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Wednesday, December 6, 2023
James Chance and the Contortions - Melody Maker - March 23 1991
"Where the British post-punk vanguard turned to funk for its healthy carnality and upful hedonism as an escape from the over-cerebral sterility of "alternative" music..." In retrospect, that part strikes me as quite ironic. I mean, the conscious application of funk in British post-punk seems just as intellectually motivated as, say, allusions to Debord: it was a reasoned-out strategy rather than an instinctive reach. I do not see that as a negative, though, but rather a positive. It was good that they tried to be clever. Also, was straight-up funk really that unthinking? To give a key example, the whole mythology and Afrofuturism of Parliament-Funkadelic would suggest a more conceptual basis to the operation than you're admitting. I'm reminded of a point I once heard; capes, synthesizers, sidelength jams about spaceships: that could describe either prog, the lamest music of all, or funk, the coolest music of all.
Totally. You could add to that list of similarities: breathtaking instrumental proficiency, electric Miles influence. The Prog-Fusion-Funk continuum is one that doesn’t get enough recognition.
I’m not in general a believer in the use of “critics’ favorite” as an insult, but James Chance really seems to fit the bill. I read the reviews and he sounds thrilling, but then I listen to the records and I can’t hear anything like the excitement that others claim to find there.
As someone - possibly Simon? - once said, why on earth would you listen to this stuff, when similar ideas were being explored with better grooves and better tunes by Michael Jackson and Prince?
NO NEW YORK and BUY THE CONTORTIONS are the only albums where I've found James Chance worth listening to, but there really is something compelling to them: skronk with more tunefulness and sense of structure than any other No Wave band. I don't really see him as doing anything similar to Michael Jackson, even if he covered "Don't Stop"; it's very much a meta, punk-adjacent commentary on funk and dance music, with anger and noise in place of celebration. He got less interesting when he toned down those elements.
Funnily enough, the only record of his I really like is the James White & The Blacks one - the version of "Contort Yourself" on that seems much tighter and...um...swingier than the one on "Buy".
But I can understand Ed's point about why anyone would want to listen to him. James Chance was kind of a funky Richard Hell, and even Hell himself admitted that only people with a particularly cramped and deformed aesthetic sense would want to listen to his music.
(Also I think Funkadelic were as prog as Yes, and Yes were as funky as Funkadelic.)
Well, I wouldn't describe Parliament-Funkadelic as "straight-up funk" - it's coming from a decidedly weird angle... it's conceptual, it's cosmic, it's political, it's psychedelic. Plus Funkadelic were as much a black-rock band as a funk group. Parliament was meant to be the more commercial, dancefloor-aimed identity, but was laden with content and intent. (Funkadelic scoring ironically the bigger dancefloor smashes, I think, with "One Nation" and "Knee Deep").
But The Fatback Band, or Kool the Gang - it's much more funktion-oriented.
The postpunks looked for funk for various things - for Gang of Four, Delta 5, it was tough, militant sound that wasn't hard rock, that could carry their stances and critiques.... for others it was much more vitalist and "loosen up your whitey ass" (Pop Group, Maximum Joy).... A Certain Ratio seemed to be drawn to the idea of trance states and dark compulsions... 23 Skidoo, similar, but with even more of a cthonic, sinister, pagan sort of energy to it... Talking Heads and some of the things that came out of that (Haircut 100!) it's something altogether... funk is a big field of music and you can find different role models, different aspects to be inspired by or do your twist
I also prefer the James White and the Blacks record to the Contortions
I might have said something similar to that - certainly Michael Jackson's peak moments are just as insane and ecstastic and possessed and frenzied as anything the avant-funkers came up with.... well, more so really, and all the more compelling for being right there at the top of the charts. I'm really talking about Off the Wall and Triumph and other stuff by The Jacksons... a couple of moments on Thriller...
6 comments:
"Where the British post-punk vanguard turned to funk for its healthy carnality and upful hedonism as an escape from the over-cerebral sterility of "alternative" music..." In retrospect, that part strikes me as quite ironic. I mean, the conscious application of funk in British post-punk seems just as intellectually motivated as, say, allusions to Debord: it was a reasoned-out strategy rather than an instinctive reach. I do not see that as a negative, though, but rather a positive. It was good that they tried to be clever.
Also, was straight-up funk really that unthinking? To give a key example, the whole mythology and Afrofuturism of Parliament-Funkadelic would suggest a more conceptual basis to the operation than you're admitting. I'm reminded of a point I once heard; capes, synthesizers, sidelength jams about spaceships: that could describe either prog, the lamest music of all, or funk, the coolest music of all.
Totally. You could add to that list of similarities: breathtaking instrumental proficiency, electric Miles influence. The Prog-Fusion-Funk continuum is one that doesn’t get enough recognition.
I’m not in general a believer in the use of “critics’ favorite” as an insult, but James Chance really seems to fit the bill. I read the reviews and he sounds thrilling, but then I listen to the records and I can’t hear anything like the excitement that others claim to find there.
As someone - possibly Simon? - once said, why on earth would you listen to this stuff, when similar ideas were being explored with better grooves and better tunes by Michael Jackson and Prince?
NO NEW YORK and BUY THE CONTORTIONS are the only albums where I've found James Chance worth listening to, but there really is something compelling to them: skronk with more tunefulness and sense of structure than any other No Wave band. I don't really see him as doing anything similar to Michael Jackson, even if he covered "Don't Stop"; it's very much a meta, punk-adjacent commentary on funk and dance music, with anger and noise in place of celebration. He got less interesting when he toned down those elements.
Funnily enough, the only record of his I really like is the James White & The Blacks one - the version of "Contort Yourself" on that seems much tighter and...um...swingier than the one on "Buy".
But I can understand Ed's point about why anyone would want to listen to him. James Chance was kind of a funky Richard Hell, and even Hell himself admitted that only people with a particularly cramped and deformed aesthetic sense would want to listen to his music.
(Also I think Funkadelic were as prog as Yes, and Yes were as funky as Funkadelic.)
Well, I wouldn't describe Parliament-Funkadelic as "straight-up funk" - it's coming from a decidedly weird angle... it's conceptual, it's cosmic, it's political, it's psychedelic. Plus Funkadelic were as much a black-rock band as a funk group. Parliament was meant to be the more commercial, dancefloor-aimed identity, but was laden with content and intent. (Funkadelic scoring ironically the bigger dancefloor smashes, I think, with "One Nation" and "Knee Deep").
But The Fatback Band, or Kool the Gang - it's much more funktion-oriented.
The postpunks looked for funk for various things - for Gang of Four, Delta 5, it was tough, militant sound that wasn't hard rock, that could carry their stances and critiques.... for others it was much more vitalist and "loosen up your whitey ass" (Pop Group, Maximum Joy).... A Certain Ratio seemed to be drawn to the idea of trance states and dark compulsions... 23 Skidoo, similar, but with even more of a cthonic, sinister, pagan sort of energy to it... Talking Heads and some of the things that came out of that (Haircut 100!) it's something altogether... funk is a big field of music and you can find different role models, different aspects to be inspired by or do your twist
I also prefer the James White and the Blacks record to the Contortions
I might have said something similar to that - certainly Michael Jackson's peak moments are just as insane and ecstastic and possessed and frenzied as anything the avant-funkers came up with.... well, more so really, and all the more compelling for being right there at the top of the charts. I'm really talking about Off the Wall and Triumph and other stuff by The Jacksons... a couple of moments on Thriller...
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