2022 Fusion / Jazz Journal Vol. 2 - Complete

*Carpenters - Close to You. 1970 A&M (LP). Pulled this out of What's Left for $1 (Dec). I see this album all the time in the thrifts, but usually not in the best condition. I had a copy prior that I gave to a friend. Anyway I get all weepy with this title. 'We've Just Begun' just slays me every time, hitting on some core nerve of innocence from my 5 year old self. And it's never been fair (at all) to pair up Bacharach and these two siblings. Sentimentality overload! Has anyone ever listened to that last Richard Carpenter piece 'Another Song'? What the hell? Sounds like Krautrock, and Karen is bashing the drums like Klaus Schulze's sister, not Richard's. What did Nixon say? "Finest young group in America is going to entertain us tonight. The Carpenters ladies and gentlemen." Wow. Bet they didn't play 'Another Song'... Crate digger tip: The white label promo version of this album goes for big bucks. Since I learned that little tidbit, I've inspected the label from scores of copies, but never have yet seen one. It is indeed scarce.

Pharoah Sanders - Love Will Find A Way. 1978 Arista (LP). Thrift shop find (Dec). You're not going to find too many people who say this is the Sanders album to buy. Though one could argue it's his most accessible work. Smooth jazz and disco are not the qualities Sanders brings to the table. It starts off pretty nice actually but the material runs thin after awhile. And it gets almost irritating by the end. The general populace ranks this as his low point. 

Junior Vega - Images of Music. 19?? Variety (LP). Interesting recent thrift shop find (Dec). Trumpeter Vega plays a compendium of Latin jazz styles including Samba, Bossa Nova, Mambo, Bomba, and Guajira. Mambo is about 40% but I'll be damned if I could tell you much of a difference between them. Blindfolded I doubt I could identify even the Bossa Nova track, a genre I've become very familiar with in the last 3-4 years. He's backed up by no less than 11 musicians. This one is a borderline keeper, as it has a very satisfying sound.

Oriental Wind - Live in der Balver Hohle. 1978 JG (LP). Collection revisit (Sep). Back in 2001 I was taking chances on ebay for any interesting looking jazz rock records, mostly European. This was long before the CDRWL, YouTube, and other outlets provided to me. If I saw something at a good price, that appeared like I would enjoy it, I would pop for it. Oriental Wind was somewhat typical of the style of albums I was buying. This is a very fine world fusion effort, with spirited Turkish drummer Okay Temiz leading the Swedish quintet through a serious of extended workouts. Musically I'm reminded of Embryo's later jazz efforts (many years after this) and some of Aera's work, in particular the saxophone playing. All in all, falls a bit too much into the jazz playing field for me to grab ahold on, though my rating remains the same (very good). 21 years on from that first listen and I don't think this one will make the cut, even though there are no reissues. Bar keeps getting higher.

Krzysztof Zgraja - Laokoon. 1981 Polskie Nagrania (LP). Collection revisit (Sep). Same as the above, purchased near the same time for the same reason. And like Oriental Wind, my rating remains unchanged, but this isn't really much in my wheelhouse. Laokoon is hardcore flute jazz, well done for the style, and certainly isn't pop influenced fluff. But it's not avant garde either. This title, however, did manage to get reissued in 2018. So if I change my mind at least a copy can be attainable. 

Anna Margarida - Anna. 1968 Vault (LP). Recent thrift shop find (Sep). Since I restarted my crate digging activities in 2019, two types of music emerged as new styles of choice for me: funk - especially jazz funk - and bossa nova. Ms. Margarida is of the latter. From Brazil, naturally enough, this is her primary album. It's very soothing and well done. However it's a bit too orchestrated and syrupy for me to want to go extra rounds with it. So it falls short of the Sergio Mendes bar. Not enough tequila in this Margarida (just had to write that didn't I?). 

Chakachas - Jungle Fever. 1972 Polydor (LP). This ended up being a disappointment. I had a rare single by these Belgian guys (captured here on UMR) and thought a full album would be pretty cool. I expected Latin Funk or even some Latin Rock. What you get is Latin Jazz. Pretty much the same kind of music Rene Bloch was doing a decade prior. Nothing wrong with that of course, just not what I'm looking for. Closing title track is by far the best thing here. Oh well, can't win 'em all. (Sep)

*Rafael Moreira - Acid Guitar. 2005 Music Magnet (CD). Thrift shop find (Apr). With a title like that, there was no way I'm leaving it behind. I have no idea who Moreira is, but this is one superb album. Acid Guitar is not exactly what I expected though. In fact I was afraid it would be one of those nauseous guitar feedback overload albums like we hear coming from Japan. It's nothing of the sort - rather it has a bit of funk and Bossa Nova mixed in. The latter an homage to Moreira's native Brazil. There are some sublime psychedelic guitar moments as well as hard rock. A wonderful surprise on what appears to be a mostly unknown CD. A CD I might add that is a private pressing that comes in a first class 6 panel digipak.

