Listen 2/Razor & Tie

When last heard from, Graham Central Station was anticipating the arrival of the new century with GCS 2000, which attempted to update the Bay Area funk band’s ‘70s sound with a major assist from Prince. Raise Up also gets a little help from master bassist Larry Graham’s biggest fan, but the new sound is still the old sound – there isn’t a real attempt to move the GCS formula forward, and save for an influx of electronics, this could very well be a “lost” gem from the band’s heyday. But that’s OK because Graham, who honed his craft as a core member of Sly and the Family Stone, is still a monster player, and on Raise Up (which also features Raphael Saadiq on a track), he and the current GCS have done a great job of partying like it’s 1975.