James Brown – It’s A Mother
Vinyl rip in 24bit 192 khz |FLAC |Artwork at 300 dpi
901 MB (96khz 24bit) 292 MB (44.1khz 16bit) 149 MB (320kbs) | Soul, Funk, R&B| 1969
King Records – KSD 1063 / KS- 1063| Distributed by Starday-King
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Tag: Soul
Gap Band – The Gap Band III (1980)
The Gap Band – The Gap Band III
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96kHz | Art scans at 300 dpi
Genre: funk, disco | 1980
Mercury Records ~ SRM-1-4003
When I Look In Your Eyes 4:58
Yearning For Your Love 5:41
Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) 5:16
Nothin’ Comes To Sleepers 5:34
Are You Living 4:24
Sweet Caroline 3:21
Humpin’ 5:06
The Way 4:46
Gash Gash Gash 5:18 Continue reading
Patrice Rushen – I Was Tired Of Being Alone (1982) [12″-inch single]
Patrice Rushen – I Was Tired Of Being Alone
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96kHz | FLAC | Art scans at 300 dpi
353MB (24/96) + 107MB (16/44) + 48 MB (320) | Genre: funk / soul / disco | 1982
Elektra Records ~ K 13184 T
While I had been meaning to upload some more Prince extended 12″ singles in time for the anniversary of his passing last week, I’ve been busy with other things and I had “Around The World In A Day” ready and in the queue. As it turns out, I also picked up a couple 12″-inchers of his that I was missing at the latest Record Store Day along with other goodies in my first time visiting that crazy debacle in several years. However, I’ve also been wanting to do a run of Patrice Rushen material for a very long time as well, and had this single simmering on the proverbial stove. I got this from an independent seller at Camden market in London, because for me every day is record store day. Why am I rambling on, conflating these two seemingly different people? There’s an interesting link – Patrice helped Prince program his analog synths for his debut Warner Brothers album, is rumored to play on a couple tracks, and his song “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad” from his second LP was allegedly pitched to her, and she turned it down. The young Prince may have had a bit of a crush on her, and who can blame him? He was taller than her, and that didn’t happen too often… In any case, she was destined to get together with me instead, and be my wife after Gal Costa dumped me. And she would be too, if the mailman didn’t have a secret agenda against me, hoarding all my letters in a basement next to his stockpile of C4 that he bought off the dark net. I would say something, but I’m too scared of him.
The Brothers Johnson – Right On Time (1977)
The Brothers Johnson
Right On Time
1977 A&M Records SP-4644
Runnin’ For Your Lovin’ 5:05
Free Yourself, Be Yourself 4:26
“Q” 3:25
Right On Time 3:50
Strawberry Letter 23 4:58
Brother Man 3:10
Never Leave You Lonely 3:02
Love Is 4:20
A1 Runnin’ For Your Lovin’ 5:05 (George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – Alex Weir, George Johnson, Mortonette Jenkins Drums – Harvey Mason Horns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A2 Free Yourself, Be Yourself 4:26 (George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Richard “Jose” Heath* Drums – Harvey Mason Horns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Ian Underwood Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Rhythm Guitar – David T. Walker Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A3 “Q” 3:25 (Louis Johnson, George Johnson)
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A4 Right On Time 3:50 (Quincy Jones, George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – Alex Weir, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Richard “Jose” Heath Drums – Harvey MasonHorns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Lead Vocals – George Rhythm Guitar – David T. Walker Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
B1 Strawberry Letter 23 4:58 (Shuggie Otis)
Backing Vocals – Alexandra Brown, Denise Trammell, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Oren Waters, Stephanie Spruill Drums – Harvey Mason Guitar, Soloist – Lee Ritenour Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin, Ian Underwood Percussion – Ralph MacDonald
B2 Brother Man 3:10 (Louis Johnson, George Johnson, Dave Grusin)
