In some ways "Funkifized" is on point, but it's still TOP overall. Time has mellowed them a bit, but so has it also done to those of us that have been fans from the early Oakland days. Saw them recently in NYC and they can still get the crowd fired up. Worth the DL, to me. C'ya round campus. "El Raptor"
With their updated, contemporary, synth-driven sound, this disc showed that T.O.P. was itching to head back home and play their traditional funk style. With Sony inflicting the band with producer Jeff Lorber, it becomes quickly apparent that this is a bit more of a record executive's disc than a T.O.P. disc. Vapid lyrics and smooth jazz-inflected grooves overtake this disc, as well as a fairly obvious evacuation of band members make this disc fairly forgettable. The players are good, and do come through on a couple of tracks that will prove to become T.O.P. staples, but in hindsight, this seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as the band's sound and style changes drastically after this disc. This is also the first disc with a conspicuous absence of mater trumpeter/arranger Greg Adams.
Of all the popular music styles and sub-genres of the late '60s and early '70s, "horn rock" is perhaps the only one that hasn't been revived and revered by subsequent generations. A perhaps inevitable offshoot of mid-'60s "blue eyed soul" acts like Tom Jones, The Righteous Brothers and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, the "horn rock" movement began in earnest in 1967 when Chicago pop group The Buckinghams, under the direction of producer James William… more »
