Groove Collective
Declassified
»
Groove Collective
Declassified
Shanachie, 1999
RiYL: Jamiroquai, Parliament, Earth, Wind And Fire, Trouble Funk |
The band, 10 members and then some, tackles everything from disco rumpshakers, traditional Afro-cuban rhythm workouts, acid jazz, husky soul and even a weird tone melange to close the disc. It's all very well played and composed, but nothing comes off as even remotely spontaneous, evidenced by the proliferation of standard-issue grooves that simply go on forever.
Groove Collective has begun to incorporate vocals much more prominently than on its previous two releases, but various singers and rappers don't add a whole lot to the presentation. Musically, "On A Feeling" bears out a successful fusion of hip-hop and soul, but the self-referential lyrics are a bore. "Up All Night" and the Jamiroquai-style "Everything Is Changing" recreate disco-land funk with the best of them, but the tossed-off lyrics speak to the material issue here: the songs are just not that interesting.
The genre-hopping saves the album from complete redundancy, and the island-flavored "Valiha," the slow-burning Afro-fusion of "Crisis," the chill dub of "End Transmission" and a bizarre reconfiguration of The Beatles' "Martha My Dear" into an R&B ballad stand out as Declassified's most worthwhile tracks.
Ultimately though, Groove Collective does not have enough of an identity to transcend its litany of influences, and as such it's much easier to flip on old Trouble Funk and Parliament albums instead. One is at a loss to imagine what, if anything, on this album warranted declassification in the first place.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"