Headlessness


Eugene McDaniels was a song writer who, apparently, got wrapped up in the liberation-based movements going on in the sixties and seventies. When this album came out, he was often referred to as the "Left Rev M C D," aka preacher to the psychedelic choir. His album Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse is a masterpiece of jazz-funk and message-based lyrics. When it came out, it couldn't get off the store shelf. Twenty years later, it was sampled by the hiphop community and it disappeared from the shelves only to return for a hefty three figure price- IF you can find a copy.

PASS THE WORD

Rass!


Monty Alexander had a long career playing piano. You would never know he grew up in Jamaica listening to most of his albums. But this one was recorded on a trip back to the island with local guitar legend, Ernest Ranglin. For our sake, Rass!, is by far his most interesting effort. The two Al Green covers are exceptional and have been sampled by various producers from various parts of the songs.

TAKE A COPY OF MY COPY

Think Twice


The Donal Byrd catalogue from the seventies is full of goodies. This is in large part because the albums were produced by the Mizell Brothers (Skyhigh Production) who made fame with the disco classic Boogie Oogie Oogie. There is an interesting issue of Wax Poetics that features the brothers who are still around doing their thing. I had a chance to meet them at a release party and was happy to find that they were humble, soulful, intelligent musicologists. Unfortunetly, my cameraman was drunk that night.

Rather than linking the Stepping Into Tomorrow LP in full, I am providing a nice re-edit done by Prince Language on Editions Disco 12" for all you enthusiasts and serato DJs.

12" RE-EDIT

Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs


Eddie Hazel was the fuzz guitar player for Parliament, aka P-Funk. Most folks know the band for their boogie beats and west coast funk bass lines provided by Bootsy Collins. But the true fans who have their albums will recognize the searing electric guitar solos that compliment the bump. In his only solo effort, Hazel covers some standards from that era in an unusually effortless psychedelic tone. Sometimes, G, D and T reminds me of Shuggie Otis's stuff.

THANGS

Dorothy's Harp


Personally, I can really only listen to Afro-Harping in its entirety. But, there are plenty of beautiful, if not barmy, moments on Dorothy's Harp. As usual, Pete picked the most attractive song to sample for INI's Fackin' Jax track.

IF YOU WANT IT

The Prophet


Cal Tjader has rightly been called the father of acid jazz. Indeed, his music from the sixties and seventies can easily be mistaken for the beats made in the nineties that combined hip hop rhythms and jazzy overlays. He was extremely prolific. This album is one of the harder to find LPs from that era

THE ALBUM

Rare Groove Revolution (pt. 2)






This is the second video installment from my collected appearances on the Rare Groove Revolution — recombinated against a 74 minute audio mix. . . Sort of like . . watching the directors cut with commentary turned on?