The GO Mechanism is a radio-like program presented by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus. It initially airs on the Luxuria Music webstream as a Saturday Night Special—this one on November 14. It is an audio Odyssey engineered to create disturbance in your mind.
This sonic safari does not stop to smell the roses. The Phast Man doesn’t like to talk much during the show; for instance, he does not back-announce the records he plays. If you want to know what’s happening, you must follow along with this score card.
Halfway through the trip there will be a segment called The Science Corner where three songs are played in order to illustrate a point of some sort. In this edition we will discuss funky kung fu records.
Kung fu is an ancient martial arts discipline that originated in China. During the seventies it was popularized by the TV show of the same name. In 1974, Carl Douglas, a Jamaican living in England, scored a huge international hit with his song “Kung Fu Fighting.” Thus, a slew of kung fu-related songs were recorded in order to cash in—even such heavies Curtis Mayfield got in on the action. Here in the Science Corner we present three of these tracks.
Ultrafunk was a group of British session musicians that played on a bunch of pop and disco records during the period, especially for the Contempo Records company. “Kung Fu Man” features the narration of Mr. Superbad Freddie Mack, who discusses the ways of the kung fu man; you might even say that this is an early rap record! “Right on, kung fu man!”
The Dragoneers were most likely another studio concoction. We say that because this exact track was also released as by the Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds—both on Buddah Records. They both have the same matrix number—the only difference is that Buddah Records executive Neil Bogart is added as co-writer on the Holmes version. The other writer is Tony Camillo, a successful disco producer. The recording is mostly instrumental, incorporating funked-up quasi East Asian melodies punctuated by shouts of “kung fu” and “ooh” and “ah” in order to evoke a Chinese vibe.
Nashville-based soul singer Freddie Waters wasn’t very prolific. From 1968 to 1977 he averaged about one single per year, mostly on the Ref-O-Ree label. His 1975 song, “Kung Fu and You Too” was issued on Stax. Like The Dragoneers record, it featured Chinese musical textures and “ha!” exclamations. It is about how he’s going to whoop the guy who stole his gal by using kung fu.
There are many other kung fu records—in fact, even reggae artists got into the act with Linval Thompson’s “Kung Fu Man” and Lloyd Parks’ cover of “Kung Fu Fighting” among them (an edit of the latter is used as the bed music for The Science Corner). Indeed, with the help of the TV show and Carl Douglas’ hit record, kung fu became an international phenomena and kung fu recordings were made all over the world.
Wanderléa Charlup Boere Salim was a Brazilian singer and actress who often was billed by just her first name. During the sixties she was among the Brazilian artists who embraced and excelled at rock and pop material influenced by American and British acts. The song presented here, “Prova de Fogo,” is a great example, with it’s cool fuzz guitar riffs and jumpin’ beat. We found it on an EP that also contained her version of The Seeds’ “Pushin’ Too Hard”—which was aired on a previous GO Mechanism. Wanderléa is our kind of girl from Ipanema!!
Chip Kinman first came to our attention in the spring 1977 when his band The Dils played a show noted as The Punk Palace with The Nerves, The Zippers, The Weirdos and Short Ice. At the time, The Dils had a lead singer. After he left the group, Chip and his bass playing brother Tony became the singers and the band really took off on the L.A. Punk Rock scene. Since then, he’s been in such bands as Rank & File, Cowboy Nation, Blackbird and several others—each of them worthy of our attention. A few years ago he released his first solo album called The Great Confrontation. Unlike anything he’s ever done before, the album consists of electronic blips and bleeps—no discernible song or melody. We dig it and have often used it in the GO Mechanism under a spoken word piece, as it is used here in juxtaposition with Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon,” adding a science fiction element.
Laika & the Cosmonauts were a very cool instrumental rock’n’roll band from Finland. Often referred as a surf-rock band because of their guitar sound, the band actually played in various styles. For this GO Mechanism, we’ve got their version of the be-bop standard “A Night in Tunisia” which appeared on the group’s second album, Surfs You Right. The band takes its name from Laika, the stray dog that was launched into space by the Soviets in 1957.
Around 1968, when the GO Mechanism producers were very young, they used to tune into radio station KPPC FM that broadcast out of a church basement in Pasadena, California. The DJs would play all sorts of music and it opened minds on a daily basis. One could hear Bob Dylan bootlegs, Ravi Shankar, the long version of “Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida,” free jazz, Steve Reich, delta blues and just all sorts of stuff that AM radio wouldn’t touch. KPPC was an early example of free-form radio. One of the tracks the station used to play was a long version of “Bluebird” by Buffalo Springfield that featured a wild guitar jam. It was not on any commercially available album until 1973 when it was issued on a two-record compilation of Buffalo Springfield songs. It may still not be available on CD, thus it is presented here for your edification.
