Swoop - Thriller

MINE

Mmmmm... Forgotten Gem!  OK, I do apologise for the Prelude, with its histrionic use of the WB Yeats poem Second Coming (which is really very good and doesn't deserve the mishanding it receives here).  But then the Funk begins.  Yes, it deserves the capital F.   I've also surprised myself for totally forgetting Swoop when we were reviewing D.I.G. a few days ago, because the bass-and-drum combo of Richmond and Hewetson are also responsible for this band.

I haven't seen Swoop as often as I saw D.I.G., but they were a tour de force in the early 90s when I wiggled my hips to many bands around Sydney.  This is their first album, and comes before 1995's The Woxo Principle which gave them their only major hit, Apple Eyes, which for a time was ubiquitous enough to become annoying.  However it does include Jelly Funk which I think you'll agree is worthy of the capital F-Funk.

Brings me back to that place, that time... and the best songs are going on the gymPod right away!

 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and get funky

YOURZ

All I know of Swoop is they were a white funk band from my home town, pretty much.  Their songs are very well played, cool and fulla funk, but kind of derivative too.  Even so, I do remember Funkify and Everything I Do From Now On Is Going To Be Funky being played a fair bit on the radio when these tracks first came out.

After these few tracks, the album kinda starts to suck hard, moving into dance pop, and not the good kind either.  Then it vaguely redeems itself with the last couple of tracks, particularly Jelly Funk.  But this isn't really enough to save them, at least not for me.

However, I was pleased to find out the musicians who made up this band are still playing, as Professor Groove & The Booty Affair, no less. 

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.last.fm/music/Swoop