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"...Musical Son... "
Genius Musician, Arranger and all-round Funkmeister Walter "Junie" Morrison is looking rather pleased with himself on the outtake photo that adorns this fabulous 2CD set from England's Ace Records (and why wouldn't he be - pawed by an icon like that!).
Model Pat Evans is captured in all her beguiling bald sexiness by Joel Brodsky - the photographer who brought us so many of those memorable Ohio Players saucy LP covers – albums Junie wrote tunes for and was instrumental in the origins of. His other period claim to fame is of course the future Funkadelic P-Funk sound – Junie having co-written the anthem "One Nation Under A Groove" with George Clinton and Garry Shider – a US R&B No. 1 in October 1978 for Clinton's Funkadelic.
Pat Evans had featured on the Ohio Players "Pain" LP cover (February 1972) and the not-so-subtly titled "Ecstasy" LP from September 1973 - two hugely popular albums Junie had been instrumental in (Morrison was gone from their orbit by 1974's "Skin Tight"). So come his debut Solo album "When We Do" (recorded in 1973 and 1974 but not released until mid 1975) - hardly surprising then that Pat returns to give our hero some more temperature-rising cover-art strokes. And that's where this rarities haul comes stomping-in. There's a lot of Granny in her Funky Rolls Royce to groove through, so let's have at the details...
UK released 26 May 2017 - "The Complete Westbound Recordings 1973-1976" by JUNIE on Ace Records/Westbound CDSEW2 157 (Barcode 029667083720) features Three Full Albums "When We Do" and "Freeze" (both 1975) and "Suzie Super Groupie" (1976) Plus Seven Bonus Tracks Remastered onto 2CDs as follows:
CD1 (72:37 minutes):
1. Junie [Side 1]
2. Loving Arms
3. Johnny Carson Samba
4. The Place
5. Anna
6. Tight Rope [Side 2]
7. You And You
8. When We Do
9. Married Him
10. Walt's Third Trip
Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut album "When We Do" - released June 1975 in the USA on 20th Century Records/Westbound Records W-200
11. Freeze [Side 1]
12. Cookies Will Get You
13. Not As Good As You Should
14. Musical Son
15. Super J. [Side 2]
16. World Of Woe
17. Granny's Funky Rolls Royce
18. Junie II
Tracks 11 to 18 are his second solo album "Freeze" - released November 1975 in the USA on 20th Century Records/Westbound Records W-214
CD2 (56:53 minutes):
1. Junie III [Side 1]
2. Suzie Thundertussy
3. If You Love Him
4. What Am I Gonna Do
5. Super Groupie
6. Surrender
7. Suzie
8. Stone Face Joe
9. Spirit
Tracks 1 to 9 are his third studio album "Suzie Super Groupie" - released October 1976 in the USA on 20th Century Records/Westbound Records W228.
BONUS TRACKS:
10. Junie's Ultimate Departure (first appeared as a Previously Unreleased track on the April 1994 UK CD compilation "The Westbound Years" (by Junie) on Ace Records/Westbound CDSEWD 64 (Barcode 029667376426)
11. Walt's Second Trip
12. Tightrope (Single Mix)
Tracks 12 and 11 (note sequence) are the A&B-sides of his first US solo 45 released December 1973 on Eastbound E 619 - both tracks are on the debut LP "When We Do" in different forms with "Tightrope" credited on the album as "Tight Rope"
13. Loving Arms (Mono Single Mix) - July 1975 US 45 A-side for Westbound WT-5007
14. If You Love Him (Single Edit) - 1976 US 45 A-side for Westbound WT-5027
15. Super "J". (Single Edit)
16. Granny's Funky Rolls Royce (Mono Single Edit)
Tracks 16 and 15 (note sequence) are the A&B-sides of an October 1975 US 45 on Westbound WT-5013
The knowledgeable and erudite DEAN RUDLAND heads up the praises in the 20-page booklet – not surprisingly first mentioning Kanye West and Solange Knowles (sister of Beyoncé) – Kanye with his prominent sampling of "Suzie Thundertussy" for his "No More Parties In L.A.” track on the February 2016 album “The Life Of Pablo" - while Solange actually name-checked the great Dayton, Ohio man upfront as "Junie" - a cut on her "A Seat At The Table" album from September 2016. Not before time either. With none of his three albums featured here having troubled the R&B charts in their days of release – Walter Morrison has been an underground name ever since. Nice to know then that Junie got to feel the love of his contemporaries 'before' his tragic passing in January 2017 - only months after Solange's album release.
