Ozomatli – ST

I don’t go out to see bands that often…at least not as often as I should.  So when I got invited to check out the house band:  Ozomatli at Club Dragonfly back in the late 90’s, I almost didn’t go.

Luckily it was a couple of hot girls who invited me, so I ended up going anyways.  I had no idea who Ozomatli was and, if nothing else, I figured if I’d just sat through the band I might get some action.

Well, I never got any action since the girl I was hitting on wouldn’t stop bringing up her ex-boyfriend.  But what I witnessed on stage that night was nothing short of magic.  It’s only happened a few times in my life, where you see a group perform and say to yourself “Holy Shit!  These guys are going to be big!”  I think the only other occasion was seeing the early incarnation of the Black Eyed Peas…pre-Fergie.

I even bought a CD right then and there.

Let me break Ozo’s set down for you. The house lights go down, the house DJ shuts off the music and the band begins to play.  But not on stage.  No, the band starts off on the back patio.  Every member is playing a horn, banging a drum or shaking a shaker.  The whole group winds it’s way though the club, through the crowd to the stage as they play before they all take their places and explode into their first song.  They play an amazing set of pure Los Angeles Latin sounds, then make their way back out into the crowd where they form a drum circle of sorts and keep playing for another song or two with the whole crowd going nuts around them.  What’s even better is that I’ve seen them numerous times over the past ten years and they still do the crowd thing.

That only makes me love them more.

The band takes their name from the Aztec god of dance, fire, the new harvest and music…which is fitting considering their multi racial line up and sound. Originally formed to play at a labor protest, the band took in all the sounds of Los Angeles: Hip hop, Latin, rock, reggae, funk, salsa and cumbia to name a few.

If LA needed a band as diverse as it was, Ozomatli was it.

The six core members of the band are Asdru Sierra (lead vocals, trumpet), Raul Pacheco (lead vocals, guitar, tres, jarana), Justin Poree (rap vocals,percussion), Wil-dog Abers (bass, backing vocals), Jiro Yamaguchi (tabla, percussion, backing vocals) and Ulises Bella (sax, clarinet, requinto jaracho, keyboards, backing vocals). (Thanks WIKI!) From album to album though, the lineup fluxuates from anywhere from seven to ten members, with members and elements added and subtracted like a tide.

The line up I got to see in the beginning included Jurassic 5 members Chali 2-Na and Cut Chemist…both of whom left after the first album to pursue J5 related requirements. But even with the loss or gain of musicians, the band’s tone remained the same. They still rock the house, they’re still keeping up the social commentary and they’re still working hard to bring you the funk.  And the members who leave all seem to make a return sooner or later. The band’s website says they’re touring with Chali 2-Na again this spring.

That’s saying a lot considering how many acts simply fall apart after the loss of a few members, or how often the members leaving do so under negative terms.  But once you experience the energy that Ozomatli brings to the table, it’s kind of hard to imagine it being otherwise.

The CD I bought of the drummer on stage that night was simply a taste of the full length CD to come…simply titled Ozomatli. Filled with everything I mentioned above, it’s a party soundtrack for the kind of party where everyone wants to talk politics as much as they want to dance…and find a way to do both.

Even if you don’t like latin music, or listening to lyrics in spanish, this is the kind of album that might just convert you over.

Darondo – Let My People Go

I’ve always been the guy who gets heavily into things, fully immerses himself in them, them drops them to move onto the next thing.  It’s not that I can’t commit, it’s just that I love so many things.

At one point I was really into animals.  I worked at a wildlife rehabilitation center and at home I had a gopher tortoise, a painted turtle, a cat, a dog, and a parakeet.  I was like Doctor fucking Doolittle.  Then, as I matured and realized how much I was missing out on by spending all my time with animals…I dropped it.  Just like that. 

(I did not leave my animals to die BTW, they all died of old age…except for my tortoise who simply crawled away one day to live a life of fulfillment in the city I expect, and my parakeet who escaped through the garage one day, hopefully to rejoin his flock somewhere.)

I also used to be way into art. It was once regarded as a plain fact amongst my classmates that my friend Pete and I were going to be animators for Disney.  Looking back now, and realizing that we were basically aspiring to be the bottom of the pile, it seems pretty naive.  We might as well have aspired to be janitors.  But anyway, soon I was no longer carrying around scrap books full of sketches and drawings.  The same fate befell my coin collection, stamp collection and collection of Garbage Pail Kids (I still have all that shit in the attic though!)

