This past weekend, I had the good fortune of having an obscure, yet legendary, soul artist perform a free concert in my even more obscure hometown. The artist was Swamp Dogg, a now 68 year old singer known for his string of country infused albums released in the early ’70s. I regret having to say this, but before his performance, I had not been too familiar with his music and had only known a few of his songs. After seeing him live and experiencing his talent in person which seems un-phased by his age, I set out on a mission to listen to as much of his music as I could. Out of his impressive catalogue, the album I found most memorable was his debut 1970 album, “Total Destruction To Your Mind.” While it may have been too hard to find for me to even recommend a few months ago, thanks to a recent reissue by Swamp Dogg himself, we can now all check out the album without investing hours in dusty record shops.

Prior to taking on his persona of “Swamp Dogg,” he recorded and produced music under his birth name, Jerry Williams, and occasionally “Little Jerry Williams.” Williams admits that prior to becoming Swamp Dogg, his music was far more conservative and fit better with what everything else was doing at the time. After taking on the moniker though, his music was everything but conventional. He somehow managed to fuse a Sly Stone sort of funk and social message, with blues riffs and a noticeable country influence which he says he picked up as a result of “black music” not being played on the radio until 10 o’clock (at which point he was sleeping) and having to listen to country music for the majority of the day when he was young. He was not only influenced by country music, but was also influential to the genre by writing hits for artists like Johnny Paycheck in the ’60s and ’70s. While he had this experience in his resumé, his own music was unquestionably soul.

“Total Destruction To Your Mind” opens with its title track. In one of the album’s finest moments, Williams is backed by a fast paced funky rhythm from his well capable session players. He then provides an in depth view of the troubled person he is through a series of somewhat conventional blues numbers that Swamp Dogg puts his irreplicable spin on. One of Swamp Dogg’s best traits was his ability to address social matters through his lyrics. He does this best on possibly his most famous songs, and a fan favorite which he still uses to close out sets, “Synthetic World.” The song has a very deep southern soul vibe to it and is a good up-beat shift to the blues that takes over most of the album. Not all of William’s lyrics are so sophisticated is meaning, there are the traditional self-loathing blues tracks but he puts a spin on everything While a lot of “Total Destruction To Your Mind” is composed of fairly simple riffs with the occasional horn stab, it has a uniquely gritty sound and a quality that is distinctive of Swamp Dogg, a sound that no other soul artist from the era really duplicated with the exception of some of the artists on Stax.

Before recently, Swamp Dogg’s music only reached a niche market of record collectors and soul fanatics. We were all missing out on the quirky and sometimes absurd show that Jerry Williams provided on all of his albums. While I could recommend any of his albums that I’ve listened to, I can say that of all of them, “Total Destruction To Your Mind” is the one must have. It is quintessential of an artist who was a top notch song writer and who had, and still does have, an incredible voice which he uses effortlessly supported by raw emotion and the soul of a man that has been through a lifetime of hardship.

by Phil

The discography of Alice Coltrane was one seldom explored when released, and it remains that way today. I attribute this to the widow of the inimitable of John Coltrane‘s inability to contain her talent. In a music world where output is confined to categories, Alice Coltrane continually released music that could not be described by a single genre tag. While on the one hand, it only makes her work all the more exciting and worthwhile to people like me, it was understandably difficult to market. The base for her sound was rooted in the already obscure Spiritual/Avant-Garde Jazz which, although great, was never the most popular style of music. After years of recording for the one label she might have fit in at, Impluse! Records (“the house that Trane built”), and even with every factor working against her in gaining general acclaim, somehow Warner Brothers Records signed on to release her 1975 effort, the result being the timeless “Eternity.”

Not too far into the album does one realize Alice Coltrane’s uniqueness. “Eternity” opens with her swirling and weird distorted Wurlitzer Organ that never would have flown in the mainstream. Of course, I say this not to take anything away from her as the commonly held estimation is not something that changes what I hear in music. This opening tune is entitled “Spiritual Eternal” and also makes use of one of her best talents aside from soloing on organ, harp or piano, that being her training in arrangement. On the opening cut, her organ comes to be backed by an extraordinarily lush R&B/Classical hybrid arrangement. The title of this track (“Spiritual Eternal”) is very fitting. Everything Alice Coltrane did had a spiritual feeling to it. While the album is principally instrumental, there is a strong presence of a strong meaning to the music. Never more so is this true than on the lone song containing vocals, in fact is Coltrane’s first to do so, “Om Supreme.” The song has a three-minute-long introduction with Coltrane playing a Fender Rhodes without accompaniment. When the difficult to decipher vocals come in, you cannot help but try to determine the meaning of this singing with either is in a strange dialect or complete non-sense. Either way “Om Supreme” has to be one of the most beautiful songs composed, and it’s hard to believe that its carried out with one electric piano and a chorus of singers. The eclectic mix of music on “Eternity” is added to by “Los Caballos”, a straight-forward funk piece with some Latin percussion backing Coltrane’s droning organ, and last but not least the classical masterpiece “Spring Rounds from Rite of Spring” which is Coltrane’s interpretation of Igor Stravinsky “The Rite of Spring.”

