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Rare funk from the same Minneapolis scene that gave the world Prince – a legendary indie set from the end of the 70s, put together by Lewis brothers Pierre and Andre! Despite their French names, the duo have a mighty American groove on the set – a wicked approach to funk that’s very much in the best ensemble mode of the period – but leaner too, given the smaller lineup, and relatively sparse production – which makes most of the record bristle like some rare boogie 45! Vocals are by the brothers, plus female singer Barbara Bolar, and later Prince-mate Sonny Thompson – and Prince himself even adds in some slight magic to one cut on the set. Titles include “Dynamic Duo”, “Got To Be Something”, “Get Up”, “Higher”, “Feel Good To Ya”, and “Mr G”.

Teens funkin’ for Minnesota. Short but sweet LP of pretty tight jams with some interesting (though of course dated) keyboard sounds throughout. Oh, should I mention that this record features some guy named Prince (on just one song)? To be fair, apparently it was reported that Prince said he did not play on it. But he is credited on the back cover. The fact that the record also credits Sonny Thompson on bass, who would go on to play bass for the Purple One cements it for me.

Besides that, you can tell this group had a lot of fun making the record. Their happy go lucky vibe transfers over easily to the listener. In fact, I think this album is considerably better than many of the supposed holy grails of late 70s rare funk. The Lewis Connection never went anywhere as a band, of course, but they can be proud of their brief recorded moment in time.

Who were the Lewis Connection, and seriously, why didn’t they check the spelling before printing the jacket?  This was a super sweet 1979 funk group featuring future NPG bassist Sonny Thompson (Sonny T on the Prince records) and their album features, on only one track, Prince himself.  People pay up to $1000 for this record* because its believed to be Prince’s first appearance on wax.

And its good, and the rest of the album is solid spacey and soulful 70s funk.

I’ve never been sure it really is Prince’s first appearance on a record.  It seems entirely possible that For You hit shelves well before The Lewis Conection, being released in April of 1979.  Maybe, however, Prince recorded with Sonny T’s group in Minneapolis (At Sound 80) before he went to California to record his Warner Bros. debut at the Record Plant in LA, and it took a while for PA Productions to releaseThe Lewis Conection.  I don’t know and I’m not enough of a Prince fan to learn.
I did learn how to make the Prince symbol on a keyboard, though.

A1.  Get Up  (6:55)
A2.  Higher  (8:00)
A3.  Feel Good To Ya  (3:10)

B1.  Got To Be Something Here  (4:12)
B2.  Dynamic Duo  (4:00)
B3.  Mr. G  (5:05)