Bands/Artists who combine rhythm, melody, harmony the best

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The whole Geir-melody thing has got me thinking. I love the Beatles and I love James Brown. My goal in making music is to combine heavy funk rhythms w/beautiful melodies and harmonies. I know this is hardly a revolutionary idea, so who do you think has already accomplished this, without sacrificing one end for the other?
Reggae comes close for me, but the melody/harmony is almost always confined to the vocals.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:04 (twenty-three years ago)

prince and house music to thread

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:05 (twenty-three years ago)

The Grodeck Whipperjenny!

― hstencil, Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:06 (twenty-three years ago)

hehe. I still think that the Happy Mondays were one of the Best at it.

― rex jr., Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

The Stone Roses and Charlatans.

(Not Happy Mondays, they had hardly any melodies at all)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

nice call on prince, but house music's rhythms are too one-dimensional (yes, I know there's exceptions) and it rarely uses harmony

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Sly and the Family Stone.
Thin Lizzy.
much of Rock en Espanol
all of Brazilian music
Stevland Morris

― Neudonym, Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Happy Mondays, they had hardly any melodies at all ????

― rex jr., Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Brazilian music, yes!

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:12 (twenty-three years ago)

At their best, Stereolab rules this thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Happy Mondays didn't have proper melodies, no. Just a lot of repetition that would probably fit on the dancefloor, but Stone Roses and Charlatans were a lot better at combining highly melodic pop songs, keeping the dance rhythms in the background.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

see, that's not what i'm looking for Geir. I want nothing to be in the background--all three components get equal billing

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Fela Kuti
Stereolab (damn you for being faster jaymc!)
Parliament Funkadelic
Fishbone

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Tough to beat Prince on this one.
I'd also have to go with a lot of reggae, but only from the late 60s through the 70s, when the songs or melodies were stronger. Toots and the Maytals, Itals, stuff like that.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Labelle

― Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:26 (twenty-three years ago)

(Watch half of ILX rise up to stone me as I mention) The Bangles.

Also, En Vogue.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:27 (twenty-three years ago)

American Football.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Borbetomagus.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:27 (twenty-three years ago)

I have to admit that I haven't heard much Stereolab.
AMG says Emperor Tomato Ketchup is Stereolab's best. Are they right? Any album of theirs that I should stay away from?

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

no, etk is the one to go for.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Go Home Productions
Freelance Hellraiser

― Burr, Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:33 (twenty-three years ago)

VIVA SANTANA!!!

― Scott Seward, Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:39 (twenty-three years ago)

waitaminit, screw Santana(well,not really).Buy all the Jorge Ben records you can find!

― Scott Seward, Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:43 (twenty-three years ago)

''Borbetomagus.''

yup!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm glad someone caught that.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:47 (twenty-three years ago)

(Watch half of ILX rise up to stone me as I mention) The Bangles.

Your other half, at least. That is, if you're counting "Eternal Flame" as part of this equation. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 6 March 2003 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

much soukous. Franco, or Kanda Bongo Man for nice examples. Solid snare drum rhythm, great guitar-led melodies. And, I guess, harmonies, since there were usually quite a number of guitars playing...

― pauls00, Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:28 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, Franco is the shizznit

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Forgive me for sounding all Xgau about this, but King Sunny Ade and a lot of African guitar music might fulfill your requirements, oops. I found a disc called "Kenyan Dance Mania" on Earthworks that kicks it. Also recommended (although not electric-guitar based): Baaba Maal (esp. Ma Yeenwi), the new Salif Keita record "Moffou," the Gigi album.

Oh, and I forgot to say that Indian-influenced electronic music and Bollywood jamz are, like Avril LaVigne, hotand hot.

― Neudonym, Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:35 (twenty-three years ago)

you know, I have a Baaba Maal live cd that I haven't even listened to yet...I've had it for like 3 years!

Can anyone recommend a good Bollywood comp.--I got the Rough Guide one and like it a lot.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:40 (twenty-three years ago)

The Very Best Bollywood Songs, Vol. 2 on Outcaste. There's much great stuff there, from really old things to 2001's Lagaan. I'm sure plenty of other people can recommend other Bollywood comps/songs.

Also, some they like the bhangra music...not as "melodic" as Bollywood, but some of it is okay.

― Neudonym, Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:44 (twenty-three years ago)

of course Prince.
closest today is N*E*R*D.
Boards of Canada. OK, maybe it's not exactly *heavy* funk.
and the Beta Band are trying really hard...they might still get there.

― pete b. (pete b.), Thursday, 6 March 2003 17:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Ornette Coleman

― Kris (aqueduct), Thursday, 6 March 2003 18:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Dead or Alive

(or not)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 6 March 2003 20:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (at melody and rythms) Phish good all around, and pretty much any band you see behind hip hop singers

― naga_pampa (naga_pampa), Thursday, 6 March 2003 22:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Some stuff by Primal Scream would fit in (although several of their stuff was not at all melodic, and most of "Give Out But Don't Give Up" wasn't neither melodic nor had much of a groove)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 March 2003 22:49 (twenty-three years ago)

A.R. Kane.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 6 March 2003 22:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Tough to beat Prince on this one.

Prince rarely did all at once. Usually it was either melodic or more rhythm oriented, he rarely managed to combine those elements.

I would say Prince's most melodic songs are "Paisley Park", "Raspberry Beret", "Little Red Corvette", "Sometimes It Rains In April" and "Glam Slam". But I don't think any of those would be among the favourites of his more "funky" fans.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 March 2003 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

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