In a world of uniformity, Alice Coltrane stood out easily as an individual while keeping her integrity as a well trained and talented musician. Although it is not always the case, I think that studying music to the extent Coltrane had hurts one’s ability as they are always so focused on the right way of playing, and not playing with real passion. This is clearly not the case for Alice Coltrane, who, after years of classical training, notably alongside classmate, fellow harpist and spiritual jazz artist, Dorothy Ashby, she never learned any rules and her foundation did not tame her sheer talent in any way. “Eternity,” being her best album in my judgment, is a great chance to experience an eclectic voyage and the spiritual trip that all of Alice Coltrane’s music brings.

by Phil

I am no film expert, however I know enough to identify that blaxploitation movies were never film at its finest. The acting was normally subpar, the script not well written, and the plot overwhelmingly unoriginal. But because of this, at least to me and to many others, they have a “so bad they’re good” quality, you are guaranteed a good laugh from the acting, at least. In all cases, they are well worth watching for the soundtrack alone. Film makers recruited the biggest names in funk and soul to record soundtracks for their films which paid off well as, in the cases of films like “Shaft” and “Superfly,” the OST got to be arguably more popular than the film its self. These soundtracks were not always as sophisticated of music as the artists behind them were capable of, but they were easily digestible to listeners, very fun to listen to, and really brought many of these films to another level. Very few people can resist quirky songs like the infamous “Theme From Shaft,” maybe the most memorable of cuts from a blaxploitation soundtrack. The music from the 1975 “Let’s Do It Again” is no exception to the great music coming from the genre. It saw the pairing of two of soul music’s most well-liked artists, and in extending their catalogue, both sides delivered in impressive fashion.

The soundtrack to “Let’s Do It Again” saw the pairing of Curtis Mayfield as producer, arranger and writer, and the Staple Singers, now narrowed down to three of their original members, providing the vocals. There is not much left to be said about Mayfield that hasn’t already been addressed on this site, he was a genius without question, however, the Staple Singers probably require more attention. The Staple Singers were made up of “Pops” Staples and his four children who came and left from the group over time. During their early days, in the ’50s and early ’60s, they sang very traditional gospel music. They were unable to achieve any sort of commercial success with this style, but they achieved the epitome of success in the ’70s after signing with Stax Records. From 1971 to 1974 they recorded a series of chart topping hits which included “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” So, when Stax folded in 1975, the Staple Singers solidified themselves as a huge name in soul music, they just needed some place to go. The next project they took on was “Let’s Do It Again (OST)” which matched their work on Stax in quality and in popularity.

The album opens with the film’s theme and title track “Let’s Do It Again,” a sexually charged song that I can’t draw a relationship with to the film’s plot as it is played while the action begins at some sort of warehouse. The instrumentation does, however, fit appropriately with the film though the word may not. The title theme seems to be the sole work of Curtis Mayfield as it bears little resemblance to the Staples’ prior work. Curtis uses the Staple Singers almost as an instrument in his lush arrangement here, and several times throughout the album, especially on the airy “After Sex,” almost instrumental with the Staple Singers only filling in with “Oohs” and “Ahs.” There are some songs that sound like something they could have released on Stax, though. The hard-hitting “New Orleans” certainly fits the formula of their earlier work, as does “I Want To Thank.” Not surprisingly I find these songs to follow “Let’s Do It Again’s” storyline most accurately. For those songs, and for every fast paced song on the soundtrack, like the stereotypical blaxploitation instrumental “Chase” (which closes the album), there is an equally smooth, and soulful song, the best being “Whole Lot Of Love.” While its lyrics are somewhat sparse, they do demonstrate what Curtis Mayfield was best at in writing, being positive and optimistic, with lyrics like “look to the good side, things could be twice as bad” which Mavis Staples pours her soul out singing. While some songs are instrumental and some have a focus on the singing, neither side steals the show and I’d say Mayfield and the Staples really balance each other out well.

