Rare Grooves from the London scene late 80's?

[funky munky]

I've been collecting so-called 'rare grooves' for about 20 years now. When the term was first used about 1986 on the London scene there was a real buzz of excitement, even though most people didn't even know what these records were.
I was wondering if anyone could provide any titles that they considered to be part of that pioneering era of the late 80's when lost funky music from the 70's was rediscovered?
For starters, here's some of the first ones I picked up on:
MACEO & THE MACKS – CROSS THE TRACKS
JACKSON SISTERS – I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
REUBEN WILSON – GOT TO GET YOUR OWN
RIPPLE – I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT IT SURE IS FUNKY
CYMANDE – THE MESSAGE
VOICES OF EAST HARLEM – WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
GWEN McCRAE – ALL THIS LOVE THAT I’M GIVING
BOBBY BYRD – I KNOW YOU GOT SOUL
CHAKACHAS – JUNGLE FEVER
CHARLES WRIGHT – EXPRESS YOURSELF
KOOL & THE GANG – NT
LARRY YOUNG’S FUEL – TURN OFF THE LIGHTS
MACEO & THE MACKS – PARRTY
LEROY HUTSON – THE GHETTO
WELDON IRVINE – WALK THAT WALK TALK THAT TALK
NOTATIONS – SUPERPEOPLE
TOMMY STEWART – BUMP AND HUSTLE MUSIC
SWEET CHARLES – YES IT’S YOU
OLIVER SAIN – BUS STOP
SIR JOE QUARTERMAN – I’VE GOT SO MUCH TROUBLE ON MY MIND
CHOCOLATE MILK – ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

[tony98]

Late 80's revivals for me included.
The J.Bs. - "These Are The J.B.s
Lyn Collins - "Think"
Aaron Neville - "Hercules"
Lonnie "Liston" Smith - "Expansions"
Terry Callier - "Ordinary Joe"
Leroy Hutson - "Get To This"

[Disco Funk]

Just like Northern Soul, I never understood what the definition of Rare Groove was. Another one is 'Stepper'.

Back to Rare Groove, Mastercuts put out a few CDs with the title Rare Groove. You might want to check those out. I think tracks like The Headhunters 'God Made Me Funky' and 'Windy City Theme' by Carl Davis were on that compilation series.

Disco Funk

[djrich]

I've got some bootleg vinyl albums from around 1990 on the Raw record label, I listed them on discogs, they have some great 'Rare Groove' tunes on them.
Various - Blast From The Past
Various - Blast From The Past Vol 3
Various - Rare Touch

Some others:

LA Nights - Yasuko Agawa
Weldon Irvine - I love you
Nature Zone - Porcupine
Barbara Mason - Give me your love
Lesette Wilson - Caveman Boogie
Sylvia Striplin - Can't turn me away
Eighties Ladies - Turned on to you

djrich.

[Elotero]

anything by California Flight Plan is rare and excellent..

[Simon White]

I think 'Rare Groove' like 'Northern Soul' is a pretty loose name which allows for lots of musical possibilities. Not sure if it's originally a London term or not, but certainly in the 80's, like Funky Munky says, London was suffering from 'Rare Groove' fever. The basis was 1970's 7" singles, mainly from the pre disco 12" era but including some 60's funk records.

My first personal experience (and pre the term) was from around 1980 when Record and Tape Exchange (at that time just three second hand record shops) seemed to have a big influx of ex DJ 7"s, presumably because the DJ's were shifting out the 45's in favour of 12"s.

I used to take home hundreds for (at one time) ten pence each, go through them, and take back what I didn't want. The strange thing is they would give me more for them than I'd paid. The staff were all ex university types who knew nothing and cared less about dance music. I don't like to think abut the records I rejected !
Generally Rare Grooves were a mix of James Brown and related records from his band, records by other Funk acts, early Jazz Funk tracks and to some extent, mid Seventies Disco.

Charley records put out a couple of albums of 'Rare Groove' (a few titles that Funky Munky listed appeared on them) as did Capitol and Motown.

