Nearly three decades since Con Funk Shun’s last proper album, the group has reunited for the new single “Your Night” and promises a new album in early 2015 titled More Than Love.
Overwhelmed at news of the 1970s/1980s mainstays return to the game decades after hits such as “Ffun,” “Too Tight” and “Electric Lady”? Us, too, but we preface watching the music video and listening to “Your Night” with this: the tune is a far different sound than the funk guitar and synth-driven tunes that fill most of the band’s catalog and dance floors. And that’s more than OK.
Certainly on the song, rather than trying to keep up current trends, the guys offer up gentlemanly sung lyrics of romance and taking that special lady out on a date. It’s the complete opposite of many mainstream R&B males’ sex-you-down poetry, and instead of offering the scowls of today’s young crooners, the group looks like it's having a good time performing the song, with members smiling away.
But the old-school track doesn’t completely abhor newness -- it embraces it as listeners throughout the video view the group’s showcase on iPads, smartphones and desktop computers. The up-to-date technology is such a big part of this clip (one woman receives a text invite to date -- a bit of a dating fail, however) that some of the machinery is likely to need an upgrade within a year. Still, the track has the potential to be timeless, and not just because it brings a little bit of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything” flavor to its melody.
