Cooker, The

Redtenbacher's Funkestra – The Cooker
Reviewed by Sadie O., 6/12/13
FUNK instrumentals (mostly of the second-line variety). Austrian-born bassist with a band of seasoned players, including horn sections from the UK and US, all based in London. Strictly feel-good stuff, nom nom nom!
1. 5:12 ***prolonged farfisa and horns intro, then midtempo funky strut with lots of horns and percussion.
2. 7:14 ****wah wah guitar and slide whistle intro! Downtempo, lazy funk shuffle. Many solos and changes.
3. 5:04 ****makossa groove, blatty bass, a bit Blaxploitation-y, too. Cool!
4. 5:53 ****nice! Slow groovy, bass-heavy sashay*.
5. 4:36 ***bass-heavy and in your face, with complex tune, and some great horn sounds.
6. 7:17 ****boppy little percussion intro, then light and sweet – but still funky – midtempo wiggle. Completely mad sax solo!
7. 4:45 *****complex upbeat funky slop with lovely rubber bass, fine keyboard and horn ensemble work. Man, this is good!
8. 5:57 ***smooth and sleek (in the NICEST way) downtempo slither, builds.
9. 6:45 ***downtempo stroll.
10. 0:28 *what it says it is – a freeform drum intro to track 11.
11. 4:50 ***follows from track 10, and takes another 50 seconds to roll into a very upbeat uptempo funky bopper.
12. 5:53 *VERY slow, smooth jazzy. Nice, with good horns and bass, but it’s putting me to sleep…
13. 0:57 ***midtempo 2nd line crawl riffing on you will NEVER guess what tune.
14. 6:45 ***downtempo lounge funk.
15. 5:13 *more slow, smooth jazzy. I guess with 1.3 hours of music, a little bit is gonna be duff…
16. 1:20 **another take on the classic, this one with jazz chord intro.
*if you don’t know the difference between a “strut”, a “shuffle” and a “sashay”, ask Byrd!