Katerinas Magic World

The title's not lying -- because the set's a wonderful collection of mod grooves -- a few from the past, and lots more from the present -- but all with an ear for the tastiest side of late 60s jazz, Latin, and soul! The feel is all-solid, too -- not kitschy or overly clever -- just solidly grooving, with a real appreciation for the same sort of styles that we love to hear in a dancefloor record!
tracks
1 The Diplomats of Solid Sound - Don't Touch my Popcorn 2:36
2 Skeewiff - Nitty Gritty 3:43
3 Boogaloo Investigators - Let the Groove Move You 4:23
4 Joe Bataan - Chick A Boom 3:45
5 The Harvey Averne Dozen - Never Learned to Dance 2:57
6 The Link Quartet - Beat.It 3:18
7 Village Callers - Hector 2:43
8 The Minivip - La Strada della Moda 2:25
9 Stoned Soul Picnic - Hardtop 22 4:38
10 Willie Bobo - He's That Way 3:07
11 Nicola Conte - Jazz pour Dadine 3:50
12 Ray Barretto - Teacher of Love 2:27
13 Monguito Santamaria - El Dorado 3:12
14 Gerardo Frisina - Sophisticated Samba 3:22
15 Cal Tjader - Ode to Billie Joe 3:06
16 Soulstance - The Time 4:10
Listen

An extremely ambitious project from Bootsy, decidedly ignoring pop industry standards. Utilizing some deeeep fuzz bass, funked up guitar sounds from Buckethead, vocal samples from the film Naked Lunch, and other weirdness, Bootsy creates a coherent (if chaotic) landscape of funk fused with almost industrial music.

A Fuzzface was an early distortion device for guitars, that created a "fuzzy" tune for the instrument. The little box looked like it had a face on it, hence the name. Bootsy cleverly adopts this as a personality. The intro, "CBI Files" consists of noise, garbled voices and sirens. It's the wake up call for the album. "Bugg-Lite" has some ultra-funky bass playing from Bootsy and thunderous guitar rumblings from Buckethead. This song is a true groove, with Bootsy spouting some great lyrics like 'How you gonna feel some pain, with the absence of a brain'. "Fuzz Face" is fast, funky, furious and features fat beats. Mind-boggling bass-playing here. "Exterminate" is a hardcore-type jam, cut in with assorted spoken word samples from the film Naked Lunch. ('Exterminate all rational thought.') "Smell The Secrets" is another hardcore song that delves into paranoia and conspiracies, mentioning UFO's, 'political partying' and the like. "Count Zero" is another chatter-filled song that has some chilling keyboards from Bernie Worrell and more hard-hitting bass leads. "Bootsy And The Beast" has an interesting lead-in: an interview with a guy who claims that he introduced Bootsy to freebasing cocaine. The songs takes on interesting meanings--could 'the beast' mean cocaine? "No Fly Zone" is another hard rocker, with heavy fuzz bass, including a great solo. "The Passion Continues" is a superb ballad that consciously revisits old ones, with lines like 'They used to call me the sugar crook...but I went to jail for that.'

A great concept for Bootsy, perhaps a little heavy in the hardcore Buckethead department, but has him playing like he hasn't in years. The theme of paranoia, both from within and without, is excellent. Fans of Bootsy's work with Praxis will eat this up with a spoon; Rubber Band fans will still find plenty to like
Tracks
01. C.B.I. Files {Bootsy Collins} 6:19
02. Buggg Lite {Bootsy Collins} 7:568
03. Fuzz Face {Bootsy Collins} 2:38
04. Exterminate {Bill Laswell} 3:02
05. Smell the Secrets {Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Buckethead} 5:57
06. Count Zero {Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins} 5:12
07. Bootsy and The Beast {Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Buckethead} 6:57
08. No Fly Zone (The Devil's Playground) [Bootsy Collins} 5:04
09. The Passion Continues {Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Buckethead}
Listen

Like many an overextended or depleted artist, Mayfield has dug into his past for material for this album, which sounds hastily conceived and then competently executed to meet some contractual deadline. Four of the seven tunes were written prior to 1971, during the time Mayfield was trying to find himself as a solo artist. "To Be Invisible" comes from the Claudine soundtrack, which Mayfield recently wrote and produced for Gladys Knight and the Pips. The very titles of the two new numbers, "Kung Fu" and "Sweet Exorcist," signal the lack of invention.

Mayfield has run into the same problems that marred his first three albums. Without a clear focus, a Superfly or a Claudine character to identify with, Mayfield goes off in a hundred different directions—peace, ecology, divorce, future shock—always ponderously. His love songs come out curiously detached and abstract, and consequently monotonous.

He'll sacrifice anything for a rhyme: "Don't put yourself in solitude / Who can I trust with my life?/When people tend to be so rude!"

Some of his conceits are particularly silly: "My momma borned me in a ghetto! / But no, she couldn't call me Jesus/I wasn't white enough, she said / And then she named me Kung Fu."

The music is competently routine. Almost all of it is in the Superfly boogie-down mold, but without the extras that made the best Superfly cuts stand out. The hustler hero of the movie seemed to inspire a vitality in his singing which is missing here. As are the searing tenor sax/violin charts he and Johnny Pate wrote for the soundtrack. As is the melodic inventiveness of the best Superfly cuts.

All that's left is Mayfield's basic competence in using the studio. At this point, the Superfly-derived material the Motown writers have been coming up with for Eddie Kendricks is far superior to what Mayfield can come up with.
Tracks
01 Ain't Got Time 5:10
02 Sweet Exorcist 3:50
03 To Be Invisible 4:12
04 Power to the People 3:26
05 Kung Fu 6:02
06 Suffer 4:06
07 Make Me Believe in You 5:32
Download.