Mamas Gun - Routes To Riches

Mama's Gun - Routes To Riches

Every now and then, I'll find a band that just stops me in my tracks, makes me listen with all of my attention and focus, and makes me just instantly love what they do, many of these bands and artists I've shared with all of you here, and today, I share another with you, the UK band called Mama's Gun, taking their name from a recent album by the brilliant Eryka Badu, its hard to really garner where they fit in the world of music, but I do know that i love them and this album is just amazing, I've yet to find anyone thats not listened to it afew times through, which to me is a sign that a band or artist is amazing at what they do. What they do is a sort of retro style pop, where bands like The Magic Numbers, who i love immensely are all about the retro british pop style, Mama's Gun is all about the 1970s soul, funk, and general mid 1960s pop from both the world over, I hear alot of The Jackson Five and The Beatles in them, which though not a fan of the beatles so much, i find when others take their style and expand on it, is a lovely trip through the nuances of music's past that many for whatever reason see as hallowed ground. Taking risks and reworking what we see as classic, thats brave and so very made of win, most artists should do that.

The album itself, Routes To Riches opens with the song I find myself listening to more then anything else on the disc, the brilliant "House On A Hill" which is just a brilliant upbeat Jackson Five style pop love song that just blows me away whenever I hear it, I wanna just get up and party like its 1972 all over again and everyone's trying to be 10 year old Micheal Jackson, the party continues with "Rico" which is a brilliant fusion of Stevie Wonder and early Eagles music, its got enough rock for the rockers to like and enough funk that you could pop and lock like nobody's business to, its a great groove with a great flow and a great hook which a funk song must have, followed by an even better bridge thats just brilliant. From there our trip through the music spectrum takes us to "You Are The Music", which starts with a beautiful string arrangement and then drops you a very soulful Earth, Wind and Fire or maybe Ohio Players style uptempo ballad of love, you could really hear this on the soundtrack of any blaxploitation movie ever made and you wouldn't know its a group of British white guys, it switches tempo and feel at the bridge, and becomes gritty dirty funk for a verse, then back to original, its brilliant really. From there our next stop is, "Finger On It", an upbeat dance heavy funk track that you can almost hear George Clinton's influence in it with lines like "hotter then a hot potater hotter then sex in an elevator, shake your funky junk, shake your funky junk for me" its almost guaranteed to get you up out of your seat and moving around and singing around to it, brilliant dance track really. Next up in this party is "Pots Of Gold" a slowed down ballad that seems to almost smack of the influence of mostly forgotten but still a favorite of mine neo-soul singer Maxwell, which delighted me, Maxwell doesn't get enough love these days, it also drips of Marvin Gaye, which is just all sorts of win for a guy like me, who grew up to old Marvin Gaye records, its a beautifully romantic and meaningful song, one of my favorites on the disc really. Its followed by "Chasing Down Shadows" which is a great sweeping ballad that has a great retro late 1960s style british pop feel to it, which is great because though am eating up the retro funk and soul vibe with a spork, I was craving a change in style just to see what they'd do with other ideas, incredibly pleased by the result. Next stop on our tour is, "Phycho Territory" a great fast paced upbeat funk track you can totally see people getting their late 70s boogie on too, its fast paced and bouncy and just plain awesome no matter how you see it, its almost like the BeeGees came out of the past and gave them this track and showed them how to make it brilliant, by this point I'm completely lost in this wonderland of sound they've created for my ears, they follow this up with "Bitch" which is a great funk blues track with an INCREDIBLE guitar riff that leaves me in awe and makes me kind of think they went into the past and stole it from Bootsie Collins, its a thick and sexy straight up funk blues song, its kind of like if you mixed John Lee Hooker or Howlin Wolf with Parliament in a blender and mixed them till it was all liquid, with just afew thick chunks left for the guitar, totally brilliant. From there we go to "Lets Find A Way", a song that sounds like an uptempo Disco era BeeGee's song, or some other uptempo Ballad, you find yourself wanting to roller disco to this one, which is pretty awesome really, its great when music sends you back in time like that, shows a great power to it, next up is "Miracle" which has this great guitar arrangement and is like a total Marvin Gaye song, its just so damn brilliant, the soul falsetto, the upbeat Barry Gibb / Marvin Gaye style vocals and the whole funk dripping beats its just amazing, I find myself listening to it over and over and just living it more and more each time, and the bridge? i totally love it. Our journey ends with "Big Betty" a dirty, gritty, chunky as hell guitar driven funk rock track that sounds like something close to Stevie Wonder's Superstition or something very akin to it, with its brilliant rocky vocals, its untouchable guitar riffs and its overall sound that makes you feel like its a summer night in 1975 and its coming out the speakers of your home stereo at a backyard barbecue somewhere, it leaves you wanting to just loop the disc so you can hear it all again, because you aren't done with it blowing your mind into a million little shards yet.

Now the big question, Is this album for everyone? Oh hell yes it is, i mean come on, this is one of the best discs I've heard in YEARS, this thing blew me away from the very opening and continued to do so all the way to the very end, and left me wanting more, so ofcourse this disc is for everyone who wants to take a nice trip through the music spectrum and relive an era that alot of us wish music would get back to because of just how great it all was. So yeah, if you are a lover of music, if you're a lover of retro music, if you're a lover of fun loving good time music you can dance too and not feel embarrassed to play around your kids, parents or grandparents, all of which who more then likely will wanna get down with their funky selves to this, much to your horror at the image of that, even though it speaks to the beautiful feel and joy put into this. So yeah give it a listen, you'll love it as much as I do.


This is a brilliant accoustic version of their song "House On A Hill" which is by far my favorite song of theirs, so catchy, the album version is alot more funky though, but still love this version to death, wish it was on the disc really...



Artist: Mama's Gun
Album: Routes To Riches
Genre: Soul, Funk, Retro Pop, Britpop
Homepage: Mama's Gun's Homepage
Myspace: Mama's Gun on Myspace

Download: Download the Album here


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BC