Downtown Funk by Ministry of Sound is the ideal funk album to get your groove on
The sound of funk has had a huge pop resurgence over the past 12 months. From Mark Ronson’s hit Uptown Funk to Meghan Trainor’s All About The Bass, funk looks set to be one of the sounds of 2015. No surprise then that Ministry of Sound has released new 3 CD box set full of Downtown Funk classics.
Available in CD format or digital download, Downtown Funk is a brand new collection of disco, funk tracks from artists such as James Brown, Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers and Aretha Franklin. The three disc box set features 60 classics tracks that are sure to win you over with their funky beats, groovy guitar riffs and killer basslines.
Disc one features 20 funk classics with a distinctive 70s sound. The album opens with James Brown’s Get Up (I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine) before moving onto classics like Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone by The Temptations, Shining Star by Earth Wind & Fire and Rick James’ Super Freak. While a lot of these tracks originate from the 70s, their influence is far and wide and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t recognise at least one of the tracks, even if it is The Gap Band’s Oops Upside Your Head from a family wedding!
If you’re a fan of disco funk, disc two is the one for you. From the opening track Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson to Chic’s Le Freak and Heatwave’s Boogie Nights, this disc is sure to get you moving and grooving. Younger listeners will also recognise a few of the tracks as many of them have been sampled, specifically Oliver Cheatham’s Get Down Saturday Night (as sampled by Daft Punk for Voyager), The Whispers’ And The Beat Goes On (as sampled by Will Smith for Miami) and The Chi-Lites’s Are You My Woman (as sampled by Beyoncé feat. Jay Z for Crazy in Love). Who said the 70s is dead?
But its disc three that is arguably the best of them all with 20 tracks of grooves and cuts that defined an era. From Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon to George Duke’s Shine On, this disc is for true funk lovers. These are the records that provided the soundtrack to a generation and influenced a multitude of hip hop, house and drum & bass artists, not to mention countless iconic film soundtracks.
With summer just around the corner, Downtown Funk by Ministry of Sound is the ideal funk album to turn up the heat and get your groove on. A true funk fest that is not to be missed!
Downtown Funk by Ministry of Sound is out now
Downtown Funk (Ministry Of Sound UK)
Donna is the Founder and Editor of Frankly, My Dear UK. By day, she works as a digital marketing specialist, by night she reviews film, theatre and music for a wide range of publications including WhatsonStage and The Reviews Hub. Loves Formula 1, prosecco and life.
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