GAP Band - GAP Band III
FUNK | WAVPACK | CUE | LOG | PNG | 322MB | 45:05
Polygram 1980

1. When I Look In Your Eyes
2. Yearning For Your Love
3. Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)
4. Nothin' Comes To Sleepers
5. Are You Living 
6. Sweet Caroline
7. Humpin
8. The Way 
9. Gash Gash Gash

 This record signalled a seismic change in the funk landscape: Parliament/Funkadelic, Ohio Players, Rufus and Tower Of Power had split up; War and even Earth, Wind & Fire were losing steam; Kool & The Gang had gone pop; James Brown and Sly Stone were approaching self-parody. Disco, often unduely blamed for the death of funk, was fading away. The Gappers came up with a new electrofunk approach on the single "Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Treat Me Bad)": crunching Moog bass line, crashing programmed snare, no horns, and a tortured, pleading vocal straight out of Stax - it was their first R&B #1. Together with Dazz Band's similar "Let It Whip" and maybe George Clinton's "Atomic Dog," it's practically a subgenre unto itself - though in fact a bigger influence on Prince's early 80s sound than the more frequently cited Rick James. "Humpin'" and "Gash Gash Gash" (Ronnie on lead vocal) are in a similar vein; the only big departure is "The Way," which I swear sounds like the Doobie Brothers with its mannered falsetto vocal and prominent electric piano. The other Gap staples - EWF hornfests ("Are You Living") and gentle ballads ("Yearning For Your Love," Top Five R&B) - are also better than usual, making this an easy choice. --David Bertrand Wilson, WARR.org

GAP:

Charlie Wilson - Keyboards, Vocals
Robert Wilson - Bass, Vocals
Ronnie Wilson - Trumpet, Keyboards

John Black - Keyboards
Raymond Calhoun - Percussion, Drums

Fred Jenkins - Guitar 
Melvin Webb - Drums
Robert Whitfield - Keyboards
Ronnie Kaufman - Drums

Earl Roberson - Trombone

Wilmer Raglin - Trumpet

DL