Point is, my hobbies jump around a lot…just like Darondo.

After listening to the collection “Let My People Go,”it’s hard to believe he only released three 45’s in his short career.  Even after that, he considered his music a hobby and never looked back at a musical career that never was.  And it certainly might have been…especially when you listen to the title track ‘Let My People Go.’

Born William Puliam, Darondo was a Bay Area native who started playing in the seventies, releasing his three singles and playing four shows.  His final show, opening for the Godfather of Soul himself, ended with Darondo getting into his white Rolls Royce and (licence plate: Darondo) and drove home.  After that, no more music.

But that wasn’t the end of Darondo.

HE was soon traveling the world collecting all kinds of interesting artifacts, he became king of the early Bay Area cable scene putting out three shows a day, then went to work as a physical therapist.  He lived a high lifestyle that would eventually sap his resources, but in his words “I used to get my suits tailor made, one of a kind, like my rings. A player can’t have the same ring as someone else. Got my rings specially made with diamonds and stones. But in order to get yourself together you had to get away from all the fastness. I was driving around in a Rolls Royce, I was a fast young man.”

And who doesn’t need some custom pimp rings? 

His recordings are highly sought after by collectors, especially after getting serious airplay from Gilles Peterson and props from John Mayer.  Mostly over his sound ‘Didn’t I?’ His sound is as hard to categorize as it is to get out of your head.  A heavy mix of R&B, soul, funk, latin and blues, Darondo could have been a superstar had he continued on that path, but soon he was chasing another dream…then another.

Luv ‘N Haight recently compiled the six songs from his singles and added three more unfinished tracks found in a box with some VHS copies of his cable show into a smart little reissue.  He recently has been working with San Francisco soul man Bing Ji Ling and says the experience has got him excited about music again, so keep your fingers crossed!

Don’t be left out on this one folks…you deserve better, and Darondo certainly delivers.

Young Holt Unlimited – On Stage

Welcome everyone to the 100th post here at Albums Everyone Should Own, I’m so glad you could make it! Did you remember to bring beer?

No?  Well, there’s still time to run to AM/PM.

You know, it was only seven months ago that I started this blog with a hope to not only fill the dead space during our off season, but to inform the general public of fucking awesome music that they need.  Along they way, I’ve tried to give props to the great albums out there that most people know about, but also to some albums that not everyone knows…records that may have slipped through the cracks.

So far, I think it’s going pretty well. 

I’d like to take the time to thank those bloggers who have supported my cause, so shouts out to CorrinaCorrina, What The Deuce, And Ya Don’t Stop and The Musics Over for all the great linkage.  Come on down to my bar sometime and the drinks are on me.

But, I’d also like to take the time to thank you, the anonymous Internet reader for allowing me an audience.  If it weren’t for all the hits, I probably would have lost interest long ago and gone back to my other job…drinking until I can’t feel feelings.

So keep on visiting, and I’ll keep throwing up the bomb for all who care enough to dig for it. And speaking of digging, I dug up some dusty soul jazz grooves for you today by the name of Young-Holt Unlimited with their 1967 live release “On Stage.”

Drummer Isaac ‘Red” Holt and Bassist Eldee Young were a part of the famous Ramsey Lewis Trio in the early sixties where they had a hand in creating two of Lewis’s biggest hits of the day ‘The In Crowd’ and ‘Hang On Sloopy.’ In 1966, though, they left the group to pursue their own direction and hooked up with pianist Hysear Don Walker in 1966 to form The Young-Holt Trio.

Said trio only made one album, titled after their only hit ‘Wack Wack,’ after which Hysear left the group.  After a period with Ken Chaney on Piano, he was replaced by Floyd Morris and the group became Young-Holt Unlimited.  There seems to be some confusion as to when this happened, as all the information I’ve found says the name change didn’t happen until 1968, but our album “On Stage” was released in 1967 and clearly names the group as Young-Holt Unlimited…but then again does it really fucking matter?

No, but I’m a little hung over from celebrating, and it makes me testy.

(If you’ve heard of Young-Holt, it’s probably because of their famous backing track to the Barbara Acklin hit ‘Am I The Same Girl?’ Their arrangement was so hot that the group also released it as an instrumental called ‘Soulful Strut’ with Floyd’s piano replacing the vocals.)

