In the Street

Next to "Renaissance", this is the best VP album. It follows closely on the heels of "Renaissance"'s ground breaking, eclectic sound and vision. You really can't compare the two, although they are somewhat related. Like "Sgt Pepper" was related to "Magical Mystery Tour" in a way, but it was a totally different album with a different feel to it, and it's own sort of "vibe" with different songs. Just like "Magical Mystery Tour" shows that the Beatles had grown up and "learned" from the psychedelic experiments of "Sgt Pepper", so too does "In The Street" have remnants of the "Renaissance" era, but with a new twist. This was The Village People's attempt at hip-hop, but not rap. One look at the cover and you can tell that these guys are coming to break-dance. The boom box on the shoulder, the whole brash, excellent New York attitude, it's all there, they look like a bunch of b-boys coming to battle Rock Steady Crew at the Roxy or something. It gets you prepared for the first few tracks which are SONIC FUNK BOMBS. Many of them are elongated funk jams that rival Parliament-Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" and James Brown's 1970's output like "Make It Funky" and "Hot Pants"