Breaks: Kay-Dee (Vol. 02)

The funny thing about dug up funky related stunners from the late ‘60s and ‘70s is that not only do the selected b-sides have a pretty high rate of being cheesy, but even if they’re not, the rest of the full length album from these groups is liable to be just this side of awful. Also during this era of funk, soul and RnB, disco was wheedling its way into the music, making still uncovered gems all the more difficult to locate. Crate digging – digital or otherwise – is still more than admirable and more over fun, but the compilations that are put together often times fail to deliver more than average results.

Keb Darge is one of these folks that have lived a life of diggin’ up records. And for that alone, deep funk fans should be grateful. But over the thirty years of doing this, Darge has seen his cottage industry turn into a veritable flea market of oddities. Beginning in the late ‘70s, the Scottish record fiend made a name for himself before moving to London to try and work on a life separate from music. Due to his rising star, though, that became impossible. And alongside the 2-Tone explosion of the late ‘70s, Darge deejayed countless Northern Soul and Funk nights around town.

As his deejay nights spread in renown, other musics began cropping up and perhaps taking some of his crowd. In the UK, the ‘80s and early ‘90s saw the birth of various dance subcultures that coupled with burgeoning lab based drugs created an irresistible combination for some. This fortunately didn’t end the deejaying career of Darge, it simply made him realize that he perhaps needed another outlet for his record collecting penchant. And when he met Brooklyn bred Kenny Dope, the two recognized that they shared the same obsession – the Kay-Dee record label was resultant.

The label specializes in re-releasing lost funk, soul and RnB tracks in their original formats. And while that alone would be reason enough to discuss the label and its two founder-deejays, the compilations that they’ve released are just as notable.

The second volume of the Kay-Dee Records sampler has recently been released. And while there are certainly some heavy funk cuts, much of the disc still suffers from the aforementioned problems with crate diggin’ at this late date. Of course, leading the album off, the producers saw fit to stack the album with hits. But as the disc moves towards its conclusion, the offerings get pretty close to plain obnoxious.

While the incorporation of Latin music into funk and soul was an important and interesting step for the music, often it comes off as contrived. And on the track “Latin Freak” from the 7 Miles Per Hour Band, listeners get a first hand taste of how bad things can get. Again, though, the Kay-Dee Records sampler gives it up at the onset. The Clarence Reid track makes up for any latter missteps. But, this album is only for the devoted. And really, while this medium is for that razor thin minority, the disc would have benefited from some further edits.