I just got back from a couple weeks out of town and managed to scrape a few cool eighties funk records from some bible belt shops. First up is a Macola-distributed 12" by Kristie, a glossy '85 indie production. Macola-related funk records have a similar disjointed later 80s sound that I can't get enough of.

  Our own Cosmic Champaign is known for spinning Fine Quality's "Aah Dance" in his sets lately. I was stoked to find the generic looking LP including that track along with some other solid cuts from the studio crew behind Sugarhill. "Saturday Night" is one of the better cuts from the LP, written and produced by Bunny Sigler.

  Finally, Osborne & Giles were a short lived duo featuring Billy Osborne from L.T.D. and Attala Giles from Deco. I'm really only feeling this one cut from the LP but it is definitely worth sharing.

Kristie - Head Games

New Guys On The Block - Saturday Night

Osborne & Giles - I Can't Stop This Feeling

George Kerr produced many, many influential recordings in his long career including the heavily sweated "Skull Snaps" LP in 1973 and the recently reissued Sabata 12" on my friend Rob Sevier's excellent Numero Group label. Kerr has songwriting credits dating back to the early 60's and Patrick Adams claims the first studio session he ever attended was Kerr recording the O' Jays in 1968. In the early 80's Kerr started hooking up with Reggie Griffin and produced quite a few boogie tracks including "S & M" by De De and "Thug Rock" by George's daughter Sandy Kerr. Keeping it in the family, George also produced a track with Vaughan Mason for his other daughter Tracy in 1984.

Reggie Griffin was best known for his early electro jam "Mirda Rock" on Sugarhill Records imprint Sweet Mountain in 1982. His boogie oriented production work with Kerr stands out to me as his best, but he was also quite influential in the hip hop world, penning songs and playing keyboards on some classic cuts for many Sugarhill Records releases including Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's LP "The Message".

The Kerr/Griffin colaboration began with "Thug Rock" in 1982 on Catawaba Records and continued with "S & M" (Sexy Music) in 1983 on the Clockwork label.

Sandy Kerr - Thug Rock

De De - S & M (Sexy Music - Rated X)