It kills me. Every time I go into a store that sells recorded music, the first place I go is to the Soul/R&B/Urban/whatever they’re calling it now section. Now, I know – I know I’m going to be disappointed. But something in me keeps dragging me back to look anyway. It’s kind of like when you go in a store, and you’re looking for one specific item that you’re pretty sure they’re not gonna have, but to delay the inevitable, rather than asking a clerk who would most likely go ahead and tell you they don’t have it, you go and search high and low through the shelves, clinging to false hope.
Sometime or ‘nother…through thick and thin…Sometime or ‘nother, the truth is gonna win…
STANGA
The words don’t seem to mean much on the surface…but beneath that surface lies a different story. The song: “Stanga”. The author: Sly Stone. Sly fans know this song as recorded by his little sister Vet’s group, Little Sister, on a 45 released under his fledgling company/label Stone Flower.
The musical backing was all provided by Sly himself, on Maestro Rhythm King drum machine, Fender Bass, Fender Telecaster, and (I believe) Farfisa combo organ through his signature wah-wah pedal. If you think it sounds like There’s A Riot Goin’ On you’d be right…it was recorded during that same heady, electrified, Funkafied period….
But what if he had saved it for his own group to record? What if he had sat on it for a couple of years and brought it out during the Fresh sessions?
The idea struck me all at once while driving down the road one day. I will make that happen. I will record my version of what it might have sounded like. This thing has been on the back burner for almost a year, getting little tweaks here and there to the arrangement, adding parts sporadically. FINALLY, at long last, I’m finished.
I think this is the funkiest recording I have ever made. All instruments and voices were played live by me – no MIDI or any other shortcuts. It’s real and it’s raw. And it might be the first time you’ve ever heard me play Sax or Trumpet.
Prepare to be FUNKATIZED.
Dig it:
(The track is downloadable too – just click the little down arrow on the right side of the player.)
INSTRUMENTATION:
Yamaha bass, MPC-2500 (Rhythm King samples), Acoustic drums (hi-hats were two 16″ Zildjian crashes!), Rhodes Suitcase 73, Nord Lead 2x through wah (Organ sound), DeArmond electric guitar through wah into Epiphone Valve Junior, King saxophone, Bundy trumpet, tambourine, vocals (recorded with Studio Projects C1 mic).
Hit me and let me know what you think! Hope you dig!
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Jan 23 2010