And so it was that I wandered in the Land of Fields for 7 days and 7 nights whereupon came a Vision unto me and the Zenfunklord spake unto me and sayeth thus:
“Luther, Son of Funk, Slave to The Rhythm and scion of the Ancient Tribe of Velau, as known to Gaius Julius Caesar, Thus could it be: Mahatma Mazza, The Stacey Twins and El Rebello shall be Zen Masters, enlightenment shall flow from their fingertips and they shall be the Barristers of Dafunk and as with all barristers they shall have pupils, or as you say in showbiz, “deps“, dep 1, dep 2 etc and dep 1 shall be known as Bodhisattva. Big Beasts shall take the Zen Masters to Themselves as the Fates decree and then the Bodhisattva shall play in their place. Bodhisattvas can be on stage with Zen masters with the Masters’ kind forbearance, although Mahatma may choose, as may they all. There shall be three brass players and three backing singers, although Stevie Wonder only had two brass at Glasto as they were supplemented by a synth. The Wizard shall administer this through his Magical Offices and he shall harness the forces of the Musos with his Spells, although the Zen Masters shall always be a law unto themselves: The Stacey Twins always have been, why should they changeth now? (lol)!”
And Zenfunklord did laugh at the Fates, and the Fates had a jolly good laugh back and the Gods Made Love. Zenfunklord continued…
“El Rebello is from Tigerland, you have not been to Tigerland, as there is yet always more for you, The Eternal Student, to learn, but authormusicshop may have some guidance on such places as she seems to have great insight, as do The Twins. While Mahatma Mazza will show his satisfaction by liking what he sees and hears, the Collective shall play alternately with a Luther song so Luther can rest his voice and the bulk of the show shall be at 125 bpm to maintain the energy of the music; the music for the band (hereunto fore known as “the Collective”) shall be chosen from the set played by The Twins at Champions in Bournemouth for it was Good and the Masters shall thereupon agree amongst themselves, although much deep-down, funk-rock, improvised grooving in a variety of keys at 125bpm with scorching solos shall be much enjoyed by the People and the band itself, come to that. Luther needs to sing his ballads but the funk-rock must be maintained so as to keep the energy flowing. The Collective might choose to play slower music at the earlier stage so that the show shall build to a Crescendo of Cosmic Enlightenment. The Children of Roth shall provide the dosh and the Ancient Knights of the Order of the Smiths of Gold shall handle it, for this will provide a safe pair of hands and then there will be no jiggery-pokery and we can’t have any of that, can we, for Luther sullies not his hands with Filthy Lucre and the Diabolical Works of Mammon but doth only take that which is his by Right according to the teaching of the Son of Light which sayeth “use money, tainted as it is, for one day thou shall wish to…” put down a serious groove and make the funksters happy….And This would be Good and Thus do I see it…”
Thus spake Zenfunklord and I fell into a state of deep contemplation and I saw the pleasure of the Fates and Mahatma Mazza bring One Nation Under A Groove……and it was funkygroovy and through this was Art Pop created…..and it was Good……and the hops grew and the People made merry…….
