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Funky Junction

From: Dublin

Active: 1973

Style: rock

Lineup:

Bio:

This was a project of German producer Leo Muller. In 1973, Thin Lizzy were based in London and their star was on the rise. They were approached by Muller about recording an LP of Deep Purple covers. Perhaps money was still scarce at this point as the band accepted the offer. They brought in singer Bennie White of Dublin band Fudd (originally Elmer Fudd) for the session as his voice was more suited to Ian Gillan's material than Lynott, and Bennie brought Fudd's keyboard player Dave Lennox (ex Uptown Band) with him.

The Funky Junction LP is basically an exploitation album designed to cash in on the recent success of Deep Purple. It was released in the UK and USA with anonymous credits. It was also released in Germany on the Sonic label in a different cover and under a different name as "The Rock Machine Plays the Best of Deep Purple and Other Hits". The band pictured on the front cover of the UK/USA edition is in fact Hard Stuff, who coincidentally were signed to Deep Purple's Purple Records label. Another coincidence is the fact that Hard Stuff guitarist John DuCann was briefly a member of Thin Lizzy during a German tour in 1973.

Besides the five Deep Purple covers, the albums also contains four Leo Muller "originals" which are in fact re-titled public domain songs. It's certainly not bad but it's nothing special either. It was a bargain bin perennial until the Thin Lizzy connection became more widely known. It is now a (very) minor collectable.

There are more Funky Junction tracks (some uncredited) on two other Leo Muller productions but these are thought to have been recorded by a completely different, unknown lineup.



Discography:

• A Tribute to Deep Purple
LP - Stereo Gold Award Records - MER 373 - UK - 1973, yellow label
LP - Stereo Gold Award Records - MER 373 - USA - 1973, blue label
K7 - Stereo Gold Award Records - ??? - UK - 1973
CD - label? - ??? - Japan - 200? - pirate?
The Rock Machine - Plays the Best of Deep Purple
LP - Sonic Records - 9048 - Germany - 1973
Recorded in London. Produced by Leo Muller.


Gladys Knight & the Pips [sic] with guests Funky Junction - Especially For You
LP - Stereo Gold Award Records - MER 394 - UK - 1975
Note: Gladys Knight & the Pips do not appear on this LP.

Despite it's misleading title, this album consists of eight Gladys Knight & The Pips covers recorded by an uncredited group, plus two funky instrumental tracks credited to Funky Junction, "Roads End" (funky drum breaks) and "Talkin Trash" (a slow funk). Both are Leo Muller originals. It seems very unlikely that these tracks were recorded by the Thin Lizzy version of Funky Junction. Lizzy's career had really taken off by 1975 and it's unlikely they'd have needed the work. More importantly, it is likely that both these tracks already appeared on another Stereo Gold Award LP released back in 1971 (see below).



Dianne and the New Worlds - Tamla Hits
LP - Stereo Gold Award Records - MER 350 - UK - 1971

This album consists of covers of Tamla Motown hits plus four Leo Muller originals¹. Two of these "Roads End" and "Talkin' Trash" are most probably the same tracks that turned up on the Gladys Knight LP listed above and have no Thin Lizzy connection.






See also: Eric Bell, (Elmer) Fudd Thin Lizzy

Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic. If you can help, then please get in touch.




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