One Down marked a distinct shift in sound for
Material, the avant-garde downtown pickup group organized around bassist
Bill Laswell and keyboardist
Michael Beinhorn. The edgy experimentalism that characterized earlier efforts like
Temporary Music and
Memory Serves is downplayed here in favor of funk and disco tunes delivered with a minimum of weirdness. Sure, it sounds dated but that doesn't make it less attractive.
Laswell is a master of funk bass, and with guests like drummer
Yogi Horton, guitarist
Nile Rodgers and singers
Nona Hendryx and
Whitney Houston (just before she became a superstar on her own), he didn't really have much chance to go wrong. Highlights include"Take a Chance" and the strutting "I'm the One"; if you want something a little more challenging, check out
Archie Shepp's squalling sax solo on the Houston vehicle "Memories." This is straight-ahead turn-of-the-80s funk at its old-fashioned best from the folks you'd have least suspected of harboring such sympathies.