Mark III

One of the strangest, most fascinating deep funk albums of the '70s was titled Marvin Whoremonger and credited to a band called Mark III. Conceptualized by a Las Vegas hustler, the album was built around single-take sessions recorded by guitarist Richard Thompson, bass guitarist Clifford Johnson, and drummer Michael Thompson (all of whom were high-school students at the time), as well as vocalist Marvin Neros. Producer Cholly Williams took these recordings to Hollywood and augmented them with horns, synthesizers, and percussion played by anonymous session musicians. The wildly...