Funk Factory ‎- Funk Factory (1975) [2013 Atlantic 1000 R&B Best Collection]

A massive bit of funky fusion from the 70s – an album that was crucially overlooked at the time, but which has gone onto become a crate-diggers classic over the years! The group's fronted by Polish jazz legends Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak – but it also features a fair bit of American players too – all working together in a blend of the best funky fusion modes going down in both the US and Eastern Europe in the mid 70s! Drums on the set are totally great – played by Steve Gadd or Gerald Brown, depending on the track – and some tracks have weird vocal bits that riff around the instrumentation, sung either by Urszula, Bernard Kafka, or some other backing singers. The keyboards are great – quite tripped-out at times, but never too over the top – and overall, the album's a fair bit more soulful and funky than most of Urbaniak's other work of the 70s. Titles include the killer sample track "Rien Ne Va Plus" – used famously by the Beastie Boys many years back – plus "After The World Goes Home", "Funk It", "Sinkin Low", "Next Please", "Horsing Around", and "Watusi Dance".

Tracks:

01 - Watusi Dance
02 - Horsing Around
03 - Rien ne va plus
04 - After All the World Goes Home
05 - Next Please
06 - The Music in Me
07 - Funk It
08 - Lilliput
09 - Sinkin' Low

Personnel:

Anthony Jackson - bass
Steve Gadd - drums
Bernard Kafka - percussion
Michal Urbaniak - strings, violin
Wlodek Gulgowski - keyboards
Urszula Dudziak - vocals