The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble is a collection of San Diego-based musicians who specialize in playing heavy funk and soul music. They’ve been around for more than a dozen years and have recorded several albums. The group recently covered the classic song by The Honey Drippers called “Impeach the President.” It’s a great version and it is very timely in this day and age. However, with any luck, there will be no need to listen to it again in two years (hopefully, earlier!).
We first became aware of Lenny Kaye in 1971 with the liner notes to an Eddie Cochran reissue album. A year later his influential compilation of garage rock records Nuggets was released and that cemented our admiration for this man. He, of course, would go on to work with Patti Smith, produce a bunch of records and write some excellent books. The man does it all. In 1984 he released an eight song album called I’ve Got a Right. Earlier this year he issued his first real full-length LP called Goin’ Local. Many folks mostly know Mr. Kaye for his work with Patti Smith and the Nuggets album and think of him in terms of garage rock/CBGBs punk rock. He’s that, but he’s much, much more; especially when you consider he’s written books about crooners and Waylon Jennings. Goin’ Local has Mr. Kaye in several settings that are mostly unlike ones you may imagine him to be in, and each is brilliantly performed. We’ve chosen the song “Poppy” because it has a moody, folky vibe that stands out from the other tracks.
The Blackburds were a French beat group that often backed rocker Johnny Hallyday during the sixties. The group included two British musicians—drummer Tommy Brown and guitarist Micky Jones, who worked as session musicians in Paris during the sixties. In 1971, Jones returned to England and four years later formed Foreigner. This may be one of his best records, an instrumental rendition of the Allen Toussaint composition “Get Out of My Life Woman,” which was first recorded by Lee Dorsey.
Sam Bell is one of those underecognized guys who actually made substantial noise in soul music, but is rarely discussed. His career started as a member of the R&B vocal group The Gainors in Philadelphia. Also in the group were singers Garnet Mimms and Howard Tate. When three of the members left, Bell stayed with Mimms and recorded as Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters. Their song, “Cry Baby,” was a Number One R&B hit in 1963. The next year, Mimms was on his own and Bell became the lead singer. Bell was also a pretty good songwriter; his songs were recorded by such acts as Howard Tate, Jerry Butler, The Ambassadors, Kiki Dee and Lorraine Ellison—the latter he managed and married. Around 1969, a personal event took place that made him turn to God. Further work was all in the gospel field, using the name Samuel (or just ’S’) Sweetsinger. “The Good Lord Made the Monkey” is from this period. We are all very glad that the Good Lord made the monkey, aren’t we?
José Monje Cruz was an important Spanish Flamenco singer who did business as Camaron de la Isla. He recorded heavily with the equally legendary guitarist Paco de Lucía. That’s de Lucía on the track played here in The GO Mechanism: “Arte y Majestad,” the title track of a 1975 album. The second guitarist is Ramón de Algeciras but the castanets player is not credited. The song is a bulería, a style of flamenco music that is uptempo and improvisational…and very emotional! Camaron died of lung cancer in 1992.
The show ends with a record we think is one of the most fabulous kung fu records of all: “Africa Kung Fu” by Mwana Amin, an African musician who incorporated Latin and funk elements into his music. In order to sell a Guatemalan pressing of the single, the dealer wrote on the sleeve, “Evil cumbia with screams.” ‘Ominous’ is a better word for it. It does have a cumbia-like beat and yes there are screams. SOLD! It’s a bitchen record that we are proud to own.
The excellent graphic used to illustrate this edition of The GO Mechanism is an edit of a photo titled “UFO Cloud” by Tim Geaney. He’s a professional photographer, though mostly retired these days. Mr. Geaney also plays keyboards in the groovy funk/soul/instrumental combo Freek’s Garage that is based in Woodstock, NY.
Most of the drop-ins in this edition of The GO Mechanism are culled (and out of context) from the title track of Danny Weizmann‘s genius spoken word album The Wet Dog Shakes. Pick up a copy and have your mind expanded!
After this GO Mechanism airs on November 14, it will be available as a Luxuria Music podcast for a few weeks–look for the Saturday Night Special dated 11/15/2026. Then we will export it to the Mixclouds where it will sit until the interwebs crumble.
Thank you very much to the wonderful folks at Luxuria Music who seem to like airing The GO Mechanism on their interweb streaming hustle. They are operating on a less-than shoe-string budget and can always use some cake. Go to their website and see how you can help. Any donation you can make will help with operating costs and keep The GO Mechanism from becoming homeless.