It was like this: after playing lots of funk/soul 1973-6 I had developed (with Izzy Bekir and others) an extended groove that involved playing rocky guitar solos over the groove; in the UK, at the time it, was all glam rock, let’s not forget that. In 1975 the soul explosion happened in the UK and in 1977 I went to Brasil to study samba; the thing was, that Heatwave, AWB and EWF etc were/are great but they lacked edge, they were a bit showbiz and I wanted a funk groove with a rock edge. I returned from the trip in July 1977 and with John Lee formed “The Hit Men” supported by businessman Harold Shampan, who John had met at Tony Arnold’s. I met guitarist Gary Margetts, a friend of Greg Lake’s, and I was working for/recording with Tony Arnold, Fripp’s production engineer, (I knew Fripp anyway)….we were recording at Penn Hill: the previous drummer was too rocky and, through John Lee, Paul Beavis stepped in and in 1979 we had recorded Red Day: funk-rock was born!!! This was while Level 42 wasn’t even a twinkle in the vice-president of Belize’s eye, if you get my drift, Mike. Greg Lake knew Dennis Taylor at RCA and I thought, excellent. Taylor remixed Red Day and it was all ready to go and……the whole thing ground to a halt: there was something odd going on and I now know that when I feel that something “weird” is happening I am invariably right: something odd was going on behind the scenes: my antennae were tingling big time. There are lots of other tracks recorded then (now buried in Tony Arnold’s archive, he’s in France now), but Red Day is obviously funk-rock, with an extended groove with rock guitar. Why did Red day and the Hit Men - and me -get “stuck” in the system at RCA? There are 3 possible answers: 1/ it was wishful thinking on everyone’s part, but that, given there was Harold Shampan as well as the others involved, that’s not credible, as well as given the direction that UK music took after that or 2/ I was deemed “not rich enough” which is hardly true: no-one asked me for money or 3/, my view, that it was being held up by insiders who were taking the idea and using it themselves. Then, in 1981 Paul Beavis took me aside at a gig and took me to play a track on his car stereo: it was Level 42’s “Love Games”. Level 42 have several members that are from not far from where I/we were playing, and I had been playing all over the place anyway. Songs like “Work”, “One True Love” “England” (the latter now in Red Bus Studio’s archive), all had preceded this new band. What was that about? Suddenly, where I had been playing funk-rock all over the place, another band had appeared, with mammoth publicity, that were essentially playing what I/we had been playing and I was nowhere! I pushed on and got a deal with Red Bus and toured as support act (as “Zen”) with Hot Chocolate, then one of the biggest UK acts around, but the record companies “just laughed” at my recordings according to the producers Yellowstone and Voice: songs like One True Love, I’d Rather be your friend, Go! etc etc, as well as the characteristic extended funk grooves at 125 bpm (that was the link with HC) I developed with drummers such as Paul Beavis and Jeremy Stacey and rock guitarists, from Gary Margetts, to Simon Wood, to Paul Stacey. One thing is that EVERY bass player was doing “slap” bass at that time (which was due to Marcus Miller and gets too much after a while) and Steve Smith the keyboard player insisted on playing what I consider “squeaky” synth sounds like ML‘s (which caused arguments between SS and me); whether he was copying ML or it was the “Jupiter“ sound I don‘t know and don‘t care, I‘m a Rhodes man plus synth strings, in the end.Given the turn that events took and that funk/rock has become a standard form of UK/global music I find it wrong, not unfair, wrong, that not only was I ignored, but my reputation was damaged by certain people in order to side-line me (crack-pot, looney, “difficult” etc, etc). Life is unfair, but life isn’t wrong (I.e. dishonest and immoral): people are wrong and they have to live with themselves: that’s my story and I’m sticking to it….credit where credit's due and I've seen plenty of people do sneaky things for one reason or another, but that doesn't make it right, but that's what happens.............that’s showbiz!!:-)
It seems obvious to me that the reason why the big record companies don't bother about piracy/bootlegging is that people have to buy blank CDs to copy the songs and because these record companies are part of conglomerates, then they are the ones selling the people the blank CDs. So the record companies just make money out of the blanks without having the bother of dealing with artists. So the only people that lose out are the artists: the record companies make money out of the blanks. MP3 is changing that to some extent now, but they also sold the blank cassettes, so it's been going on a long time. I'm sure that characters Like Michael Jackson also made them WANT to sell blanks rather than deal with the artist.
And while we're on the subject of MJ.........
