VA - Miami Sound 2, More Funk & Soul from Miami Florida 1967-1974 [2024]

SOUL/FUNK

VA - Miami Sound 2, More Funk & Soul from Miami Florida 1967-1974 [2024]

The first volume of Miami Sound, originally released in 2003, is subtitled "Rare Funk & Soul," and though it contains a Top Ten R&B, Top 40 pop hit with George McCrae's "I Get Lifted," its selections are mostly obscure. Following a 2023 reissue of that set, Miami Sound 2 simply promises "More Funk & Soul" with a greater number of certifiable hits peppering the wealth of deep cuts. Like the preceding volume, this rounds up tracks from the catalog of T.K. Records and offshoots like Alston, Cat, and Glades. Many connections can be drawn between the two compilations, but there's an especially smart link here with the inclusion Latimore's sensual 1977 cover of "I Get Lifted," a number 30 R&B single itself. In terms of commercial success, there are some heavy hitters here. Betty Wright's swinging funk classic "Clean Up Woman" and Timmy Thomas' spare bossa-soul oddity "Why Can't We Live Together" were Top Ten pop hits, and Bahamians T-Connection crowned the dance chart with "Do What You Wanna Do," disco-funk at its most delightfully overstuffed. All three songs have been sampled dozens of times over. Much of what remains resembles chaff in comparison. Among the brighter exceptions are Milton Wright's burning "Keep It Up," justly elevated over the years by England's rare groove DJs, and Thomas' "Africano," a hypnotic King Sporty collaboration that lands somewhere between Manu Dibango and Norman Whitfield. In addition to "I Get Lifted," this ventures even farther outside the advertised timeframe by including Gwen McCrae's "All This Love That I'm Givin'," but who can complain when that Betty Wright production is one of the toughest synthesizer-laced funk jams of 1979, up there with Funkadelic's "(Not Just) Knee Deep" and Five Special's "Why Leave Us Alone"? Absolutely no one. (AMG review by Andy Kellman)

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Track list

01 Betty Wright - Clean Up Woman 2:46

02 Miami - Party Freaks 5:17

03 Gwen Mcrae - All This Love That I'm Givin' 3:53

04 The Beginnng Of The End - Monkey Tamarind 3:34

05 Latimore - I Get Lifted 4:41

06 Raw Soul Express - Burn The Candle 2:40

07 Chocolateclay - Free (I'll Always Be) 4:37

08 Betty Wright - I Love The Way You Love 3:03

09 Little Beaver - Concrete Jungle 4:53

10 Jimmy \"Bo\" Horne - Clean Up Man 2:33

11 Timmy Thomas - Africano 4:33

12 Charles Allen - Winterman 3:16

13 T-Connection - Do What You Wanna Do 7:03

14 Robert Moore - Jimmy Bo Charlie 2:14

15 Milton Wright - Keep It Up 4:11

16 Clarence Reid - Ten Tons Of Dynamite 2:33

17 Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together 4:37

18 Little Beavers - We Three 4:07

19 Paulette Reeves - Do It Again 5:33

20 Lynn Williams - Kisses Kisses Kisses 2:20

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