Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Raise Up

Those who were there or funk-o-philes of today will know Larry Graham and Grand Central Station as one of the best of the bands who came out of the Sly and the Family Stone mode--group vocals, tight band, solid song orientation. . .and Larry's patented funk bass guitar, which was an innovation that everybody copied.

Well they are back with a new album, Raise Up (Razor & Tie). And they are still doing it. The horns and rhythm stomp it off in fine fashion, Larry hits some slapping bass guitar grooves worth hearing and the vocals are right down the pipe. Prince guests on vocals for a few cuts and that sounds good, too.

Funk may be making a resurgence. And of course it never left in any event. This one doesn't break out into any new territory especially, though understandably the modern studio sound is there, and it has that groove in abundance. You dig the funk, you'll dig this one.

Lettuce, FLY

As those know who are in the know, there is more than one kind of funk. There's the classic James Brownian kind, updated for today as we saw yesterday in the review for the new Maceo Parker CD, and then there are other offshoots from the branch. Today's CD takes something from the classical Brown variety, then gets a couple of other influences into the mix: the Herbie Hancock Headhunters jazz-influenced funk and the evolved big horn section funk of Tower of Power.

It's not that simple because the band Lettuce have some spacey aspects and they get an updated quasi-big-band sound going, but their album FLY (Royal Family) does its funky thing in fine fashion. It will funkifie you for sure.

Nice tight heft, killer horn riffs, good arrangements and a popping rhythm section. You may have heard it all before but they'll probably make you glad to hear it all again. If you've got the mood, they've got the groove.