In 1977, the Larry Blackmon-led Funk-based R&B and Soul band Cemo made their debut when they released “Cardiac Arrest”. The New York-based ensemble is so-called as they took influence from the greats in Monster Funk to come up with something that works for them where they contain a massive group of part-timers who all come together, giving short cameos , to create the desired effect. Not only was it their first album, but it also enabled them to break into the mainstream from the get-go.
1. “Still Feels Good”
The album gets underway with a tune which really seems perfect to set things up and give a good understating of what to expect form them as they pull out a fly jam where they pull together all of what they have, to offer together to come up with a feel-good tune, and one which enables you to understand how carefree there ways generally are, and how it has led to the sound that you find with this tune (as a starter).
**Four Stars**
2. “Post Mortem”
With William
Revis leading the thing with a fly bass groove that takes on all the sorts of characteristics that were prevalent in the most popular Funk grooves, you see that with this one they just get down to things and take very little notice of hat others have to bring as they go hard with a fresh dance cut that takes what was done on the opening track to another level and shows just how they, just as most Funk grooves, don’t really needed many vocals to achieve things.
**Five Stars**
3. “Smile”
The format that you see Larry Blackmon has composed for this one seems to get them taking on much more of an R&B style here as they mellow thing as out, and it seems to enable them to come out with something that subtly brings through the grittier things in some of the less-prominent instruments and finds that it has Larry show the strength of his Soul vocals for this uplifting recording.
**Four Stars**
4. “Funk, Funk”
As the title indicates, this one is purely about delivering their own ‘C-Funbk’ material, and you can’t say that it wasn’t given up in this case as you see that from the initial Revis riff, you get all that you could possibly need in a Funk tune before the rest of the band come to assts and mould a very laid-back Funk composition that is filled with Funk at its optimum level (even though they are just debuting here).
**Five Stars**
5. “Find My Way”
Here they come through with another of the R&B tunes, but in this case you find that the results of it really aren’t as impressive as they are seen to be elsewhere on the album as it seems to get them performing in a much more commercialised manner with a bit of a Disco feel to things and not really pulling through with the authentic Funk that made such an impact. However, the vocal performance is strong and does show more to them.
**Two Stars**
6. “Rigor Mortis”
Here they get right into the biggest single from this album and the one track that brought them into the mainstream world. It is a banger of a tune and one that stands amongst the best within this record at having the band working at their best as they perform a fresh tune that it is just all about pulling out the best that they can in their dance-based material by creating a tune based on the absolute opposite to what this song forces you to into as they create their own Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk.
7. “Good Times”
Here they seem to have worked off the biggest track on the album to enable them to come up with even more hardcore Fun k material and, of course, this is a massive boost to the way things are going on the record as they pull through with a killer tune where they give a strong balance between many varying elements and styles to make for a tune which seems to do it all for them as do another party jam.
**Four Stars**
8. “Stay By Your Side”
The album ends in a manner which seesm to reflect the kind of thing that you get in “Find My Way” as they get into one where they change their style quite a bit and rely on high-pitched vocals on the most part to help them through the thing. You see that here, rather than including Disco elements, they performing what is essentially a ballad, but not a particularly strong one at that, so it doesn’t finish the thing in the best way.
**Two Stars**
Aside from the two tracks that don’t really do much for it, this is a strong debut for the band and one that has them showing a multitude of various potential directions they could have taken their music after. The Funk in it is hardcore, but to undermine this with Disco does seem to confuse things quite a bit, but on the whole it is a good one.
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