#740- > The Westbound Sound (Various Artists) - Foundations (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2025 – Westbound Records

Release Date : April 12, 2025

 

By Phillip Smith; April 12, 2025

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Be on the lookout this Record Store Day for this groovy compilation album from Westbound Records called The Westbound Sound – Foundations. Packed with ten terrific tracks dripping with funky goodness, this release was curated specifically for RSD, and lands as the second installment of this nature by Westbound. I love the mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar with each track freely flowing right to the next down to the end.

The ride begins with the 1971 horn-infused, keyboard-centric instrumental “Pack of Lies” by The Counts. This track absolutely cooks as slices of psychedelic guitar licks take a dip into the furious percussion. I love the 1976 Fuzzy Haskins track “Love’s Now Is Forever” featuring P-Funk’s Bootsy Collins on bass and Bernie Worrell on keys. Strings and horns give this one a big sound. Hearing the 1977 selection “Well, Have A Nice Day” by King Errisson instantly transports the listener to the disco era with its Latin beat, smooth vocals, and inescapable rhythm. I can definitely feel the funk on Caesar Frazier’s “Funk It Down”. This one is so buttery, I melt with every listen. Hearing Funkadelic always puts a smile on my face, and it makes me gleam with delight to hear the playful low groove of “Nappy Dugout” from their 1973 Cosmic Slop album (which by the way was their first album with cover art by Pedro Bell). The 1976 song “Suzie Thundertussy” by Junie Morrison, a one-time member of The Ohio Players and member/musical director of Parliament-Funkadelic” blends freaky funk with roller-rink disco and totally captivates me. Foundations concludes with the slow dance favorite “Mixed Up Moods and Attitudes” by The Fantastic Four. Long hanging notes soaked in a cosmic brew usher the song in. Accompanied with strings and soulful harmonies, it surely makes for a very beautiful song.

Enjoy Record Store Day, and if you find this treasure, I highly recommend it.

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#673 : Bernie Worrell - Wave From the WOOniverse (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Org Music

By Phillip Smith; April 12, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Funkadelic’s Uncle Jam Wants You was released while I was in my senior year of high school. I absolutely loved that album. It led me to record stores in search of more music by this wonderous band. Bernie Worrell (April 19, 1944 – June 14, 2016) was an integral part of the P-Funk family, and over the years his name appeared on many albums I purchased. Wave From the WOOniverse, a posthumous release produced by former Bernie Worrel Orchestra bandleader Evan Taylor is a double album set to be released on Record Store Day April 20. From unfinished works extending over twenty years old, the thirteen tracks on this album are brought to life by artists Worrell had worked with or had been friends with. 

After being lulled into the record with the piano-laced spacy “Intro (Reflections on a Bird)”, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) guides the listener into the beyond with a motherlode of funk on “Distant Star”. To hear the Bootsy Collins’ voice break out in “What Have They Done to My Funk” absolutely puts a smile on my face. And for the win, the song also includes Michael Moon Reuben, Bootsy’s son Ouiwey Collins , and Buckethead who absolutely tears it up on guitar. Leo Nocentelli, Fred Wesley and Stanton Moore create a wonder funky jam with “Heapin’ Bowl of Gumbo”. It’s absolutely fantastic. With an intro that sounds like a long-missing instrumental of 2001 A Space Odyssey, “Re-Enter Black Light” eventually takes a high-tech turn into a pulsating space-age rave. Sean Ono Lennon appears on bass guitar for this hypnotic groove. I was overjoyed to hear Fred Schneider on “The Big WOO”. If the B-52’s ever joined with Funkadelic, this is what it would sound like. I’d love to hear an entire album featuring this musical two-fer which also included Marco Benevento on keys and Steve Scales on percussion. My heart skipped a few beats when I first heard “Contusion” performed by Funkadelic with none other than Eddie Hazel on guitar. This previously recorded and unissued Funkadelic song is a mind-bender. Wave From the WOOniverse comes to an funky heart-warming end with its title track. For the closer, Miho Hatori lends her rapping mastery with Sarah La Puerta on lead vocals and Steve Scales on percussion.

Wave From the WOOniverse is everything I hoped it would be and a whole lot more. I’ll treasure this album for a long, long time.  

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