Go-Go Appreciation!
Jroam
257 Posts
Just found a Northeast Groover's 12" on futura from '94 and don't have a clue about GO-GO or it's essence. Any suggestions on where I could find some general info about this style of music. Google is less fun.
Comments
I'd like a listeners' guide myself, as I get the general drift that the best, most authentic go-go didn't make it out of DC (although Island Records tried - I love that Go Go Crankin' compilation).
I always did like that sound, though. At a time when synths and quiet-storm types were taking over, go-go was like funk's last stand.
I havent seen it since.
And I still would like to cop Sardines from The Junkyard Band.
One or two Trouble Funk CDs and I wont call that Soul Searchers/Salt Of The Earth a pure Go-Go LP.
And dont get me started w/ the latter 80's crossover/DA BUTT era stuff......
yeah, thats the stuff im trying to stay away from (even though i kinda like "da butt")
Da Butt is a hit but that was the ONLY song that got play.
The ship had sailed on the genre in a commercial sense by the time Spike used it for School Daze.
Im sure its been discussed here before, but I'd like to know why it never caught on. It had a good 10 years under its belt before the majors caught on.Unlike somethin' like HYPHY.
Hip Hop incorporated a gang of Go-Go in the late 80's that was decent.
Now if there is a documentary id like to see,its the entire Story of the genre up to NOW. 'Cause i know the local clubs were still playin it in the 90's.
GO-GO like Steppin Music from Chi-Town always intrigued me. Local Real Shit.
Chuck Brown- We the People 7"
Northeast Groovers
Backyard Band
Junkyard Band
Trouble Funk
New bands to look for( although the hot R&B chart cover-band feel is , uh, present):
Fatal Attraction
Mambo Sauce
As for that Go-Go documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGOF3lWmLpk
b/w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIXidQrlml0
Most of the great go-go wasn't recorded on LP's or whatever. The preferred medium of exchange was live soundboard tapes that got sold at specialty shops. A good place to start looking for modern and classic stuff is:
http://www.papalace.com/
Henry Rollins also has (had?) a charity label called District Line that reissued a lot of live 80's Go-Go. You can cop a 2CD comp of early Trouble Funk here:
http://21361.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=52
Hope that helped....
I dig that song too, but don't let that stop you to check for EU's earlier stuff. Live 2 Places at the Same Time is a doooope live album. that's the album that got me into go-go back in the 80's.
Funk isnt limited to horns and drums.
The whole ideal of live instrumentals is the last refuge of real Funk is bullshit IMO.
One of my all time favorite Def Jam 12"s.
And Batmon EU's Live album is
Ah, no, I meant what I said the first time - go-go WAS funk's last stand (live or otherwise), back in the eighties when it was still fairly current and not some retro move.
(And no, I don't mean EPMD either.)
Dudes, it is far from 'some retro move' here in dc. The old school acts are still around and work the g&s crowd hard but then there are also loads of young bands playing several nights a week. I am talking 16 year olds with CCB ringtones and shit.
Mortimer is correct. Go Go may be the ONLY common musical ground that older, middle aged and young folks have in common in DC. And it's far from being a niche market here in DC, I guarantee you it's the one form of live music where the musicians are still able to get paid for performance. I know that local rock bands can't make shit from their live shows. Live shows are how Go Go bands pay their bills. it's not what it was in the mid-80s, but it's very much alive here.
Is there a "mixtape" industry there or some sort of chronicling of the music being made?
http://www.papalace.com/pashop/catalogue.php?exp=1|&cat=&shop=1
Cool. I wonder if Aunt Peaches & Them download their favorite songs or cop cds at the show.
Oh.
ruined because white people are finally listening to it?
Have always heard about the necessity to experience go-go live and have never had the chance to hear it. Still playing my one trouble funk record regularly though.
Anyone know a lil something about the evolution of where the music came from? Is it timbales that gets played, or bongos and cowbell?
Hard to say, I guess the easiest answer is the old 'you have to see it live' cliche. Short of radio picking up long form live performances I don't see it happening. Also, like birdman said there is a lot of money to be made locally and most of these groups are perfectly content with playing five nights a week around here, especially the ones who were sold on blowing up 20 years ago and saw that shit fizzle. Some of the newer acts (Mambo, XO) seem to be gunning for a wider audience now though I would be surprised if they end up having much long term mainstream success.
Good recommendations above already (that Trouble Funk DBL CD, EU live, etc.) If you want a read, check this book (which you might find for pennies in a local mark-down book store)
There is an accompanying DBL CD which you might not find cheap these days featuring:
Disc: 1
1. Bustin' Loose - Chuck Brown
2. Pump Me Up - Trouble Funk
3. Party Time - Kurtis Blow
4. Cat In The Hat - Little Benny
5. Da Butt (Radio Edit) - EU
6. Music Ain't Loud Enuff - DJ Kool
7. You Can Dance - Go Go Lorenzo
8. Jingling Baby! - Pleasure
9. Lock It - Rare Essence
Disc: 2
1. Booty Call - Northeast Groovers
2. Ruff It Off - Junk Yard Band
3. The Bud - The Huck-A-Bucks
4. Um Bop Bop - Sugar Bear
5. Diamond In The Back - Suttle Thoughts
6. The Hop - Rare Essence
7. People Make The World Go Round - Chuck Brown
8. 2001 (Live) - Back Yard Bend
9. Hey Buddy Buddy - Rare Essence
10. Brown & White - 911 Entertainment
And the essential Chuck Brown recording (in my opinion anyway) is of course the live 1995 set which has been rereleased again and again with new covers and titles (Go Do Live Swing, Any Other Way To Go, ...)