The Fatback Band: "People Music"

A live-in-the-studio funk jam released as an LP, and all the better for it.  I have to admit, I didn’t gravitate towards The Fatback Band’s music the first time I heard it—even their earliest, rawest stuff had this proto-disco underpinning that wasn’t my thang—and so I passed on their records for years.  Yet over time, I’ve gained a respect for both the group’s prolific nature (SO many Fatback albums out there), and for their unique approach to the funk.  That being said, this LP is definitely one of their heaviest funk outings, and more in my wheelhouse as far as the kind of earthy funk I prefer goes.  Every track here echoes the ambiance of a smoke-filled studio in NYC (Fatback’s home turf) on a Saturday night, with the band just getting down as they please, trying all sorts of grooves on for size, and succeeding with each one.  Highlights are the dancefloor-driven “Njia Walk (Street Walk),” the band’s musical statement of purpose “Fatbackin’,” the slow-burning, spacy “Baby Doll,” and my personal favorite cut from the LP, the outstanding, b-boy-breaking “Kiba.”  This was an exciting time for East Coast rhythm evolution, as the Latin sounds of Spanish Harlem collided head-on with James Brown-style funk, begetting in the process a style that would eventually be called “disco,” with The Fatback Band being at the very forefront of the new wave.