- CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
- Rufus Thomas "Crown Prince of Dance" 1973 (USA)
- This week's CAOTW is the first "funk" album I ever encountered. One of my best friends in high school's older brother had a few strange records, which he probably purchased just for the funny album covers (I remember he also had psychedelic B-listers Moby Grape and Rhinocerous.) Years later I even had a close encounter with Rufus Thomas himself in Memphis shortly before he passed away! So I have to admit my feelings for this record are somewhat personal. But on purely musical grounds, Crown Prince of Dance is more killer than filler, and on the whole it's just downright fun. Ya see, Rufus Thomas was the most senior member of the Memphis soul/funk scene of the Stax/Volt era -- in fact when he was recording at Sun studios way back in the mid-1950's (at the same time Elvis was debuting there), he already had a couple decades in showbiz under his belt. Being an older dude in the hip 1960's and 70's, Rufus made novelty dance numbers his forte, beginning in 1963 with "Walking The Dog", a song covered by the Rolling Stones among others. By the early 1970's he had another run of animal dance hits, including the smashes "Do The Funky Chicken" and "The Funky Penguin." This LP from 1973 also includes "The Funky Robot" (waaaay ahead of the breakdancing trend!) and "The Funky Bird" (an answer to the Ohio Player's "Funky Worm") -- but best of all is the eight minute epic "The Funkiest Man Alive", in which ol' Rufus gives James Brown a run for his money!
- Rufus was a funny dude -- the title of this album is a pun on his reputation as the "clown prince" of soul. Check out his super-bad threads in these vintage clips for "Breakdown" and the riot-inducing "Do The Funky Chicken"! For some more Memphis soul, dig Stax songwriter/producer Isaac Hayes gone solo as "Black Moses", performing his Oscar-winning tune "The Theme From Shaft" (and yes, that is Jesse Jackson introducing him.) But the original Memphis funk combo was Booker T & the MG's -- here's the immortal "Green Onions".