I’ve always loved the soul jazz genre because it had a much smoother sound than the jazz funk era that was to come, and while it had a good run, I’ve always felt they could have dome more.  This is pretty self evident considering the raw energy captured in “On Stage.”  The recording captures more than the music, but also the feel of the famous Bohemian Cavern in which it was recorded …right down to the band’s banter with the audience and the screams of delight from the crowd. No track displays this better than the medley of ‘Wade In The Water/ Ain’t There Something That Money Can’t Buy,’ part of which you’ll hear above.

Truth be told, I’m not that thrilled with their version of Mellow Yellow, but the monster ‘Yon Gimme Thum’ that closes the set pretty much seals the deal for me anyways.

I got introduced to these guys in college and their Greatest Hits album was a staple of our pool room/bar/garage hangout for the three years that we had it.  This album is highly recommended to people aho have hangouts and the folks that like to hang out in them.  Grab it HERE!

And next time bring beer.

Curtis Mayfield – Curtis/Live!

You know what sucks about Curtis Mayfield…aside from the fact that he’s dead?

What sucks is that a man with such talent and skill is only known for one album.  Really, most act as if he simply appeared, made “Superfly,” and promptly disappeared from the face of the earth.

This isn’t to imply that “Superfly” isn’t a superior album, because it is.  What bothers me is that it’s a poor representation of a much larger and more expansive career.  I find it reminiscent of the people who claim to be Bob Marley fans, but only own “Legend.”

Most people are unaware that Curtis’s career started in 1956, when he dropped out of High School to join The Roosters with the Brooks brothers, Richard and Arthur, and Jerry Butler.  It was two years later that they would become The Impressions when they added Sam Gooden to their line up.  When Butler left the group, Curtis suddenly found himself the lead singer and began composing for the band, a talent that would become his vocation for the rest of his career since he ended up being extremely good at it.

Mayfield also became known for his falsetto singing style and unique guitar tuning.  Word has it that he tuned his guitar to the open F-sharp of the black piano keys, giving him a sound that set him apart from th rest of the pack.  Why?  Because he was a bad ass!

As the sixties moved on, The Impressions gained in popularity due to Mayfield’s ability to infuse his work with social commentary. He also began to extend his songwriting career, penning hits for Jerry Butler and The 5 Stairsteps to name a few.  And to top it all off, he was now the owner of the Mayfield and Windy C labels. 

Curtis Mayfield was a one man music industry.

In 1970 Mayfield left The Impressions and started yet another label, called Curtom, that would become home to such soul luminaries as The Staple Singers, Leroy Hutson and Baby Huey as well as releasing Mayfield’s solo works…like “Superfly.” 

But before all that happened, Curtis played at New York’s Bitter End Club in 1971 and released his first live recording from the tapes.  Accompanied by a stripped down band and playing in such an intimate setting allows Mayfield’s work to shine in a way that nearly eclipses the work he would continue to do in the years leading up to that tragic accident that would leave him paralyzed for the rest of his life. 

Consisting of songs written both for his years with The Impressions and material from his first solo work “Curtis” (released a year earlier,) “Curtis/Live” brims with a warmth and intimacy that most acoustic sets can only hope to achieve. Songs like ‘Stare and Stare,’ ‘Gypsy Woman’ and ‘Mighty Mighty’ find new life outside of their original orchestral arrangements and draw you into the experience like you were there at The Bitter End yourself.

Originally released as a double LP set with 12 tracks, the 2000 re-release on Rhino felt it necessary to add bonus tracks that included ‘Superfly’ as if to remind people who they were listening to.

But after listening to this album, you’ll never need reminding again.

Sixto Rodriguez – Cold Fact

Wednesday night ended up being much drunker this week than I expected…but I’ve really come to enjoy the idea of the mid week tension breaker. Billy and Brian showed up around 9ish and started in on the beers and Sailor Jerry. Then Deven appeared after 11 with two old friends Crum and Tyo (their last names…not their first.)

Tyo is what we call a magnificent asshole. The kind of guy who will tell you exactly what he thinks, regardless of the situation…then tells you to fuck off. I love him anyway because he has one of the sickest collections of sixties era furniture I’ve ever seen, and he collects the most disgusting high-end audio equipment you could imagine. The kind of shit that was designed in Germany and costs several grand.  Jeff buys that stuff like groceries.

