May 29, 2007
Bringing Back the Funk
 |
Vocalist N'Dea Davenport rejoins the Brand New Heavies
"Hope you're ready / Here we come / We got what you want / We got what you need."
Ain't that the truth, sister. The opening line to We've Got, the first track on last year's Get Used to It, marks the triumphant return of silky-throated vocalist N'Dea Davenport to the Brand New Heavies fold. When she takes the stage with her old band Friday night at World Café, you better believe it's gonna be a soul shakedown party.
Davenport, who left the band following 1994's epic Brother Sister to pursue a solo career, has never sounded so damn good. With all due respect to the three vocalists employed by the Heavies during Davenport's 12-year hiatus, the band is simply an unbreachable forcefield of perfectly balanced funk and soul when Davenport's holding the mic. Brother Sister exemplifies the phenomenon of a band being much greater than the sum of its parts when they fired on all cylinders. In the early 1990s, it seemed like misfires in that crew were few and far between.
From the now legendary performance at SOB's in New York that ended with MC Serch (3rd Bass) and Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest) almost literally fighting to take control of the microphone while the Heavies laid down their signature rare grooves and acid jazz to 1992's groundbreaking Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, it really seemed as if the Heavies could do no wrong. The whole ball of wax reached critical mass with the release of Brother Sister and Davenport opted to make her exit at the top of the pile while the iron was still white-hot. In her defense, Davenport joined the band with widely known intentions to re-record the Heavies' first album with new vocals and perhaps hang on for one more effort before returning to her already started solo project. Still, it almost bordered on criminal that she could walk away from such an ideal situation when she did.
Things always seem to have a way of working themselves out though, and last year's Get Used to It and the subsequent touring dates proved that neither Davenport nor the Heavies had lost a step. Davenport slid right back into the thick of things and the result was an album that served as a respectable follow-up to Brother Sister; a feat that the Heavies were unable to accomplish with three singers over the course of a dozen years.
When the Heavies broke onto the scene in London, 1990, the music world was awash in a wave of synthesized funk and electronic sampling run amok. What the Heavies laid down - while nothing new, to be sure - captured the imagination of the zeitgeist in such a fashion as to throw the whole London scene into a retro phase that lasted the better part of the next five years. The movement slowly rode the tradewinds across the Atlantic and while it took a while for the American public to catch on to the Heavies' spirited throwback to the days of James Brown and Sly Stone, the east coast hip-hop community latched on to Davenport and company and held on for dear life. It didn't take long for the west coast crews to follow suit. Following the SOB's gig, rappers like Kool G. Rap, Grand Puba and the Pharcyde were lining up for the chance to contribute to Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, in which the Heavies laid down the grooves, giving rappers the fairly unique opportunity to work with a live band. The result was nothing short of stunning and a new movement was born.
Rather than simply riding that wave, however, the Heavies opted to return to their funky rare groove roots and laid out the audio blueprint that would eventually become Brother Sister. This was the album that finally solidified their stateside status and led many more hip-hop artists to look to the roots of the funk and soul movement for their samples. Amusingly, whereas the Heavies pioneered the retro funk movement in England, it was the American hip-hop community that embraced them across the pond.
Nonetheless, the timing of Davenport's return is just so perfect it almost seems suspect. Just when Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse seemed poised to battle it out for the title of England's favorite soulstress, along comes Davenport to pull the rug out from under the youngsters. It's almost uncanny. Regardless of whether this is linked to intention, circumstance or a combination of the two, it's just nice to have Davenport back together with the Heavies. Seriously, the two are like peanut butter and chocolate: two great tastes that taste great together.
On a final note, don't let the 12-year hiatus fool you. The Heavies can still bring it live. They are, after all, a band that copped their name from the liner notes of a James Brown album. Following in the Godfather's footsteps, the Heavies work it out on stage before they hit it and quit it. They come through in spades on the promise made on Get Used to It: "We bring back the funk in music / We put back the funk in music."
Damn right.
Brand New Heavies
When: Fri., June 1, 8 p.m.
