A copy of “The Beat Goes On And On” by Ripple has lived in
one of my Schweppes boxes since I bought it as a new release back in ’78.
Ripple
was another manufactured name fronting a piece of irresistible Salsoul studio
produced Disco goodness. At least that is what I had always thought.
… or maybe not.
More recently I have learned that Ripple
were a Michigan based multi-racial group formed around 1973. They were very much
a funk band then, with a percussive edge – think War crossed with early Fatback
Band maybe. They released one album back then on GRC that spawned a number of
singles which all made the US R&B Top 100. One of those singles, “A Funky
Song”, made #41 in 1974 so cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered
rare, but I had not come across it until a few weeks ago.
In fact now, after 35 years, my Salsoul Ripple 45 has, not
one, but two new bedfellows as “A Funky Song” led me also to a copy of their
first 45 “I Don’t Know What It Is, But It Sure is Funky”. And so the beat goes on and on, and the collection
grows, and grows!
Ripple – A Funky Song 1974*
It’s difficult to think the same group
were behind both of these records. But strip out the strings and the female vocals
from the Salsoul outing and you can begin to believe it. This track was lifted
from their second and final album “Sons Of The Gods”, a few tracks of which can
be found on Youtube. Listening to those it is evident that “The Beat Goes On
and On” was somewhat atypical and much of Ripple’s Salsoul album was rooted
much more in their original sound. I still can’t help thinking that “Beat..”
was a something of an implant though.
*45 issue dates.
All of Ripple’s early, GRC,
era recordings, including unreleased tracks can be found on this CD.
The Salsoul album ”Sons Of
The Gods” is also available on CD.
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