“Let’s Do It Again” is an unsung release in the field of blaxploitation. The Notorious B.I.G. got his nick name, Biggie Smalls, from a character’s name, as did Fonzworth Bentley who developed his name from a different character’s name. Camp Lo also named an album after the movie. So, it is a very influential film but is not as recognized as other blaxploitations as far as I can tell, and in turn its soundtrack has not been heard by as many people who may have heard “Shaft (OST),” a shame as to me it is as good and if not better, and has the same factors going for it. It is certainly one of the finest soundtracks I have heard and serves well as the backing to Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier’s escapades as they wheel and deal and make bets on boxing matches.

by Phil

It’s likely that nearly everybody has been acquainted with the music of Roberta Flack in one way or another. It might have been through her very popular duets with Donny Hathaway, recent sampling of her music or her appearance at last year’s Grammy Awards, but it is most likely from her most popular song, the title track from her 1975 album “Feel Like Making Love.” This mellow song is great in my book but maybe too sappy for some. Luckily the album it can be found on covers far more styles than just the one. At any point on “Feel Like Making Love,” the sound might be gospel, heavy fusion, folk, soul or jazz. With her previous albums being equally as great, yet far more confined it is clear that Roberta took more influences into consideration several new influences for “Feel Like Making Love.” Having worked with jazz-fusion greats for years leading up to this album’s recording, the influence of their presence is visible on this album’s instrumentation, and in Flack’s voice a more folk-ish tone is present, possibly drawn from the popular female folk singers at the time like Carol King or Joni Mitchell. Of course, Roberta Flack’s traditional soul sound also exists on the album, too.

Roberta Flack could not have assembled a better group of musicians than she did to assist her in the recording of “Feel Like Making Love.” When I think of an ideal band, many of the musicians on this album come to mind. They include bassist Gary King, the CTI go-to man Bob James, drummers Alphonze Mouzon and Idris Muhammad, Joe Farrell and guitarist Hugh McCracken, and that’s just scratching the surface. Their talent is obvious throughout the album, but never more so than on “I Can Feel The Sun In Late December.” The song has a lengthy introduction lead by Hugh McCracken on guitar before Roberta Flack comes in with the Stevie Wonder penned vocals. The second half of the twelve-plus minute long song is entirely instrumental and sounds more like something that some of the fusion artists on the album cooked up than Flack herself. The song wouldn’t sound out of place on an Alphonze Mouzon solo album (although the drums would be far more over the top in that case). The vocals on that song aren’t too bad either and it isn’t a stretch to say the lyrics stack up with some of Stevie Wonder’s finest. A recording of Stevie’s own take on the song does exist, however is doesn’t have the dramatic production that Roberta’s does. The cast of fusion musicians also have their way on “Mr. Magic” and “Early Ev’ry Midnight.” Mr. Magic is Roberta Flack’s most impressive vocal performance and is where I got the idea of her influence by someone like Joni Mitchell. The one song where you can actually focus on her voice rather than the overwhelmingly good instrumentation is the last track “She’s Not Blind” where she is accompanied only by a solo piano.

“Feel Like Making Love” marks a turning point in Roberta Flack’s career. Until this album, all of her albums from “First Take” to “Quite Fire” to “Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway” had been nearly perfect. However, after “Feel Like Making Love” she made a rather unfortunate turn towards a commercial sound favoring well-polished soul and pop to any sort of mellowness she had become known for. So, in some ways, this 1975 album was her last good effort. It sounds harsh, but I am giving her the credit of six great albums. But it’s for this reason too, that this album is accessible to many. It’s nowhere near as dry as her earlier material, yet is not too far gone from her original sound. It’s a great medium between her too styles.

by Phil

The seven piece funk ensemble, Con Funk Shun, had an impressive résumé going into the recording of their eight studio album, “Too Tight.” They formed in high school and developed under the name of the Soul Project. As the Soul Project, they backed the Soul Children and other artists on the legendary southern soul label Stax. They became Con Funk Shun for the release of their first album in 1973, “Organized Con Funk Shun,” and the band remains intact to this day. So, in 1980, when they recorded “Touch,” they had been together for years and developed a tightness that could only be accomplished through such a long association. When listening to “Touch” you would never know that the band behind the album ever recorded for Stax. They had long since abandoned their southern soul roots, turning away from the rugged Memphis sounds in favor of a polished funk flavor. Their sheer talent, however, remained constant.