GO Mechanism Number Thirty One track listing…
Earl Bostic—Lester Leaps In (King)
Johnny Griffith Trio—Ill Wind (Workshop Jazz)
The Esquire Boys—Caravan (Fransil)
Martin Denny—Swamp Fire (from LP Afro-Desia; Liberty)
Wanderlea—Prova de Fogo (CBS; Brazil)
Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys—South Pier (Seven Seas; Japan)
The Happy Cats—These Boots Are Made for Walking (Omack)
Roger Simard et Son Orchestre—Noir C’est Noir (from LP Drum à Go Go; Gala/RCA Victor; Canada)
Gil Scott-Heron—Whitey on the Moon (from LP Small Talk at 125th and Lennox; Flying Dutchman) juxtaposed with
Chip Kinman—San Francisco Fog 1977 (from album The Great Confrontation)
Sandy Nelson—Casbah (Imperial)
Quincy Jones featuring Roland Kirk—Peter Gunn (from album Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini; Mercury)
Olatunji—Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder) (excerpt from LP Drums of Passion; Columbia)
Kent Nagano conducting Orchestre National de France—Octandre II (from album Varèse: Works Vol. 1; Erato)
***Alec Guinness—The Moon Looked Into My Window (e.e. cummings; from LP A Personal Choice; RCA Victor)
Arthur Jackson—The Philosophy of Chopp Funk (Part 2) (A.J.’s)
The Spiders—Mera Mera (from EP Soundtrack to the film Attack of The Spiders)
The Fabulous Cyclones—Cyclone (Band Box)
Laika & the Cosmonauts—A Night in Tunisia (from album Surfs You Right; Texicali; Finland)
Bruno Castiglia e i Bisonti—Crudele (City; Italy)
The Demonstrators—Ultra-Violet (Warner Bros.)
Los Corraleros de Majagual—Cumbiamberita (from LP Cumbias y Gaitas Famosos; Discos Fuentes; Colombia)
Olatunji—Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder) (another excerpt from LP Drums of Passion; Columbia)
***Patti Smith—Prayer (from album February 10, 1971 (Mer)
Lloyd Thaxton—My Name Is Lloyd Thaxton (Capitol)
Rolling Stones—Sing This All Together (See What Happens) (from LP Their Satanic Magesties Request; London)
Curtis Mayfield—(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going to Go (Curtom)
The Ventures—Journey to the Stars (from LP The Fabulous Ventures; Dolton)
Buffalo Springfield—Bluebird (Part 2) (from LP Buffalo Springfield; Atco)
The Sure Fire All-Stars—Impeach the President (Colemine)
——SCIENCE CORNER——
(bed music: edit of Kung Fu Fighting by Lloyd Parks)
Ultrafunk featuring Mr. Superbad Freddie Mack—Kung Fu Man (Contempo)
The Dragoneers—Kung Fu (Buddah)
Freddy Waters—Kung Fu and You Too (Stax)
Lenny Kaye—Poppy (from LP Goin’ Local; Yep-Roc)
Burning Spear—Get Ready (from LP Studio 1 Presents Burning Spear; Coxone; Jamaica)
Los Satelites—Ocaso Marino (from LP Cumbias y Gaitas Famosas 3; Discos Fuentes; Colombia)
MIles Davis & John Coltrane—Two Bass Hit (from album The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955 – 1961; Columbia/Legacy)
Barbara Lewis—Break Away (from LP The Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis; Enterprise)
The Blackburds—Get Out of My Life Woman (from EP The Blackburds Play The Bugaloo; Philips; France)
S. Sweetsinger—The Good Lord Made the Monkey (Monkey)
Terry & the Bunnys—Ski-A-Go-Go (King; Japan)
Hal Blaine—Inner Space (October) (from album Psychedelic Percussion; Dunhill)
***Peter Orr recites “So We’ll Go No More A-Roving” by Lord Byron
Camarón de la Isla—Arte Y Majestad (Bulerías) (from album Antologia; Mercury; Spain)
Darlene Love—Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Philles)
Olatunji—Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder) (still another excerpt from LP Drums of Passion; Columbia)
The Link Eddy Combo—Theme from Man With the Golden Arm (Reprise)
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings—Your Thing Is a Drag (from LP Naturally; Daptone)
Dave Baby Cortez—Watermelon Man (from LP Tweetie Pie; Roulette)
Curtis Mayfield—Freddie’s Dead (Boogaloo Mix) (Curtom)
Mwana Amin—Africa Kung Fu (Zeida; Guatamala)
Rolling Stones—Sing This Altogether (See What Happens—edit) (from LP Their Satanic Magisties Request; London)