On the death of Michael Jackson
On the matter of Michael Jackson, may I make these comments. The Jackson Five weren’t for me, although “I want you back” has that great line with the guitar on the chorus; but “Rockin’ Robin” was not to my taste at all, but "shake your body down" was, as we shall see later. But if you listen to my early song “Susan” (1972) the line “every morning I wake up” was obviously from Aretha Franklin and Hal David's, “say a little prayer”, although my song was existential, although aren’t Hal David’s lyrics pretty existential? I think so. And a mention of Burt Bacharach of course. So “Susan“, “Looking back, “then there was you“, all have the funky feel (at this time, 1973/4, I was recording (with the band) at Warner/Fox and Charisma and for BUK records. This was funk-rock, albeit that I didn’t know that then. Syncopated (rather than straight 4/4 rock) beat plus rock guitars, big solos and chords; verses and choruses, guitar solo in the third verse and good lyrics, which of course is where all disco and r&b falls down lamentably. Whereso, this "funk-rock"? I had done a tour in 1973 playing r&b with a black girl-singer called "Stella"; the yanks enjoyed it when we jammed between her songs, funky riffs with guitar solos. This was funk-rock; straight beat, rock guitars. We went back to the UK and signed to BUK with Paul Murphy. I am mildly embarrassed that the band was called "Howzat" at the time, but when you think that name spawned a hit single while I was at BUK, then maybe it wasn't so bad.
Passing reference has to be made to Stevie Wonder of the 1970-74 period and his rhythms; they are great songs but not-so-great drums by and large, I'm bound to say. His career was an obvious pattern for MJ; and I refuse to fail to mention Joe Walsh and the James Gang‘s “Funk #49 (1968?) on "Yer Album" although that was latin really, not funk. Anyway...........
Anyway, on those early records (1973-7) I played the rock guitar on top; Gary Margetts took over in 1977, Gary being, of course, a friend of Greg Lake's (and hence Dennis Taylor at RCA). The limitation in r&b seemed to be the guitarists with the obvious exception of Hendrix, who is back in the culture now. But the real problem I had in the UK circa 1973-1977 wasn’t guitarists, but was with English drummers, who simply didn’t know how to groove, even though by now, late 1977, the disco craze had hit the UK, probably after "Jive Talking" by the BeeGees. But where were the rock guitar solos? On "Desperate Man" by The Hit Men produced by me (and John Lee) on the "B" side to "Stepping stoned", released on First Records 1978 (co-founded by me, Harold Shampan and John Lee): it was my personal first vinyl pressing. Dreadful stuff to use; digital is much better.
Paul Beavis was the first drummer who knew how to groove, and more importantly, knew what I was talking about when I talked about it. The fact we met at Army’s Shack (1977) says enough for me. Given PB's personality he was probably put up (John Lee would know) to get all the technique from me, but by then funk-rock had already come about, I knew what I was doing, but Paul also knew how to do it. The syncopated drums (rather than Genesis-like thrashings) gave a groove, not necessarily to dance to, but if you want fine, but then the groove gives an incredible opening for guitar solos, the electric guitar now being, in my opinion, a classical instrument having taken over from the violin, clarinet and saxophone as the lead instrument. No-one is going to say I don’t love electric guitar with a smooth but intense fuzz-tone and long sustain; Gary was not quite like that, I played the solo at the end of "So good for each other", but he was a great player, no question.
In that meeting with Paul came about The Hit Men and “Red Day” (the lyrics were because all that anyone in the British socialite drunken middle-class was talking about was the situation of the working-class, as if the English middle-class knew anything about them anyway. Irony to the last). However, the major problem of the grooves was getting all of them to keep going. They kept stopping and saying "that's long enough", and I would say "No, no, keep going". It was hard work, believe me. PB has said that being in my band was the best musical education, I think he said possible, or going; he would certainly agree I put beat and discipline into music. I suppose with a St. Albans School (in Hertfordshire, UK) choir music education (Howard Goodall says that's the best basic type of music eduaction going), lots of private tutors and an intellectual interest in songs, that could be true.
In any event, “Off the wall” was recorded late 1978/79, released late 1979; the musicians included, apart from Quincy Jones, Larry Carlton (Steely Dan), Steve Porcaro (Toto and Steely Dan), Greg Philinganes (Stevie Wonder, Don Fagen - of Steely Dan - and Toto). PB loves all these people. Am I making a point here? Or is a point emerging? If I am like Steely Dan, allegedly, what does that tell you? “Off the Wall” was great, or at least three of the tracks were good, "Don’t stop till you get enough", for e.g., but the rest was just r&b filling; remember, “Shake your body down” was a Jacksons song, "Don't stop 'til you get enough" is just an extension of that: but where were the rock guitars? The Average White Band didn't have them and they were part of the big white funk-up of 1975/6. Sax was the instrument of choice then, but the elctric guitar was still developing and hadn't been completely accepted. A bit like me, really!