“Touch” opens up with the one real reason I am recommending this album. “Too Tight” is an undeniably catchy disco tune that reminds me of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove.” The factor most similar between these two songs is that they’re impossible to listen to and not just feel great. The song is without a doubt the highlight of the album, but there is much more great material to follow. The feel good atmosphere established early by Con Funk Shun continues on through the next song entitled “Lady’s Wild,” a more heavy tune backed by hand claps and an especially funky slap bass line. The ballad “Give Your Love To Me” serves as a break in the fast paced action before it picks back up with the stepper “Pride and Glory,” a song that shows what Con Funk Shun was great at. They not only had the danceable beats that the early ’80 market demanded, but also held their instrumentation to very high standards. This is apparent in the song’s instrumental break showcasing guitarist Michael Cooper along with their talented horn section. Of the other finest musical moments on the alum are the title track’s bass line and the keyboard work on the album’s best ballad “Can’t Say Goodbye”. The fine musicianship displayed by Con Funk Shun’s seven members is unquestionable. At a time when cheap synthesizers were the norm and poorly written songs became dance floor hits, Con Funk Shun, despite conforming to the general sound of the ear, stayed true to their history of excellence by having such great playing on their record. I’d in no way consider them amongst the finest musicians of all time, I just find their instrumentation particularly impressive considering the time of its recording.

Con Funk Shun had a lot to live up to. With the word “funk” in their name, they had to be funky. This is a goal they consistently met from their founding and according to a video of them performing this year, they still do today. I cannot think of a better way to describe the band than the way a reviewer humorously defined their interesting name on the back of one of their albums:

“CON FUNK SHUN [KON-FUNK'-SHUN] – adjective: The unique sound of combining a dynamite rhythm section with a powerful three piece horn section, topping it with outstanding lead vocals and a four and five part harmony with a touch of flashy choreography. noun: A group of versatile singers and musicians whose combined talents produce the finest entertainment that can be seen or heard.”

by Phil

Herbie Hancock has been able to adapt to changing times like no other. In the ’60s, he was the go to man for the big names in jazz and had some of the genres finest compositions like “Cantaloupe Island”. In the ’70s, he recorded some of the greatest funk tunes of all time like the exotic jam “Watermelon Man “. His ability to adapt has allowed him to remain relevant decades after his first success. Last decade he continued his trend of relevancy by releasing an album containing features form commercial acts of the likes of John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and Sting. He also won the Grammy award for album of the year in 2008 for his tribute to Joni Mitchell “River: The Joni Letters”. This decade is also off to a promising start for Herbie with the release of “The Imagine Project”.

For “The Imagine Project” Herbie Hancock once again calls on an unusual cast of characters to share the spotlight with. In this case he calls on a more worldly group, with artists from around the globe like CéU (from Brazil), The Chieftains (from Ireland), Toumani Diabaté (from Mali) and Anoushka Shankar (from England). The album features vocal performances from some of the biggest names in pop music as well with the likes of Pink, India.Arie, John Legend, K’Naan, Dave Mathews and many more. The album is a testament not only of his continual greatness, but also his diversity. The album’s name comes from the cover of the classic rock ballad “Imagine” by John Lennon, which Herbie Hancock jazzes-up and allows Pink and India.Arie to sing on. This rendition remains relatively true to the original toward the beginning before developing into an unrecognizable jam session featuring lyrics in a foreign dialect, presumably provided by India.Arie . The ethnic theme present in this song is frequent throughout the album, as was intended. As mentioned, the artists Herbie Hancock chose to work with are based in a range of locations throughout the world. To capture their influences in “The Imagine Project” Hancock actually travelled to the homeland of these various artists to record their songs. In total, the recording of the album took place in seven different countries. The foreign influence is most visible on the final song “The Song Goes On”. This one was recorded in India, and with the emphasis on sitar, the Indian presence is obvious. Towards the end of the song, Herbie Hancock swaps solos with long time collaborator Wayne Shorter, in a jam session that is very reminiscent of their fusion days. While it is a great song, it is rather busy and may not fit everyone’s tastes, so the album is balanced with mellow songs like the cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times, They Are A’ Changin’,” and the cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