But Tyo has a real thirst for funk and jazz, like myself…and Wednesday night found us deep in my loft digging through said sections for treasure and playing a little game of “have you heard this?” One of the albums I pulled out was Sixto Rodriguez’s 1970 album “Cold Fact.”

Unless you’re one of the crate diggers over at Soul Strut, or fan of finding obscure music, you probably don’t know Sixto, but that’s why I’m here, and why I write about this kind of thing. It deserves to be known. It doesn’t seem to fall into any particular genre, but seems to borrow a little from the latin, funk, folk and psyche categories and forms a unique creature of it’s own.

Sixto was born in Detroit, the son of middle class Mexican immigrants.  In 1967 he released his first single ‘I’ll Slip Away’ under the name of Rod Riguez on the Impact Label.  It would be another three years before he released anything else, and not until he signed on to Sussex records where he cut two albums: “Cold Fact’ and ‘Coming From Reality’.  But although of high quality, neither album took off.  Most critics didn’t get it and the album sold poorly, leading the label to drop Sixto who subsequently gave up his career as a musician.

But then something strange happened.  He albums began to gain steam over seas in countries like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. By 1975 the original run of “Cold Fact’ was sold out and an Australian label called Blue Goose Music bought the Australian rights to Sixto’s catalog, giving both albums their first major label release.  This was all news to Sixto, who discovered that his album had gone platinum in South Africa.  He toured Australia twice, once in 1979 then again in 1981 before he went home and resumed a normal life.

With a voice somewhere between Cat Stevens and Jose Feliciano, Sixto’s music definitely falls under the label of ‘deep’ with his semi political leanings and social commentary.  The best album cuts include the smooth ‘Sugar Man’ (which you may recall from the Heath Ledger movie: Candy ) my favorite ‘This Is Not A Song, It’s An Outburst’ and ‘Rich Folks Hoax.’

And of his two albums, “Cold Fact” remains the best.  Sixto can still be found playing occasionally under the name Rodriguez…although mainly in Australia.  Check it out, folks.

Various – The Super Breaks Series

 

Do you like samples?

Not the free ones that they hand out at Costco…even though they are delicious. But the one’s that are used to back up a good song (or a bad one.) Usually they are slices of old funk or soul, usually they are the best shit you never heard, and usually they are incredibly rare and hard to locate.

Some albums do you the favor of listing where their samples came from in their liner notes…but some don’t.  So, if you’re looking for the goods it wasn’t always easy.  At least it wasn’t until books like The Sampling Dictionary, or websites like The Hip Hop Directory came out.

I’ve always said a good compilation is the best bang you can get for your buck…aside from a good mixtape. And one of the better series that came out was the Super Breaks series on the BGP (Beat Goes Public) label.  They lay down a bread crumb trail that any aspiring beat head will find easy to follow.

In the late 80’s this subsidiary of Ace records got their hands on the virtual goldmine that was the Fantasy label and began sifting through their  vaults.  The results are nothing short of stunning.

You’ll find easily recognizable tunes like Jean Jaques Perrey’s ‘E.V.A.’ used by Gangstarr for ‘Just to Get a Rep,’ or the original Linda Lyndell version of ‘What a Man’ covered by En Vogue.  The rest you may not immediately recognize…but are good enough to make you want to find out who sampled them and for what.

Besides, who wouldn’t want a good copy of William De Vaughn’s seminal pimp classic ‘Be Thankful for What You Got’ or Rufus Thomas’ ‘The Breakdown (Part 2).’ Or the stomping good time tunes of The Fatback Band’s ‘Got to Learn How to Dance’ that I must have searched forever to find. Fans of good old soul and funk will find hits galore here.

Yup, the good folks at BGP have done good work, and not just with this series.  Be on the lookout for their other collections like the ‘Acid Jazz’ series by Giles Peterson and the smooth soul crooning of ‘Sweet Taste of Sin’ as well.

It’s all good baby!  Go get em HERE!!!

G Love and Special Sauce – Coast to Coast Motel

I remember the first time I saw G Love and Special Sauce back in 1994.  Their self-titled debut album had just dropped, they were getting a lot of good press and the streets were hungry for what they were laying down.  We managed to get tickets to catch their show at the American Legion Hall on Highland, just south of the Hollywood Bowl.

