Weekend Goodies

"Black on White Affair"--Seattle's ultimate funk/soul band from 67-72

Went to my three favorite music shops in Seattle this weekend:  Jive Time, Easy Street, and Silver Platters and picked up some good stuff:

1.  The Impressions Check Out Your Mind!/Times Have Changed---The more you read this blog, the more you'll probably notice what a big Impressions/Curtis Mayfield fan I am.  I have a lot of Impressions albums, but I never had this one before and decided to pick it up.  Check Out Your Mind!  is Mayfield's last album with the group when he decided to go solo.  There's a good mixture of doo-wop, pretty soul songs, along with some of the funk-inspired music that was more predominantly featured shortly after this album on Mayfield's first solo album Curtis.  The second album on the disc, Times Have Changed, is post-Mayfield, and has Leroy Hutson taking over a majority of the vocals.  Mayfield still had a big part in the group, as he wrote a majority of the songs on this album, but wasn't playing guitar and singing on this album.  It's a good album, but not as strong as Check Out Your Mind!  I don't think Curtis's songs were as strong on this album, and it wasn't as focused and cohesive as earlier Impressions like This is My Country, or We're a Winner. 

    

2.  Wheedle's Groove:  Seattle's Finest in Funk and Soul 1965-1975--What can I say about the Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records?  They are an extraordinary label that continues to put out wonderful reissues of hard-to-find soul, folk, reggae, you name it, they've put it out.  Just over the past two years, I've probably bought at least 5 or 6 of their reissues (Jim Sullivan, Rodriguez, Lou Bond, T.L. Barrett, Jackie Mittoo, just off the top of my head).  I'm just listening to this one right now as we speak, and it's wonderful to hear some of these lost soul/funk gems from the northwest.  The only track that I'm familiar with is The Overton Berry Trio's marvelous jazz-funk cover of The Beatles "Hey Jude", which I've been putting on repeat recently.  Once again, Light in the Attic Records does not disappoint with this reissue.  

3.  Willie Colon Crime Pays--I love me some Latin salsa, especially anything from the late 60's/early 70's, and Willie Colon never disappoints.  Dig the Latin-gangster attire on the cover.  That was Willie's shtick.  This is a great comp of some of his early grooves.  I was listening to this driving around Seattle on Sunday afternoon with the windows unrolled, as it was a relatively nice day on Sunday.  If you dig on this, you may like Ray Barreto, Joe Bataan, Pete Rodriguez, or hell, anything on Fania Records for that matter.  

4.  Major Lance Very Best of Major Lance--Of course, I was interested in this album with the sole basis that Curtis Mayfield was Major's buddy, and wrote 90% of the songs for Major Lance on this comp.  Good Chicago Soul, definitely Impressions-influenced, as expected.  Major doesn't have quite the voice that Mayfield does, but it's still good stuff and well-worth picking up.