Deep Groove Encyclopedia

General Caine

Click below for a General Caine sample:

Alternately known as Caine and Kane, this artist was born Mitch McDowell and remembered for hard-hitting funk. Technically, General Caine is a group, but McDowell was so clearly the front man that many consider him a solo artist. He adopted the General moniker after a role model from his stint in a military academy; less is known about the origin of Caine, although if you look at the second album, it's pretty obvious. .

His first foray into music was with the short-lived group Booty People, whose sole album was released in 1977. The following year, he signed with producer Grover Wimberly's Groove Time label and released the extremely funky Let Me In. The follow-up, Get Down Attack, featured the underground classic "Shake" and prompted interest from larger labels.

While retaining Wimberly as his producer, Caine nonetheless signed with Tabu, which issued Girls and Dangerous. These albums must not have generated the kind of sales the label hoped for, as the General was discharged in 1983.

One quickly-forgotten single for Capitol preceded a move to Motown, where he would have his largest chart success. Now known as Kane, "Crack Killed the Applejack" was one of the first songs to explicitly mention the drug and its effects on the black community. It was certainly the first hit to do so, reaching #12 in 1986. A subsequent single, "Girl Pulled the Dog," reached #33 in 1987. By this point, Kane had started including some mellower sounds into his repertoire, yet this was to be his final album. It seemed like all of Kane's contracts seemed to run for two albums or less; alas, he never found another label to record for and he was murdered in January 1992. .

General Caine's Deepest Grooves

Let Me In (Groove Time, 1978)
Stellar cuts are "I'm the Man" and "Just In Time."

Get Down Attack (Groove Time, 1980)
Possibly the best of Caine's records, check for "Shake," "Snake and the Worm" and "Heartbeat."

Girls (Tabu, 1982)
"It's Getting Deep" and "Girls" are quality cuts.

Dangerous (Tabu, 1983)

"Where's the Beef" (Capitol, 1984)

In Full Chill (Motown, 1986)

Wide Open (Motown, 1987)

Pure Funk (Groove Time, 1995)
Essentially an EP of the best known cuts from the first two albums, with an additional remix of "Pop."