The sadly-missed Terry Funk famously advised us to ‘Fight Forever’. He didn’t say ‘Sing Forever’ and this album is a good example of why.
Not much is known about ‘Great Texan’. It was released in 1984 on the Invitation label which was a Japanese record imprint and it’s packed full of Japanese musicians. The music is played to a high standard.
It’s the songs which are the issue. Written mainly by Jimmy Hart, who we know had a hit with the Gentrys (‘Keep On Dancing’, folks) and wrote many a wrestling ditty, including entrance tunes for The Honky Tonk Man, British Beefcake and, erm, 3 Count; he also penned the theme tune for Summerslam ’88. So he had lineage.
But…
There’s another issue. Terry Funk was a fantastic promo, entertaining, innovative and ominous. But it can’t be denied that he favoured a quieter delivery than those who
would scream and shout – that worked on promo beautifully, but for a singing voice, it has an oddly distant and unnecessarily wistful quality, particularly when singing Pop,
Soul and Funk.
So, to the songs. Let’s be clear, some of these would be kitchen sink but mid-range disco delights if we didn’t have the reputation of Terry Funk standing over them. The title track is a case in point. Big horns, check. Wacca guitar, check. Female soully backing vocals? Check check. This is just great, the delivery, that is; The Funker is another thing, he half raps, he tried some rather off key singing (no auto tune back then…), he even attempts to croon about being a tender gent. It’s a real shame.
And an even bigger one that some tracks have smoky 80’s sax, ‘Rappongi’, a sultry Soul sound with a Kenny G solo, or the ridiculous womanly rundown of the supposedly
good stuff (‘Dolly Parton’s chest’…) but ‘Barbra Streisand’s Nose’, the ‘Beat It’ riff and widdling Rock six string solo doesn’t fit with the synth strings. Written by Jimmy Hart, bet
he doesn’t talk about that one very often…
The two big tracks here are a track called ‘We Like To Rock’ which doesn’t, it’s actually more like the soundtrack to ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ with needling synths and female backing vocals providing much needed help to Terry’s speak singing and a sudden sax solo.
And ‘We Hate School’, which is almost awful, even if you think it’s cool for a 40 year old man to lead a call against skool, the plucked bass, massive Rockin’ solo and sloganeering might put you off.
Inside Pulse told us:
‘…Believe me when I tell you that Great Texan is a masterpiece. It’s the pinnacle of seventies overproduced, shortsighted, quick-buck music projects. Not only is it incredibly funny at times it also, shock of shocks, actually features a couple competent songs that you could listen to in front of non-wrestling fans without feeling embarrassed.’
This album is neither one thing nor the other, great Disco out of Disco’s time, Rock but not enough, a voice that’s often sweet on the ear but doesn’t quite make it on it’s own. In wrestling terms, Terry Funk was a Great Texan and clearly that’s the way he should be remembered, not as a funky crooner; if you listen to this album, fire up the WCW ‘Clash Of Champions IX’ I Quit match with Ric Flair straight after.
