Various Artists

The title of this superb anthology of rare furious grooves from Florida speaks for itself. There are tons of righteous soul, hard-kickin' drum breaks, James Brown-influenced grooves, and a whole lot of unheard funky goodness. For those new to the funk, according to the scrupulously detailed liner notes, funk music is defined by each musician staying "in the pocket." In other words, each musician plays a specific rhythmic phrase over and over, creating a situation where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. It definitely happens on each of these tracks. Only the most dedicated crate-diggers have heard the vibes contained in this release, let alone heard of many of the artists: Pearly Queen, James Knight and the Butlers, the Mighty Dogcatchers, Weston Prim and Backlash, and so on. But some of the tracks are among the most coveted rare grooves in existence and have been sampled by world-famous selectors like DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and Main Source. Fully authorized by all of the artists involved, this topnotch compilation was put together by the good people at Jazzman records in the UK, who then licensed it to Stonesthrow's reissue imprint, Now-Again. The package includes a superfat 24-page booklet crammed with vintage photos and flyers. In short, a must-have for lovers of rare funk and soul.