Sound Experience - It's a Funky Thing (2026) [Hi-Res]

Sound Experience was a ten-piece funk outfit formed in 1970 at Morgan State College in Baltimore. In the early '70s the band linked up with producer Stan Watson and relocated to Philadelphia to record for his Philly Groove/Soulville labels. That partnership produced the 1971 single "40 Acres And A Mule" / "Blow Your Mind," material that anchors this "It's a Funky Thing" digital release.

The band's early sides are raw, blues-inflected, Detroit-style funk closer in spirit to the first Funkadelic album than to the polished sound typically associated with Sigma Sound Studios. "40 Acres And A Mule" carries lyrics referencing the broken post–Civil War promise of land reparations to freed slaves, with a horn arrangement led by trumpeter Melvin Miles Jr. The instrumental flip, "Blow Your Mind," rides a grimy guitar-and-drum groove capped by a fuzz-drenched lead solo.

By the time of their 1974 debut LP "Don't Fight the Feeling," the group's sound had smoothed out toward the territory of early Commodores and Kool & The Gang. Despite a limited discography, Sound Experience built a lasting cult following among funk collectors — their track "J.P. Walk" was later used by Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights, and Collectables issued the retrospective "The Soulville Collection" on CD in 1994.

The Philly Groove Records catalog was acquired by independent company Reservoir Media in 2012, which has since worked to revive the label's archive, including mixing previously unheard Sound Experience material with students from Drexel University. "It's a Funky Thing" gathers part of that legacy under the Philly Groove Records / Reservoir Recordings banner.



Tracklist:
1-1 Sound Experience - 40 Acres and a Mule [3:23]
1-2 Sound Experience - Blow Your Mind (Single Mix) [3:05]
1-3 Sound Experience - Everything Is Beautiful [3:25]
1-4 Sound Experience - Bumble Bee [6:07]
1-5 Sound Experience - Reaching For the Moon [3:53]
1-6 Sound Experience - It's a Funky Thing (Mono Mix) [2:59]