There was even a UK chart hit called 'Roadblock' by Stock Aitken and Waterman which they originally put out as a white label, making a number of DJ's think it was an old funk track.

A few that spring to mind as desirable are Sisters Love 'Give Me Your Love' which is on the Motown Rare grooves album, and others like Eddie Bo's 'Check Your Bucket' and 'Hook and Sling' and tracks from Alvin Cash. There were some more Disco connected tracks too, like The Two Tons Of Fun 'Just Us' and Jazz funk like Johnny Hammonds 'Shifting Gears'. Hope this helps a bit !

[funky munky]

In the early 80's, any record that was more than a month old was considered unhip! It was all about the latest import 12 on Prelude, West End or whatever and synth-driven music was cutting edge.
Anything from the 70's was considered an embarrassment, but by 1985 people were getting sick of every dance record sounding like Change or the SOS Band(with that identical 'coke bottle' drum beat).
The first detour was the go-go craze of January 1985 - 'real music'. But that only lasted 1 month because a) go-go was very repetitive and b) there were only about 5 go-go records anyway.
Then soon after, that list of elusive 'break beats' was unveiled (Jimmy Castor Bunch, Herman Kelly etc) and then the term 'rare groove' was coined to expand any funky hard-to-get 70's track into the craze.
As far as 'Roadblock' goes, I think it was quite obvious to any discerning collector that it was a contemporary (1987) recording, although there were people that didn't buy it because they claimed they "already had the original 7 inch from 1974"!

By the way, thanks a lot Simon for mentioning Sisters Love. I'd never even heard of them before, but have been listening to their stuff all weekend !

[Simon White]

In the early 80's, any record that was more than a month old was considered unhip! It was all about the latest import 12 on Prelude, West End or whatever and synth-driven music was cutting edge.
Anything from the 70's was considered an embarrassment, but by 1985 people were getting sick of every dance record sounding like Change or the SOS Band(with that identical 'coke bottle' drum beat).
The first detour was the go-go craze of January 1985 - 'real music'. But that only lasted 1 month because a) go-go was very repetitive and b) there were only about 5 go-go records anyway.
Then soon after, that list of elusive 'break beats' was unveiled (Jimmy Castor Bunch, Herman Kelly etc) and then the term 'rare groove' was coined to expand any funky hard-to-get 70's track into the craze.
As far as 'Roadblock' goes, I think it was quite obvious to any discerning collector that it was a contemporary (1987) recording, although there were people that didn't buy it because they claimed they "already had the original 7 inch from 1974"!

By the way, thanks a lot Simon for mentioning Sisters Love. I'd never even heard of them before, but have been listening to their stuff all weekend !

funky munky, I'd have to agree with you totally, both 'Rare Groove' and 'Go Go' were reactions against the new and increasingly electronic club sounds that were around in the early to mid 80's which had become a bit to 'formula' for some. Much as I like Jam & Lewis, after a while that same midtempo beat got stale and everyone sounded like that !
I think a lot of the early House tracks opened up new possibilities...a fresh look at what had come before in terms of pace and excitement and a natural extension from Disco and to some extent High Energy. Add to that the sampling technology that allowed the James Brown and Funk beats to come in via Hip Hop and it was a pretty exciting time.

As for Sisters Love...for years they were one of Soul's best kept secrets. Virtually nothing had ever been reissued, including a whole unreleased Motown album. I put together a compilation on the group but it was knocked back on the grounds that the sales wouldn't be high enough.
Luckily someone else got a project out last year called "Give me Your Love" on 'Soul Jazz' records, which has a good selection of tracks.

[buckaroo]

There was even a UK chart hit called 'Roadblock' by Stock Aitken and Waterman which they originally put out as a white label, making a number of DJ's think it was an old funk track.

Yes. A lot of people were fooled by that record. Pete Waterman did it deliberately to stick two fingers up at some of the snobs out there, that were paying mega bucks for 'rare' '70s tunes some of which would eventually turn up in Music Excange shops for £2 each :icon_rolleyes:. I know someone (not me) who paid £15 for Foster Silvers' LP, then a few years later I saw it in a second shop for the aforementioned price.

I didn't buy.