Chocolate Sock (Pollen8) -PTheory
Gospel album ‘Chocolate Sock’ is the second album of Chester funk band P-Theory recorded with their prolific vocalist Kevin Goins. With cover art depicting stained glass windows and flaming vortexes mixed in with images of stiletto shoes and, of course, chocolate this album promises music that is both epic and delicious and it delivers in equal measure. Recorded in a 1,000 year old English Church using all vintage instruments and equipment there is a distinct purity to the record. It is dedicated to Kevin’s mother, Jesse May.
From its opening tunes Your Love Is Like a Sunday Morning and Thank God I Saw It Before I Lost ‘Chocolate Sock’ slinks from your speakers with a palpable cool. Both these numbers are laced with irresistible grooves created by a pulse of bass and a ripple of horns. The rich rhythms centre on the sizzling vocals of Kevin Goins, which often break into tigerish yowls, adding a tantalising edge of rough to the smooth. But even with their fierce funk vibes these songs establish the albums context. The listener knows where they are. It is a Sunday morning and we have come to church. We are the congregation and P-Theory is the choir.
With the third track When I’ve Done the Best that I Can we get our first taste of pure Gospel. This song is captivating, stirring and bursting with soul. Goins voice glides over the beatific lyrics (“At the finish line I will see your face…”) punctuating them with breathtaking squeals of exaltation. The vocals are given a different flavour in You are the Potter sung by Chanelle ‘Shake it’ Edwards. Chanelle infuses this song a tone of devotion and absolution, but at the same time her delivery is racy, sexy and infectious. Perhaps this the essential difference between Gospel and Hymns. When Kevin and Chanelle sing you can feel your blood humming in your veins as your spirit is whipped into a holy frenzy.
The song placed right at the centre of this record is Saturday Night penned by Kevin’s late brother Glenn Goins. This song has been a Goins family treasure for the last thirty years. Kevin has apparently been waiting for the right time to commit it to tape. Hearing the story and sentiment behind Saturday Night you want it to be good. In all honesty this song is so sublime and elegant it almost steals the whole album. Its lovely lilting beauty is enough to give you shivers and cause your heart to swell. With the album clearly being set on a Sunday morning, Saturday night feels like an echo of the past, yet it still manages to sound fresh and timeless. Subtle and absorbing, this song is very much the heart of the albu
‘Chocolate Sock’ is something of a variety box. Songs such as How Can I Prove My Love For You walk a beautiful line between Funk and Gospel, being held together with solid grooves and lyrical mantras which swell into a rapturous climax. Then there are numbers like Three Strokes Granny with its raw dirty funk/rock edge that are still given grace when Chanelle’s dreamy vocals slip in. There is also the P-Theory prayer, a poetic verse delivered in deep monotone to the accompaniment of tambourine claps and the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar, offering a moment of pause and reflection to the proceedings
The veritable climax of the album comes with its penultimate song God is Real. This is another moment of pure unadulterated Gospel that lifts your spirits up to the rafters and fills you with the holy spirit. Its simplicity is match by its earnestness, making this a joyous and faith affirming listening experience whatever your religion. The following number I Want Jesus to Walk With Me feels more like a walkout song; like the procession leaving the service with a funky strut. It smoothly rounds off the record just as its opening tracks eased it in; offering pure élan to an album which is sincere and sacred, but never square.
Review by Kelly Cowley- Pollen8
==================================================================================
P-THEORY - CHOCOLATE SOCK
TCC/TFS Release Date:6/18/2007
LABEL: P-THeory WorldWide
On one of the most anticipated funk releases of the year, P-Theory with Kevin Goins follows-up the stellar “From the Hood to the Wood” with a record that basks in its own glorious natural uniqueness by taking hard funk back to its natural root, the church.
Kevin’s voices are of course, divine sent (som’n about the Goin DNA) and he them to sings praises and worship to On High. His tones on the spine-tingling “I Want Jesus” will surely bring Glen to mind for a lot of folks.
P-Theory’s musical accompanying continues its usual thick and slangy, loose and tight salacious globs of bottom and horns splattering all in and around this swarthy beat.. The birthing country downstroke of “3 Strokes Granny”. Check the rumbling funk of “What Would I Do Without You”, another gospel-tinged funker that features at times Kevin even reworking Parliament’s “Swing Low”!!
The band and rhythm section change-up tempos and grooves at the drop of a J. Easily going from gentle acoustic intro’s (“Saturday Night” “P-Theory Prayer”) on thru foot-stomping gut-bucket funk (“Your Love is Like a Sunday Morning”). Grooving and vamping to the max on tracks like “Thank God I Saw Before I Lost”as K. Goins just busts loose over the later stanzas of an oozing pulsing, funkdafried gospel. Redemption bobba, free to you from, not the friendly ghost , but alas, the power of the Holy Ghost.
And zeeper still on another soul-sanctifying gospel/blues number, “When I’ve Done the Best I Can”, Kevin brings up memories of classic Joe Ligon of the Mighty Clouds. Although my fave of the set is the spacey, “British Are Coming” which for some reason takes me to Detroit-era Counts, but that’s another story.
I can really dig the ‘driving-thru-the-London fog’ churning sound of the whole lp. I can only imagine rolling thru the English countryside and coming upon Ye Olde Pub and finding this groove coalition throwing down on the wee hours of Sunday morning . Only to catch ‘em bright and early the following morning at the church next door. Wow.
Reviewed For TheFunkStore.com..By
Funk Journalist&Atlanta Radio Personality~"Bustin'"Bob Mitchell
==================================================================================
Reviews from CD Baby
Thank you P-Theory
author: Sam
for my favourite CD of the year
Real cool
author: Sean Short
Totally old school, totally natural and totally good. I'm loving the vibe that's going on here
Good solid effort
author: Joe
Nice bluesy funk, a little busy in places but the vibe is undeniable...nice work
Funktastically filled with Inspiration!
author: Mudbone
I'm enjoying the grooves and music from the CD, good Inspiration, keep up the good work!
Flows like water over rock
author: DJ Stet
Now thats what I'm talking about. Pure, unadulterated talent in its rawest form. Untouchable....BUY IT!!!
Absolutely Love It
author: Anna Kurtz
Hasn't left my CD player since I bought it
Incredible!!
author: Simon Tranter
I loved their first album "From The Hood To The Wood" but this one takes it to a whole nutha level. Absolutely awesome funk grooves and AMAZING singing from Kevin Goins. If you like funk in anyway just buy it now, you won't be dissapointed!
