Marvin Holmes

Summer Of '73 is the 1973 debut album by Bay Area soul/jazz band Marvin Holmes & Justice, whose music is in the vein of Tower Of Power. This was released by Brown Door.

Rupert Holmes followed up "Widescreen" (1974) with a self-titled LP that utilized a band rather than an orchestra, and was somewhat more accessible in its sound. Yet Holmes still was true to himself in composing its musical vignettes, again produced by Jeffrey Lesser. “Studio Musician” was a powerful Wall of Sound explosion that would be reverentially covered by Barry Manilow on his chart-topping Barry Manilow Live album, while “I Don’t Want to Hold Your Hand” was such a spot-on, deadpan Beatles send-up that George Martin reportedly told Holmes it was superior to the original recording! “Everything Gets Better When You’re Drunk” sounds like a toe-tapping ode to the perennial pleasures of booze, but it has a dark undercurrent of irony. The most enduring song on Rupert Holmes, though, may be its least commercial. “Brass Knuckles” was longtime mystery buff Holmes’ attempt to tell a detective noir story in under four minutes of song. Its songwriter remains proud of this one-of-a-kind song’s lyrics having been published in numerous crime anthologies and even reviewed in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

A killer! As revolutionary as the music and political climate was in the Bay Area in the late 60s and early 70s, it's damn near criminal that there haven't been more representative collections of the music – enter Luv N Haight Records, who are here with the first ever comprehensive compilation of Bay Area funk and hard soul! The kind of funky music that came out of the Bay in the period differs a bit from a lot of mirror sounds from the other coast, the midwest and the south –artists and groups like Sugar Pie Desanto, P-I-R Square, Marvin Holmes and the Uptights, San Francisco T.K.O and others work with short, tight, hard-clapping blasts of 45 funk. Where the funk of other scenes was designed to bounce you along an elastic groove, the Cali school for the most part specialized in short, sweaty, scratchy numbers that were designed to get you on your feet, than knock you straight on your arse! Truly amazing stuff – all funky 45 numbers, many of which are available for the first time on CD!

Sherman Holmes’ solo debut The Richmond Sessions can’t help being a milestone: it’s the esteemed singer and bassist’s first recording since the passing of his brother and musical partners in the Holmes Brothers, Wendell Holmes and Popsy Dixon, both in 2015. But his solo debut, dedicated to the memories of Wendell and Popsy, is no somber affair. The blend of bluegrass, gritty rock ‘n’ roll, and joyful gospel will be familiar to Holmes Brothers fans. And with some of his strongest vocals to date, the album demonstrates that Sherman is still an artist in his prime.