United 8 'Getting Uptown (To Get Down)' (Matasuna)
8th March 2023
United 8 / Tony Alvon & The Belairs
'Getting Uptown (To Get Down)' / 'Sexy Coffee Pot'
(Matasuna)
Right, IF for some reason you don't have these 2 bona fide club classics in your arsenal of funk bangers, then it's a good day for you!
Matasuna have nabbed (officially that is, no bootlegging here) United 8's and Tony Alvon's mid-tempo drum heavy funk-nuggets. Arguably the B side here is the most known classic having been comped and bootlegged a billion times already. But United 8's singular mix of funk, Afro vibes, jazz and Caribbean flavour on 'Getting Uptown (To Get Down)' from 1972 is a track that took a little longer to seep into the heads of the funk headz.
The track ticks so many boxes...breaks, beats, wailing sax solo, nasty face, it has got it all. I remember getting the track many years back on a 1976 Atlantic compilation called 'Disco-Trek', and for a good while back in the early 90s it was a secret funk weapon. That particular comp had legendary producer Tom Moulton remixing and editing the tracks so the version of United 8's track is slightly different on there, most significantly it cuts out the vocal parts (actually a better mix IMO). More recently the track (and 'Sexy Coffee Pot') appeared in the Atlantic 'Funk 45s' 7" Box Set, so I'm guessing these mixes will be the same as on there.
If you ain't got 'em, go get 'em.
