Non-Stop (Expanded Edition)

When one thinks of the cultural contributions that Brooklyn's African-American neighborhoods made in the 1980s and 1990s, the people who immediately come to mind range from director Spike Lee to major rappers (the Fat Boys, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Biz Markie, among many others) to soul/urban contemporary singer James "D-Train" Williams. But back in the 1970s, Brooklyn was known for its disco-minded brand of funk. Brooklyn funk wasn't the kind of hardcore funk that you expected from James Brown, George Clinton's P-funk empire (Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, the Brides of Funkenstein, etc.), the Gap Band, Rick James, or the Ohio Players -- it was funk-disco, and Brooklyn outfits like B.T. Express, the Crown Heights Affair, and Skyy were huge in the clubs (especially black clubs). When B.T. Express' second album, Non-Stop, came out in 1975, Scepter assumed that it would fare well in dance clubs -- and sure enough, club DJs went wild over this record. However, Non-Stop contained some major radio hits as well, including "Peace Pipe" and "Give It What You Got" (both of which reached number five on Billboard's R&B singles chart). Meanwhile, "Still Good, Still Like It" and "Discotizer" are among that tracks that weren't big radio hits but grabbed the attention of club jocks. The LP's only ballad is a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David favorite "Close to You"; although B.T. Express' version is pleasant enough, the fact remains that romantic ballads were never its strong point. Up-tempo material is what defines Non-Stop and makes it one of the band's finest, most essential albums. ~ Alex Henderson