1974 Midnight Movers, Unltd. “Follow The Wind” on Buddah

Oh hell, yeah. Could this be the funkiest action on the entire run of Buddah? Since the label obviously is not named after our boy Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (and since Buddha wasn’t actually part of his name, it just means “The Awakened One”), what is a Buddah? Well, Artie Ripp's first label was called Kama Sutra Records, and since the Kama Sutra is that Hindu Sex Manual, dude has a certain Eastern orientation on the brain. But he also must have been SERIOUSLY baked 23 hours a day, because the original Buddah logo actually is a drawing of the god Shiva. They eventually corrected the drawing some time in the 90s, and the title spelling (I personally think it was a stoned mistake and not intentional) but hell, Ripp's first release was also Captain Beefheart’s “Safe As Milk”, so in my book dude is a total hero, and he can name his companies any damn thing he wants with any lunatic spelling he wants, and still receive my full agnostic blessing. Artie Ripp also should have a statue erected of him in Times Square for helming the many killer Buddah subsidiaries, ESPECIALLY the mighty Curtom, but also Sussex, Super-K, T-Neck, Brut, Charisma, National General, Pavilion, Southwind and nine others I’m forgetting. But back to this BANGING Midnight Movers action, which is just pure soulful funky funk in the Curtis/Isaac/Kool/Mandrill vein, which I happen to be a big proponent of, so what is there really to say? Dig 70’s wah-bass-wah groove? You’ll love this. Also, killer art. Also, it features a cover of Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”!!! haha. Also, it features “Party (With Every Muscle In Your Body) Parts I AND II. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that one muscle they’re advising any random listener party with is in fact not a muscle at all, but that’s a matter to be settled by medical professionals. Midnight Movers were led by Curtis Pope, and were Wilson Pickett’s backup band for two decades, and do you really require anything else on your resume? This record rules, it’s really that simple.