Funk is more than an adjective. If you've ever heard a hip-hop or a drum'n'bass tune and the beats weren't off some shitty drum machine, chances are they were plundered from the break section of a funk tune. The funk artform evolved in the late 60's from rhythm 'n' blues, with an emphasis on a particular kind of beat; one which developed in New Orleans in funeral parades as a consequence of second-line rhythms. This type of beat is now known as a breakbeat (cause you can hear it best in tunes which have a "break", where the drummer gets some. Cue hip-hop culture).

If we draw one 4/4 bar into 16 quarter-notes (like a drum machine), the skeleton
of a funk beat is: kick on one, snare on five, kick on eleven, snare on thirteen. Or, as Q-tip would say: the boom, the bip...the boom-bip.

Most people get into funk by enjoying hip-hop instrumentals and trying to find
out where they came from. In well-developed countries this has resulted in large-scale funk revival. England has a massive funk scene, and the dons are the collector DJs who have the rarest original 45s from the late 60s/ early 70s. It may sound quaint and retro, but listen to the Meters and try and tell me that. It's simply because this was a golden age for music. The result, of couse, is that prices for rare seven-inch records are in hundreds of pounds.

How, then, is the average punter supposed to get their hands on them? Well,
they're not really supposed to. However, beneficent collectors regularly reissue rare tracks on compilations, making me very happy and guys who own the tracks really angry.

Sister Funk is such a compilation; as the title suggests the tracks are all vocal tunes by females. Normally this would disappoint an instrumental fiend like me, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised to find raw-ass beats topped with the sweetest and most powerful vocals. Excellent for both the average punter and hardened funk addicts, it's packed with singalong choruses, crazy breakdowns and instrumental solos all backed with tuff beats.

Pretty much every tune is good, but my personal favourites are:
Joyce Dunn- A New Change Of Address - became my personal anthem when my mother kicked me out- has a great sax solo too!
Ann Robinson- You Did It - an upbeat horn-driven number pilfered by some
skinny fat bastard...
Inell Young- What Do You See In Her? - The crown jewel. A sparse, popping beat, driven by an amazing vocal.

The tunes on Sister Funk are (were!) all rare as hell, and I would estimate that to buy them all on 45 would set you back a couple thousand pounds. Save a bit of cash and buy this compilation instead. It's wicked.