Dr. John, the Night Tripper (1968) Gris-Gris (LP) Atco 33-234

Dr. John, the Night Tripper

GRIS-Gris

1968

Atco 33-234

Produced by Harold Battiste

**** recommended

Debut long player from the Doctor, the Night Tripper, produced and partially written by the legendary New Orleans native Harold Battiste, acid R&B, slow-crawling psychedelic nightmares, creeping from the swamps of Louisiana, cooked up in the Gold Star kitchens of the City of Angels, pots and pan acid batch bubbling voodoo, American as gumbo stew, jumping up on second-line hind legs for the “Jump Sturdy” strut down the street…tribal and influential, essential.

Almost not released by Atlantic and mostly ignored by the public (but likely noticed by the avant-garde element of LA who likely had influenced the Nighttripper), this recording eventually went on to take its rightful place in the annals of American music.

Even if you end up not digging it for days, everybody should at least give it a listen…sit in the dark and let your head spin around Jupiter…take a night trip through American history.

— winch (author of

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Eddie Harris (1970) Come on Down! (LP) Atlantic 1554

Eddie Harris

Come on Down!

Atlantic 1554
produced by Tom Dowd
1970

Rating:**** (Recommended)

Harris goes to Florida for some fresh-squeezed sounds, all the way to the warm climes of Miami but obviously inspired by the red-hot deep-fried soul food offerings of Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

Backed with a cracker-jack team (including Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and Cornell Dupree on guitar), Harris cooks up a rocking soul-jazz groove on “Live Right Now,” slowly turning up the heat as the number progresses, building it up until the pot is bubbling, until you can almost smell the gumbo steaming.  “Really” comes up next on the menu, a slow-cooking soulful number, in sharp contrast to the cooker before it but equally powerful, Harris leading a soulful conversation, the cut unlike anything he’d done before.  The flipside sounds slightly mild after those red-hot numbers, but the set is fairly consistent, quite enjoyable from start to finish, closing on a strong note with “Why Don’t You Quit.”

 

Producer Tom Dowd had a knack for putting the essential elements upfront to give the music a punch, while filling the backspace to keep it interesting.  This set is certainly testimony to that.

— winch

 

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Les McCann & Eddie Harris (1969) Swiss Movement (LP) Atlantic 1537

Les McCann & Eddie Harris

Swiss Movement

Atlantic 1537
Produced by Nesuhi Ertegun & Joel Dorn
recorded June 1969
Rating:**** (Recommended)

Classic spontaneous combustion soul jazz from McCann/Harris (they’d never rehearsed or played together), the set opening with a definitive version of McCann’s signature tune “Compared to What?” (Gene McDaniels), the rest instrumental, cooking from the get-go, keeping it going from go to whoa, turning down the flame and getting a bit reflective on the cuts that close the sides.

Solid set from 1969, essential listen for fans.

— winch

The Coasters (1957) S/T (LP) Atco 101

Betty Wright (1968) My First Time Around (LP) Atco 33-260

Betty Wright

My First Time Around

Atco 33-260
Produced & Arranged by Brad Shapiro and Steve Alaimo
1968 

 

Good Shit *****

Solid debut from this Florida 14-year-old soul sister.

As the shag zebra-striped outfit suggests, this album wasn’t bubblegum soul but rather a young girl singing like a woman of experience, the presentation making no apologies for the fact that this set is dripping like the dew on a waterbed.  Wright handles the material with ease, contributing one cut herself and making the others her own.  The backing band is in fine form, the arrangements wrapping around her vocals like a silk slip, Murcia snaking his guitar licks into the mix.

This includes all her first A and B sides, and plenty of other gems.  While some cuts are simply classic, the entire set is strong.  No filler this time around.

— winch

Don Pullen (LP) Tomorrow’s Promises (1977) Atlantic 1699

Don Pullen

Tomorrow’s Promises

Atlantic 1699
Produced by Ilhan Mimaroglu

1977

Rating:**** (Recommended)

Offering healthy doses of the avant garde but grounded in a blend of hard bop and R&B (60s groove and 70s funk), this set opens with a hard-driving 10+ minute Pullen original called “Big Alice,” George Adams on alto, Michael Urbaniak on electric violin, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Pullen on piano, each getting time for solos as the rhythm section (bass plus three percussionists) keeps the sound powering along, a fairly funky freight train bouncing down the line.  After the reflective post bop of “Autumn Song,” the side picks up the pace again, closing with “Poodie Pie” (Pullen, Morgan Burton, Sterling ” Satan” Magee), Mr. Satan’s guitar work more pronounced and helping carve out the groove, the cut featuring Pullen on clavinet, producer Mimaroglu with electronic tracks. While the groove moves through various tempos and moods, it never completely forgets where it started.