* - Keeping for the collection

2021 Funk / Soul Journal Vol. 3 - Complete

***The following all came from the 10 cent bin of 45s at Independent (Jul):

Jean Knight - Do Me / Save the Last Kiss For Me. 1972 Stax (SP). 'Do Me' has a big fat beat, but is still mostly female sung soul music. The B side is even more geared that way. Average to good for the style I'd rate. Both tracks are non-LP.

Willie Hutch - Theme of Foxy Brown. 1974 Motown promo mono/stereo (SP). This is one of those promo 45s with one track, each in stereo and mono. Wah wah rhythms and soaring strings, with Hutch crooning on top. It's the Isaac Hayes / Marvin Gaye formula. Not bad, but at 2:25, you're left wanting more. There's a full album of this from the movie, and I'll have to hear it at some point.

Chakachas - African Yama (Vocal/Instrumental). 1974 Janus promo (SP). I know of this Belgian band Chakachas, but haven't heard too much beyond a sample or two. This one has a really nice groove to it, with fine wah and horns. The vocal part lives up to its African heritage, but overall it's a bit dull for repeated listening. Sounds more like incidental TV music. Both of these versions can be found on a very obscure Brazilian release known as Vendo Mango. To the best of my knowledge, despite the US single, the album was never released here domestically.

***end of sale

Dennis Coffey and The Detroit Guitar Band - Evolution. 1971 Sussex (LP). Thrift shop find (Jul). I had been tipped that this album was a strong instrumental heavy funk album with wah wah guitar. Which is mostly true, except it's not particularly heavy or overly funky. There's a three guitar attack here, and a couple of the tracks are really great. But mostly it flies by as background music. Reminds me of another obscuro I once owned from Memphis called Washrag. Good on the whole, but not necessary. 

King Errisson - The Magic Man. 1976 Westbound (LP). This was next to the above album in the thrift (Jul). And now I know why. Dennis Coffey is the guitar player! And I'm certainly not going to pass up anything on the Westbound label anyway. When the needle first hit I thought I was in for some monster funk grooves. But not so. It's more ear friendly, with some references to Errisson's Caribbean upbringing. There's some cover tracks and steel drums here and there. Good on the whole, and one for Westbound and funk deep divers, but it was all way too above the surface for me to keep. 

Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker - I've Got the Music In Me. 1975 Sheffield Lab (LP). From Independent (Jul). Thelma Houston went on to become a soul megastar in the late 70s, but right before that, she released this one album on the well respected audiophile label Sheffield Lab. Houston sings on half the album, and mostly it's standard soul music. The other half are instrumentals by the band Pressure Cooker (who of course provide the music for Houston as well). Their tunes are wide ranging from reggae to Dixieland to jazz to horn rock. The latter track is titled after the band, and is the clear highlight. A good album on the whole, though not something I'll need to keep. Comes in a fine gatefold cover.

*Hidden Strength. 1975 United Artists (Canada) (LP). From an estate sale (Jul). I never heard of Hidden Strength before, but a quick lookup demonstrated this was sought after funk, so I definitely want to hear it. Yea, this has the right sound for sure. 'It Didn't Have to be This Way' starts off perfectly with a killer funk groove, wah wah guitar, harmony vocals, and various soloing.  And it doesn't stop from there with Robin Kenyatta guesting on flute for 'Happy Song' along with some great Moog on the dance floor 'Hustle on Up', which has two versions, one on each side. 'Angel of Love' is the only crybaby soul ballad here, and I can live without that. I can always live without those. But for the rest, yea it's supreme stuff. The album was originally released as a private pressing, with only one version of 'Hustle on Up' (and titled 'Karate' there). Comparisons to Earth Wind & Fire are compulsory, but it reminded me more of a Philly obscuro in my collection by the name of Yellow Sunshine. Speaking of origin, I had a hard time figuring that out. Best clue I have is that the private release was managed by a company in New York City, so we'll go with that for now.

