Back in stock: Funk/Reissues

Review: British soul singer Dee C Lee started her career singing backup for Wham and the Style Council, before embarking on a solo career that included an early release on Mo Wax. By the late 90s, she'd pretty much stepped back from music though - making this new album for Acid Jazz a genuine surprise (it's her first new release for over a quarter of a century). It's rather good, too, with Lee's sublime and emotion-rich vocals soaring above 'heritage soul' style tracks that variously offer nods to bossa-nova ('Don't Forget About Love'), disco/jazz-funk fusion ('Be There In The Morning', with its excellent horns and fluttering flutes), and Motown-style stompers (the uplifting excellence of 'Walk Away').

Review: Dresden label Cold Diggin has been a consistent outlet for the work of The Duke Ya Love To Hate, which is one of several different aliases that Stefan Senf choses to work under. Usually they serve up just one of his special 7" outings per year but in 2023 two are arriving in December. This one comes on a hand-numbered 7" in screen-printed sleeve and is limited to just 150 copies. A-side jam 'Cold Wire' is a lively mix of breaks, jazzy chord stabs and plunging bass, then 'Cold Strut' slows things down and builds on a familiar funk break and top line melody in alluring new ways.

Review: Croatian producer Funky Destination is back with an irresistible funk bomb here in the form of this new 45rpm on Sound Exhibitions out of Italy. It comes on limited edition red vinyl and opens up with 'I Wanna Love Ya' which is one of his signature grooves completes with snappy hits and jangling guitar lines. It's a loopy affair that bursts to life with the arrival of some big trumpets and has a throwback turn of the millennium feel. 70s Lonely Hustler' is the flipside jam and is a more organic and loose rhythm peppered with Latin energy, bird calls, tambourines and much more.

Review: In 1969, Bootsy Collins and his band were asked to record a demo for James Brown, who was looking for a new backing combo. As history proves, the recording they provided met with the Godfather of Soul's approval and the J.B's were born. This essential CD from Now-Again Records presents that demo recording, "Don't Mess On My Thing", for the first time. It's as heavy and energetic as you'd expect, though if anything the two accompanying unreleased tracks are even better. There's the deeper, jazzier warmth of "The Wedge" - all glistening guitar solos, low-slung grooves and fluid electric piano solos - and the complete take of "When You Feel It, Grunt If You Can", a 22-minute, jammed-out medley of two songs that's little less than incredible.

Review: Their chops were already up thanks to their tenure as James Brown's backing band, but this album was the first time The J.B.'s stepped out on their own in 1971. It's enjoyed the odd vinyl repress over the years, but this is the first time These Are The J.B.'s has been released on CD. Any serious funk head should know what to expect here - foundational funk and soul from some of the most seminal architects of the genre, laying the blueprint for a mind-boggling amount of musical culture that was to follow. It doesn't get more seminal than this.