Hogan, The Hawk And Dirty John Crown (LP)

This is that absolute stank-face filth: hard, espionage drama-soul and tough, jazzy street-funk. Hogan, The Hawk & Dirty John Crown sounds like the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie from the early 70s and, packed with funky fusion and smoother orchestral numbers, it is basically that. Featuring a veritable who’s who of killer library break snakes – Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw (under sneaky alias William Parrish), Simon Haseley, Reg Tilsley and Gordon Grant – it’s not hard to see how this commands over £350 on secondary markets. This beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With’s fresh campaign with the legendary library label Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. Recorded for De Wolfe in 1972, Hogan, The Hawk, Dirty John Crown is a fantastic start-to-finish listen. The flute-funk of Hawkshaw and Parker’s opener “The Hawk” comprises driving, fuzzy, wah-wah-drizzled bell-laced breaks with synths and basslines to murder for. Up next, Haseley’s “The Happening” is a carefree, rhythmic builder with strings and horns. Let’s face it, it doesn’t prepare us for the monster that follows… Hawkshaw and Parker’s amazing “Main Chance” is likely the reason you’re here; it’s a moody, beaty proto-hip-hop banger; all rolling drums and flute-laced, organ-drenched, synth-funk breaks. Just sensational – you’ll want to play it again and again and again. The cool AF “Hogan Baby” has a soft, rounded, bluesy feel – it’s a lighter number and Haseley’s work here sounds more than a little indebted to Burt Bacharach. It’s melancholic, reflective and contains ace breaks with beautiful flutes and wistful horns. It’s just gorgeous. Grant’s pounding “Dirty John Crown” brilliantly conjures swirling string-swept serenity atop driving, incisive drama-funk breaks. Sublime. Hawkshaw and Parker come roaring back with the murky, creeping crime-funk of “Swarf” with killer basslines underpinning slow-mo high-class flute-funk. Reg Tilsley enters the fray with the bright, snappy, carefree “Turnover”. It’s lig…