****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Crying shame that it finally took a willing and able reissue label on the UK side of the Atlantic to do what Universal Music Group couldn't even bother with here on the US side: properly remastering and releasing Con Funk Shun's long-celebrated yet frustratingly OOP back catalog in CD format at long last! This set for instance contains two of the finest albums the band ever cut in the studio, the Skip Scarborough-produced 'Loveshine' and 'Candy'. Plenty of well-crafted uptempo jams (especially on 'Candy'), love ballads, and creative instrumentals with grade-A musicianship and top-notch vocals to keep this one spinning in your player for hours on end. It's amazing how a legendary band like Con Funk Shun was badly treated by UMG in terms of not getting out and keeping many of their key albums in print upon inheriting their Mercury catalog just over 20 years ago. I could only remember 1977's 'Secrets', 1980's 'Spirit Of Love', and a couple of compilation releases ever being available domestically since then. And DON'T get me started on those notorious price-inflated limited edition Japanese imports that may or may not have been remastered from vinyl sources to begin with (ugh!).Major kudos to Cherry Red/Robinsongs for helping to offset much of UMG's apparent failings by going all-in with their current reissue program, which now includes a slew of criminally neglected old school acts that are finally receiving their just due on CD for once. Con Funk Shun is certainly no exception there and I strongly advise all of you to seek out their music this way. Quality sound (most likely from having full access to the original source tapes of all things), well-written liner notes, and a VERY reasonable price tag considering what you're truly getting here. Only real downside to the way Cherry Red/Robinsongs have been doing things of late is that they don't manage to print out the lyrics on many of their reissue projects, unlike fellow UK label BGO (Beat Goes On) for example. They'd gain even more traction on that end if they finally get around to doing so because I already like what they've done the last several years, especially with them finally releasing the fully-restored version of Frankie Beverly & Maze's classic live album that they cut in New Orleans back in 1980 (take THAT, Capitol!). KEEP 'EM COMING DOWN THE PIPE, PLEASE!!! Shoot, I remember when Rhino used to roll like this back in the day:::sigh:::
