Titanic

Listen/Download Titanic – Sultana

Greetings all

Welcome once again to the middle of the week.

Today marks the first (though maybe not the last) time you’ll see a record by a Norwegian band featured at Funky16Corners.

I have expressed my admiration for David Mancuso and his legendary loft parties in this space many times before.

Mancuso was one of the pioneering, early-70s DJs who helped to give birth to that decade’s dance culture while keeping one of the most open minds around.

Mancuso had amazing taste, and the ability to take a room and build a mood on the dance floor, taking the crowd from laid back, to ecstasy and back again over the course of an evening.

Though many of the records on his playlists were what we would consider to be conventional soul and funk, Mancuso was well known for mixing in a wide variety of rock, ethnic music and other unusual sounds fit the mood he was trying to create.

It certainly helped if the record had plenty of drums, and Titanic’s ‘Sultana’ has that in surplus.

Released in 1971 (and again in 1974 on a Memory Lane pressing) ‘Sultana’ (the name apparently a sly tip of the hat to Carlos and his band) got no play (outside of the clubs) here in the US but was a Top 5 hit in the UK.

‘Sultana’ is built on drums and percussion as well as a pulsing bass line and a wordless chant by the band. They are soon joined by wah wah guitar and Hammond organ, and continue the basic riff for nearly two minutes before breaking out briefly and thengoing right back to the drums.

It’s not at all hard to imagine Mancuso mixing this record into a set with the bass bins maxed out, the crowd sucked in by the infectious beat.

This is what ‘disco’ was, before it turned into disco (if you see what I’m saying).

The groovy thing is (or one of them anyway) is that ‘Sultana’ is something of a glitch in the Titanic discography. The band was together from 1969 to 1979, and from what I’ve been able to hear, their stock in trade was much more in a hard rock/prog direction.

That said, unlike so many anomalous, ‘breakbeat’-only rock records, ‘Sultana’ is a genuinely cool, funky, danceable record all the way through.

So thanks, Norway!

Dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.