Drums – Harvey Mason Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
B3 Never Leave You Lonely 3:02 (Louis Johnson, Valerie Johnson, Peggy Jones)
Drums – Harvey Mason Guitar, Bass – George Johnson Lead Vocals – Louis Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – Louis Johnson
B4 Love Is (Louis Johnson, George Johnson, Quincy Jones, Peggy Jones)
Backing Vocals – Alexandra Brown, Denise Trammell, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Oren Waters, Stephanie Spruill Keyboards – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar – George Johnson Guitar, bass – Louis Johnson
Horns arranged by Greg Adams
Alto Saxophone – Lenny Pickett
Tenor Saxophone – Emilio Castillo
Trumpet – Greg Adams
Trumpet – Mick Gillette
Baritone Saxophone – Stephen Kupka
Produced and arranged by Quincy Jones
Synthesizers programmed by – Ian Underwood, Michael Boddicker
Art Direction – Roland Young
Creative director – Ed Eckstine
Engineer – Norm Kinney
Assistant Engineer – Chuck Trammell
Engineer, Remix – Don Hahn
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Book photography by – Andy Kent, Dennis Callahan, Neil Preston, Randy Alpert,
Ron Phillips, Jim McCrary, Patricia Reynolds, James Fee
Design – Phil Shima
Produced for Quincy Jones Productions
Recorded from February 1st to March 21st, 1977 at A&M Recording Studio “B” Hollywood, California
This post is right on time to break the silence of nearly two months without a blog post. Flabbergasted Vibes (the blog) is on life support and the plug could be pulled any day, if not by me than by a Higher Power. There’s been enough dying in 2016 without adding this place to the list, but my enthusiasm is definitely at low tide in the grand ebb and flow of things.
Sure, it seems like the world has come unstuck – personally, professionally, politically – but none of it is really a surprise. I don’t have much to say about this particular album at this particular moment. Spinning a well-worn dusty classic is about all I’ve got left, and I’m finding even that doesn’t cut it on most days. But if you are pressed for time on your way to the fallout shelter and unable to deliberate at length, you could do worse than randomly grabbing this off the shelf with a few other long-players. I hope you had the foresight to equip your survivalist shelter with a working turntable and speakers. And a bicycle, for generating electricity off the grid, obviously.
The instrumental reliability of The Brothers Johnson is beyond dispute, and here they have some big cheeses in their pantry to help serve up the funk – Harvey Mason on drums, the Tower of Power horns, Ralph McDonald on percussion, David Grusin and Ian Underwood on keyboards. And, of course, the whole thing is greased with Quincy Jones’ aural butter to keep the smooth proceedings from ever getting so hot that they scorch. Burnt, crispy funk was not Quincy’s thing. The title-track, which strives a little too hard for silliness, is maybe a little boring and could use a little extra grit. It’s hard to fault anything else though. The highlight is naturally their cover of the Shuggie Otis’ song Strawberry Letter 23 . Shuggie has always been “a musician’s musician,” and it’s not as if he was an unknown when he recorded this song for his second LP in the early 70’s. But the fact that it wasn’t the huge hit it could have been the first time around just meant that the world got to enjoy it twice. The Brothers Johnson version, which came out a full six years later, is remarkably faithful to the psychedelic spirit of the original. Maybe it is less cryptic and more mysteriously happy. Quincy’s production pushes it into heavenly and exciting places, and it sports an epic layered guitar solo by Lee Ritenour too. Has Tarantino ruined this song yet by making it the background for some ultraviolence? I think he has but I can’t remember where. There are some fine original songs here too in a similarly breezy, windows-rolled-down summer spirit. In fact the opening and closing tracks of the LP could have been written as bookends to accommodate Strawberry Letter, which is sequenced squarely in the middle of the album (first song on Side 2). There are a couple of tight instrumentals too. But yeah, no doubt, Strawberry Letter 23 is the showcase piece here.
Is this the last post of 2016?