The second side opens with another stand-out Pullen original called “Kadji,” this number featuring an almost hip-shaking tempo but sounding like it owes something to Coltrane’s explorations of the African continent.  After a free-form duet with Pullen and Adams, the set closes with a vocal cut, a reflective message song called “Let’s Be Friends” featuring the pipes of Rita DaCosta.  While this set doesn’t end as strong as it opens, it remains interesting and enjoyable, moving through moods and tempos to create a totality of effect.  There’s certainly enough solid material to make this recommended listening.

— winch

http://www.eight-track.com/

The Return of Roxy Music

 

Roxy Music

Manifesto

Atco  

1979

mediocre **

After splitting in 1975, Roxy returned with this forgettable release.

 

Roxy Music

Flesh + Blood

Atco 102

1980
released May 1980, reached #35 in US (#1 in UK)

noteworthy ***

Featuring two weird covers (“Midnight Hour” and “Eight Miles High”) and cool originals, this set, as the sleeve design suggests, was an improvement over Manifesto from the previous year.

 

 

Roxy Music

The High Road

Polydor 2335 269 (Holland) 

1983

noteworthy ***

Live album (26 minutes), two covers done in their own eccentric style, this time Neil Young and John Lennon, and two originals by Ferry, the band having no problem adapting to the 80s because it was more like the 80s adapting to Roxy Music, as Ferry and the gang played a considerable part in creating the sound of that decade.  This is a worthwhile grab for fans. (And I dig that cover for days.)

— winch

http://www.eight-track.com

 

Roxy Music: Siren (LP) 1975

Roxy Music

Siren

Atco 127 

1975
released October 1975 (US & UK), reached #50 (#4 in UK)

recommended ****

While Eno likely deserves more credit than given, considering he produced the essential albums by Devo and the Talking Heads, Roxy Music was able to stay strong after Eno split, something that even Eno himself admits.  Meanwhile, Ferry had already launched his solo career, but that doesn’t seem to distract his attention from this set.

 

 

While many artists of the late ’70s foreshadow the ’80s (with of course, the previously mentioned Eno playing a big part), Roxy Music was creating the ’80s in the early ’70s.  This album, perhaps more than the previous albums, reveals this fact.

 

 

While they’d been huge in their homeland since the beginning (with all five albums reaching the top 10), by this time, they had found an audience in the states.  This is also the time they decided it was time to call it quits.  Their last single (“Love is the Drug” from this set) was their first US hit.

— winch

http://www.eight-track.com

 

 

Les McCann: Invitation to Openness (1972) LP

Les McCann

Invitation To Openness

Atlantic (SD 1603)

Produced: Joel Dorn

Released: 1972

Rating: **** (Recommended) 

McCann’s definitive 1969 live set was a hard act to follow, but this date from the early 70s proved he still had a lot to say.  While the popularity of 1969’s “Compared To What” probably had something to do with his focus on vocals for some of the material that followed, this set sticks with the instrumentals, offering “The Lovers” as the centerpiece of this meeting, the side-long cut completely improvisation, the rhythm digging deeper into the groove as the thing progresses, Detroit’s Yusef Lateef bringing in some sounds from around the globe as he alternates between instruments, the guitarists also getting room to wind their licks into the groove.  The thing builds up to a near frenzy and then settles down just to build up again and climax like a multiple orgasm.  Get together with your lady or just turn out the lights, light up a number and lay back and enjoy this thing.

Side two sounds slightly anti-climatic after that opening, but flip her over and sink your needle into those grooves as well.  Some might not dig the electric funky playfulness of “Poo Pye McGoochie,” but others will find that it fits just fine, like going out to play after getting some loving from your woman (or your man).  Backed with a crackerjack team of musicians, McCann delivers the goods.  

Besides Lateef on sax, oboe, flute, plum blossom & bells, the set features two guitarists (Cornell Dupree & David Spinozza), two bassists (Bill Salter & Jimmy Rowser), and five percussionists (Bernard Purdie, Al Mouzon, Donald Dean, Buck Clarke, & Ralph McDonald).  McCann plays piano and Moog.

— winch

(author of Kalamazoo: Growing Up Sideways in the 1970s)

http://eight-track.com/kalamazoo.html