After getting over my initial shock at what a broad spectrum of Angeleno’s had shown up for the show,  and being a little pissed that my key chain pocket knife had been confiscated at the door, the band pretty much proceeded to blow my mind. I’ve seen a lot of shows in my day…and only a very few rank up there in the “Freakin’ Amazing” category…but this was one of them.  The energy in the room that night was unparallelled.

I got on the horn the next morning to alert my friends in the Bay Area of what was coming, exclaiming:

“G Love is coming!!!  Get tickets now!!!”

They had no idea what I was talking about, or who G Love was…but I gave them my personal musical guarantee (I don’t give that out very often) that their money and time would be well spent… after which, they all agreed that I had been correct on all counts. 

Because G Love puts on a helluva show.

The band consists of G Love, (a Philadelphia native whose real name is Garrett Dutton III) on harmonica, vocals and guitar; Jimmy “Jazz” Prescott on stand up bass, and Jeffrey “Houseman” Clemens on drums.  Their sound hovers in a twilight area where blues, hip hop, folk and jazz all combine into an entirely new animal.  And after their audacious debut, it was thought they might be the second coming.

The following year, the band had gone to New Orleans to record the follow up album titled “Coast to Coast Motel,” and when it was released it fell flat. 

I was puzzled…and confused. 

I would read the bad reviews, go back and listen to the album again.  Were they listening to the same album I was?  What the hell was going on?  Where did my drink go?  A few people liked the LP, but it seemed to get no press.  I would drop it at parties and people loved it, but none seemed to know about it.  It made no sense that an album this good had pretty much gone unnoticed.  WTF?!?

Even more confusing was the almost complete absense of any of these songs from G Love’s live show.  I collected his live tapes for a while and you were hard pressed to find any “Coast to Coast” material on any of them.  Did he really want to sweep this under the rug?  I never got to ask him.

more about “MySpaceTV Videos: G.Love & Special Sa…“, posted with vodpod

The band had matured in sound, pulling more from New Orleans funk and folk roots while still retaining their original hybrid aesthetic.  The songs like ‘Kiss and Tell,’ ‘Soda Pop’ and ‘Sweet Sugar Mama’ are literally dripping with soul and a laid back good time funk that catches you off guard.  And the New Orleans vibe pours out so think, you’d think you were at Mardi Gras.

Once again, the critics missed the boat on this one.

But now you don’t have to.

Charles Hilton Brown – Owed to Myself

So I went shopping for my birthday last weekend with some birthday money.  Got a few shirts and that was nice, but I really wanted a nice looking messenger bag…maybe one that will even hold records!  Both of the bags I found looked awesome, but were going for about $700.

$700 for a shoulder bag!?!? 

That don’t even make sense!  I could get a 24 inch LCD screen for less and that would be much more functional! Luckily I made a pass through Urban outfitters and they had the new Lasonic MP3 boombox that I had been drooling over online.  It was $200, but fuck it…that’s the price you pay for awesomeness of this caliber!  And for the price of that stupid bag I could get three of these bad boys!

What does any of this have to do with Charles Hilton Brown and his amazing 1974 album “Owed to Myself?”

Not a damn thing. 

But I just had to tell someone about my boombox. 

That and there isn’t a lot of info on Charles or his album out there.  What information I do have comes from the blurb on Dustygroove and the minuscule liner notes.  From what I can tell Charles spent some time in England where he met up with a scathing Afro-Funk band called Assagai and they decided to record a album that Charles felt was “Owed” to himself.

I found a note somewhere that it was recorded in Italy as well…and that would make sense, since it was reissued by Italian super label Schema.

His deeply soulful sound is reminiscent of Otis Redding mixed with Tom Jones…and the results are just magnificent.  Whether he is covering classic tunes like ‘Ain’t no Sunshine’ or ‘Love Train’, or plowing through silky smooth originals like ‘Tell Me Once Again’ (first track below) Hilton Brown delivers like UPS on this rare slice of funky soul.

Also notable are Assagai’s sick instrumental jams ‘Maddox’ (second track below) and ‘GRF.’ Check out the samples below for some of that sweet sweetness!

Who was Charles Hilton Brown?  No one seems to know…and he never released another album again. 

But thank God he released this one!