Disco had been huge but it was ALL about dancing and dancing is excellent, but where were the solo rock guitars? That’s where I has already come in, not least by in June 1975, but in terms of funky jams, 2 years earlier with specific and complete reference to the late Izzy Bekir. Songs like "leave me/stay" that I had demoed on my Sony sound-on-sound machine led me to Arny's Shack studio (I'd been looking for a flanger and he said he could get me one) and more recording. Had the English wing of the MJ empire been spying on me? I played enough gigs. I just headed on, through time and space; to cheer myself up I had been to Brasil to learn samba Jan-July 1977 (e.g. “she‘s here again“) and the quality of drum recording was really improving. To records, these things matter.
After the Hit Men and "Red Day" - and “So good for each other” I might reasonably add - came to an end in 1980, there was Zen and "One True Love" which was written and recorded in 1981, along with “electricity“, and “I‘d rather be your friend“ and, more importantly for our purposes here "Work" and even better, "Sharing love" (the latter, in its final version, was recorded March 1983); cop on to that, dear reader; and Simon Wood played guitar on "Work" then; I cannot speak highly enough of Simon Wood; polite, agreeable and able to play anything, although I will say that Fripp and Simon are a lot about arpeggios: arpeggiatura, super fast playing of scales. Who cares? In any event, that's um, 28 years. I would point out that my "You gotta Boogie on" was recorded in 1978 at Arny's Shack as well as at Red Bus Studios, London in September 1982; this wasn't a secret song. I wasn't hiding in the shed (like I am now). There was also "Don't drop the bomb" whose lyrics were turned in to an anti-war thing by some CND people and it didn't get played much; but if that song was written in 1981 and "Thriller" came out late 1982, I can't be accused of copying the bass-line from anyone; "Thank You" on Pop Art was just an entension of that bass-line theme. MJ's Thriller was released at the end of 1982, AFTER Zen’s nationwide tour with Hot Chocolate, in that year. I‘m sorry that name, Hot Chocolate, seems so uncool now (sounds a bit Uncle Tom's Cabin, I suppose), but the point is that Errol Brown, or rather HC was all about the walking pace, the dance beat (aka andante in classical music). That’s where the link between HC and Zen was. Never mind all the other songs, “One True Love” has remained popular and was out before “Thriller” (the latter written, of course by Rod Temperton of Cleethorpes; he, RT, also wrote MJ’s 1979 “Rock with you”, although I’m a bit cooler on that song).
I wanted to do my thing, RT did his, but I put the groove and electric guitars together before RT and MJ, never mind Quincy Jones and I was at Arny's Shack at the time. Quincy Jones is the real “genius” behind the whole musical thing, although MJ and RT were good enough by any sensible person’s standards. But who had the bigger PR budget (that’s called advertising in the real world)? Not me. But I struggled to get white boys (and men) in the south of England to see what I meant by groove and once having got them to do it, to KEEP ON GOING!! Yes, for five minutes, yes, on one minor chord, preferably E minor, so you can "get into the groove" and have a scorching guitar on tipitty-tip-tip-top. Paul Beavis and Fripp (PB has played in one of Fripps band's with wife Toyah Wilcox. A picture isn't forming here, is it?) both understood what I was talking about, even if PB was surprised at the source, but then I'm an ethno-musicologist and I just play what I hear and then stick variations together and have the nerve to stick my own ideas in. As Mozart said, "amateurs create, professionals steal", as Jean-Paul Sartre said, "Hell is other People", as Robert Luther Smith said "I just want to groove, for Chrissake!".
