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With a funkin’ record-sales pedigree reminiscent of the mighty Fatback Band, the current incarnation of the Bar-Kays still manage to gig over 200 shows a year.

You can’t mention the Bar-Kays without reminiscing on hits like ‘Freakshow on the Dancefloor’ and ‘Sex-O-Matic’ from the 80s and noting that they provided the music for the soundtrack to Shaft (as shown last week on Bravo) and backed Isaac Hayes on the 1969 classic Hot Buttered Soul that regularly (and justifiably) still rates as one of the best albums of all time.

So there’s little wonder that crate-diggin’ producers would pull out their soul fingers for Larry Dodson and James Alexander to help on this album. Jazze Pha (who has worked with Nelly, Cee-Lo Green, Outkast, Aaliyah et al) has hit on the single ‘Sho Nuff’ that sets us right that this ain’t nothing but a house party.

The southern funk comes to the top on the crunky ‘What Goes-N-Da-Club Stays In Da-Club’ featuring E ‘Get it Crunk in Here’ Dubb.

Talkin’ dirty, these old guys don’t have to get B-more to get X-rated. ‘Hollar If You Like That’ is Sunday night bedroom soul. And then, to keep on the good side of the ladies, ‘My Everthing’ is really embarrassingly slushy. And while it’s downtempo, ‘Superstar’ is fine Solar Radio material even if the lyrics are frankly ridiculous to average guys like you and me (nice musical reference to Peven Everett’s ‘Gabrielle’ though). Still in Tony Monson territory, but with better lyrics, are ‘Glad You’re My Lady’ and ‘Let’s Get Bizzy’.

EZ Roc steps up for the remix of ‘Glad You’re My Lady’ and ups the tempo of the original but the real soul fans will fall in love with ‘We Can’t Stay Together’ with Larry’s duet with 70s Stax star Shirley ‘Woman To Woman’ Brown on this tale of matrimonial heartache.

Of course, if you’re a funker, you want the funk. “The Baddest Band in the Land” don’t disappoint. Get your dirty hands up on ‘Hey Y’all’ as old-skool funk rocks the dance floor. And if you’re funked, you can’t do without the Prince cum Troutman, ‘Give Me My Heart Back’ and ‘Barkays’.

Legends that stay true to their roots and are contemporary at the same time are few and far between. Whether in their hometown of Memphis (be sure to check out the Stax Museum of American Soul Music) or on tour in your town, you know you’ll always need and they will always be Bar-kays. Repeat after me, B-A-R-K-A-Y-S-!

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Sho-Nuff’, ‘Hey Y’all’, ‘Barkays’, ‘Give Me My Heart Back’, ‘Glad You’re My Lady’ (Stepper’s Remix), ‘We Can’t Stay Together’

Reviewed: Bar-Kays — House Party (Right Now Records) Cat. No. IMR CD 4000 Release date: 2007
Tracklistling
1. Sho-Nuff feat. Jazze Pha’ (4:05)
2. What Goes-N-Da-Club Stays In Da-Club feat. E. Dubb (4:01)
3. Superstar (4:00)
4. Glad You’re My Lady (3:37)
5. Hey Y’all (4:23)
6. Let’s Git Bizzy (4:23)
7. Give Me My Heart Back (3:41)
8. Hollar If You Like That (4:46)
9. My Everything (5:05)
10. Glad You’re My Lady (Stepper’s Remix) (3:57)
11. We Can’t Stay Together feat. Shirley Brown (5:29)
12. Barkays (3:25)

Links:
www.barkays.net
www.myspace.com/thebarkays
www.soulsvilleusa.com
www.solarradio.com
www.myspace.com/solarradiodotcom
www.bravo.co.uk Sat. 26th May 2007. 22:00 Shaft (Film 1971, duration 120 mins) “Cult crime movie bringing Ernest Tidyman’s cool, streetwise private eye John Shaft to life. Hired to locate the kidnapped daughter of a Harlem gangster, Shaft must infiltrate the Mob and cope with racial prejudice. The film was followed by two sequels and a TV series. Isaac Hayes’s title song won an Oscar”.