Chuck Brown is the undisputed founder of Go-Go music, the missing link between ’70s funk and ’80s electronic beat that is the latest Mid-Atlantic sound to get mined since Baltimore club went from a regional phenomenon to an international blitzkreig. Go-Go has sat dormant, a footnote in ’70s funk history, until now. Brown is a true mack, part George Benson and part Ice-T, with his old blues footing proclaimed on the ‘If You Had to Pick One Interlude.’ His quick fret work and bubbling cauldron of a baritone is on full display, as are Salsoul horns and liquid funkadelic bass, but the real groove is in the Go-Go rhythm, all snapping snares and on-the-one timbales. It’s this groove that slinks its way into every song, from the rave-up holler-and-response of ‘Block Party’ (which is based on the bass figure of ‘On Broadway’) to the cover of ‘Love Theme from ‘The Godfather.’ The tempo may shift from toe-tapping quick (’We Come to Party’) to pelvic-thrust slow (’The Party Roll’), but the Go-Go groove is the undeniable engine driving this big, bad Cadillac.

RELATED POSTS:

No related posts.