Reviewed For TheFunkStore.com..By/Funk Journalist&Atlanta Radio Personality~"Bustin'"Bob Mitchell
Compiled For TheFunkStore.com..ByTylard Tatt II
1.JUNIE
Mention the word multi-instrumentalist and many people will come up with one name first, Prince. I mean somebody that just embodies the total funkin’ package; writer, producer, arranger, vocalist, visionary, master of all instruments, studio wizard, composer, conductor, spiritualist, genius. Well, back when the Royal Purple Badass was still just cutting his chops, just growing his first hairs on his funk, there was the original funk Badass, his name is Walter ‘Junie’ Morrison. The true ‘Master of the Game’, as it were. Junie’s wizardry swirled around in a highly potent, polyrhythmic, multi-layered irrepressible groove machine that barreled out of the Dayton, Ohio funkshop in the late 60s.
He first made music for the now legendary Westbound label as a member of the Ohio Players and single-handedly put together the much-sampled slice of monster funk known as ‘The Funky Worm’. Once described by George Clinton as ‘the most phenomenal musician on the planet’, Junie brought his funkentelect into the fold of Clinton’s P-Funk empire in 1978 and again, was almost single-handedly responsible for Funkadelic’s most commercially successful projects. He contributed mightily to the “One Nation Under A Groove”, “Uncle Jam Wants You” and Parliament’s “Motor Booty Affair” sets. His distinctive humor and wit plus that truly remarkable vocal style (he’s got more variable vocalizations than GC himself) were the perfect fit to take Pfunk to its highest realization yet.
One of the few legitimately true Funklords in music history, Junie’s talents and versatily are showcased nowhere better than on “The Westbound Years”, a super tight collection culled from his three studio albums in the mid 70s for the label. When this popped up at The Funk Store I thought I was was dreaming. These albums are extremely rare. You get 7 tracks from the “When We Do’ lp, 6 choice cuts from “Freeze”, including the churning title track, plus 6 tracks from the album “Suzy Super Groupie” with its massive title track as well. There is also a previously unreleased bonus track from a session produced in 1994. As I listen back to these songs, only now do I realize just how far Junie alone was pushing the future of the funk and laying the ground rules that would later open doors for folks like Prince to walk through.
His grooves go to work on your ass and earholes from the bottom up. Skintight drums, organ, popping bass, heavy metal and rythum guitars, horns, sizzling synth licks and strings (Detroit’s Symphony appears on several of these tracks) surround you in a kaleidoscope of funk bliss. But this is not just simply jamming; this shyt is highly orchestrated and composed with elements of jazz and classical influences as well. You can tell his ear is tuned in on the drummer as he builds each track on this premise, using the often accelerated, throbbing beat as his blueprint to canvass the entire space around him. There is simply no way to categorize his sound. Maybe that’s why the A & R folks at the time didn’t quite know what to do with him. It’s virtually impossible to put his vibe into a bag of pop, rock, jazz or R &B, but whatever he does, its got to be funky!! His amazing blues tinged guitar soloing over a phat bass bottom and grinding organ of ‘Walt’s Third Trip’.
Junie lives in a world where hard rock guitar vamping comes face- to-face with classical strings and soaring orchestral horn charts as on cuts like ‘The Place’ and ‘When We Do’. Futuristic synth squiggles and clavinet cravings pulsate as he bangs out baby grand piano tinkling through all of these grooves. The man is truly badd. He reprises his Granny vocals for a ride in “The Funky Rolls Royce” and just goes bananas over a liquid- stretched synth lick. All kinds and manner of sounds and effects from way up in the stratosphere couch themselves down in Junie’s groove. Its next to impossible to choose a fave here, every cut will take you into a place you thought you’d never go, and to think that one man put this together makes it all the more astounding and enjoyable. You can almost just see this voluptuous, bubbling, perfect specimen of femininity wiggling and jiggling towards you backstage when he describes the “Super Groupie” as the invigorating horn charts blow to oblivion. The grooves are just as seamlessly smoove as they are funky on tracks like ‘Suzie Thundertussy’, ‘Surrender’, ‘Loving Arms’ and his spiritual tribute to Jimi Hendrix on ‘Spirit’.
Still fresh after almost 30 years in the can. This is an excellent and appropriate introduction to the magic of Junie Morrison. Once you’ve had a taste of this you will be hooked and will want to seek out his later solo records for the Columbia label on into the 80s. He is the true ‘Master of the Game’
2.TIGHT ROPE
3.WALT'S THIRD TRIP~ListenNow
4.THE PLACE
5.WHEN WE DO~ListenNow
6.JOHNNY CARSON SAMBA
7.LOVING ARMS~ListenNow
8.JUNIE II
9.NOT AS GOOD AS YOU SHOULD~ListenNow
10.COOKIES WILL GET YOU ~ListenNow
11.FREEZE~ListenNow
12.SUPER J~ListenNow
13.GRANNY'S FUNKY ROLLS ROYCE~ListenNow
14.JUNIE III
15.SURRENDER
16.SUZIE
17.SUPERGROUPIE~ListenNow
18.SUZIE THUNDERTUSSY~ListenNow
19.SPIRIT~ListenNow
20.JUNIE'S ULTIMATE DEPARTURE
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