Charles Wright And The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. For the horns.
posted by transient at 11:08 AM on June 27, 2004

This looks Right On.
posted by boost ventilator at 11:10 AM on June 27, 2004

Commodores -- Brick House. It's mighty mighty.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:36 AM on June 27, 2004

For funk, it doesn't get better than The Meters. Try Look-Ka Py Py.
posted by waxpancake at 11:50 AM on June 27, 2004

There's some more recent stuff that qualifies as funkadelic without actually being from the 70's. I'm thinking particularly of DJ Greyboy's Freestylin', which is a personal favorite. While "technically" acid-jazz, the sound is extremely funky. Fantabulous background music at a party or when you're trying to work and don't want to have your mind sidetracked by singing along.

Oh, and I second the Meters.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:12 PM on June 27, 2004

I'm not especially funky, but I do like Funkytown by Lipps Inc.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:54 PM on June 27, 2004

Hearing "Tell Me Something Good" (Rufus feat. Chaka Kahn) always makes me happy.
posted by amarynth at 2:01 PM on June 27, 2004

There's a great compilation of little-known funk acts called The Funky 16 Corners, if you want to hear some stuff that you'd normally never run across.
posted by xil at 2:21 PM on June 27, 2004

Early Tower of Power.
posted by internal at 7:18 PM on June 27, 2004

I have a preference for the early psychedelic Funkadelic stuff, esp the self titled Funkadelic album. Long freaky trip outs like "Mommy what's a Funkadelic?" and "What is Soul?" (Answer: rusty ankles and ashy kneecaps) are different than what is normally regarded as funk, but I wish it was all that way. There is a Houston Parliment/Funkadelic show from 1977 making its way around the P2P networks that looks and sounds like Hendrix, Fat Albert, some alien zionists and a ton of psychedelics exploded on stage. Well worth the download time.
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 7:50 PM on June 27, 2004

My top 3 bad ass funky tunes:

Wilson Pickett 'Engine Number 9'
Ivor Raymonde Orchestra 'The Real Thing'
Bobby Shad and The Bad Men 'I Want You Back'
posted by davehat at 3:03 AM on June 28, 2004