When we are hearing tracks from The Poets of Rhythm, it’s time to stop what you’re doing like Digital Underground and take a pause. These cats aren’t ruining the image and the style that you’re used to, but rather making and leading a funk revival from the very beginning. They’re image and style are quite fine. One of the first bands to really stand out with their new (old) funk sound, The Poets of Rhythm are back with some unreleased material that stands up to any funk that’s being released today. Brought to you on the fine Spasibo label out of Russia, we’ve got two tracks that are as they say: “dynamite and out of sight.” The A-Side is a previously unreleased Part 2 of their 1994 single “More Mess On My Thing”. Bringing it back to the early ’70’s, Part 2 nods to The Meters, starts funky and ends funky. Lots of Hammond organ sounds beaming through, you remember why you dug the first part because Part 2 continues on that funky trip tenfold. On the B, we get another instrumental version from 1993. “Upper Class”, which stands on its own as a vocal track, is brought to us in a raw, instrumental version. It’s just as dope as the former, and you may be playing this light and breezy funkfest just as much as the A. There have been a lot of bands that have tried to revive the funk, but let us tell you, The Poets of Rhythm were one of the first to do it successfully. Their music, like the music they were trying to preserve in the first place, has become classic in itself at present day. Happy to hear some of these unearthed tracks. Listen below and order after the stream.
Get the record, out on Spasibo now, here.
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