passwprd: vibes
MFSB – Summertime (1976)
MFSB – Summertime
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96 kHz | FLAC | m3u| Artwork
800 MB (24/96) + 330MB (16/44) + 105 MB (320 kbs)| Funk, Disco, Soul| 1976
Philadelphia International Records ~ PZ 34238
Picnic in the Park (Gamble & Huff) 4:10
Summertime (George Gershwin) 4:53
Plenty Good Lovin’ 4:33 (Gamble & Huff)
Sunnin’ and Funnin’ (John Whitehead, Gene McFadden, Victor Carstarphen) 4:14
Summertime and I’m Feelin’ Mellow (John Whitehead, Gene McFadden, Victor Carstarphen) 4:00
I’m on Your Side 3:30 (Gamble & Huff)
Hot Summer Nights 4:25 (Gamble & Huff)
We Got the Time (John Whitehead, Gene McFadden, Victor Carstarphen) 4:41
Bobby Eli, Norman Harris, Reggie Lucas, Roland Chambers, T.J. Tindall – guitar
Anthony Jackson, Ron Baker – bass
Leon Huff, Lenny Pakula, Eddie Green, Harold Ivory Williams – keyboards
Earl Young, Karl Chambers, Norman Farrington – drums
Larry Washington – percussion
Vincent Montana, Jr. – vibraphone
Zach Zachary, Tony Williams – saxophone
Don Renaldo and his Strings and Horns
Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson, Evette Benton, Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Victor Carstarphen – backing vocals
Vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 96khz; clicks and pops removed with Click Repair, manually auditioned, and individually with Adobe Audition 3.0; resampled using iZotope RX 2 Advanced SRC and dithered with MBIT+ for 16-bit. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.
Even when I attempt a timely, topical post, it’s still kind of late. I mean, I could be posting a Bobby Hutcherson album recorded by Rudy Van Gelder (two birds with one stone), or something from my stash of calypso and soca in solidarity with Notting Hill carnival (happening right now). But instead I am bringing a soundtrack for the summer, which in the 24/7 stress culture of over-planning and anxiety in the United States is unofficially drawing to a close, even though there’s nearly another month of it. But then again, we have a pretty strong South American readership at this blog, and quite a few friends in Australia, and they’re summer hasn’t even BEGUN yet, so really I’m just trying to cover all the bases here.
M.F.S.B. is most famous for having given us the immortal theme song to the show Soul Train (whose title was another acronym, T.S.O.P, for The Sound of Philadelphia), but you’ve also no doubt heard them on dozens of hits since they were the studio house band for Gamble & Huff’s Philadelphia International label. Sharing members with the Trampps and the Salsoul Orchestra, the ensemble has had as many as forty people pass through its ranks. Aside from the Latin disco-tinged spin on the Gershwin tune that gives the album its name, the songwriting and production credits are nearly evenly split, with Gamble & Huff taking half and Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, and Victor Carstarphen providing the rest. Of the latter, McFadden and Whitehead had given us the O’Jay’s ‘Backstabbers‘ and would deliver their own ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now‘ a few years later, while Carstarphen gave us “Wake Up Everybody” from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, among others. The first cut, Picnic In The Park, was a minor chart hit off this record. To me it seems like a strange choice for a single, but that’s because I find the song better suited for the impending doom of a tense movie scene, setting up a child abduction or drive-by shooting, rather than a soundtrack for a relaxing summer day. I guess I’ve always been one of those glass-half-empty types? It’s a cool tune though, and the guitar riff engages in some accidental ska rhythms. (Incidentally, the name of my band in high school was Accidental Ska…)
While not as memorable as, say, their Music Is The Message album, it’s a fun spin of summer-themed tracks. And you can populate them with your specific memories and meanings, as their almost-instrumental format – featuring choruses with vocals, but no verses – lends itself to daydreaming. In fact, as with some of their other LPs, I can’t help feeling like some of these were half-finished tunes intended for singers on the Philadelphia International label which never came to fruition. In an parallel universe, then, some of these songs were massive smash hits that everyone knows, and you are using this record for your next karaoke party (because it is a known fact that karoake is popular all throughout the multiverse).
password: vibes
Mass Production – Believe (1977)
MASS PRODUCTION
Believe
1977 Cotillion Records SD 9918
Free And Happy 5:20
I Believe In Music 6:46
Being Here 6:20
We Love You 0:40
Keep My Heart Together 3:58
Cosmic Lust 5:53
Superlative 4:33
People Get Up 5:43
Bass – Kevin Douglas
Drums – Ricardo Williams
Keyboards – Tyrone Williams
Lead Guitar – Rodney Phelps
Lead Vocals – Larry Marshall , Tiny Kelly
Percussion – Emanual Redding
Rhythm Guitar – Coy Bryant
Saxophone – Gregory McCoy
Trumpet – Otis Drumgole
Producer – Ed A. Ellerbe
Engineer – Dave Whitman, Michael Frondelli
Design [Logo] – Gerard Huerta
Mastered By – Dennis King
Photography By – Anthony Loew
Art Direction – Abie Sussman
Produced for Pepper Productions
Recorded & mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York
Mastered at Atlantic Studios, New York, N.Y.
