Anthony Smith’s Trunk Fulla Funk

On one hand, Anthony Smith’s name practically speaks for itself; not only has he tickled the ivories and thumped the bass with sax guru Karl Denson, but he’s also the self-appointed chairman of Global Funk Council, and no, that’s not a joke. They’re a real band. Over the years, he’s had his fingers in enough groovy projects to give him some serious street cred, and just the name alone should earn this record some respect right off the bat.

Fortunately, I threw all that respect-your-elders nonsense out the window a long time ago, and it’s honestly a bit disappointing to hear someone with a rap sheet like Anthony Smith crank out a painfully mediocre set of occasionally-groovy R&B tunes. Life As We Know It isn’t even really a funk record – anyone who comes into this record expecting booty-shaking grooves and raucous party jams of P-Funk or Tower of Power is probably going to walk out disappointed. On the other hand, if you like your R&B with a side of funky deep-pocket grooves and vocals that are straight out of the Karl Denson playbook, you’ll be right at home.

Unfortunately, even if the latter style is your cup o’ tea, a solid half of the songs on this CD are limp-wristed attempts at funkiness and cleverness that are either awkward, boring, or just plain unexciting. The Trunk walk a fine line between party-ready funk jams and smoother R&B, and while they keep their toes on the tightrope on more than a few songs, there’s equally as many where a cut won’t be groovy enough to get a party bumping, but it’s not quite in slow-jam territory either, and the result is typically a song that packs obvious loads of talent, just not in the songwriting department.

That’s not to say that Life As We Know It is bad – when Smith & Co finally mix their cocktail right, the results are so head-and-shoulders above the mediocre cuts that it’ll at least give you some fuel to seek out the other good ones. And there’s some seriously catchy jams on here – the chill minor-key R&B grooves on “When the Money Gets Better” and the 40’s-in-the-air sing-along swagger of “Can’t Take the Hood (Out the Homie)” are both sure shots, and the impressively groovy Rhodes/trumpet showcase that is “Lotta Fight Left” packs more old-school soul than just about any other cut on here. There’s also the more jam-ready cuts like the irresistibly head-bobbing vocal showcase “Freaky Revelation” that starts the record off with a bang, and this song could easily be a 15-minute pass-the-solo jam onstage when the Trunk take this record on tour.

What holds Life As We Know It from scoring any higher is that even though there’s more than a few tasty jams on here, they’re almost always sandwiched between songs like the club-jazz muted trumpet beatdown ode of “You Got Mopped” that are just sort of there, or, if we’re particularly unlucky, the gems are stuck next to the awkward-attempt-at-a-catchphrase “Funk Out With Your Junk Out” (seriously, the vocal harmony sounds like even they don’t know what’s going on), or the smirking attempt at tongue-in-cheek humor in “My Own Show” that’s simply not funny. Toss in a few decent, but unremarkable tracks like “Southern California” and “That What It Do”, and you’ve pretty much got an even 1:1 ratio of good cuts to, well, everything else.

Bottom line, this is a decent effort, especially for a guy who’s spent his life as a sideman and is only now kicking out a solo debut. It makes great background music, and Anthony Smith and the Trunk are clearly packing more than their share of talent, but it’ll probably take another record for their writing skills to catch up to what they’re obviously capable of.

Highlight Track: When the Money Gets Better, “Lotta Fight Left”

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