*Saturday Night Fever. 1977 RSO (2xLP). From an estate sale (Jun). I forget how I first obtained this album, but it was sometime in the early 90s. It survived until my final LP purge in the mid 2000s. Most of what I was ditching then were iffy LP reissues, and I'm really glad I got rid of them. But I should have kept this one. However every time I find one, it's trashed. Sometimes it will have only one LP, or the cover has been run over by a truck or ripped in half, and the vinyl is even worse. But this copy is pristine, similar to the one I used to have. It took 2 years to find a decent copy. This album, for a lot of people, represents disco music and the years of 1977 / 78. It's really a phenomenal gathering of songs. The Bee Gees will likely be vilified for all of their remaining lives, and from those who came of age during this time (like me), but it's highly unfair. They banged in no less than FOUR platinum best sellers - and that's just the opening of the album! Every one of them is iconic. It's not easy to write songs like this, and their mastery of harmony went a long way to mega seller success. This is followed by Yvonne Elliman, whose contribution was also a major hit. Side 2 opens with Walter Murphy's Fifth of Beethoven from one year earlier, which is a heck of a lot of fun. I remember liking this song when I was 11. I still do. Tavares then does a cover of one of the Bee Gees hits on Side 1. And it was a hit too! Then we get our first David Shire instrumental. He's the true soundtrack guy, and represents "the suit" as it were. 'Manhattan Skyline' is an uplifting track. I remember playing this song in our high school marching band. For some reason I never put the two together until last night. The final track on album #1 is Ralph McDonald's lengthy 'Calypso Breakdown', which has an air of respectability, but I don't care for it personally. Shire opens disc 2 with 'Night on Disco Mountain', his homage to Murphy's Beethoven track no doubt. I'm sure they had a lot of fun with this. I like it too. 'Open Sesame' reminds me that I really need to investigate Kool & the Gang further. I never have found their albums in the wild (except for the 80s stuff), and they go for decent coin online (9/17/24 ED: Still haven't!). This is followed by two earlier Bee Gees hits 'Jive Talkin' and 'You Should be Dancing' both just as good as the '77 compositions. While I do like some KC & The Sunshine Band, I'm not a fan of 'Boogie Shoes', probably the weakest track here, and not a good representative of the group. Shire's final instrumental 'Salsation' is an excellent disco rendition of a serious dance step. After all, the movie is about dancing, and the choreography is brilliant throughout. For my tastes, the best track here is 'K-Jee' which is often forgotten about. I think its placement towards the end of the album is why no one really talks about it. MFSB *is* the Philly Sound. It's a killer track, one that could have been a funk classic too had they altered the beat a bit. And finally that leads to the 11+ minute 'Disco Inferno' by The Trammps. It's too long for sit down listening, but it's the right length if you just want to get down and boogie. Overall, Saturday Night Fever is as good as it gets for the style. For some, that style is abhorrent. But try to look past the beats and strings, and there's a lot underneath to savor. 

Paul Anka - Anka. 1974 United Artists (LP). Probably doesn't belong in this category, but there's really nowhere else to put this. Got this LP from a neighbor's collection about eight years ago (2013). Since I'm thinning the herd, this was an easy target. Like going deer hunting, but decided to shoot a cow instead. Only because it's just standing there, all fat and happy. I kept it because it has quite a bit of mellotron (think about that), and the album's first track 'Bring the Wine' has an eerie PFM feel about it. But... there's also 'One Man Woman / One Woman Man' to endure. You'd think maybe he was predicting a transgendered future. But nope, he's just another 70s sleazeball "But I'm a Two Timin' man...". Nice. And, of course, who could miss '(You're) Having My Baby'. Sooo... is that an observation, a guess, or... a command! Dammit, you're having my baby... baby. And why is You're listed as (You're). I have a lot of questions here for ol' Paulie while I watch this sail to the dollar bin. (Jun)

James Walsh Gypsy Band. 1978 RCA (LP). From an estate sale (Jun). This is the Minneapolis based Gypsy band whose first couple of albums are collectable in the hard rock world. James Walsh was one of the members, and he clearly usurped the name and logo for himself. Looking at the eight pasty *very white* looking guys on the back cover, does not indicate this will be a soul disco album. But that's mostly what it is. First couple of tracks aren't too bad, but then it becomes somewhat tedious. Side 2 is where you'll want to direct your compass. 'Gray Tears' is super, very much a throwback to the early Chicago horn rock days. Superb lead guitar and brass charts. 'My Star' is a weird little electronic rock number that recalls Stardrive of all things. Then it goes back to soul and disco. These two tracks were almost enough to have me keep this. Almost.

* - Keeping for the collection