Jade_City

Anyone heard of Roger Troutman and Zapp? Some of the best early 80's funk albums out there are made by them imo



Good album for people who prefer a more electronic take on Funk

Rexx Shredd

Roger and Zapp were super popular in the early 80s...both "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "More Bounce To The Ounce" were monster club hits.....my problem with both Troutmans music is that they both write one cool bassline/groove, vocals through a vocoder, dom9 guitar part, and a synth hit and make an entire song out of the one section (sometimes two)....this particular minimal approach makes the music seem to not go anywhere (it gets monotonous, fast)

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Jade_City

Although I can agree that sometimes their work can get monotonous, there's no denying the Troutman bros. were very good composers. Ever heard Maxx Axe? That's a truly amazing track.

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Rexx Shredd

Hence, what I was saying earlier: they could both come up with a very infectious hook and groove that grabs a listener and doesn't let go ("More Bounce" is a perfect example) but I need more than that to call somebody a great composer


as always, your mileage may vary

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Jade_City

Like I said there are undoubtedly very well composed songs imo on their albums that really show actually how well they could compose. I suggest for some more melodic and traditionally structured songs you should listen to both 'Brand New Player' and 'Be Alright' from the debut album, both songs have great vocals and be alright has a beautiful sax and flute section. Much more layered than their earthier and stripped down later work.

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Rexx Shredd

A handful of songs from the entire body of work? No thanks: if I want to hear "funk" and "good compositions", Im reaching for Brick, Slave, Earth Wind & Fire, Lakeside, (just to name a feww) before I reach for the Troutman's...


once again, ymmv

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Jade_City

Different time periods though, you're comparing the more old-school less electronic funk bands that were prevalent in the 60's and 70's, so this just seems to be a matter of opinion on your behalf, which is fine if you dislike the band, but no need to be a bit of a dick in the way you replied. Even after you don't seem interested in hearing the songs I suggested because of your own bias. I'm not gonna get into an argument, tho... I also liked your bitchy little, cat-fight like reply, it cut real deep

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Rexx Shredd

negative

Slave? prevelent period 1977 -1984 (almost the same timeframe as Zapp - lots of electronics)
Lakeside? prevelent period 1978 - 1987 (almost the same timeframe as Zapp - some electronics)
Brick? prevelent period 1976 -1988


you need to learn your funk history

not being a dick at all: you're hammering at me throughout this thread of how great composers they are of which I said they write an infectious groove and dont go anywhere with it and I dont consider that great composing. I also named other artists of similar time periods that I thought were far better composers of the genre ....Yes of course thats my opinion (granted my opinion is based on almost thirty years as a professional musician/composer -- as in: thats what I do for my job)...Even still. So what? i never said "Gee, dude, you're wrong"

As far as hearing their songs? i have Zapp's entire discography on CD...and I reach for it seldomly ( a couple of which i only listened to once like II and V as i thought they were disappointing) but I keep because I like having a CD collection of funk

dont hate because somebody disagrees with you

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Jade_City

But seriously Lakeside though? Their line-up of albums were OK at best, Rough Riders was just terrible, as even their debut was (debuts even being usually a band's freshest and strongest work). Fantastic Voyage is a very fine album indeed so I'll give them that. However that was released in 1980, the same year as Zapp's DEBUT, Lakeside had already released several albums by then. Now Slave, I'll let you have that, but with what I had previously said they had already released a few albums by 1980, and Stone Jam had really paled in their previous efforts in my opinion. Even then Slave isn't recognised as an interstellar amazing pioneering funk band. As of Brick, Good High and Brick of 1977 was really their only greatest achievements. I love the Dazz song but like you said about Zapp's style it's quite a repetitive song without much lyrics. These two albums are still several years predating Zapp's own debut. I just thought your judgement was a little unfair, and you opened up the discussion here, you said something which I somewhat disagreed with, so I challenged it to drum up the discussion about the band. After-all that's the whole point in these threads isn't it? To discuss music? Not for you to waltz around arrogantly thinking your taste is somehow superior. If you're gonna do that what's the point of even having the discussion, if your mind was already made up. What am I supposed to do? Get on my knees and accept your amazing superior judgement and opinion as fact? And 30 years of being a 'professional' composer and musician and you can't even spell 'prevalent' correctly. If you really want out of this world Funk albums I think Stevie Wonder's Talking Book and Inner-visions are masterpieces, and along with Sly and The Family Stone's Stand, and Kool and The Gang's Wild and Peaceful. Oh, and lets not forget The Heat Is On by the Isley Brothers. But hey I'm a guy who loves music and you're a PRO music composer that I've never heard of, so what do I know?

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Rexx Shredd

I didnt do that at all (as a matter of fact, i posted 'your mileage may vary')......like I said in my previous post: I never said "Gee, dude, youre wrong!"...that would be arguing opinions and kinda like trying to debate if chocolate ice cream tastes better than strawberry ice-cream..............I dont think they are great composers. I do think that they write cool riffs and infectious basslines but I need more than that to call someone a great composer, but thats just me.





.............chocolate ice-cream ftw by the way

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