Now-Again/Stone’s Throw Records will host a special album release “listening party” in celebration of their groovy new CD compilation Carolina Funk: First in Funk 1968-1977 at 10 p.m. on Fri. May 2 at the Tin Roof in West Ashley (1117 Magnolia Rd., 843-571-0775).
The disc features 22 rare and unreleased funk singles recorded between the late ’60s and mid ’70s by funk and soul acts based in North and South Carolina. Lowcountry acts include Carleen & The Groovers, Soul Drifters, and Primitive.
Carolina Funk was originally released on Jazzman Records in London last November. The production quality varies from sounding like loose, lo-fi demo sessions to a more professionally polished style. Grenville-based singer Dynamite Singletary’s “Super Good” (a reworking of James Brown’s “Super Bad”) is tops.
“We have already thrown release parties in Chapel Hill, Columbia, Asheville, and Charlotte,” says organizer Jason Perlmutter, a Chapel Hill-based DJ from WXYC and an avid record collector who helped compile the collection. “My friends Chris Wenner from Columbia and Harley Lyles from Greensboro and I will all be spinning funk and soul throughout the night. I’d like to reach out to people who might have made records like these that I don’t know.” Perlmutter’s extensive liner notes are worth as much as the funky tracks themselves. Here’s the list of tunes:
1. Primitive – “Creation of Music”
2. Gamith – “Darkness”
3. Innersouls – “Just Take Your Time”
4. Dynamite Singletary – “Super Good”
dynamitesingletarysuper-good.mp3
5. Mongoose – “King Cobra”
6. Soul Impossibles – “Interpretation – Soul Power No.1”
7. Carleen & The Groovers – “Can We Rap”
8. Sundia – “Stand Up and Be a Man Pt.1”
9. The Tempo’s Band – “Ease It To Me”
10. Frankie & The Damons – “Bad Woman”
11. Roy Roberts – “You Ain’t Miss It”
12. Black Experience Band – “The Road
13. The Soul Drifters – “Funky Soul Brother”
14. James Reese & The Progressions – “Let’s Go (It’s Summertime)”
15. Paul Burton – “So Very Hard To Make It”
16. Wally Coco – “Message To Society”
17. Anthony Burns – “Doing What You Need To Do”
18. The Black Exotics – “Theme of Blackbyrds”
19. Donnie Brown – “Funky Mind”
20. George Campbell – “Good Time”
21. J.D.’s – “Funky Party Time”
22. The Ultimates – “Progressive Movement” (previously unreleased) Love Best of Charleston? Help the Charleston City Paper keep Best of Charleston going every year with a donation. Or sign up to become a member of the Charleston City Paper club.