THE UNTOLD TALE OF AN UNDERGROUND CULT CLASSIC

[Greg Wilson]

THE UNTOLD TALE OF AN UNDERGROUND CULT CLASSIC

I recently worked on an article called ‘For The Love Of Love Money’ in conjunction with Andrew Mason (Monk One), which is in the current edition of the New York magazine, Wax Poetics.

The piece resulted from the magazine mistakenly assuming that the Tony Williams behind the classic early 80’s underground record, ‘Love Money’ by TW Funkmasters, was the famous US Jazz drummer, when in reality it originated in South London.

I managed to track down the Tony Williams who was really behind ‘Love Money’ and interview him – click on the link below to read the full transcript (available as acrobat document underneath introduction). What made the interview extra special for me was that Tony had little idea of the full impact his record has caused!

http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/tony_williams.htm

[QUINNY]

Interesting article, Greg. Makes me wonder if TW has ever received any royalties (they would give him some idea of how popular the track is/was). If he has, then one has to assume that the CDs featuring the track sold in very small numbers.
It WAS ahead of its time, that's for sure and I can totally understand how people wouldn't have danced to it. Despite its status, it IS a little too messy in places. Messy enough to totally throw a (casual/not so casual) dancer off of the beat.

This was a radical departure, although there had been hints of 'dub' in disco records before this, no?

[sfbeary]

hey greg,

that was very informative - thanks for letting us read the entire interview. i got turned on to that record in the summer of '83 when i started working at the just-opened tower records in nyc. the 12" buyer (vince aletti) was a long-time loft regular, and one of my co-workers was a garage regular before i started going, so we used to stock the US pressing on Siamese Records from 1981 (Distributed by Harlequin Rec. Dist out of Plainview NY). i have some other 12"s from around that time on Siamese with drastically different labels, one yellow, and one red and grey. this is solid red and is very simple. we didn't knowingly sell bootlegs at tower - it was a very high-profile record store, the largest in the world at the time, but i have sometimes suspected something shady from that label. i'd be curious to know if these pressings were a scam, because if they were, it was a good one! i wish i had a scanner because i still have the shrink wrap and the price tag on it. my department had control of the stereo for most of the store and we used to play the bo kool side regularly, and i know we sold copies that way because people would ask what it was. we also used to recommend it to people looking for off-beat records, which were of course popular at the time. to me in '83, it was a new record - it certainly sounded like one!

[QUINNY]

Certainly looks like Harmless Records didn't contact him then (and pay him any copyright fees), although it doesn't sound like a record drop. The Jumpin' CD compilation was released way before the first Loft one.

[Greg Wilson]

hey greg,

that was very informative - thanks for letting us read the entire interview.

we used to stock the US pressing on Siamese Records from 1981 (Distributed by Harlequin Rec. Dist out of Plainview NY). i have some other 12"s from around that time on Siamese with drastically different labels, one yellow, and one red and grey. this is solid red and is very simple. we didn't knowingly sell bootlegs at tower - it was a very high-profile record store, the largest in the world at the time, but i have sometimes suspected something shady from that label. i'd be curious to know if these pressings were a scam, because if they were, it was a good one!

Hi sfbeary: glad you enjoyed the interview.

Andrew Mason (Monk One), who collaborated on the piece with me, has a theory that Siamese was a cryptic reference to it being a bootleg (Siamese twins).

Tony Williams is adamant that the record has never been issued in the US with his approval.

[Greg Wilson]

Interesting article, Greg. Makes me wonder if TW has ever received any royalties (they would give him some idea of how popular the track is/was).

Hi Quinny: Don't think Tony has seen much money from this. It was always an underground track, so it won't have sold in any real quantity. However, there are bound to be people out there (especially in the US) who've made more money out of 'Love Money' than Tony Williams.