The title, “The Imagine Project” is very fitting for this album. Not only is the concept behind the album, traveling to the native countries of various artists to record the album, particularly creative, but the recordings are also revolutionary. Herbie Hancock took songs that have been covered and recorded in the same way for decades upon decades, and puts a completely new spin on them, a spin requiring a great deal of “imagination.” It is rare that an artist that was popular several decades earlier can make an album now that is as good as what they became known for, but it is something that Herbie Hancock, arguably the greatest living jazz artists did accomplish with “The Imagine Project”

by Phil

Cymande is probably one of the most obscure groups you will come across. Everything about them is strange. Their album covers never featured a picture of the band and their names were left out of the linear notes, replaced by odd poetic prose. Even the pronunciation “Cymande” (meaning dove in Calypso) is not quite clear. They were also signed to the little-known Janus Records, a division of Chess. The music itself is too tough to define. It’s funk, but obviously draws from African music, reggae and Calypso music of their homeland, making for an unusual and eclectic fusion of sounds. The band accumulated a decent sized following in their day but likely would have faded from popularity by now if it wasn’t for the more recent sampling of their work by artists like De La Soul and the Fugees, amongst others. Their second album, “Second Time Round”, is great not because of the novelty brought on by its sampling. In fact, the sampling of Cymande brought some great music that otherwise would not be heard to the forefront.

Cymande was an 11 piece ensemble, something you probably wouldn’t pick up on if you dropped the needle on a random spot of “Second Time Round”. The majority of the music is simple. Almost all songs are driven by a deep bass line with the addition of little more than percussion (provided by what seems to be at times, at least three percussionists). There are occasional guitar riffs and horn stabs, flute bits and of course the beautiful piano chords on the introduction to “Bird”. The percussive, steady rhythms are the backing to Ray King’s metaphoric lyrics often accompanied by various chanting. This description probably makes the album seem rather hectic and uninteresting, however this is almost never the case. “Willies’ Headache” is more or less the opposite, and makes my overall description of the album seem rather unfair. The song is ultra smooth, lead by a soft flute and slow-moving bass line. Although the meaning of the lyrics is very hard to interpret, it is clear Cymande is saying something, I guess it’s up to you to decide what exactly it is. “Bird” also shows Cymande’s soft side. In contrast, songs likes “Fug” are much more exiting. “Fug” is a fast paced, less relaxing, song with several percussion pieces and a loud saxophone solo. Considering Cymande drew from so many influences, it is not surprising that the album is so diverse.

Cymande’s innovative fusion of various genres is captivating. While they never were as popular as they deserved to be, looking back at the group it is clear that they were one of the most unique and one of the most unique groups of their time period. Unfortunately, they only released three albums in their initial run, but what they did release is spectacular. “Second Time Round” could serve as a great introduction to this obscure group.

by Phil

By 1968, The Impressions had developed a great deal since their founding a decade earlier. They were a much different group then they were in 1958 when they were lead by Jerry Butler and predominantly a doo-wop group. The vocal arrangements had become less overwhelming, and the focus had shifted more so towards the instrumentation. One thing that remained consistent was the quality of their recordings. Under the leadership of Curtis Mayfield and his remarkable work ethic, The Impressions failed to release a bad album out of the more than ten they released over the course of the 1960s. As the decade drew to a close, as did Mayfield’s stint as a member, The Impressions put together a real gem titled “This Is My Country”.

The album’s title suggests the content of the album will match the social messages Curtis Mayfield had become known for with through songs like “People Get Ready”. Songs that reflected the social climate during the Civil Rights Movement. The album does indeed open up in the expected fashion with “They Don’t Know”, an upbeat tune on which Mayfield expresses the need for leaders to continue the movement. While the album starts in this fashion, the rest of the album is mostly occupied by relationship songs, two of which are penned in part by a then unknown Donny Hathaway. Mayfield and the Impressions sing about heartbreak on “I’m Loving Nothing” , a slow tune with impressive harmonizing on the chorus, notable as Fred Cash and Sam Gooden do not hold much of a presence elsewhere on the album, not to say that they are not important. The best of the songs portraying a more optimistic view of a relationship is “Love’s Happening”, originally written by Mayfield for the Five Stairsteps. The version seen here is more developed than the original take by the Five Stairsteps.

An important feature of the album is the horn arrangements. The Impressions make use of a long held alliance with producer/arranger John Pate whose arrangements take the album to another level. The title track contains the most striking arrangement which plays along with the vocals and an introduction where the horns contrast with the trio’s vocals. “This Is My Country” is also the album’s most meaningful song.

“This Is My Country” was The Impressions’ first album on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Label.. Had it been the only album Curtom put out, the label would still be legendary, and had Curtis Mayfield not written anything else, he would still be one of the greatest song writers of all time. Of course neither one of those things happened. Curtis Mayfield broke off from The Impressions several years later, recording a series of classic albums for his label. Even in the deep discography of Curtis Mayfield “This Is My Country” is a standout and one of his best contributions to soul music.

by Phil