“Salt” as a rare funk record, plus nine other funky tracks

During my time as a writer for the music magazine Goldmine, I discovered a serious truism. The most popular songs are not necessarily the most collectible records. If an album is a million-seller, that means there’s a million copies of the record out there, and prices for that album are low on the secondary market. Conversely, some records are nearly impossible to find, and can command thousands of dollars to a collector.

This is magnified if you’re collecting 1970’s funk records. Yeah, James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic are the most recognizable, but if you really want to have your mind expanded, with some serious “break the cobblestones of your mind” funky music, these rare tracks will show you the way, without you having to cash in your 401(k) to buy the record and actually hear the track. Many of these funk groups have disappeared into the mists of anonymity, and all we have is the name on the label and not much else – except for the awesome funk tracks.

So take a listen. This stuff is awesome.

10. The Brothers of Love, “Nickol Nickol” on Gamble Records.

Gamble was owned by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and was their original label before they started the Philadelphia International label and brought Philly Soul to the world. The Brothers of Love would later be named MFSB.

9. The Dap Kings, “Nervous Like Me” on Kay-Dee Records

Right now there’s a ton of DJ’s that would love to take every measure out of this record and sample it into a classic rap hit.

8. The Menahan Street Band, “Make the Road By Walking” on Dunham Records

Jay-Z used this track for his “Roc Boys” song, but take this record on its own and it’s funk worthy of shaking the dust out of your eardrums.

7. The Honey Drippers, “Impeach the President” on Alaga

See, Mr. Nixon, when you get involved in the Watergate scandal, one of the side effects of doing so is to have a funk group record this little track about your escapades.

6. Bad Medicine, “Trespasser” on Enyx

Okay, how the heck did they get a Moog synthesizer to give up the funk? Don’t ask. Don’t care. Just groove on, man.

5. The Kickin’ Mustangs, “Kickin'” on Plato

If James Brown ever needed a replacement band, he could hire these guys and nobody would ever know the difference.

4. The “Great” Deltas, “Tra La La” on Englewood

As you can probably surmise, this has nothing to do with the Banana Splits theme song. That’s okay. That show might have been better if they used this track for their theme song instead.

3. The Winstons, “Amen Brother” on Metromedia

This cover of the classic spiritual “Amen” was performed by the Winstons, who had a Grammy award-winning hit with the song “Color Him Father.” This was the B-side of that song, and the drum break in the center of this song, at about 1:28 of this clip, has been sampled by hundreds of artists over the years.

2. The Pharaohs, “Is That Black Enough For You” on Capitol

This was the B-side of the Pharaohs’ cover of the Motown song “Tracks of My Tears.” An essential track if you’re going to start a funk collection.

1. Salt, “Hung Up” on Chocktaw

One of the rarest and most collectible funk records is by a mystery group named Salt.  Nobody knows who they are or where they’re from, all we know of them is that they put together these two minutes of hardcore funk.  An original pressing of this 45 is worth thousands of dollars – if you can even find it. Take a listen – it’s solid funk.

See?  Now you feel better for the day!