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7"
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SSCR 019EP
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"Though the mega-ensemble Soul Society didn't make mainstream waves, they did stake a firm flag in the moonstone of jazz-funk with the full-length LP Smiling Faces from 1997, which stood out for its album-length Roy Ayers feature for the record's entirety, assuring good vibes throughout. Ayers vibrates Quadro-phonically beside an otherwise secure, integrated groove and backbeat, resounding firm yet alien, the mix making as much obviousness of his feature as of his comradely fit with the group. Roy Ayers & The Soulciety return with a tight 7" instrumental pairing: 'Feed Me Your Love' and 'Funky Nassau'. The grooves lean deep into Ayers' classic vibes-driven funk and soul, letting the melodies breathe without vocals, a nod to the smooth, jazz-inflected surfaces he's been sanding down since the '70s. 'Feed Me Your Love' is a loosely interpreted instrumental version of the post-disco delight that is Sylvia Striplin's vocal original, while 'Funky Nassau' spins the classic Caribbean, Ray Munnings/Tyrone Fitzgerald rhythm into a stripped-back, danceable jam, courtesy of The Soulsociety, in-house band at Soulciety Records. The project revisits both tracks with insatiable hunger for its irresistible combo of chord Rhodes, fretless bass, wah-tar, and two-feel drumming, originally of no other session band than the Fatback Band. The flip, meanwhile, 'Funky Nassau', strips down the 1970 funk anthem by 'The Beginning Of The End' and spits out a knotty but thoroughly enjoyable dancing-shoelace-tangler."
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