Side 1 opens with "It Ain't My Fault", which starts with a real nice original drum break that will leave you guessing where the one-beat is until the music kicks in. The guitar player on this track has a real nice style, mixing up jazz lead runs with old school R&B riffing. The only drawback to this track is the soprano sax solo, or maybe that's just me. While this track isn't hard core uptempo booty shaking funk, it is funky and it is good and it is original. Track 2, I Can't Help It, starts off with another beautiful, original drum break. It turns out to be a happy sounding little track, which sounds to me a little bit like old Jamaican ska. These tracks more or less all bear a slight resemblance to old ska recordings, in the horn riffing and style, and the general recording sound. But the arrangements and riffs on the Smokey Johnson material are, technically at least, way better than any ska ever was, thanks to the very slick talents of producers like Wardell Quezerque and Eddie Bo. The guitar player goes to town on this track, giving us some nice straight-up 60s New Orleans guitar wizardry.

Track 3, Did you Heard What I Saw, is a funny one. It starts with some rapping between Smokey and one of his partners, which is pretty entertaining. This tune is real simple, just 2 chords, some simple chanted lyrics, some frenzied flute soloing, and Smokey rapping and joking with his buddy. The bongo drum on this track is used to devastating effect in several places.

Side 2 starts off with some killer funk, a few years before funk was funk, a track called The Funkie Moon. This tune is fantastic. It's real upbeat and fast, and the sax solos are super intense and cool. Very funky stuff. The drum line from the first 4 bars of the song should sound familiar to Meters fans. Track 2, Tippin' Lightly, is a good one too. A nice midtempo, heavy kick drum, funky workout, sort of a loose blues style track with a fresh turnaround. Smokey is very good at doing real fresh turnarounds with his little funky progressions. The arrangements on all of these tracks are really well done and unique.

Track 3, Soul Power, is just classic. It is very nice. It is a nice fresh mix of different styles, all underpinned with Smokey's sickening, make-you-scrunch-your-face-like-something-stinks drumming. It's just a cool track. Dig how the guy says 'Sooooouuuullll Power.' And I bet this was recorded before JB did Soul Power. At any rate, Soul Power is a solid track. The drum beat for this one is a lot like Clyde Stubblefield's drumming on Cold Sweat. I wonder who did it first.
Track 4, Dirty Red, starts off as a sort of old sounding hillbilly/jungle/R&B style tune, with some really raw harmonica. The harmonica sounds kind of harsh at times, but after a few bars the player busts off some nice funky little riffs. The band gets in to some real sweet rhythms, and there are some real nice horns on this one. There are a lot of layers of sound on this track, a lot of interplay in the phrasing of the instruments. The track sounds a bit rough at times but all in all is really slick and well done and fresh.

Track 5, You've Got what I Want, is a smash funk explosion. It's really really funky, a nice slick little track to close out the album. It sounds kind of jazzy and real of funky and it's got a real real nice groove. The drums on this track are really slick. The band overall is very tight and deep deep in a funky pocket on this track. The bridge riff and turnaround are really cool and original and funky and fresh. The drums on the first main riff of this track are just like the drums on parts of "Sissy Walk" by Eddie Bo so I'd guess that it was Smokey playing on that track. That rhythm and sound of the drums is unmistakably similar, although the tunes are arranged totally differently. The tunes on this album all bear a distinct mark of good production by a talented producer of some sort... So should it be any surprise that none other than EDDIE BO shows up as a producer in the credits for this album? Ahhh...The Eddie Bo Connection! Eddie very likely might even play some of the organ or piano on these tunes. These tracks are somewhat like Eddie Bo's work from the same time period, so there is definitely an Eddie Bo influence on this record. This record is called "Smokey Johnson" but really, many other people contribute to the style and art of these tracks. Eddie Bo, Wardell Quezerque, all of the horn players and guitar players and bass players, they all play a part in the fantastic music on this record. It's good that Smokey gets the name credit though, because his drums are the most important element in all of these tunes. These tracks clearly show the work of a very skilled drummer with his own very original and interesting style. Overall, both sides of this album have really strong areas, but side 2 is better overall, the tracks on it are really fresh and hip. This compilation is a good snapshot of a few of the old records that contain the unique style of New Orleans music that has since become revered as one of the major founding influences of the spectacular cultural phenomenon known as funk music.
Rating: Worth Every Penny