Mandrill

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Mandrill are an eclectic band from Brooklyn, NY most often categorized as “funk”, though their influences range from rock, blues, jazz, and African and Latin music as well. Their early albums (Mandrill, Mandrill Is, Composite Truth, Just Outside Of Town, and Mandrilland) are sometimes wild and experimental and sometimes danceable and fun, often times both at once. Their approach is somewhat comparable to early Funkadelic. Like Funkadelic, by their 1975 album called Solid they had settled into a smoother, more traditional funk sound, losing much but not all of their progressive edge.

Critic’s Review:
Apparently learning from the mistakes of its debut, Mandrill crafted a follow-up with fewer stylistic detours than the first record, but much more energy and greater maturity. The two singles, “Ape Is High” and “Git It All,” are unhinged performances from all involved that have the sense of musical invigoration so key to a funk band — and so sorely lacking on this band’s debut. “Children of the Sun” is a somber, flute-led piece, much more assured and better-conceived than anything on its first record (it also showed how well Mandrill could’ve done soundtracking a blaxploitation film). The guitars are much more prominent on Mandrill Is; in fact, both “Git It All” and “Here Today Gone Tomorrow” have passages almost reminiscent of metal’s heavy riffing. The first two compositions from Claude “Coffee” Cave are big successes, “Cohelo” being a traditional Latin form and “Kofijahm” a tribal funk piece. Not everything works, however: the spoken-word piece “Universal Rhythms” is a tad over-ripe, with a raft of unpoetic, pseudo-mystical nonsense over backing from an angelic choir. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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Top Albums

  • The Best Of Mandrill
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  • Fencewalk: The Anthology (disc 2)
    Mandrill Play
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  • Just Outside Of Town
    Mandrill Play
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  • Composite Truth
    Mandrill Play
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Top Tracks

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  • Worstidever

    Is anyone willing to update the wiki to remove the outdated reference to Mandrili[/i] ?

    January 2012

  • LOVES-DESIRE

    Mandrill - the Funk gets better with time ...... Where did we get that Funk from ..... I don't know - but the Funk ain't going nowhere ..... The Funk gets better with time .....

    December 2011

  • amelif

    just love it

    November 2011

  • hookbags

    Put your money where the funk is....

    October 2011

  • aybesea69

    Wow... simply amazing!

    July 2011

  • lock2stock

    so awesome

    June 2011

  • zeromero

    ducaraleo!!!!!!!!!

    January 2011

  • keemba

    Mandrill is still tops!!!!

    July 2010
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