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Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion
 
 
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Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion [Paperback]

Dave Thompson (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This is an informative and entertaining source for good biographical sketches of funk musicians and singers. Thompson defines funk in a poetic, nontechnical way, and provides a general history of the music. Discographies and extensive lists of hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues songs follow each individual or group entry. Certain major figures, such as James Brown, the Isley Brothers, George Clinton, and Prince, are allotted more space than others. An essay about the role the music played in promoting blaxploitation movies includes brief synopses and critiques of 12 such films. The chapter entitled "Disco and the Death of Funk" describes disco as superficial and lacking in soul, but discusses how it nonetheless became quite popular for a while. Toward the end of the book, there are essays on go-go and rap, two musical forms that rebelled against the blandness and predictability of disco. The index is detailed, and black-and-white photographs are included.
Joyce Fay Fletcher, Rippon Middle School, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

With informed and witty commentary, Thompson, author of an earlier "Third Ear" entry, Alternative Rock, here presents an essential listening companion that evaluates some 1500 recordings. Highlighted according to categories such as prefunk, classic funk, disco funk, and new school funk (including go-go and rap) are about 150 artists from James Brown to Zapp. Each biography is accompanied by a list of recordings (not just on CD and in fact mainly released as LPs and singles), many with succinct annotations. This is particularly useful given the record business's seeming inability to judge worthwhile funk essentials against passing fads and to keep those classics available. What truly imbues this guide with value, however, is the quality of writing and insight. Thompson is able to survey the larger picture, delve into the historical details necessary to show how funk developed, and analyze the influences of the music on popular culture. Readers will find out, for example, how indebted popular music is to hard-core funk masters such as George Clinton and his enormous retinue of collaborators since the late 1960s. Each section of the book contains several essays, further enhancing the understanding of the music. Topics include the psych-funka-delic experience, Motown's treatment of funk, blaxploitation films and funk music, the British funk connection, disco and the "death of funk," and acid-jazz. A list of essential funk recordings is provided, and a general bibliography includes print sources and useful Internet sites. While Rickey Vincent's Funk (LJ 5/1/96) covers similar ground, Thompson's work has greater depth of coverage. The indexing could be improved, but that is a small fault in view of the strengths. Highly recommended for public, academic, and music libraries.DWilliam G. Kenz, Minnesota State Univ., Moorhead
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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One of James Brown's greatest funky divas (he himself has described her as the greatest), Vicki Anderson joined his live Revue in spring 1965. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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11 Reviews
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3.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars The erros never stops!, Sep 20 2003
By 
Patrik Lemberg (Tammisaari Finland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion (Paperback)
I don't know where to start (the sum-up's in my head...), but let's call it "1" etc...
1.This book features a lot of errors. When covering The Meters, Mr.Thompson first writes that they released 8 albums (which they did), then on the album list there are only seven, and it reads that the song "Hang 'em high" is included on their album "New Directions", which it is NOT (it's on the previous one, "Trick Bag", but that one is left out).
This is unfortunately not the only error; there are hundreds, like some names are spelled differently every other time they appear - E.G.: everybody on earth knows that there are two Rocco's in the world and that one of them plays bass for Tower of Power ...well, every time Rocco Prestia's name is mentioned in this book it reads "Rocca". Incorrect release dates are featured and it says that "One Nation Under A Groove" gave Parliament a spot on the top 20, although it's a Funkadelic album/song.
Another thing I found strange was that the list of artists who has covered Ohio Players' songs are 81, but "Love Rollercoaster" by RHCP's is not included. The story of James Brown firing his band in 1970 just before a show and hiring The Pacesetters the same evening is told three times (when covering J.Brown, B.Collins & M.Parker)!
There are, of course, artists in this book that I am not as familiar with as others, so there may be even more errors than I think. Some are excusable, while others are too big to accept.
2.The reviews is a disappointing feature. The say nothing - they're usually one or two sentences long, not insightful at all. All albums aren't even reviewed. There are unreviewed albums by almost every artist. A track list of all albums would have been a better feature.
3.The stories about the bands are all very basic and they are all written in the same way, "...first the group's name was "this", then they changed it to "that", released this album on this label, then that album on that label, had a hit, then someone quit and four years late they broke up"...it gets tiring.
There are too many bands and artist to cover in 370 pages (not 400 like it says on the amazon page), especially since a fourth of these pages are lists of singles and albums by the artists and long lists of covers by other bands.
It's a pretty misleading dictionary of funk-albums for beginners.
If you want to learn about the music of funk itself, I recommend "FUNK" by Rickey Vincent instead.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Mostly disappointing, April 21 2004
This review is from: Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion (Paperback)
I'm familiar with at least half the artists and the albums and the stories this book tells about. Not much is accurate. The writer gives too many personal opinions on the music, many discographies lack important information, the selected sample lists are unnecessary (and take up LOTS of space in the book), and the reviews are uninsightful. Lots of research must've been done in order to get this much "fact" into these many pages, but obviously not enough. Not recommended.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Mostly disappointing, April 21 2004
This review is from: Funk: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion (Paperback)
I'm familiar with at least half the artists and the albums and the stories this book tells about. Not much is accurate. The writer gives too many personal opinions on the music, many discographies lack important information, the selected sample lists are unnecessary (and take up LOTS of space in the book)(...). Lots of research must've been done in order to get this much "fact" into these many pages, but obviously not enough. Not recommended.
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