Manufactured by Atlantic Recording Corporation
Vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 96khz; clicks and pops removed manually with Adobe Audition 3.0; resampled using iZotope RX 2 Advanced SRC and dithered with MBIT+ for 16-bit. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.
I know I am badly overdue for some Brazilian posts, but I feel a responsibility to write stuff and give half-informed commentary on those, and I’ve been just barely treading water in real life and unable to give the kind of TLC that the blog deserves. So I’m opting to post one or two things that are just good fun while I catch up on work. I don’t know why I’m worried about making sloppy half-assed posts of Brazilian music, since the Olympic committee doesn’t seem too stressed about things like preparing rooms for the athletes or non-toxic shit-free water, but let’s not get off track here. Except that I will take the opportunity to say, if any Olympians are reading this, I have a friend with a kitchenette to rent out in Rio, right in the Copa a few blocks from the train. He’s a really great guy. Gymnists are preferred, not because of any fetish or anything, but because y’all are small and he can fit more of you in there. Just call +55 21 2224-4607 and ask for Eduardo.
Now on to this record from this ten-piece band from Virginia. Any “disco sucks” people who stumbled on this blog can just click through this and move on, unless of course you are willing to open your mind and trust me that this record will neither turn you gay nor black (the root fear of most disco-phobia). Mass Production was also a solid funk and soul outfit but they had their own approach to rescuing dance music from the blahs, and that was to show ’em how it’s really done. A couple of these cuts are unarguably disco, and they jam so much you’ll want to call them Smuckers. I don’t know if maybe its the difference between a band playing a disco groove, and a bunch of session musicians assembled by a producer, but I like it. On this record Mass Production reminds me of Gary Tom’s Empire on the upbeat cuts and maybe Frankie Beverly & Maze on the mid-tempo material (their Firecracker-era stuff often gets compared to Brass Construction). Singer Tiny Kelly adds a nice touch, especially to “Being There”, salvaging a schmaltzy ballad with genuine feeling (“long as you’re here/nothing matters” is wonderfully succinct). She’s no Minnie Ripperton, and tends to go off pitch when reaching for some of the high notes, but in this age of Auto-tuned everything, this imperfection is actually kind of refreshing. Note: I’m referring to the original use of the Auto-tune plug-in, and not the modulated effect that sounds like a malfunctioning Vocoder that was on every modern R&B song for a while. The actual purpose of Auto-tune was to correct the pitch of vocalists in the studio, to greater or lesser degrees depending on their skill and on just how sterile and slick a production was desired. I’m only some anonymous voice on a blog, but to my ears, when literally everything sounds “perfect” all the time, I find myself profoundly bored in about two minutes flat. So, bring on the slightly sharp or flat high notes, Tiny Kelly, and remind me that you are all living and breathing humans making these glorious sounds. I can handle it.
Most people are going to gravitate to the rump shakers on the disc, though. I am pretty sure the first track, Free and Happy, was the inspiration for one of Weird Al Yankovic’s early pastiche singles, Gotta Boogie. The secret weapon of this album is the instrumental cut called “Cosmic Lust,” which nowadays sounds like it could be a brand of synthetic cannabis (melon-flavored and with aphrodisiac properties), but in 1977 was actually a hit single off this record and huge club favorite. Love these warbly analog synths from the space age, and the saxophone solo by Gregory McCoy (who wrote the song) is nice too.
Mass Production’s first album was in 1976, but the idea for the band was actually hatched during some house parties thrown by Frankfurt school theorists Max Horkheimer (d.1973) and Theodore Adorno (d.1969). The two were renowned for throwing wild get-togethers involving Hollywood celebrities, music luminaries, piles of cocaine, and stag films on 8mm. Reportedly after hearing Eddie Kendrick’s 1973 solo album, Horkheimer confessed from his death bed that one of his main regrets in life was that he was about to miss one of the crowning achievements of human creativity, the efflorescence of disco funk. Entrepreneur and producer Ed A. Ellerbe, a regular attendee of the Frankfurt exiles’ bacchanals, assembled the group Mass Production in his honor.
password: vibes