7 / 10
Not quite what it says on the label, but a chance to revisit African-American grooves from the '70s, when post-Civil Rights contentment hadn't yet given way to more destructive impulses.
Necessary or evil? Valuable as a textbook of groove philosophy and instructive to anyone who wonders where old-skool hip-hop samples came from. The difference between a sampled loop and an organic, living performance becomes more than obvious. And yet 'Ultimate Funk' remains a relic of sorts, preserved in analogue (as opposed to digital) aspic.
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