LP
£23.99 GBP

This product is unavailable

The Rhythm Makers's Soul On Your Side is flawless proto-disco funk. The Bronx-based band - that later went on to form heavyweight disco outfit GQ - originally released this treasure in 1976 and it's long been a hard to find record. It's also rare to find a record this hard. Captivating funk at its rawest, no doubt. Storming out the gate with the rollicking Loft/Garage staple "Can You Feel It (Part 1)", the listener is immediately put on notice that this LP is just a little bit special. The title track, "Soul On Your Side", is a classic dancer and the basis of GQ's future hit "Disco Nights".

But it's perhaps "Zone", a huge Baldelli track, that the record is best known for. Hypnotic psyched-out cosmic-disco / cosmic funk, it's an unrelenting
groove that really thrusts the party into hyperdrive. With doses of scintillating Latin and pulsating African rhythms driving the pumping tune, atop an unstoppable bassline and imaginative, soul-slathered keyboard figures, it's basically a full-on funk assault. You might need a lie-down after this.

But there's no let-up on the B-Side, immediately grooving thanks to "Funk-N-You", a laidback glider that just rolls in the sleek style. Gorgeous harmony skills are displayed on "Street Dreamin'". Beautiful and gritty funk, by turns. "You're My Last Girl" is an airy ballad with two leads before the legendary "Monterey" enters the fray. A much-sampled instrumental and heavy disco-funk nugget, it contains an amazing B-Boy drum break making the whole LP worth the price of admission. "Can You Feel It (Part 2)" closes out this spectacular set. The Rhythm Makers had been gigging around New York City since the late ’60s, having initially come together as Sabu and the Survivors, named after bassist Keith “Sabu” Crier.

They eventually - for this album at least! - settled on The Rhythm Makers and cut one record for the small De-Lite subsidiary Vigor. The core
lineup featured Crier, keyboardist Herb Lane, drummer Kenny Banks and rhythm guitarist Rahiem Leblanc. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios with artwork restored at Be With HQ, this new edition should hopefully bring this album into the homes and record boxes of many more people.

Tracklisting

  • Can You Feel It Pt. 1
  • You Better Believe It
  • Soul On Your Side
  • Zone
  • Funk-N-You
  • Street Dreamin'
  • You're My Last Girl
  • Montery
  • Can You Feel It Pt. 2
Remote Echoes
£19.99 GBP £26.99
Carnival Of Light
£27.99 GBP
Sour
£24.99 GBP
Blue Banisters
£34.99 GBP
The Lion's Roar
£21.99 GBP
Citizen Of Glass
£24.99 GBP
English Graffiti
£19.99 GBP
Squeeze
£19.99 GBP
No Singles
£17.99 GBP
Nirvana
£25.99 GBP
Queen Of Denmark
£22.99 GBP
Come Away With ESG
£19.99 GBP
Henry's Dream
£24.99 GBP
The Remote Part
£22.99 GBP
Pornography
£24.99 GBP
Chutes Too Narrow
£19.99 GBP
Thirteen
£18.99 GBP
OK Computer
£27.99 GBP
White Chalk
£13.99 GBP £19.99
Crazy Rhythms
£17.99 GBP £22.99
Wild Mood Swings
£28.99 GBP
Door, Door
£19.99 GBP
Harry Pussy
£15.99 GBP
Charmed Life
£19.99 GBP
Liquid Skin
£21.99 GBP
The Age Of Quarrel
£28.99 GBP
So There
£14.99 GBP
Hyperspace
£18.99 GBP
Stellular
£16.99 GBP
So That You Might Hear Me
£9.99 GBP £14.99
Brain Telephone
£22.99 GBP
The Bad Fire
£29.99 GBP
No Gods No Masters
£23.99 GBP