...I'm talking about the soul group who helped put Invictus Records on the map with such killers as "Finders' Keepers" and "Give Me Just A Little More Time." Seriously underrated act, although for some reason they get more props in the UK than the US. The Chairmen took the Temptations' concept of multiple leads one step farther - General Johnson and Danny Woods were the soul men, Harrison Kennedy was the wyld black rocker with an affinity for the blues, Eddie Custis was the lounge singer. And after Custis left, the three remaining members put out simultaneous solo albums, some six years before Kiss pulled the same stunt. And while all their records had a definite rock undercurrent, they went all out in 1974 with
Skin I'm In, where they were backed up by members of P-Funk. And since quite a few of you have been giving glowing reports to Harrison Kennedy's
Hynotic Music, I thought I'd jam the spotlight on the group he came from. RESPECT...
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
Comments
The General's overwrought vocal style can be a little too much for some, and it wouldn't surprise me if some folks dismiss the whole output on that basis. For myself, I'd listen to him over most other voices, and you can never fuck with melodies of the calibre of E.James and GMJA Little More Time.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
unbeatable
Yeah, both General and Harrison both had singing voices that sounded like they were on the pit of anxiety, but they knew how to work it. Danny Woods wasn't as intense, but he definitely had a nice rhythm going on "Finders' Keepers," "Pay To The Piper," and "Working On A Building Of Love."
My first exposure to the Chairmen was when I was a kid, and they appeared on Soul Train with their road band, performing live instead of lipsynching.
I love when he drops that shit. The tortured/strained vocals make the song for me.
By the time Danny, General and Harrison put out the solo albums, Eddie had already left the group by then. They were essentially a trio after that; Eddie wasn't replaced.
The Chairmen only had four albums as a group (not counting compilations or later reunion albums aimed at the oldies/beach music circuit). As far as "where did they all go?," General and Danny are keeping a version of the Chairmen going for the southern oldies circuit, while Harrison Kennedy went back to Canada, where he came from, and is now recording as a blues artist for the Electro-Fi label. Don't know where the heck Eddie Custis went, or if he released a solo LP.
I used to have the highest respect for the Chairmen for doing a balls-out funk-rock LP, until I learned that General Johnson hated it for that very reason (these were mostly unfinished masters that the P-Funk crew messed around with). I still love the group and the album, but at first I thought General was trying to outdo Mandrill, War, the Ohio Players, and every other rockish funk band you can name.
I would have figured it was an "odds & ends"-type album anyway. The big hit single ("Finders' Keepers") was already a year old by the time the album came out. And oddly enough, Harrison Kennedy is barely heard on this LP at all, yet he's the member of the group that you'd MOST expect to put out an album this freaky.
I also remember a "modern soul" 12" by General Johnson 12" with Paul Weller.
I love their hits, as well as "Men are Getting Scarce" and "Just a Little Understanding".
COTB kick ass.
There was another edition (not the one pictured above, which features a remix by Ian Levine instead) of this single with a remix by Paul Weller. The added synth solo makes it sound a bit like a Style Council track circa "The Cost Of Loving."
Can anybody school me on this one?
Boogie Chairmen?
is bananas.
That and Feelin'Alright? are the only song i have from them on that Invictus Club Classics double wax that dropped in '99.