In the last 23 years, Chaka Khan, the Queen Of Funk, has only released four studio albums, and the most recent of those is also the best of that bunch.\u00a0 2007\u2019s Funk This<\/i> saw Khan hook up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (who produced the album with James Wright) and cook up some brilliantly funky and fresh R&B, just the way it should be.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Khan\u2019s voice is always instantly recognizable because it has barely changed through the years. She is one of those freaky singers who has retained every bit of power she ever had, and boy, does this woman know how to use it.\u00a0 There are some soaring high notes and some guttural killer notes that few singers (male or female) could match, and to soften things up occasionally, some sweet love songs that shows off the sweeter side of Khan\u2019s electrifying voice.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Not all of these songs are original, though. The record is about half new and half covered songs by some of Khan\u2019s favorite artists.\u00a0 In a way it\u2019s a shame that they chose to include the covers because Chaka is a pretty crafty songwriter and this album includes some of her finest self-penned tracks to date.\u00a0 \u201cAngel\u201d is a superb ballad that soars with emotion and \u201cWill You Love Me?\u201d is a wonderful minimalist track that finds Khan working through her lower register with ease.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Opener \u201cBack In The Day\u201d is an epic funk song that hits all the right spots. It\u2019s chunky and tight, building into a thumping funk anthem that is greatly enhanced by Khan\u2019s gritty delivery.\u00a0 The album closes out with two more Khan originals, the sweet and jumpy \u201cHail To The Wrong\u201d and the Rick James-styled funk-popper \u201cSuper Life,\u201d which is a glorious throwback to the golden days of funk.\u00a0 \u201cOne For All Time\u201d is another of Khan\u2019s best love songs that wouldn\u2019t be out of place on one of her classic \u201880s albums.<\/p>\n
Chaka also refreshed one of her classics here, too by reworking \u201cPack\u2019d My Bags\/You Got The Love\u201d that she wrote with Tony Maiden during their days with Rufus (Maiden lays down some mean guitar here as well).\u00a0 \u201cDisrespectful\u201d sees Khan match wits and styles with Mary J. Blige, and it\u2019s a great moment; the two women sound brilliant together.\u00a0 Chaka was really on a roll here, and although I would have loved a full album of original stuff, the covers are just as rewarding in their own way.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Possibly Khan\u2019s biggest hit in the \u201880s was her version of Prince\u2019s \u201cI Feel For You\u201d which made the Purple One a ton of money and really put Chaka\u2019s solo career in top gear.\u00a0 So here we have Chaka doing Prince again with her version of \u201cSign \u2019O\u2019 The Times,\u201d which unfortunately is the only song on this album that just doesn\u2019t reach the heights of the rest of the material on offer here.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay, but I\u2019ve heard better, including the original and a great version by Australian soul singer Renee Geyer.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Joni Mitchell\u2019s \u201cLadies\u2019 Man\u201d gets a wonderful updating here as Khan gets right into the song and just nails it.\u00a0 Last but not least, we have a Doobie Brothers\u2019 track that comes completely endorsed by the DB\u2019s leading man Michael McDonald as he appears here to get funky with Chaka and it sounds fantastic.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Funk This <\/i>is the best album that Khan has made since her purple patch in the early \u201880s. It\u2019s full of life and just comes slamming out of the speakers with energy and expression.\u00a0 Easily one of my favorite albums of the last decade without a doubt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8376],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42537","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chaka-khan","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42537"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}