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Reviews:

 

 

***** Five Stars

The Phonk Is On!!!
By A Customer on 26 Febt. 2004

This is a definite must have for fans of the DC sound, Snowboy is no mean pretender to the throne having been DJ'ing for at least 20 years! If you are old enough to remember a CH4 Arena documentary on Go-Go u will recognise a lot of the trax on this Long-Player! For those who dont know a quick breakdown of the Go-Go sound (generallising here!) is Funky Live Funk driven with loads of timbale & latin percussion, Phat Moog basses massive Horn sections and a funky old-skool party rap! This is the basic vibe of the Go-Go sound from Washington! Think Prince meets Grandmaster Flash on a particularly funky day! The CD contains some slammin traks including the much known Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers, Money, a staple for any funk enthusiast & a scratch-fest version of the Trouble Funk & Melle Mel early b-boy staple, Pump me up, if you have only heard trouble funk's brand of Go-Go u will be refreshed by the lighter flavours of some of the traks on this album like take it to the top & Dont touch that stereo, etc.. Equally as funky as any go-go you've heard without a syn-drum in sight!! In other words if you call yourself funky, by this CD! (J-JOy)

 

 

***** Five Stars

Fine,hard to find, funk, at a good price.

By Auld Uncle Jeff on 29 Jan.

 

2011Washington D.C. Go Go is a school of contemporary urban dance music, immensely popular in the metropolitan D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. Unlike the jangly. slightly tinny early Motown sound from Detroit or the bold, brassy Memphis soul it has not traveled well and remains relatively obscure even in black America. The sound was developed in the late 70's by veteran local nightclub musician Chuck Brown. The idea was simple, keep the people on the dance floor by letting the percussion section cut loose between songs and keep a strong driving rhythm on drums and congas throughout the sets which could last for hours. One thing you don't find in early Go Go is slow numbers. The dancers had worked up such a sweat they didn't want to get up close and personal at least on the dance floor! Chuck used to talk to the audience during these percussion breaks, announce birthdays, anniversaries, church bake sales. Audience interaction is important in Go Go and most Go Go will have call and response chants between the band and dancers. You have your typical bass, funky guitar, swelling, swooshing keyboards and a Memphis style horn section most of whom served their apprenticeship in school or college marching bands. If you are unfamiliar with the wonderful world of Go Go YouTube will give you a taste. Type in Chuck Brown ( there is an excellent series of interviews from the Visionaries Project ), Trouble Funk, Experience Unlimited ( E.U. ),or Rare Essence. The Pump Blenders have a great clip where they build the sound up starting on congas, bongos and drums and bringing in the other instruments before kicking off the call and response chants in a mighty, mighty crescendo of high octane funk

 

***** Five Stars

Slammin' - Let's get a Go-Go revival going

By Stu P. on 6 Jan. 2005

 

This album is very neccessary as far as the forgotten world of Go-Go is concerned. It contains some amazing - percussion loaded monsters, that are req. listening. I was a Trouble Funk fan back in the day, even though their records were hard to come by, and having never heard "Lets's Get Small", was completly blown apart when I cranked up the stereo. The only bum track on here for me is "Scratching to the Funk", which is a bad quality cut up of T.F's "Pump me Up", another early 80's quality production would have been more welcome. Other than this, the sound level and quality is fantastic.