Even with all the millions of videos on YouTube and the rest of the Internet there are still hardly any clips let alone full concerts of black funk acts captured in their prime during the 1970s into the early 1980s. Where are the mid to late 1970s concerts showing the incredible power and artistry of acts like Slave, Cameo, Con Funk Shun, Bar-Kays, Sun, Blackbyrds, Brothers Johnson, Isley Brothers, Graham Central Station, Kool and the Gang, etc.? We are lucky just to be able to hear any live audio. How could America have turned a blind film/video eye to these masters at their peak? Maybe some are out there somewhere ... if so, RELEASE THEM to the world!

I got fired up about this while watching the only live Slave show I could find last night on YouTube, which is from either 2004 or 2008, hard to tell from the info. It is still enjoyable but is poorly shot with lousy sound. All down the line these artists have gotten screwed -- shoddy record deals, poor label promotion and support, betrayed for disco and pop concessions, LPs prematurely out of print, lagging horribly in issuing CD versions of original albums, lack of box sets, etc., etc., etc.

Anyway had to vent. Anyone aware of any classic-era complete or almost complete entire concerts from those peak years (not talking about P-Funk of which thank God a few exist)? What do you all make of this Slave show?

I have always wondered why there isn't any footage of the Isley Brothers' concerts in the 70s.I would love to see that.

I don't know whether they were a funk band per se, but the New Birth was legit.

Sly and The Family Stone, they are recognized, indeed, but not as much as they should.

Rasputin's Stash

Slave and Mandrill were great bands!

Im thinking no one was paying to watch or record them enough. Even Temptations and jackson 5 regular shows were not taped until they were getting older. My mom said they went to her school in the Bronx. of course...no footage of that as big as they were. That's with many back in the day though. if you were not on some documentary segment or TV show may have been out of luck unless the management bought taping footage to bring at the concert.

any praise offered towards the music of Slave is well regarded by me...after Earth Wind & Fire and Prince, Slave is in that next group of my alltime favorite bands/singers... Mark Adams (RIP) provided some of the greatest, most unique basslines ever put on wax

SoulAlive said:

I have always wondered why there isn't any footage of the Isley Brothers' concerts in the 70s.I would love to see that.

Man, count me in! I have seen a few short clips of the Isley Brothers performing and these are outstanding. A full 70's concert would be amazing!!

And yes, it is very unfortunate there are so little video recordings of 70's funk bands. Criminally neglected...

funkaholic1972 said:

SoulAlive said:

I have always wondered why there isn't any footage of the Isley Brothers' concerts in the 70s.I would love to see that.

Man, count me in! I have seen a few short clips of the Isley Brothers performing and these are outstanding. A full 70's concert would be amazing!!

I wonder if any of their 70s shows were professionally filmed? Seems we would have gotten a DVD by now By comparison,there is alot of footage of Earth Wind and Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic's 70s tours.

NorthC said:

Once again... Mother's Finest... George Clinton and Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder get plenty of credit for creating the funk... But the only people I ever heard talking about MF were white rock fans... Black Americans who like P-Funk, Stevie, Prince, Sly et al seem to completely ignore Mother's Finest... Why? Were they rocking a little too hard?

Prince has covered a few songs by Mother's Finest before. That's how I found out about them. But yeah, they were probably too hard to categorize for the average music listener at the time.

SoulAlive said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Man, count me in! I have seen a few short clips of the Isley Brothers performing and these are outstanding. A full 70's concert would be amazing!!

I wonder if any of their 70s shows were professionally filmed? Seems we would have gotten a DVD by now By comparison,there is alot of footage of Earth Wind and Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic's 70s tours.

Yes, P-Funk and EWF have been well documented, but I don't know about any professional video recordings of Isley Brothers gigs unfortunately. Would be great if one would surface, but chances are few I would say...

LittleBLUECorvette said:

There is a 1969 Isley Bros concert from Yankee Stadium. It's around but hard to locate. Bar-Kays in WattStax from 73. Those other bands are on live from shows like Midnight Special and Don Kishners Rock Concert series.

Great, thanks for the tip! Will look out for that one.

NorthC said:

Once again... Mother's Finest... George Clinton and Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder get plenty of credit for creating the funk... But the only people I ever heard talking about MF were white rock fans... Black Americans who like P-Funk, Stevie, Prince, Sly et al seem to completely ignore Mother's Finest... Why? Were they rocking a little too hard?

"Love Changes" is a classic, but you're right, more attention needs to be paid.

namepeace said:

NorthC said:

Once again... Mother's Finest... George Clinton and Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder get plenty of credit for creating the funk... But the only people I ever heard talking about MF were white rock fans... Black Americans who like P-Funk, Stevie, Prince, Sly et al seem to completely ignore Mother's Finest... Why? Were they rocking a little too hard?

"Love Changes" is a classic, but you're right, more attention needs to be paid.

I have come to appreciate many MF tracks over the years but being that at the time they did not come across as being in the same league as other top-tier funk bands. A lot of their rockier cuts like Mickey's Monkey were overly derivative (Zeppelin in that case). Those tracks were not as good as true rock and not as funky as the better funk acts. That is why they were mostly relegated to being an opening act for bands like the Ohio Players. But as I said I love some of their songs today and their best of collection is pretty great.

Anyone diggin Betty Davis?

UncleJam said:

Graham Central Station

Sun

Brass Construction

Mass Production

B.T. Express

Brick

Slave

Rufus-my reason because people always say Chaka Khan and forget that she was with Rufus.

SoulAlive said:

I have always wondered why there isn't any footage of the Isley Brothers' concerts in the 70s.I would love to see that.

.

ME TOO I TOTALLY AGREE. 2-3 times a year I google/look for Isley Brothers shows from anytime in the 70s. they were TRULY a FUNK POWERHOUSE then. my mother went to see them in about 78 or 79 & said they tore it up. as great as the Isley Brothers were in the 70s, there HAS to be some vintage, good quality video of full-length shows. the "closest" thing I've seen on the Isleys is when they did that "hour" of Soul Train where they did "that lady" "live it up" & "summer breeze" (I think). thank goodness this was 1 of the RARE times Don Cornelius let 1 of his guests PLAY LIVE..

CONFUNKSHUN... was one of the baddest R&B group of the 70' & 80's.

[Edited 1/28/17 12:59pm]

[Edited 1/28/17 13:00pm]

mltijchr said:

SoulAlive said:

I have always wondered why there isn't any footage of the Isley Brothers' concerts in the 70s.I would love to see that.

.

ME TOO I TOTALLY AGREE. 2-3 times a year I google/look for Isley Brothers shows from anytime in the 70s. they were TRULY a FUNK POWERHOUSE then. my mother went to see them in about 78 or 79 & said they tore it up. as great as the Isley Brothers were in the 70s, there HAS to be some vintage, good quality video of full-length shows. the "closest" thing I've seen on the Isleys is when they did that "hour" of Soul Train where they did "that lady" "live it up" & "summer breeze" (I think). thank goodness this was 1 of the RARE times Don Cornelius let 1 of his guests PLAY LIVE..

yeah,that Soul Train footage (recorded in 1974) is GREAT! It makes me want more.I wanna see footage of their tours in 1977 and 1978 when they were riding high with albums like 'Go For Your Guns' and 'Showdown'.I hope that some of those shows were professionally filmed!!!

SoulAlive said:

DarylB said:

PRNluv2 said:

CONFUNKSHUN... was one of the baddest R&B group of the 70' & 80's.

[Edited 1/28/17 12:59pm]

[Edited 1/28/17 13:00pm]

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