| Thermonuclear Sweat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Studio | Olympic Studios, London; Vanguard and Electric Lady, NYC | |||
| Genre | Jazz, funk, punk [1] | |||
| Label | Hannibal | |||
| Producer | Joe Boyd | |||
| Defunkt chronology | ||||
| ||||
Thermonuclear Sweat is an album by the American musical group Defunkt. [2] [3] It was released in 1982 via Hannibal Records. [4] [5] The group broke up after the release of the album, reforming in 1986. [6]
The album was produced by Joe Boyd. [7] Aside from the leader and trombonist Joseph Bowie, the guitar player Kelvyn Bell was the only other member who had played on the debut. [8] Vernon Reid played guitar on six of the album's tracks. [9] "Big Bird (Au Private)" is a tribute to Charlie Parker. [10]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [11] |
| Robert Christgau | B+ [12] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
| MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide | [9] |
The Washington Post wrote: "As a dance band, Defunkt is best at break-neck rhythms—'Illusion', the tongue-in- cheek, feet-firmly-in-the-groove 'Avoid the Funk', and the boppish escapade and tribute to Charlie Parker, 'Big Bird (Au Private)' on which the band's jazz roots are well displayed." [1] Trouser Press called the album "sweeter-sounding and jazzier" than the group's debut. [13]
Robert Christgau lamented that the group's cover of "For the Love of Money" "sounds like slumming, especially from a guy who couldn't outsing Kenny Gamble in the shower." [12] The New York Times thought that "when this band plays funk, it plays hard, dance-floor funk, with a cavalier disregard for the pop sweetening most funk bands add to their records in order to get radio play and hits." [8]
Reviewing the reissue that paired Thermonuclear Sweat with the debut, The Independent called the albums "groundbreaking" and among the 1980s' "alternative essentials." [6]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Illusion" | 5:33 |
| 2. | "I Tried to Live Alone" | 5:08 |
| 3. | "Cocktail Hour (Blue Bossa)" | 3:26 |
| 4. | "Ooh Baby" | 6:05 |
| 5. | "Avoid the Funk" | 4:26 |
| 6. | "Big Bird (Au Private)" | 2:07 |
| 7. | "For the Love of Money" | 5:54 |
| 8. | "Believing in Love" | 7:14 |
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.
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Defunkt is an American musical group founded by the trombonist and singer Joseph Bowie in 1978 in New York City. Their music touches on elements of punk rock, funk, and jazz.
Joseph Bowie is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. The brother of trumpeter Lester Bowie, Joseph is known for leading the jazz-punk group Defunkt and for membership in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.
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