'Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk' Now Available in Paperback

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Jan. 19, 2017 - PRLog -- Funk used to be a bad word. That was then. Now, funk is a pervasive style of music that has earned its rightful place alongside such other aural American art forms such as folk, blues, jazz and rock 'n roll. What's more, for those who free themselves, funk is a positive state of consciousness that brings together mind, body and soul in a quasi-spiritual experience of mesmerizing intensity. Those powerful sounds and their creators are placed center-stage in the groundbreaking new book written by noted entertainment journalist and critic Scott Goldfine, "Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk."

Nearly half a century has passed since James Brown first worked up a "Cold Sweat" and kicked off the funk era. The new groove-heavy music tapped into a basic, visceral sensibility that served as the black answer to white hard rock. While both offered a raw edge that encouraged spiritual liberation, only one demanded that your booty do its duty.

While there isn't really a specific formula for funk, the right attitude is critical and the music has to be on THE ONE, which is the inspiration behind the book's title. THE ONE stands for the first beat of standard four/four time in music (four counts per measure). Funk jumps on the first beat with a hard accent and then lays back in the groove for counts two through four. So just about everything in "The First Guide of Funk" is on THE ONE.

Funk is fun, fearless and fancy-free, and perhaps too slinky, snaky, slippery and stanky to conform to a standard definition (although some are offered in the next section). It is first and foremost a particular feeling, a really good, liberating feeling. Although you may struggle to explain it, there is no ambiguity once it takes hold and digs in.

In a Rolling Stone interview, Stevie Wonder offered this definition: "Funk is the soul going deep into itself. It's getting to that place which is the lost part of your soul. Sure it's a groove thing, and it's a nasty thing. It's playing between the beats. It's got the complexity of jazz and the earthiness of the blues, but it's even more complicated than that. It's got those syncopated complications that make you wanna move."

"Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk" ― an opinionated compendium of album reviews, artist stories, concert tales, historical insights, fun lists, resources and music industry memoirs — is a labor of love from a devout lifelong funk enthusiast. It is designed to serve as an eye-opener for the uninitiated and as a reference for those already indoctrinated.

"While other previously published works have included assessments of funk albums, it was far from their main focus and often the reviews were specious," says Goldfine. "Many niches like jazz, R&B, heavy metal and others have been given their due with dedicated tomes, so why should funk get such short shrift? It is high time to end that injustice."

Essential reading for any serious music fan, "Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk" is newly updated and available for the first time in hardcopy paperback for $19.99 through Amazon (also in eBook format for the new low price of $9.99). Review copies available upon request to funknstuff.net@gmail.com.

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