In The Raw

Great music but the mastering is compressed and harsh to listen to turned up. The music needs to be turned up so the CD is a fail. Get the vinyl, which I have and sounds better.

ALL PERFECT

8/10. One of the phattest pieces of rock n roll flavored, guitar-driven funkto be released in recent years. "In The Raw" is guitar and drum heavy, an allinstrumental album with at least 3-4 mindblowing tracks, and several goodones. This years album, the more experimental "Earthology" was a bit hitand miss, but contained 3 great songs; "Safari Strut", "Taisho" and thebeautiful ethio-jazz number "Sem Yelesh", but If you want to check out otherstuff by some of the same musicians I would rather recommend Karl Hector & TheMalcouns "Sahara swing".

I just discovered this whole world of funk revival and i love it. This album is laced with heavy funk beats, ... trumpets, funky flutes and more. A couple tracks take it back to the Afrikan roots, incorporating tribal chants. It gives the album more diversity to the edgy yet repetative beats. It sounds just like another day of jam sessions at Soul Fire records. I got this album when I was in New York City over the summer and was on a search for funk record stores. I mistook Soul Fire for a retail shop and found myself at this low-key apartment studio in Upper Manhattan where all the Soul Fire recording is done. They mainly put out 45s so the guy there gave me this CD and a 45 of my choice. I also highly recommend one of my favorite joints of all time on the 45" "Answer Me Softly" by Fabulous Three which recently appeared as 45 of the Month in Big Daddy Magazine (an awesome source for funk and hip hop fans)Nu funk is gonna bridge the generation gap between the old and new school... and I'm telling you this from the perspective of a high school student. Support indie labels and the cool people at Soul Fire and check this album out.

I discovered this after discovering the song Fifty Yards of Soul on the stellar album Raw Funk and learned about the Whitefield Bros. Fifty Yards is in my opinion one of the strongest funk numbers of all time -like one reviewer said, if you're not moving to it you're dead.This album however, is on an entirely different plane. These songs have the same elements - stripped back sound, ridiculous beats, Meters-like interplay - but is much deeper, experimental in its rawness, almost trancelike funk. It sounds both primitive and futuristic. Very fun to sink into after multiple listenings. Wow.