What a great band! Kato san is a great guitar player and a wonderful person! (This video is not Kato san)
Tomo
Such a great band. I am also a huge fan of Kitahara. Maybe this guitar player is Toru Terashi (寺師 徹)?
Yes! I don't know the original guitar player's name.
Tomo
Now I remembered this.... I used to listen LTD, Con-funk-shun, Narada Michael Walden etc around 1982... Especially this one! Do you remember?
Tomo
Nice - I don't remember Narada Michael Walden. And I totally forgot about Con Funk Shun!
Thank you Clay! Finally I met Narada a few years ago!
Tomo
I listened to so much of Masayoshi Takanaka recently, and though he's known for his surfboard guitar and cheerful energy, this melancholic, melodic tune of his is my favourite.
It feels like he is on planet guitar and playing forever, encased in this record.. and when the song fades out it feels like he's just leaving our orbit, but he'll continue to play until eternity comes.. Actually, Kyoto gives me the same vibe as it fades out, but more like leaving an underground show at 2am while he still goes on with the same massive energy.
I had that record!
Tomo
Wow didn’t know this thread existed.
This album has been on repeat for me and I’m not even a huge funk listener.
It is so tight musically. I mean it is impossibly good.
For me the songs:
Separado
Smokeshow 🎷 🎶 🤩
Sledgehammer
And my personal fav and throwback to my teen years
Halo Theme / Grid Generation is such a good gym tune.
Cory is incredible!!!!
Next time he tours I’m there. Had never heard of him before this.
Enjoy
So happy to hear that! Cory is really hard working guy! I really enjoyed working with him at his summer camp last year.
Tomo
Wow, that's incredible! I love his emotion that comes through...the songs are so perfect for their names and he has this way of just making the names fit. Tommy Emmanuel is like that too...if you ever heard his Lewis & Clark song, I can actually picture them in the old west on the frontier trail blazing. I don't know how the song writers do it but they do!
I admire Tommy Emmanuel so much!
Tomo
Man - this tune has about everything.
I try not to do more than one at a time. But just wanted to get this "history doesn't repeat, but often rhymes" one in here based on current events:
...but sometimes hipness is what it ain't!
I'll take as much TOP as you're willing to give, Clay.
BTW I'm a fan of Strong Songs, a podcast where the host breaks down legendary songs from all angles (harmony, melody, rhythm, history, influences, etc.) and I really enjoyed his episode on Tower of Power — the focus is on "Soul Vaccination" but there's a lot of general stuff about the band and what makes it so good: https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/s05e03-soul-vaccination-by-tower-of-power
Sweet - thanks Andy, I'll check it out.
Classic funk!
Tomo
I've been working on funk technique, and really enjoyed a couple of Toma's recent "early access" posts. The last one he did was A7 funk. Somewhere toward the end, he moves to minor, and it totally reminded me of this:
Totally! In https://tomovhxtv.vhx.tv/funk-jazz-lessons/videos/bf-funk-rhythm-in-a-minor-with-triads he demonstrates the Am7 with D/C triads and naturally starts playing Le Freak (at ~ 6:10). He says, "Oh, that's someone else's song!" or something like that.
Love this funk thread! Great job Clay!
Tomo