Bittersweet Lou does not browse the funk section of Vinyl Vogue with any consistency but when he does, he is looking for Parliament-Funkadelic tracks. Lou bought a reissue Maggot Brain at VV, because he had to hear Eddie Hazel’s guitar stylings on the title track “Maggot Brain”, which some music influencers and listers say is the best of all-time. Debatable. There were elements of aimless noodling that left Lou a bit bored, but it was mind-blowing enough to buy out Standing on the Verge of Getting It On (also purchased at VV), where Hazel came back to the George Clinton fold after leaving the collective post-Maggot Brain. Lou must admit he liked Hazel’s comeback effort more than Maggot Brain. Again, debatable.
Beside George Clinton material, Lou is always on the lookout for Rick James and early Prince as well. What all these renowned artists have in common besides supreme funkiness, is a love of the ladies. And in promoting their musical talents. Rick James had the Mary Jane Girls and Price championed Vanity, Sheila E, Appolonia as well as Sheena Easton and The Bangles and a host of others. But before those ladies there was P-Funk and The Brides of Funkenstein: Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry.
Before hooking up with Clinton, The Brides were back-up singers with Sly and the Family Stone. They joined P-Funk in the mid-1970s. Developed from the concepts of The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, the Brides provided back-up for Eddie Hazel’s solo album Games, Dames, and Guitar Thangs in 1977. That was all just a warm-up for their debut Funk or Walk in 1978.
Funk or Walk struts in at Vinyl Vogue and is a prime cut of funk, R&B, and disco. It was released in September 1978, on Atlantic and has Clinton and Bootsy Collins’s paws all over it, but the Brides talent and charisma as singers and performers stand outas well. The star of the show is the lead single “Disco to Go”, which opens the album with a funk bang. More funk than disco to Lou’s ears. The rest of the album seems to have more elements of R&B and disco than funk but make no mistake, all the tracks walk the walk. This is party and club music for sure. The critics and public agreed as the album sold 500,000 copies and earned Mabry and Silva a Record World Award for Best New Female Artists and Best New R&B Group in 1979.
The Brides original line up of Silva and Mabry was only together for their debut album as Mabry left the group in 1979, due to the always nagging financial disagreements as well as raising a family. The group recruited Shelia Horne and Jeanette Gruber to join the remaining Silva to record the follow up album Never Buy Texas from a Cowboy in 1979. The title track is a 15-minute epic that is probably the best song The Brides ever recorded and might just be the forgotten classic of the 70s. Rolling Stone thought so, listing the album as one of the 50 coolest of all-time in 2002. Clinton also felt this was the case and had regrets about passing such a monumental opus out of his hands. Kinda like Prince rued the day he gave Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls”. It is just like that. Sure. Texas was not as financially successful as Funk or Walk but like the debut itwas well received by critics, winning a Cashbox Rhythm & Blues Award for Best Female Group.
A third album was recorded in 1980, Shadows On The Wall, Shaped Like The Hat You Wore, which was shelved at the time and not released. To Lou’s knowledge these recordings are still awaiting release in their original form. So basically, The Brides shine brightly on only two albums, only one album if you are a purist and have love for just the original line-up of Silva and Mabry. Silva and Mabry got back together in 1981 as the New Wave Brides opening for Grace Jones. It would have been interesting to cover that tour, sounds spicy. Both Silva and Mabry continued to tour and record with other bands throughout the 80s: Silva with the Gap Band and Ice Cube and Mabry with the Talking Heads. Horne and Gruber, the second wives so to speak, also continued to perform in the music industry.
In the 2000s, Silva performed with a reformed group as Dawn Silva and the Brides as a nostalgia act, of which there are videos on YouTube, but to listen to the original Brides, Clinton’s first loves, there is only one place to get it: Funk or Walk. The Brides walked the walk and sang the funk. It is definitely worth searching out this piece of 70s goodness, and you don’t have to walk further than the funk section of Vinyl Vogue.
Suggested sites and sounds:
The Brides Walking the Aisle: The Brides of Funkenstein FULL SHOW 3/18/1979 Houston
Dawn Silva Remembers: DAWN SILVA of the Brides of Funkenstein
The Brides’ Epic: Brides of Funkenstein - Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy
The Reformed Brides Performing a hit: Dawn Silva & The BRIDES of FUNKENSTEIN/ Disco to Go
— Lou Waxman