Boogie Times Records: The French Label Preserving Obscure 80s Funk
Founded in northern France in 2002 by collector Philippe Lecauchois, Boogie Times Records built its name reissuing American funk and boogie rarities nobody else would touch.
Herb Powers Jr.: The Man Who Mastered the 80s Club Sound
Herb Powers Jr. cut the vinyl on hundreds of Prelude and West End club classics, signing his work with a smiley face in the dead wax. The story of the mastering engineer behind the loudest basslines in New York.
Part 2: The Synths and Equipment That Defined 80s Funk
Beyond the synths: the compressors, reverbs and mixing consoles inside the studios that turned 80s funk and boogie sessions into polished, radio and club ready records.
Part 1: The Synths and Equipment That Defined 80s Funk
From the Prophet-5 to the LinnDrum, the Minimoog to the vocoder, the machines that gave 80s funk and boogie its unmistakable sound, and the artists who bent them into new shapes.
New York vs Los Angeles: Two Coasts of Boogie
Beyond SOLAR and Prelude, the boogie era ran through smaller, stranger labels: a Hollywood pressing plant, an Italian disco import house gone funky, and a producer's vanity imprint born at the Paradise Garage.
Solar Records, Part 1: The Rise of the Sound of Los Angeles
Before it became the Motown of the 1980s, Solar Records started as a Soul Train side project. The story of Dick Griffey, Leon Sylvers III, and the birth of the Solar sound.
Solar Records, Part 2: Constellation, Babyface, and the Label's Final Act
How Solar Records built a new subsidiary, launched Babyface and L.A. Reid's careers, fought a $386 million lawsuit, and finally closed with a soundtrack for Dr. Dre.
Funk and Rap: How 80s Funk Shaped Early Hip-Hop
From Grandmaster Flash cutting up Chic breaks to Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, Hashim and Herbie Hancock, how funk supplied the raw material for early 80s hip-hop, on wax and on WBLS.
Funk Basslines That Defined the 80s
How the bassline evolved from slap guitar to synth-driven groove, and the tracks and players who built the low end of 80s funk and boogie.
Funk and Boogie in the Late 70s: The Dance Floor Sound
How funk evolved on the dance floor in the late 70s, from P-Funk to the Gap Band, Cameo, and the first boogie records that bridged disco and the 80s groove.
The Rise of Boogie: From Funk to Early Electronic Dance
How boogie emerged from the ashes of disco and the roots of funk, driven by synthesizers, drum machines, and producers like Kashif, Leroy Burgess, and the indie labels that made it happen.
The Labels Behind 80s Funk & Boogie: Solar, Prelude, West End, SAM and Cotillion
Discover the independent and major labels that shaped 80s funk and boogie music - from Solar Records in Los Angeles to Prelude, West End and SAM in New York.
Unidisc Music: The Montreal Label That Saved a Decade of Funk and Soul
From a Montreal DJ's record pool to one of Canada's largest independent labels, Unidisc Music rescued the catalogs of Prelude Records, De-Lite, SOLAR and more, keeping the greatest funk and soul of the 70s and 80s alive.
