THE NEW BIRTH
Blind Baby
1975 Buddha Records (BDS 5636)
Blind Baby 4:30
Dream Merchant 4:20
Forever 4:45
Granddaddy 3:55
I Remember Well 5:21
Blind Man 4:45
Why Did I 4:30
Epilogue 2:37
Produced for Basement Productions, Inc.
Recorded at Sunwest Recording Studios, Hollywood.
Mixed at Wally Heider Studios, California.
Austin Lander – Baritone Saxophone, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Robin Russell – Drums, Percussion
Charlie Hearndon – Guitar
Leroy Taylor – Guitar
Carl McDaniel – Guitar, Backing Vocals
James Baker – Keyboards, Trombone, Piano, Tuba, Clavinet, Timbales, Percussion
Alan Frey – Percussion, Congas, Vocals
Tony Churchill – Tenor Saxophone, Vibraphone, Backing Vocals
Robert Jackson – Trumpet, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Londie Wiggins – Vocals, Percussion
Leslie Wilson – Vocals, Percussion, Mandolin
Engineer – F. Byron Clark
Photography By – Ed Caraeff
Producer – James Baker, Melvin Wilson
Art Direction – Milton Sincoff
llustration – William S. Harvey
Ripping specs:
Vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply); Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; Click Repair; individual clicks and pops taken out with Adobe Audition 3.0 – dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced (for 16-bit). Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.
Artwork at 600 dpi (for hi-res), downsampled to 300 dpi for Redbook
This is The New Birth’s first album after leaving RCA, made for Buddha Records, and it’s probably my favorite record by the group. The tunes are strung together like a concept album; it’s not really a concept record but it does have a Mellotron on it. “Blind Baby” is graced with great original songwriting that had come a long way
since their first early 70s efforts, all played and sung with chops and
passion and captured brilliantly by the wizards at Wally Heider Studio. The tunes span from gritty funk, to sweaty soul jazz, to sweet soul
balladry. “Dream Merchant” was the hit off the record but there isn’t a
bad song on it. The firecracking “Grandaddy” was featured on Flabbergasted Freeform Radio No.3. The New Birth had a sickly huge twelve-person lineup at this point, expanded with members of The Nite-Liters, and they never sounded better. One secret weapon among many was lovely vocalist and Louisville native Londie
Wiggins, who occasionally hits high notes in whistle-register Minnie Ripperton territory. She carries the lead on “Forever” and “Why Did I.”
Her intonation isn’t always spot on but, you know, they didn’t have
Autotune in 1975 to make everyone sound as equally “perfect” and bland
as everyone else. The New Birth made quite a few records and I’m sure other people have their own particular favorites, but for me this one is the cream of the crop.
From top left to bottom right: Londie Wiggins, Carl McDaniel, Alan Frey, James Baker, Robin Russell, Leroy Taylor, Robert Jackson, Tony Churchill (who is a Pisces), Leslie Wilson, Melvin Wilson, Austin Lander, Charlie Hearndon
16-bit 44.1 khz
p/w: vibes
http://freetexthost.com/6hsxqp2uny
Thanks for the great rip and writeup 🙂
2nd comment : If people are wondering why there are less and less people ripping vinyl; rather than just reposting old files – it's because you're not leaving comments or thanks. Ripping vinyl takes time, energy and passion, and people do it for the conversation that sometimes results. So don't just download this : come back and leave a comment.
Last night I was listening to some tracks from Os Partideiros Sambas do Partido Alto (love that album) and some tracks form Pure Poison a group I had never heard of even though I grew up in the mid west. With Pure Poison you sure did represent Chicago quite well.
Funny, growing up, this New Birth album was played on '8 track' and stereo equipment with very bad distortion and low dynamic range, never sounded this good.
Speaking of Chicago I think Londie Wiggins has an uncanny singing voice that resembles the beautiful voice of Wanda Hutchinson of the Emotions, straight out of Chi-town.
Simon(Peter)666, for someone with the numbers 666 in their moniker, you sure are one cool ass dude.
Flabber, you should write your own tech magazine/book and sell it in digital form on the internet. Even though I now play rips in flac through foobar the ripping part is giving me headaches. But that's ok it's all part of the learning process.
Thanks for the share the ripping work.
For sure there are less and less blogs with original rips while old shares slowly disappear.
We're all lucky some people like you still make the effort.
And for sure this album deserves it !
Thanks guys and especially Simon666 for encouraging people to comment. Vinyl ripping does indeed take a lot of time and the deafening silence on some blog posts is counter-motivational.
<3 The Emotions. They were so good. Although I don't think any of these records move me as much as the one song they recorded `live`in a church for the Wattstax film. Just mind-blowing.
Just wish, Simon would join the few that offer new vinyl rips, again. His blog was just awesome 😉
Funny, i've seen albums from this group in the second hand bins many times, but never picked one up. With your recommendation, i will finally give these guys a try, many thanks!
And would you be so kind, to replace the old entry for my blog in your blogroll with the new url? It's porcosnexthideaway.blogspot.com. That would be really appreciated.
I hope very much this was the last move and the trouble with google is over…
I don't know anything about this group but I've been drawn in by another great write up. I'm downloading now.
I've said it here once or twice before, but might as well let you know again that this is one of my very favorite music sharing blogs. Your excellent write ups have eased me into some genres and artists that I probably wouldn't have listened to otherwise. Thanks!
Really looks very interesting! Thanks Flabber
thanks a lot! I've been looking for this for a while and not only do I have this album now but also I just found a new gem of a site 😀
The silence in the comments section doesn't make justice to all of your work!
You've introduced me to a new and vast universe of musical genre!
So thankful for your sharing!
Tks Flabber!
That sample track is tearing it up, so I'll have to check this one out. Thanks for all of your ear-opening work!
THANK YOU
! very nice one, this.
I'm having a hard time commenting (luddite, me), so you might get two of these.
Great music in high fidelity is always greatly appreciated, and the obvious care you take with these impresses even this all-digital user.
Thanks very much.
Wow, they didn't waste much time or money on the band pics did they? Some fine examples of 70's clothes there too. I thought the music was quite good with my favorites being the "blind tracks" (Blind Baby and Blind Man) as well as I Remember Well with its killer bass work. There is no way in heck I'd ever hear the R&B and Soul stuff you post without your blog Flabbergast and I thank you for the ticket to the funky sector of rareland.
P.S. Good to know that Tony Churchill is a pisces :-).
tHANK YOU FAM' I APPRECIATE THE GREAT WORK OF RIPING THIS RARE VYNIL ALBUMS IT SOUNDS CRAZY
EXTRA THANKS FOR 100% PURE POISON BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS ONE FOR A LONG TIME
What is the password to open the zip folder thing???
it’s “vibes”