Straight Ahead is the 5th album from Brian Auger's jazz funk fusion group Oblivion Express. It's a solid follow up to their breakout album Closer To It, and musically very similar. This was not by accident as the album was clearly patterned after it, and its primary purpose was to have an album to tour the States with. Straight Ahead catches a groove early and never quits. Auger leads the way with organ, electric piano, and vocals. The latter is not something he's known for, but I quite like his vocal style myself. Smooth and expressive. Better than some of the professional vocalists he'd used on other albums. Hard to pick a favorite here, but I'll go with Wes Montgomery's 'Bumpin on Sunset', which interestingly enough I have a promo 45 single of. Excellent album overall.
Ownership: CD: 2006 Fuel 2000 (USA). Purchased near the time of release. Excellent reissue with full historical liner notes and one bonus track. The latter is the title track recorded live up the road in Denver, appropriate since the album's existence was to play live in the US.
2008; 7/24/13; 9/20/22 (new entry)
No comments:
Post a Comment