Where: World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia
How Much: $31-40
Info: 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com
Ain't that the truth, sister. The opening line to We've Got, the first track on last year's Get Used to It, marks the triumphant return of silky-throated vocalist N'Dea Davenport to the Brand New Heavies fold. When she takes the stage with her old band Friday night at World Café, you better believe it's gonna be a soul shakedown party.
Davenport, who left the band following 1994's epic Brother Sister to pursue a solo career, has never sounded so damn good. With all due respect to the three vocalists employed by the Heavies during Davenport's 12-year hiatus, the band is simply an unbreachable forcefield of perfectly balanced funk and soul when Davenport's holding the mic. Brother Sister exemplifies the phenomenon of a band being much greater than the sum of its parts when they fired on all cylinders. In the early 1990s, it seemed like misfires in that crew were few and far between.
From the now legendary performance at SOB's in New York that ended with MC Serch (3rd Bass) and Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest) almost literally fighting to take control of the microphone while the Heavies laid down their signature rare grooves and acid jazz to 1992's groundbreaking Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, it really seemed as if the Heavies could do no wrong. The whole ball of wax reached critical mass with the release of Brother Sister and Davenport opted to make her exit at the top of the pile while the iron was still white-hot. In her defense, Davenport joined the band with widely known intentions to re-record the Heavies' first album with new vocals and perhaps hang on for one more effort before returning to her already started solo project. Still, it almost bordered on criminal that she could walk away from such an ideal situation when she did.
Things always seem to have a way of working themselves out though, and last year's Get Used to It and the subsequent touring dates proved that neither Davenport nor the Heavies had lost a step. Davenport slid right back into the thick of things and the result was an album that served as a respectable follow-up to Brother Sister; a feat that the Heavies were unable to accomplish with three singers over the course of a dozen years.
When the Heavies broke onto the scene in London, 1990, the music world was awash in a wave of synthesized funk and electronic sampling run amok. What the Heavies laid down - while nothing new, to be sure - captured the imagination of the zeitgeist in such a fashion as to throw the whole London scene into a retro phase that lasted the better part of the next five years. The movement slowly rode the tradewinds across the Atlantic and while it took a while for the American public to catch on to the Heavies' spirited throwback to the days of James Brown and Sly Stone, the east coast hip-hop community latched on to Davenport and company and held on for dear life. It didn't take long for the west coast crews to follow suit. Following the SOB's gig, rappers like Kool G. Rap, Grand Puba and the Pharcyde were lining up for the chance to contribute to Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, in which the Heavies laid down the grooves, giving rappers the fairly unique opportunity to work with a live band. The result was nothing short of stunning and a new movement was born.
Rather than simply riding that wave, however, the Heavies opted to return to their funky rare groove roots and laid out the audio blueprint that would eventually become Brother Sister. This was the album that finally solidified their stateside status and led many more hip-hop artists to look to the roots of the funk and soul movement for their samples. Amusingly, whereas the Heavies pioneered the retro funk movement in England, it was the American hip-hop community that embraced them across the pond.
Nonetheless, the timing of Davenport's return is just so perfect it almost seems suspect. Just when Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse seemed poised to battle it out for the title of England's favorite soulstress, along comes Davenport to pull the rug out from under the youngsters. It's almost uncanny. Regardless of whether this is linked to intention, circumstance or a combination of the two, it's just nice to have Davenport back together with the Heavies. Seriously, the two are like peanut butter and chocolate: two great tastes that taste great together.
On a final note, don't let the 12-year hiatus fool you. The Heavies can still bring it live. They are, after all, a band that copped their name from the liner notes of a James Brown album. Following in the Godfather's footsteps, the Heavies work it out on stage before they hit it and quit it. They come through in spades on the promise made on Get Used to It: "We bring back the funk in music / We put back the funk in music."
Damn right.
Brand New Heavies
When: Fri., June 1, 8 p.m.
Where: World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia
How Much: $31-40
Info: 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com
No comments:
Post a Comment