Shaft
Artist: Isaac Hayes
Community Score: 9.25

Of the many wonderful blaxpoitation soundtracks to emerge during the early '70s, Shaft certainly deserves mention as not only one of the most lasting but also one of the most successful. Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly one of the era's most accomplished soul artists, having helped elevate Stax to its esteemed status; therefore, his being chosen to... Read More

The World Is a Ghetto
Artist: War
Community Score: 9.67

War's third album as an act separate from Eric Burdon was also far and away their most popular, the group's only long-player to top the pop charts. The culmination of everything they'd been shooting for creatively on their two prior albums, it featured work in both succinct pop-accessible idioms ("The Cisco Kid," etc.) as well as challenging... Read More

Check It Out
Artist: Tavares
Community Score: 5.00

From Earth, Wind & Fire and L.T.D. to the O'Jays and the Dramatics, many of the great soul outfits of the 1960s and 1970s paid more than their share of dues. None of those groups were overnight sensations, they struggled a long time before becoming huge, and the same can be said about Tavares. The Boston vocal group was formed in 1964, and it... Read More

Going East
Artist: Billy Paul
Back to Oakland
Artist: Tower of Power
Cabbage Alley
Artist: The Meters
Community Score: 10.00
Brother, Brother, Brother
Artist: The Isley Brothers
All Day Music
Artist: War
Community Score: 8.00

As controlled as their self-titled debut was loose, War's sophomore effort, All Day Music, appearing a little over six months later in November 1971, was packed with subtly understated grooves. A hit with the fans, the LP peaked in the Top Ten, ultimately spending a massive 39 weeks on the charts. Side one is a gorgeous slab of mellow grooves... Read More

Up for the Down Stroke
Artist: Parliament
Community Score: 6.38

Kicking off with one of prime funk's purest distillations -- the outrageously great title track, with a perfect party chorus line and uncredited horns (presumably the Horny Horns were involved somehow) adding to the monster beat and bass -- Up for the Down Stroke finds Parliament in rude good health. As was more or less the case through the... Read More

Look-Ka Py Py - ROUNDER
Artist: The Meters

The Meters' great 1960s singles anticipated the coming of funk. They made short, catchy tunes and scored occasional hits, particularly the single "Look-Ka-Py-Py," one of 12 outstanding tunes on this CD. These were the ultimate party/dance records, and they also showed the link between traditional African rhythms, New Orleans shuffle, second line... Read More

Cissy Strut
Artist: The Meters

The Meters made their anthemic funk cuts on Josie in the late '60s. The New Orleans crew backed Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, and Aaron Neville before they started jamming on their own in the late '60s. Island issued this anthology of Josie material in the mid-'70s. It came out in the U.S. too. Rounder has since reissued some of this material. ~ Ron... Read More

The Black Moses of Soul
Artist: Isaac Hayes
Community Score: 10.00