Various Artists
(The Numero Group)
Re-issue kingpins The Numero Group's second collection of rocking gospel rarities Good God! Born Again Funk follows up 2006's Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal with another collection to move the booty and save the soul at the same time. As archivists go The Numero Group are untouchable, and Born Again Funk is another small wonder of tireless sleuthing and visionary research.
The purpose of the series is, of course, to unearth and present gospel acts that walked the sticky wicket between religious and secular music. Or, in the case of most of these tracks and acts, ones that actually make the difference between the two practically invisible. The point here is that if you tune out the words, or just dig into the music, what you would have is an outstanding collection of period (1969 to 1985) soul and funk tracks. Or is it? The question of how the faith influences the music is one of more intriguing aspects of this collection, and arguably gives it a depth that would be hard to duplicate with purely secular music.
Starting with Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth For Christ Choir's "Like A Ship" we are immediately immersed in a wash of spiritual soul music. This extraordinary track, gently pushed by electric piano and bass and with a chorus that aims for the heavens, sets a high bar for the rest of the CD to live up to. But, they do, finding a huge variety of ways to funk up faith. Ada Richards' high energy, rocking "I'm Drunk and Real High (In the Spirit of God") co-opts a few favorite vices to pay tribute to God. Lucy "Sister Soul" Rodgers brings the word with an incredibly funky clavinet on "Pray a Little Longer." Brother Samuel Cheatham's "Troubles of the World" is perfect, straight-up rocking gospel. The Inspirational Gospel Singers "The Same Thing it Took" and the Jordan Travelers "God Will Answer" opt for funk, with popping, sliding bass, chicken-scratch guitar and terrific choruses. Andrew Wartts and the Gospel Storytellers "Peter & John" has a striking spoken narrative with stripped down bass and drums funk. It goes like this all the way up to track 18, which caps it off with the big chorus soul of James Austin & The St. Luke COGIC Youth Choir's "I'll Take Jesus For Mine."
As is the case with all the Numero Group releases, the CD features a beautiful booklet with outstanding liner notes and archival photos.
Standout Tracks: "Like A Ship," "Peter & John," "The Same Thing It Took," "I'm Drunk And Real High (In the Spirit of God") "Troubles of the World." CARL HANNI
