The J. Geils Band was one of the most popular touring rock & roll bands in America during the '70s. Where their contemporaries were influenced by the heavy boogie of British blues-rock and the ear-splitting sonic adventures of psychedelia, The J. Geils Band was a bar band pure and simple, churning out greasy covers of obscure R&B, doo wop, and soul tunes, cutting them with a healthy dose of Stonesy swagger. While their muscular sound and the hyper jive of frontman Peter Wolf packed arenas across America, it only rarely earned them hit singles. Seth Justman, the group's main songwriter, could turn out catchy R&B-based rockers like "Give It to Me" and "Must of Got Lost," but these hits never led to stardom, primarily because the group had trouble capturing the energy of its live sound in the studio.
This is a great collection of players taking off on some funky soul jazz. Most solos are pretty inspired and the horn arrangements are tight throughout. Now it’s time to get down to it - the last 5 minutes of this CD are worth the price of admission. During a 20 minute-plus, all out jam on the Average White Band classic Pick Up the Pieces, Michael Brecker takes things to a different level with one of the most goose bump inducing solos of his way too short career. If you are a fan of his or just appreciate those moments in life music where something special is captured, buy this CD.
As the originator of the rhum-boogie, that amalgam of rhumba and boogie-woogie peculiar to New Orleans, Henry Roeland Roy Byrd a.k.a. Professor Longhair was a seminal influence on several generations of Crescent City stars, everybody from Fats Domino to Huey Smith to Allen Toussaint to Dr. John. But, as album producer (and controversial biographer of Elvis, John Lennon and Lenny Bruce) Albert Goldman writes in his liner notes to The Last Mardi Gras, the Professor was was wasting away in comparative obscurity while the record companies either refused to cut him or sat upon the records he had already made. So Goldman, who at the time was music critic for Esquire, campaigned in the magazine s pages for proper recognition of the New Orleans legend, and, lo and behold, Atlantic Records stepped forward with a 16-track mobile recording unit to get the job done.
Initially created from the ranks of a group of 60s female background session singers that at one time included Dionne Warwick, her sister Dee Dee, adopted sister Judy Clay and Just One Look singer Doris Troy, The Sweet Inspirations became an official Atlantic recording artist after being the label s go-to studio backup vocal group for many of the label s primary artists including Aretha Franklin (with whom they toured in 1967 and 1968), Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, The Drifters and Esther Phillips among others.