Search - Roogalator :: Cincinnati Fatback

Good, not great

thedevilscoachman | Vienna, Virginia | 03/23/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I heard "Cincinnati Fatback" for the first time on the Stiff Records Box Set (which I recommend very highly). The first time I heard that song, it took my head off - it was extremely funky, had some great guitar (and lots of slide - weird for a funk song), and was in addition very funny, raunchy, and creative in its segue from a funk groove into a long, jazzy instrumental passage. And it got bonus points for being a paegn to Cincinnati, the women of that city, old Streamliner trains, and all the artists who recorded at King Records' studios in Cincy (including James Brown and some jump blues greats). What a great single! How disappointed I was, then, when I got this album and learned that, while a version of Cincinnati Fatback was on it, it was a different and vastly inferior version to that on the Stiff Records set! I was also disappointed that none of the songs on the set really hold a candle to the Stiff version of "CF." Yes, these songs are funky; the guitar is still mostly great, and the instrumentation is good too; there is some real humor on here, etc., but, for me, it doesn't quite gel into great music - in large part because the jam-band style of songwriting - just write a riff and jam on it - does not match the innovation of the guitar playing. A couple of songs may get played at future summer parties, but this won't enter my regular rotation. I'm finding, more and more, that there are reasons why a lot of these bands have been forgotten, and that there's usually some justice to it. I've also learned that there's not always justice to it though, which keeps me searching! My final word - if you like the kind of funky rock I've described, and are interested in hearing a different approach to funk guitar, pick this up. Otherwise, get their best song on the "Stiff Records" set, about which enough cannot be said."