Planet Earth

"TWENTY MILES FROM BUFFALO"

By Rob Bowman



Seventies funk meets twenty-first century soul might be the best way of describing the heady vibe that characterizes Planet Earth’s newest platter, Twenty Miles from Buffalo. Released on the band’s own Sleeping Eddie Music label, Twenty Miles from Buffalo is the third disc from what has become an impressively mature, seasoned funk outfit of hellacious proportions.

The core group consist of Ron Littlejohn on lead vocals; Ben Riley, son of Canadian music icon Doug Riley, on drums; Glenn Olive on bass and the Juno Award-wining Dylan Heming on the keys. For Twenty Miles from Buffalo they are augmented by guitar wizards Dan Noordermeer, Kevin Breit, Jake Langley and Sean Baillie; Adele Armin on violin, Holly Cole and Courtney Farquhar on backing vocals and a crack horn section consisting of Steve Donald, Kevin Turcotte, Tim Rutledge and Perry White.Holding down a six year residency at the Orbit Room, Toronto’s emporium of all things soulful, Planet Earth’s ascendancy among local hipsters is reflected in the fact that they routinely are tapped to open up for visiting hip hop, funk and jazz artists such as K-OS, Maestro, Maceo Parker and Joey DeFrancesco.

Sporting a heady brew of diverse influences, various tracks on Twenty Miles from Buffalo remind one of Stevie Wonder (dig the vocals and funky clavinet on “Leading Me On”), George Benson (check out the guitar on “Coming On Strong”), Bill Withers (love the vinyl scratches lovingly juxtaposed with the Withers-influenced vocals on “Love Someone”), Steely Dan (sophisto jazz-funk rears its head on “Drive All Night”) and Tower of Power (funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter horns on the appropriately named “Bump Theory”). The influences on other songs, such as “ Testimony", are less specific as the track’s funky clavinet and crisp snare timbre suggests the sound of a myriad number of great seventies funk tracks. The highlight cut to these ears, though, is the enigmatic “White Trash Disco” where a heavily filtered vocal on the verses that is somewhat reminiscent of the great Dr. John meets a Funkadelic styled bass line and blues guitar and harp playing. The climax comes in the breakdown at the end of the track comprised of a rural blues take on a verse from Big Mama Thornton’s immortal original recording of “Hound Dog.”

In total, the ten tracks on Twenty Miles from Buffalo conjure up a soul satisfying stew that should satisfy any hipster’s palette. Dig in.



Rob Bowman is a five-time Grammy Award nominee, he won a Grammy in 1996 for Best Album Notes for his 47,000 word monograph accompanying the 10-CD boxed set of The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972-1975, which he co-produced. His nominations included Best Album Notes for The Malaco Records Story: The Last Soul Company and The Complete Stax Singles, Vol. 1 1959-1968, and Best Historical Reissue for The Otis Redding Story. He received his fifth Grammy nomination in January 2002 for Best Album Notes for the 4 CD box set The Stax Story, which he also co-produced.

Mr.Bowman is a Professor in Ethnomusicology and currently serves as Director of York University's Graduate Program in Ethnomusicology & Musicology.



PRESS.

"The Ali Shuffle settled nicely into my consciousness. Songs like "Lovetown" seem to be more rooted in jazz, with eclectic tempos and easy keyboards. The verses in "What's dat Funk" are reminiscent of Macy Gray's "Caligula." Granted, this CD isn't for everyone, but the mixture of jazz and funk works. There are definite 70's and 80's funk influences at play here. Some of the stronger tracks are "Lovetown" and "Dont f**k with the sh*t on the kit."

CHART - CANADA'S MUSIC MAGAZINE 4/5 stars



"If you're tired of the same old top 40 hit music, Planet Earth may be the band to take you out of that funk. Their live performance should not be missed."

DAYNA HAHN, Et Cetera magazine

"The dark pink and purple light atmosphere of the Reverb transformed into an orange and red glowing funk party. Planet Earth's front man, self-taught vocalist Nathaniel Littlejohn, appeared in an oversize pair of yellow sunglasses, a strawberry ice cream coloured top, and pants that looked like a collage of old cereal box designs bearing the words: "Jim Dandy Enriched Hominy Grits" in red letters. Planet Earth IS funk."

JESSE KOHL, Just Isn't Music contributer

"It's obvious that Planet Earth takes an original spin on just about everything under the sun.It certainly won't be long before Planet Earth funks you right out of the world you know and straight into theirs. Look out, its gonna be one funky ride!"

KRISTINA KOSKI, Pop Can magazine

"These musicians brought back a feeling I had certainly not experienced in the city since the late70's; funkafied R&B vibes complete with strings, which the band poured out to us in large doses and the joint let loose and bodies began to move. It can be said that funk has officially arrived in the Megacity. It was Afrika Bambaataa who said it first in his classic Planet Rock: "Y'all wanna get funky!" Now as you listen to Planet Earth, you can dig what that truly means."

DJ CHAZ, Club Music magazine

"Littlejohn, in superb falsetto vocals, creates the ultimate Funk/Blues/Soul groove along with the mastery of the his band that includes Ben Riley with a fearless attack on drums, Glenn Olive playing outstanding bass lines, and on the beloved Hammond B3 that is a regular fixture at the Orbit Room, Dylan Heming harmonizing and capturing the essence of each vocal selection of Littlejohn's, both vocally and instrumentally, at times coaxing the organ to sound like another voice. Littlejohn has captured the era of Soul and puts his heart into each song presented. He has developed an enthralling style of medley singing that begins with his title choice, with the band all the while executing the precision instrumental beat and harmonically perfect sound complementing throughout, culminating in an experience of each song flowing into the next as one smooth, continuous movement of spirit, sound and soul!"

CARLA JACKMAN