AffordAble funk

(R aRE DOEsn’t always mE an bE ttER)

By NIEl S HOEKE aND MaRCUS paTT y BROUGHT TO yOU By FaCTS ON wax

Many moons ago, I came up with the name Affordable Funk in regards to an idea I had for a mix series. The mixes would contain relatively easy to find records that anyone could afford. Mainly as a counter balance to all the ‘look at how much I paid for this expensive record’ ridiculousness.

Over a decade later it seemed like a good idea to dust off the term and we (team Facts On Wax) decided to make it one of our weekly returning items on social media. The times we live in now, kind of calls for something inclusive wouldn’t

you say?!

So what exactly is Affordable Funk?

Firstly of course there’s the affordable part. Meaning accessible for anybody and still available for a below average price. We are talking about records that you could potentially find in a bin all around the world, right now.

Secondly the funk part stands for soulful and funky black music. It doesn’t have to be purely Funk music to be considered Affordable Funk.

To clarify even further, we are only counting albums or EP’s released between the late sixties and late eighties. This does not include 12-inches or 45’s.

Sure there’s tons of records I’ve found over the past decades that are now impossible to find (let alone for the price I paid for them), but that’s not what this is about! In the past decade, we have seen the prices of vinyl records skyrocket and in the future we might have to slowly adjust the definition of affordable. Right now anything around 10 bucks sounds like a deal, but we would like to expand the term by adding in one additional component…value for money!

Just look at certain records, such as Bobbi Humphrey’s “Satin Doll” (1974) on Blue Note Records. I found one for a buck twel - played Norman Connors’ “Mr. C” and every single song on there is straight fire! For argument’s sake let’s say right now you’d have to spend twenty five on this beauty. Divide that by eight amazing songs and the outcome to me is still Affordable Funk! The math one these LP’s just doesn’t lie. Personally I’d rather spend twice as much on something that is of a much higher caliber. ve years ago at Groove Merchant (San Francisco) in pretty nice condition might I add. Fast forward to now, I think you can still find one for a tenner, but more importantly how amazing is this album?! Musically I believe it’s value is much higher, partly due to the contributions of the amazing Mizell brothers. That being said I would like to divide Affordable Funk records into two categories.

● One hit wonders - containing one nice song (examples: Foxy “Mademoiselle”, Billy Squier “The Big Beat” & Linda Clifford “Never Gonna Stop”)

● Undervalued classics - something you can listen to from start to finish (examples: Bobbi Humphrey “Satin Doll”, Norman Connors “Mr. C” & George Duke “Feel”)

Now the undervalued classics might just be a bit more expensive, but pound for pound they are “cheap”. A while ago I

During my travels to the United States, I have been blessed to be able to go through tons of dollar bin records. A thing of beauty and unfortunately almost non existent here in Europe nowadays. To elaborate on this a bit more. What I have noticed is that in the US everything comes in bulk. They are used to doing things BIG. We buy a couple of records in Europe, they buy a mystery box full of records for twenty five dollars and throw it in the back of their pick-up truck. It all comes down to space doesn’t it? Look at how cramped a city like Amsterdam feels at times. No one in their right mind is going to try and stuff twenty thousand records in a one bedroom apartment. When living in a much more spacious city such as Los Angeles, the sky’s the limit. I’m sure a record store like Amoeba Records has a dozen or more copies of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” coming in weekly, so it makes sense one with a banged up cover makes its way into the dollar bin often. Over here in Europe less copies make it into the shop, so even with a banged up cover it goes for a pretty penny.

The joy of going through so many cheap records is that it’s worth taking a gamble every now and again. When that gamble starts to equal the cost of lunch, all of a sudden it becomes less of a joy. Besides, records were never that expensive. At least not back in the days. I remember my mom went to New york in the mid-nineties and she brought some records back for me from Fat Beats (this was before Fat Beats Amsterdam had opened). Mind you, the price of a brand new LP was just six bucks back then!

No wonder I hear so many young people talk about their ‘extensive’ vinyl collection, after having accumulated around forty records. With the current prices of an album being 25 or 30 bucks it seems a costly endeavor to start a collection these days.

Records have become a rich man’s sport. This brings me to my next issue. It seems like records (especially highly in demand niche music) have become only collectible for those who have an enormous disposable income. Owning an original pressing of certain albums tends to have a certain effect on people. Many Internet heroes show off their thousand dollar heat, but let’s be real people. Did you seriously just drop a month’s worth of rent on that one record or did you manage to procure it before it dried up like a raisin in the sun?

Did I see this madness coming? yes! Did I intentionally stock up on a few centerpieces that should be in everyone’s collection? I sure did! Sadly everything you ‘collect’ has a value and said value is of more importance now than it was a few decades ago. For some reason every single ‘record collector’ is looking for an original copy of Ahmad Jamal Trio’s “The Awakening” and on top of that its monetary value is always mentioned. We live in a time where the price of an item is almost as important as its emotio - nal value. I feel we need to go back to the basics and stop looking at these prices. Like a wise man once taught me, get on your knees and start going through the bins on the floor. Bargain records can be just as good as expensive ones. Sure I take pride in the fact that my collection is pure quality over quantity, but that took me almost thirty years. Affordable Funk records are everywhere and I pride myself in having a ton of them for sale all the time, because good music is good music and I often pick up extra copies to hand down to others. A five hundred dollar record is not always better than a ten dollar record. When you leave out the rarity factor, I believe Earth, Wind & Fire albums to be the perfect example of value for money records.

If I would be getting into gathering music in the form of vinyl records, I would start at the basics! I’d educate myself by building a solid foundation and to me it makes more sense to start with amazing, yet affordable records and work your way up to rare and limited.

Of course building up a collection (of anything) is a personal journey, but for many it may seem overwhelming at first. The key is accepting that knowledge comes with time and realizing you can’t know everything straight away. Music is a never ending adventure that (most of the time) ends up in a completely different place than where it starts out, yet should be about having fun along the way rather than reaching your destination. Wherever you are on your journey, I hope discovering music still brings you joy!