Declassified (Groove Collective album)

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Declassified
Declassified (Groove Collective album).jpg
Studio album by
Groove Collective
Released1999
Genre Funk, acid jazz [1]
Label Shanachie [2]
Producer Genji Sirasi
Groove Collective chronology
Dance of the Drunken Master
(1998)		Declassified
(1999)		It's All in Your Mind
(2001)

Declassified is an album by the American band Groove Collective, released in 1999. [3] [4]

Contents

The album peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. [5] The band supported it with a North American tour. [6]

Production

The album was produced by band member Genji Sirasi. [7] At the time of the recording, Groove Collective included 14 members. [8] Declassified contains a cover of the Paul McCartney-penned "Martha My Dear". [9] Lucy Woodward contributed vocals to "Up All Night". [10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [11]
Orange County Register B+ [12]
Pitchfork 7.1/10 [13]
Winnipeg Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]

Pitchfork called Declassified "modern funk that's not afraid to integrate with every other influence held dear by each of its 14 members." [13] The Washington Post thought that the band "are skillful cut-ups, whether they're reconstituting a '70s-funk shuffle ('Up All Night'), toying with what sounds like a PBS-theme fanfare ('Some People'), appropriating Steve Reich's modal shuffle ('Undercover Life') or narcotizing the Beatles' 'Martha My Dear'." [7] The Orange County Register declared that, "were it to lose some of the cloying Spyro Gyra-isms it uses as a crutch, this New York outfit ... would be the tightest bunch of funketeers since the Average White Band, if not P-Funk." [12]

Bass Player wrote: "Ever maturing and enduring, GC shows polish and panache on its latest without abandoning previous experiments with multi-flavored trance-like rhythms." [15] The Philadelphia Inquirer deemed the album "stuttering soul and party-psychedelia creamy with lush melody and Latin grooves." [16] The Boston Herald opined: "Freed by their variety-is-the-spice approach, the New York group is looser and moves better while sharpening its breezy future grooves." [17]

AllMusic wrote that the album "finds the congregation in a most jubilant mood, happy to simply stretch out on a series of infectious singalong jams." [11]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Up All Night"4:20
2."Everything Is Changing"5:37
3."On a Feeling"4:04
4."Some People"4:59
5."Valiha"0:45
6."Undercover Life"4:27
7."Guara Rumba"1:03
8."Crisis"7:25
9."End Transmission"4:02
10."Sabrosona (Song for Chucho)"3:40
11."Nature of a Freak"5:14
12."Triage"2:09
13."Martha My Dear"3:24
14."Sabrosona (Reprise)"1:10
15."Mrs. Strangelove"3:45

References

  1. ↑ "Groove Collective Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  2. ↑ "Groove Collective". Trouser Press. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  3. ↑ Dunlevy, T'Cha (November 12, 1999). "Groove grinds Afro-Latin funk". The Gazette. p. D11.
  4. ↑ Gopwani, Jewel (August 15, 1999). "Groove Collective". Detroit Free Press. p. F7.
  5. ↑ "Groove Collective". Billboard.
  6. ↑ "Groove Collective, 'Declassified'". Fort Collins Coloradoan. February 18, 2000. p. E2.
  7. 1 2 Jenkins, Mark (November 19, 1999). "Groove Collective 'Declassified' Shanachie". The Washington Post. p. WW11.
  8. ↑ Dames, K. Matthew (September 30, 1999). "Collective's 'Declassified' shouldn't be secret". Press & Sun-Bulletin. p. 10.
  9. ↑ Bradley, Mike (October 30, 1999). "Jazz choice". Features. The Times. p. 12.
  10. ↑ Harder, Chris (March 16, 2000). "For Groove Collective, labels don't stick, but the name says it all". Entertainment. Missoula Independent.
  11. 1 2 "Declassified". AllMusic.
  12. 1 2 Wener, Ben (March 3, 2000). "Sound Check". Orange County Register. p. F56.
  13. 1 2 "Groove Collective: Declassified: Pitchfork Review". August 2, 2002. Archived from the original on August 2, 2002.
  14. ↑ Sterdan, Darryl (October 22, 1999). "Discs". Entertainment. Winnipeg Sun. p. 39.
  15. ↑ Leigh, Bill (October 1999). "Groove Collective: Declassified". Bass Player. Vol. 10, no. 11. p. 64.
  16. ↑ Amorosi, A. D. (November 26, 1999). "Groove Collective". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 17.
  17. ↑ Lozaw, Tristram (September 3, 1999). "Boston Beat". Art. Boston Herald. p. 21.
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