For those interested to know, despite unashamedly injecting an infectious sense of fun and irreverence in his take on funk – as evidenced on early 70s hits ‘Troglodyte (Cave Man)’ and ‘Bertha Butt Boogie’ – Jimmy Castor was a serious musician who more than lived up to his nickname, “The Everything Man”.

He could sing as well as play the saxophone, piano, vibraphone, and assorted percussion instruments, and if that wasn’t enough, he was also an accomplished bandleader, arranger and producer.

This package features the Top Ten Pop and RnB Hit and probably The Jimmy Castor Bunch’s most notable song ‘Troglodyte (Cave Man)’, an amusing story of a stone age man narrated by Castor over a searing funk groove, it was certainly a stylistic anomaly compared with the rest of the album.

The track began with Castor saying, “What we’re going to do right here is go back – way back, back into time,” a famous intro that has been much-sampled by rap acts in the hip-hop age. The record was certified Gold.

Other notable tracks on the package, and there are a few, are ‘The Bertha Butt Boogie’, ‘Potential’, ‘King Kong’, ‘Supersound’, ‘Bom Bom’ and ‘Space Age’ 12” Disco Mix. Jimmy also liked to cover the hits of the day and set also includes Elton John’s ‘Daniel’, Roberta Flack’s ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ and The O’Jays’ ‘Love Train’ plus Jimmy’s tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

The Jimmy Castor Bunch’s music has been sampled approximately 296 times, the most popular of Castor’s tracks in terms of being sampled is ‘It’s Just Begun’, which has been plundered 145 times, by everyone from Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five and M/A/ R/R/S in the 80s to The Spice Girls in the 90s and Pharrell Williams in the 2000s.

CD 1:
1. Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You
2. Southern Fried Frijoles
3. Creation (Prologue)
4. It’s Just Begun
5. Troglodyte (Cave Man)
6. You Better Be Good (Or the Devil Gon’ Getcha)
7. Psyche
8. L.T.D. (Life, Truth, & Death)
9. Creation (Epilogue)
10. Say Leroy (The Creature From The Black Lagoon Is Your Father)
11. Luther The Anthropoid (Ape Man)
12. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
13. Tribute To Jimi
14. Paradise
15. I’m Not a Child Anymore
16. Soul Serenade (Remastered 2002)
17. Bertha Butt Boogie
18. E-Man Boogie
19. Let’s Party Now
20. Daniel

CD 2:
1. Potential
2. Hallucinations
3. One Precious Word
4. Love Train
5. The Everything Man
6. Maggie
7. Supersound
8. King Kong
9. Bom Bom
10. A Groove Will Make You Move
11. Super Love
12. E-Man Groovin’
13. Dracula, Pt. I
14. I Love A Mellow Groove
15. Everything Is Beautiful To Me

CD 3:
1. Space Age (12″ Disco Version)
2. E-Man Par-Tay
3. Maximum Stimulation
4. The Return Of Leroy, Pt. 1
5. Mind Power
6. Tr-7
7. Don’t Do That!
8. Party People
9. I Just Wanna Stop
10. Need Your Lovin’

Featuring all of Jimmy Castor’s RnB chart hits, this expansive, groove-laden and funk-licious 3CD set cannot go wrong when it brings forth the highly successful - on both the pop and R&B charts in 1972 - It’s Just Begun, the Jimmy Castor Bunch then knocking out song after song in much the same vein thereafter.

With the band adhering closely to their cool R&B, soulful goodness in every track on this wondrous collection, including right down to using an orchestral instrumental for quite a few intro’s and epilogue’s, as a result, the hits keep a’comin’!

Another standout example of this musical phenomenon is the belter Luther the Anthropoid (Ape Man), which sports a funky groove, but could also be construed as part one of the million-selling crossover hit single Troglodyte, I guess.

No matter, there are super tight arrangements and an infectiously funky performance from the band on everything that comes within this jam-packed assortment of musical goodies.

Say Leroy (The Creature From the Black Lagoon Is Your Father) mixes Latin rock with frenzied funk-rock breaks to create a punchy tune that gave the band another pop hit and Psyche is an effective, fuzz guitar-drenched trip, to say the least!

The most unusual and interesting of these cuts is Tribute to Jimi (Purple Haze/Foxy Lady), a novel medley that layers the vocal melody and lyrics of Foxy Lady over the tune of Purple Haze. Another great track is the softer moments found within Paradise, a pleasantly harmonized ballad.

Beyond these favorites, the group knocks out a relentless stream of thick, funky grooves as Jimmy Castor tackles everything from morality (You Better Be Good (Or the Devil Gon’ Getcha)) to philosophy (L.T.D., which stands for life, truth, and death).

Featuring many more tracks that cover the second and third discs here in this incredible 3CD set, the only other thing to say is that if you like hearing guitar played with, at times, a definitive spacey Jimi Hendrix-feel, in addition to instrumental jazzy melodies, Latin percussion, horns and bass, then this is 100% the funkified groove collection you have been looking for, my friend !

It also includes sleeve notes by MOJO and Record Collector journalist Charles Waring.

Official 3CD Album Purchase Link