The S.O.S. Band – III (1982 Tabu Records FZ 38352)

The S.O.S Band – III
Vinyl rip in 24-bit 196 khz | Art at 600 and 300 dpi
1982 Tabu Records FZ 38352|   Electro-funk / Soul / Funk

A1 Can’t Get Enough 5:45
A2 High Hopes 6:29
A3 Have It Your Way 5:07
A4 Your Love (It’s The One For Me) 5:18
B1 Good & Plenty 4:24
B2 Looking For You 4:27
B3 These Are The Things 4:47
B4 You Shake Me Up 4:00
B5 Groovin’ (That’s What We’re Doin’) 4:28

Executive producer: Leon F. Sylvers III
Producers: Ricky Sylvers & Gene Dozier

The SOS Band is:

Mary Davis – vocals
Jason Bryant – Keyboards and vocoder, background vocals, lead vocals on “Good & Plenty” and “You Shake Me Up”
Abdul Raoof – Trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion, backing vocals; lead vocals on “Have It Your Way” and “High Hopes”
Billy Ellis – Saxophone
John Simpson – Bass, backing vocals
Bruno Speight – Guitar and backing vocals
Jerome “JT” Thomas – Drums and percussion
Willie “Sonny” Killebrew” – Saxophone, flute

Design – Jones & Armitage
Executive Producer – Leon F. Sylvers III
Photography By – Diem Jones
Producer – Gene Dozier, Ricky Sylvers

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LINEAGE: Tabu Records FZ 38352 vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Creek Audio OBH-15; Audioquest King Cobra cables; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; clicks and pops removed with Click Repair on very light settings, manually auditioning the output; further clicks removed with Adobe Audition 3.0; dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.

When each day’s lousy news seems to surpass the day before, when you feel like you’re drowning in an ocean of futility, The S.O.S Band will always be there to rescue you!  This third record from the group saw them getting production help from members of the Sylvers and Gene Dozier (of Gamble & Huff fame). The uptempo numbers are all absolute slam-dunks and the ballads are good too.  All the elements of their trademark sound are now falling into place, especially the prominent use of synth-bass lines and drum triggers.  It is also notable for an early Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis monster track, “High Hopes.” That duo would go on to do more work with the S.O.S Band in the years to come, and the song really stands on the album, in a good way.  The second side opens with a tribute to my friend Bert’s favorite candy, Good & Plenty, followed by a foray into synth-pop/rock territory with “Looking For You.”  The long delay on Mary Davis’ vocal is a cool contrast with the dry, crisp production of the rest of the instruments.  “These Are The Things” is one of Davis’ most emotive ballads, but the quality sort of begins to fall off after that in the last couple tracks.  “You Shake Me Up” has some Vocoder shenanigans taken straight from Roger Troutman and Zapp, and the record closes with the mostly instrumental – “Groovin’ (That’s What We’re Doing”, which are the song’s only lyrics and an exercise in stating the obvious.  Look out for more S.O.S Band posts here this summer.

password:  vibes

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