Fair mention must be made of David Bowie for his 1975 album "Young Americans" and of course "Fame", co-written with Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar. But Young Americans was a total departure from "Diamond Dogs". In fact I prefer "Station to Station" but, in any event, Fripp had obviously got the idea from me and told DB. Professionals steal. So Fripp is like Mozart. Young Americans (1975) is a sort of distorted and warped version (like "Fame", but "Fashion" from "Scary Monsters" is another example; tres amusante, n'est ce pas?), interesting, but where were the solos? Where was the driving groove? And then to top it all DB gave Luther Vandross a song on the Young Americans album and that did rather eclipse my name as "Luther". I love Fripp and Eno, but where, as I said in 1972, are the songs? OK, Bowie is the richest guy around here and he took funk-rock up via Fripp; so that's the way of the universe and the music business. I expect they wanted me to become an addict and die. I consistently disappoint, in that direction at least. I'm much too middle-class and bourgeois (thanks to my grandfather). As far as money goes, I wouldn't be fooled if I were you, dear reader: Eno does pretty well, as does Fripp, (refusing to pussyfoot in the Savoy, eh, otherwise no work gets done? I see!)
I like several of MJ’s songs, more in places than in totality (e.g. Billy-Jean - but I don't like the bit with lyrics "breaking little girl's hearts", Beat it, Don’t Stop; RT wrote “Thriller”) but I find the extreme dah-di-dahs and hushy things a bit too much sometimes, but they are in the palette and I use them (e.g."Words", "England" and "Latin America"; the latter were both recorded in September 1982, before Thriller, and we used girl singers to make it hushy; on "Love can conquer all" and "Words", I sang it, as on "you're the love of my life"; the "hushy" sound comes from Brasil via "The girl from Ipanema" (Antonio Carlos Jobim) and many Brasilian singers that sing like that (ref. Chico Buarke, Milton Nascmiento, Gilberto Gil and Flora Purim; yah! Cool!), but moderation in all things is important, including moderation in excess (heavy metal gets too much for me as black r&b can get too schmaltzy and sugary, babe, yeah). And especially moderation in cocaine that rots one’s nose and you end up needing plastic surgery, Michael, until you have no nose left and look like a ghoul which is what happens, ultimately to cocaine-addicts, although not Sherlock Holmes, allegedly.
In 1970-2 bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath pumped out the beat, but all those heavy chords get too much, after a while. The notes needing "picking out", still loud, I hope, and the beat needs to lilt, sometimes (in terms, "syncopated"). Santana comes in here somewhere I think; I know Harold Shampan said something like that to me at the time of Dennis Taylor 1978/80. Black Magic Woman was on the 1970 album "Abraxas" with the fabulous cover; but it was still latin. PB wasn't mad keen on the latin thing at first; I remember I came back from a trip to northern France and I had some Calvados and I asked him if he'd like some and he said "No thanks"; after he went off because it was "too latin" we then had a latin/salsa craze, so in 1982 I was the victim of my own success; funk-rock and latin and I didn't have PB on hand. That's the politics. I particularly like the Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards funky guitar/bass thing (Chic), although it can get very sugary. And "Le Freak" didn't turn up until 1978. Where on earth were all these people getting their ideas from??
However, the obvious expense of the recording can’t cover the qualities of the song, any song and MJ wrote 4 or 5 excellent songs including, Bad and Black or White (love that Slash thing!) but Invincible (2001) had nothing on it, although those that love smooth r&b liked it and at 10 million sales, it has sold more than the most recent big seller by a white western band (6.5 million sales or so, last year). Unfortuantely MJ spent in the order of 25 million USD making it. There goes the money! And probably a lot more up various people's noses. But that spending is why it's all so perfect. It cost millions to record, never mind advertise and never mind the silly videos after 1990ish.
By 1982 even King Crimson were funking it up (Tony Levin, an extraordinary bassist), never mind Talking Heads/David Byrne (I liked that Tina Weymouth, another inventive bass player). And who connects them all? Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. A big beast in the jungle, indeed. No wonder he doesn't want to talk to me. He owes me too much in royalties.
So there it is, Robert Luther Smith, funk-rock pioneer, with many thanks to Paul Beavis. By 1978 MJ was massively wealthy, as was his father Jo, I’m sure, and they had more money than me, but probably not DB and the rest is history:
"No, no, no, for heaven's sake, to groove you've got to keep the bass drum on a steady four and sycopate with the hi-hat, whilst whacking out the snare. No, no like this....and stop trying to play like Genesis, what's his name, Phil Collins".