CHUCK BROWN — Bustin' Loose (review)

CHUCK BROWN — Bustin' Loose album cover Album · 1979 · Funk Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
js
In 1979 disco ruled the RnB charts and there was very little funk to be found, then seemingly out of nowhere came Chuck Brown with the battle cry “I feel like bustin loose” ..bump ..bump ..“bustin loose”, for a moment the funk was back. Chuck didn’t really come from nowhere as he had been working out his musical vision in the clubs of Washington DC since the early 70s, inventing a new style of music called go-go. Go-go was a very stripped down form of funk that was often based around a persistent swing beat on the African double bell, or agogo, and featured percussion driven breakdowns in which Chuck would engage in rowdy call and response antics with the audience. It was fun participatory music that was much more funky than anything disco.

“Bustin Loose”, opens with the title track and lets everyone know right off that Chuck and his Soul Searchers are taking no shorts. The opening Larry Young style space chords on the B3 let you know this is no disco, Chuck starts his rap and then its “give me the bridge yawl, give me the bridge yawl” and the JB style horn riffs kick in driven by a heavy thumpin bass. Towards the end of the song, LeRoy Fleming fires up a jazz solo on the sax, music like this had not been heard on the radio in a while. The follow up track, “Never gonna give You Up”, is a beautiful lush ballad in a very melodic style not heard on the radio since the classic Philly days of the early to mid-70s. Not only had disco subverted good funky dance music, but the art of the well written ballad had also suffered. Side one closes out with the fierce driving funk jazz of “If it aint Funky” that features an infectious atonal guitar riff and horn solos for everyone.

Side two continues with similar material including a dance floor thumper, another ballad, one more funk jazz instrumental and a hot Latin groove called “Berro e Sombaro” to close things out. “Bustin Loose” was one of the best funk records of the late 70s and it still sounds great today.
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