Willard's Wormholes

Trouble Funk Live (1981/1996)
Monster Funk That Never Caught On

Go-Go was born and bred in the back alley discos of Washington, DC’s ghettos. Its signature characteristic was the non-stop percussion marathons that, for decades, forged and fortified its local rep. This massively funky, pre-rap sub-genre never managed to take off beyond DC, largely because its lifeblood energy was far too dependent on its local, home turf audience. And… it was way too black for early-80s media (back in the days when MTV still refused to play black music). This live set from the masters of Go-Go, Trouble Funk, is a prime example. An hour-long performance, split into four parts (originally a 2LP set), that starts funky, gets funkier and never lets up until the drummer cries uncle. There are no songs, per se, just unending percussion, scattered horn outbursts, chants, shouts and tons of call & response. Henry Rollins tells a story in this CD’s liner notes (HERE) about how heads turned when he first saw TF in 1982, since he and his pals were the only white guys in the house. I had the exact same experience three years later at The Black Hole in DC’s Northwest section. The scene was repeated later that same (early) morning at WUST, an old cabaret on the corner of Florida and 9th Street. I caught Trouble Funk, Experience Unlimited and Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers during the most exhilarating concert weekend of my life. This disc, on Rick Rubin’s (and Rollins’) defunct Infinite Zero label, captures the action about as well as can be expected, since the genre’s major drawback was the inability to fully replicate the live experience on vinyl, in the studio or on the road (outside the beltway) – so this release is about as close as you’re going to get. An underground taste of what James Brown’s improv funk hath wrought upon our times. Thanks JB. It’s at Amazon, HERE.

Part A (14:03)
Part B (13:44)
Part C (14:57)
Part D (15:14)