Dave Hamilton's Detroit Funk CD - Import

The Ace label's astonishingly deep dig into the vaults of Detroit music maven Dave Hamilton continues on this fifth volume, which as the title states is dedicated to the funk (or funk-oriented soul) he was involved in recording in Detroit between the mid-'60s and mid-'70s. Despite the wealth of tracks in which Hamilton had a hand, he never did experience much success as a music entrepreneur, and it's no surprise that few of the artists on this compilation will be familiar to funk fans, even collectors (unless you count Hamilton himself, who was the artist of record on five tracks). In part, that's also because about half of this material was previously unissued, though the other half did find release on small labels. Though what's here is not going to challenge James Brown or Funkadelic in significance (and in fact is sometimes quite derivative of those exact two artists), it's diverse, often eccentric (if sometimes generic) funk that is often worth a listen. James Brown imitations, for instance, don't get much hotter or accurate than Billy Garner's "Brand New Girl, Pt. 1." Johnny Walker's instrumental "Funky Trip" is as strange as psychedelic-influenced funk gets, with a bellowing ship foghorn threatening to submerge everything else in the track at points. Hamilton's own "The Deacons" is a little like a garage Booker T. & the MG's, with a cool low-budget choked organ sound. The influences of bands like Dyke & the Blazers is obvious in some other tracks, yet the cuts often have a raw, unself-conscious edge -- as well as unpredictable bits of jazz, psychedelic rock, blues, blaxploitation, and sound effects floating around that are untutored even by the standards of many obscure local funk productions. It's still only for the deep funk specialist, but as releases tailored toward such crate-diggers go, it's certainly above average. ~ Richie Unterberger

A must for fans of the Superfunk series is BGP's exploration of legendary Detroit producer Dave Hamilton's funk recordings. Hamilton's funk releases are highly sought-after and very rare. Featuring productions of two singles on New Day for Billy Garner,