The Isley Brothers: A Funky Family

It was the summer of '79, and Tucson’s disco radio station, 13-KHYT, just couldn’t play the Isley Brothers often enough. It seemed every time I tuned in, there was the churning funk of “I Wanna Be With You,” with its vocoder hook repeating the title over and over, alternating with a semi-whisper of the Isleys chanting “You and me, babe, gettin’ it on, you and me.” Even though I loved disco, I grew to hate the tune, and generally avoided the Isley Brothers’ music whenever I could.

PCPL has got the "P"!

P. Funk, that is.

If you ever wondered just what P. Funk is all about, you can find out here at the library. Not only do we own a copy of Parliament's signiture album, Mothership Connection, but we also have two CD collections of P. Funk rarities to boot. If that ain't enough, Freegal has what is far and away my own personal favorite album of P. Funk available as well, Urban Dancefloor Guerillas by the P. Funk All-Stars. So get out your library card, and get ready to "blow the cobwebs out yo' mind."

The Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?

Why, yes, I can ... and you can too with a click below.

OK. Why listen to a 2 CD compilation of Isaac Hayes's music? No, not because he provided the voice of the Chef on South Park. And no, not because of the "Theme From 'Shaft'," which--while a great song--is more representative of the film's lead character than of Hayes's music catalog.

Stevie Wonder and Jack Black

Here's cause to offer a sigh of relief: PCPL has in it's catalog the four most important albums Stevie Wonder ever released!  Well, OK, that's "most important" in my opinion, and humility has been left by the wayside....  If you've ever wondered just what Mr. Wonder did back in the 1970s (after "Little" Stevie grew up but before he "Just Called To Say I Love You"), well, the library's got the answer to a question Jack Black poses in the film High Fidelity: Can one bad song invalidate all of an artist's prior genius?

Fela Kuti -- The Best Of The Black President, vol. 2

So I once was fortunate enough to be working at a used record store in Phoenix when someone traded in 10 CDs by Fela Kuti, each a "two-fer" (two albums on one disc).  I knew enough about world music then to know I needed these, so I bought 'em all ... and then promptly forgot about them for several years.  Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician active between the 1960s and his death in 1997 whose music was uncompromisingly radical in its socialist, anti-colonial and anti-military politics.  Once I finally got around to listening to Kuti, the experience was every bit as exciting and satisfying as many critics have described his music. I've since gone on to collect several more CDs by Kuti (and I love 'em all), so I was most intrigued by the copy of Best Of The Black President I saw at the library one day....

The GFOS

So I'm checking in items at the library the other day and the Godfather of Soul stops by....

Well, actually I just looked down and noticed that I had in my hand an excellent compilation of songs by James Brown.  There are a slew of compilations of Brown's music, and a lot of them are pretty suspect.  However, In The Jungle Groove is one of the better collections out there, and we've got it on CD right here at the Pima County Library.  Read on for for more details!

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk at Hotel Congress 3/14/2012

Dumpstaphunk brought their New Orleans brand of Funk music to the Hotel Congress on Wednesday March 14, 2012.  The band did not disappoint the many fans who came out for the show.  The Hotel Congress stage is adorned with the Latin words "musica delenit bestiam feram," which means, "music soothes the savage beast."  As for this night, the way the crowd danced up a frenzy with Dumpstaphunk, this proved not to be the case!

You can find some great New Orleans music, including songs by both The Neville Brothers and The Meters on Pima County Public Library's CD Mardi Gras Essentials.  Both bands also have works in Freegal, available under the Downloadable Media heading on our home page.  To find out more about Dumpstaphunk, their show at Hotel Congress, and their connection to these classic New Orleans bands, please read on.