06/02/07
KARI ON PRODUCTIONS
OCTOBOP/Very Early: West Coast cool school cats bring the era back as they cruise through another set that shows these cats loving their work. Loads of familiar tunes played in good hands make this more than a tribute/karioke flavored set. A nicely jumping time that hits all the right notes and is a dandy treat for anyone that ever dug the cool school either first time around or via reissues.
(Mystic Lane)
LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
BETTY DAVIS: When this record came out in the early 70’s, it was released on some off beat label distributed by Paramount. At that time, Paramount was already a graveyard running on Melanie’s fumes so what were the expectations for something distributed by them. Davis didn’t look like anything that was coming out on Motown, Stax or Chess and Denise LaSalle, Millie Jackson and the aggressive young ladies (thanks, Imus) of the rap era were way off in the distance. Even Parliament was still woodshedding. She just seemed like a tarted up r&b singer trying to get a toehold by exploiting blaxploitation era sluttiness. And then the record got played. If this woman could cause a thermonuclear meltdown in the brain of a world weary cat like Miles Davis, what do you think this record did to the mind of a suburban white kid that thought he was cool for being conversant in soul & r&b? This was a funky bat out of hell that was like nothing that came before it. With everyone that was hip at the time on board pushing the funk to hotter and higher heights as she tore through some of the wildest lyrics to come along through that time, this was simply off the hook. Freaked out funk from outer space that’s still about ten years ahead of it’s time, the internet and sampling could finally get this set the audience it really deserves.
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BETTY DAVIS/They Say I’m Different: With Paramount getting ready to collapse, Davis probably had her budget cut for her second album so she did more stuff herself and with less stellar cats than on her debut, took things in a sci-fi punk funk direction and continued to melt minds. Once again, still too hot to handle, and bitch slapped by the 1974 oil crisis and record biz woes, the record launched into the void only to bubble under until rappers found it digging in the crates and restored it to the position it should have had once upon a time. Saying it’s not as mind blowing as the debut isn’t an insult, that means this is only a classic instead of a masterpiece. Anyone that’s a believer in the funk needs to snag the cornerstones of the Davis canon. Then keep a copy of Miles’ “Bitches Brew” handy as a chaser.
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Volume 30/Number 214
June 2, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record