Shock - Waves (1982)

Shock was "the other" funk band from Portland, Oregon - Pleasure being the first. They released their first album Electrophonic Funk on the local Nebula Circle label in 1980. After that they were signed on Fantasy Records, where they released 3 more albums.

Shock's third album Waves starts off promising with 'Electrophonic Phunk', an aptly titled funk manifesto. Nothing really original here, and that goes for the rest of the album aswell (the George Clinton / p-funk influence is obvious, as it was on their earlier albums), but Shock manages throw in some nice funk jams to spice up your party. The Pleasure connection is also there, as Pleasure's Marlon McClain gives a helping hand on the guitar and production department.

After Shock keyboard player / leader Roger Sause, bassist Joe Plass and Marlon McClain teamed up to write songs, tour and record with smooth jazz criminal Kenny G. Some of the members united in 2000 for another Shock album called 'Retroman', which - despite it's title - sounds pretty contemporary.

The main core of Shock are still more or less involved with funk and r&b music; Roger Sause runs Perfect World Entertainment booking agency specialized in funk and disco, Joe Plass released a single last year, and singer Malcolm Noble is still performing live.

Personnel:

Roger Sause: keyboards, percussion

Billy Bradford: lead and background vocals

Johnny Riley: drums, percussion

Scott Boyd: guitar

Steve Snyder: saxophones

Steve Sause: keyboards

Malcolm Noble: lead and background vocals

Ricky Ollison: trumpet, flugelhorn, lead vocals

Steve Liddle: trombones

Joe Plass: bass, percussion

 Marlon McClain: guitar, percussion

Bruce Smith: percussion

Mike Demmers: bass, trombone

Brad Maracich: trumpet

Radar - Trofee (1985)

Radar was a soviet-era estonian fusion jazz band, which recorded one EP and 2 albums on the USSR state owned label Melodiya. In the beginning of their career Radar had been working as a backup band for pop singer Jaak Joala, and their first release from 1981 is basicly a 7" pop EP with Joala singing on every track. But these musicians were talent of a different scope and eventually wanted to do something more ambitious. Gone was Joala and pop songs in 1984 when Radar recorded their first album Trofee ("Trophy"),  but some of the pop sensibilities remained, as most of the songs have memorable themes. Trofee was released the next year, and already by then Radar's constantly changing lineup was drasticly different from the one playing on the album.

Their second album 'Baltic Coast', released in 1987, lacks the energy present on Trofee. Keyboard player Sergei Pedersen, who composed most of the material on Trofee and was the leader of the band, was in every incarnation of Radar. On Trofee we have Pedersen and Aare Põder on keyboards, Nevil Blumberg on electric guitar, Paap Kõlar on drums and Raul Vaigla on fretless bass, who was 22 years old then and already a master of his instrument.

Here's a music video for the first track, 'Tipptund Kesklinnas':