The Rock Candy Funk Party is in session and features Tal Bergman on drums, guitarist Ron DeJesus, bassist Mike Merritt and keyboardist Renato Neto. Did I forget anyone? Oh, and this guy named Joe Bonamassa, who manages to appear on so many albums in a given year one can only wonder if he has cloned himself.
RCFP’s album “We Want O Groove,” is unlike anything Bonamassa has done lately, and his presence is felt, but the weight of the album’s success does not fall entirely on his shoulders. The band sounds like a bunch of guys hanging out and having a good time. It’s loose, it’s fun and it’s funky. In the 1970s, funk morphed into disco and when disco fell out of favor the great funk bands faded away as well. Regardless of what one thinks of disco, the great funk music of the 1960s and 1970s stands the test of time, and artists like James Brown, The Average White Band, Sly & the Family Stone and The Meters still sound great today.
Even though RCFP’s “We Want O Groove,” is a funk album, it owes just as much to jazz fusion as it does funk. It’s an instrumental album that captures the moment when funk bands got into their groove and started letting the music take over. Its style is reminiscent of the Headhunters, which is evident from the opening notes of the albums first track “Octopus-E.” If you like the funky dance stuff, you will love “Animal/Work.” If you like mellow jazz/funk, then “The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life” will fit the bill. There really is something for everyone, and one of my favorite moments on the album is the opening notes of “Spaztastic,” which sounds a lot like another project Joe worked on over the last few years.
