Albert King: I Wanna Get Funky [STAX]

Why you'll love it

This Stax reissue is a US stereo pressing of King's eighth studio album. AllMusic called it another very solid early-70s outing, with King's stinging guitar riding a heavy funk groove.

This edition

• Stereo mix
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Albert King never needed to shout; one bent note did the job. Recorded in 1972 and issued in 1974, I Wanna Get Funky finds Stax leaning hard into funk and King happily leaning with it. Behind him are the Bar-Kays and the Movement on rhythm, the Memphis Horns, strings from the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, backing vocals from Hot Buttered Soul and Henry Bush, and arrangements by Lester Snell.

Carl Smith's title track struts in, "Playin' on Me" comes from Sir Mack Rice, and "'Til My Back Ain't Got No Bone," co-written by Eddie Floyd, stretches past seven minutes of slow, simmering blues. "Walkin' the Back Streets" lets King's guitar do the crying, "I Can't Hear Nothing But the Blues" is pure late-night Memphis, "Travelin' Man" is his own, and "That's What the Blues Is All About," by Bobby Patterson and Jerry Strickland, sends things home with a grin.

It's the sound of a blues giant meeting 70s Memphis soul halfway and winning the argument. The credits spell rhythm guitarist Donald Kinsey's name as Donald Kenzie, which is what happens when everyone is too busy getting funky to proofread.

Also at Kops: more Albert King on vinyl · browse Blues

Tracklist

Listen

On Stax (cat# STS-5505), a reissue of the 1974 album.