| Release Date | 05/09/2025 |
| Format | LP Black |
| Label | Be With Records |
| Catalogue Number | BEWITH089LP |
2025 REISSUE.
The Rhythm Makers's Soul On Your Side is flawless proto-disco funk. The Bronx-based band - that later went on to form heavyweight disco ouáit GQ - originally released
this treasure in 1976 and it's long been a hard to find record. It's also rare to find a record this hard. Cap2va2ng funk at its rawest, no doubt.
Storming out the gate with the rollicking Loz/Garage staple "Can You Feel It (Part 1)", the listener is immediately put on no2ce that this LP is just a lifle bit special. The 2tle track, "Soul On Your Side", is a classic dancer and the basis of GQ's future hit "Disco Nights". But it's perhaps "Zone", a huge Baldelli track, that the record is best known for. Hypno2c psyched-out cosmic-disco / cosmic funk, it's an unrelen2ng groove that really thrusts the party into hyperdrive. With doses of scin2lla2ng La2n and pulsa2ng African rhythms driving the pumping tune, atop an unstoppable bassline and imagina2ve, soul-slathered keyboard figures, it's basically a full-on funk assault. You might need a lie-down azer this.
But there's no let-up on the B-Side, immediately grooving thanks to "Funk-N-You", a laidback glider that just rolls in the sleek style. Gorgeous harmony skills are displayed
on "Street Dreamin'". Beau2ful and grify funk, by turns. "You're My Last Girl" is an airy ballad with two leads before the legendary "Monterey" enters the fray. A much-sampled instrumental and heavy disco-funk nugget, it contains an amazing B-Boy drum break making the whole LP worth the price of admission. "Can You Feel It (Part 2)" closes out this spectacular set.
The Rhythm Makers had been gigging around New York City since the late ’60s, having ini2ally come together as Sabu and the Survivors, named azer bassist Keith “Sabu” Crier. They eventually - for this album at least! - sefled on The Rhythm Makers and cut one record for the small De-Lite subsidiary Vigor. The core lineup featured Crier, keyboardist Herb Lane, drummer Kenny Banks and rhythm guitarist Rahiem Leblanc.
Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios with artwork restored at Be With HQ, this new edi2on should hopefully bring this album into the homes and record boxes of many more people.
Tracklist
A1 Can You Feel It (Part 1)
A2 You Befer Believe It
A3 Soul On Your Side
A4 Zone B1 Funk-N-You
B2 Street Dreamin'
B3 You're My Last Girl
B4 Monterey
B5 Can You Feel It (Part 2)