The booklet also features photos of the debut’s gatefold artwork, the second and third LPs and their rather plain and boring rear sleeves as well as those promo-only 45s that never seemed to make it to stock copies. Audio is care of Ace’s long-standing Engineer NICK ROBBINS and no stranger to Soul and Funk tapes – this twofer kicks in all the right places.
Before the delayed debut LP "When We Do" appeared label co-shared by 20th Century and Westbound Records – Westbound tried "Tightrope" b/w the instrumental "Walt's Second Trip" in December 1973 on their imprint label Eastbound but to no joy (very cool to see both mixes in amongst the bonuses - the versions on the album are different). The very Disco-Funk opener "Junie" is predominantly an instrumental workout featuring The Detroit Symphony. Punctuating the trippy voices and space-feel of "Loving Arms" - soon after a wickedly great 'keep me in your arms' groove is set up - come the Horns and Hammond - the Remaster kicking it. At only 2:32 minutes, the Salsa meets Bass meets shaker Drum rhythms of "Johnny Carson Samba" feels like The Crusaders having a cocktail - a fab little piano groove a la Joe Sample. Back to hard-hitting midnight-hour Pump-Funk with "The Place" - his guitar passages going all heavy Isley Brothers while a fantastic combo of Brass and Strings brings up the rhythmic rear. And it's hard to think now in 2021 why something as bum-shakingly fun-key-fun-kay as the title track "When We Do" wasn't a hit - maybe too many instruments cluttering the mix - but surely that Stevie Wonder clavinet backbeat should have garnished better attention. The whole LP is great really and yet period sales never reflected that.
Album two "Freeze" goes up a notch and is closest to Funkadelic – the opener is a fast-hammering synth workout where voices and instruments are given that fazed-feel. "Cookies Will Get You" continues in a hard-hitting Brothers Johnson vein – thumping rhythm section, voices, piano and a huge Remaster that threatens to do damage. You touch the height is what you do, Junie claims in "Not As Good As You Should" – another rapid Funk workout that feels like Part 3 on a Side 1 suite. The LP comes close to a voicebox hit with the wild synth playing of "Granny's Funky Rolls Royce" – a ferocious piece of keyboard Funk that has Granny giving it some old mama ad libs (I hear you baby) – and I can so hear why Funkadelic and Parliament aficionados dig the LP so much (despite that poor no-sales artwork).
Highlights on album three "Suzie Super Groupie" feature the very Todd Rundgren soundscapes of the opener "Junie III" and of course that 'chance to be a star' "Suzie Thundertussy" chorus and backbeat. Junie needs the tenderness so desperately in "Surrender" where the clavinet and general rhythms feel so the "Contusion" instrumental on Stevie Wonder's 1976 double magnum opus "Songs In The Key Of Life". James Brown Funk fans will also dig the near five and half minutes of "Super Groupie" - a get on up moment on Side 2.
For sure the whole in-yer-face blasting-no-let-up Funkadelic Funk (truth be told) is an acquired taste and it's easy to see why Earth, Wind & Fire through to The Brothers Johnson and The Ohio Players were so commercially successful – they mixed in elements of P-Funk but just not so hard-hitting all the time. But that won't stop "The Complete Westbound Recordings 1973-76" by JUNIE from being a bit special to aficionados of P-Funk.
A humdinger of a release and surely (yet again) one of the myriad reasons why Ace Records of the UK are the bizz-schnizz when it comes to Soul and Funk reissues. Musical man remembered well, and with real affection...
