"Of all places, it was the John Peel Radio 1 show back in the mid-‘80s where I heard my first proper funk 45. The rare groove scene in London was blossoming and Peel chose to play Alvin Cash's ‘Keep on Dancing’ amongst the usual selection of Napalm Death, Suicidal Tendencies and (inevitably) The Fall. “How refreshing”, I thought, and my journey into the music of black America began.
In those days funk 45s were viewed almost like novelty records, the odd one sneaking into the DJ record box amongst the more standard fare of LPs and twelve-inches. I remember thinking to myself, “why buy a single 45 for £8, when I can have a whole LP for £8?”
Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s the Northern Soul dealerships imported American soul 45s en masse. Funk 45s by the likes of Lee Fields, African Music Machine and Eddie Bo etc were hidden among them. Most of these 45s found their way into the collections of the mostly southern-based rare groove collectors and DJs via dealers such as Soul Bowl, Des Parkes, Des Toussaint, Gary Dennis and ‘Pop Beat’ Bernie. Funk 45 collectors as such didn’t really exist - there wasn’t really much of a selection to choose from, there was no network of funk collectors, and too few people cared about them for dealers to seek out new titles.
Then in 1994, DJs Keb Darge and Snowboy started the long-running club night Deep Funk. The club was unique in the fact that it was the only club in the world that exclusively played funk 45s. The collectors soon flocked to the spot where they would find that they were not alone in their love of this music. Knowledge began to be shared, and the heightened interest in the music meant many new discoveries were made. Money is a great motivator, and as the prices began to rise, so more rare records were uncovered. The records in this list are funk 45s (mostly from the period 1969-1971) that have garnered a healthy respect amongst funk DJs and collectors in this time. Out of the millions of 45s out there, here are 20 of the very best." Words: Gerald The Jazzman (Fact Magazine).
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