Big Wheel - Get The Funk (Session Mix)

Hear The Track Here

This week I have been mostly listening to the line 'big wheel kept on turning...' from the Credence Clearwater version of Proud Mary. Now, considering that I hated that track first time around, and I've hated it ever since its amazing to me that the merest brush against Soundclicks own Rounded One should induce such repetetive catatonia. I am hoping, while I scribble these words, that the antidote to this incessant yapping in my mind is writing this review so lets get on with it so I can get back to my life... So, Big Wheel.. Wot a guy. It seems funny that the first time I ever heard any of his music was with Far Away (July 2006), he seems to have been around forever to me. Mind you, that's also because I have been through his material lots and lots of times and always found something worthwhile.

What a change some water under the bridge makes...

These days Big Wheel has stepped away from electronica becoming much more a standard musician (you know, the kind that actually play instruments), and more power to him for that. So what we have on Get The Funk is Dave Cutler on bass, Matt Gallagher on lead guitar with Big Wheel supplying coffee, cakes and real ale along with inputting his own musical contributions. Which, as we know from experience, can be prodigious. The list of BW tracks resident on my hard drive is adequate testimony to that.

Something else is obvious too. This musician has a bad case of the funk. The man is totally into this lately and that's not a problem for me, I've always liked funk. There are two distinct strands though; the standardised floor fillah so often evoked by the word or the more technically and musically adventurous style personified by Bootsy Collins and george Clinton. Get The Funk has that classy sophistication to it, especially in the intro and the uses the keyboards are put to; the piano in the intro being a special treat. For my money, though, I think this could do wonders with some serious vocals because right now - as good as it is - it's just another instrumental.

Excellent funk work out though... Chah!! Highly Recommended.