The first album from Bronx based outfit the Rhythm Makers, who went on to form GQ. Superlative disco-funk, recorded on Vigor which was a subsidiary of De-lite—this pressing reissued courtesy of Be With Music. Recorded and mixed in Philadelphia at the De-Lite Recorded Sound Studio, the signature is similar to other contemporary disco-funk groups on De-lite; think Made in USA, Crown Heights Affair, even some of Kool and the Gang’s mid-seventies output. When the album originally came out, a big club track in the UK and the US was Zone, pressed up as a UK seven on Polydor and in the US as a 12-inch single on Vigor. Can You Feel It is a clavinet led groover with thumping slap bass and cooler interplay from vibraphone and soprano sax, a jazzy sounding entrance which isn’t too far away from Blue Magic’s Welcome To The Club. Soul On Your Side is the most recognisable track for soul fans, an early version of the popular GQ single Disco Nights (Rock Freak) that was released on Arista three years later in 1979. A superbly written piece of music with a brilliant hook and low-slung groove. The lyrics in this earlier rendition speak of the poverty and struggles of ghetto living, with the optimistic refrain “you don’t have to worry, because you’ve got soul on your side” ringing loud and clear at the end of each chorus, in opposition to the glitzy disco hokum about “dancing all night long” and “doing what you feel” in the GQ version. Both great songs, Soul On Your Side ultimately rawer and more real, but probably not as accessible to dancefloors as its later reinterpretation. Personal highlight Monterey is about as funky as the album gets; flatulent basslines, scratchy rhythm guitar and syncopated kit drumming lock into a pervasive, up-tempo groove, overscored by eery synth and marked with bridges that amp up the tension and lead to fantastic drops when the verse kicks back in. Shades of Mandrill, B.T Express here, although it nods towards their later trajectory with shrill, Patrick Adams-esque modular synthesis imbibing disco atmospherics. A heavily in demand album, flawless disco-funk from the New York group and a record that has been in my wants list for well over a decade.
Buy the LP HERE
Listen to the tracks HERE
