Anyone Have/Heard This Album?(Curtis/KATG/WAR Rel)
SoulOnIce
13,027 Posts
Never seen this one before - the fact that Curtis does a 6 1/2 minute version of "Give Me Your Love" and Gladys Knight does the Curtis-written-&-produced track "On and On" makes me very interested.Anybody know it? Live albums can be so hit and miss, I'm curious how it sounds, cause it looks like it could be dope.
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i don't know if i'd consider it essential, because i hardly ever listen to it. i could let about some of the good tracks.
That would be most welcome and greatly appreciated...
So how is War and Jimmy Witherspoon?
Live various-artists "festival" albums can be a hit-or-miss proposition, even when you like all the artists involved. There's another such album that Curtis appears on, titled something like Newport In New York: The Soul Sessions and featuring a bunch of soul-slanted acts at an outdoor festival in 1972 - Curtis, Les McCann, Roberta Flack, Billy Eckstine, B.B. King, Herbie Mann. The one time I heard it, it definitely sounded like a "had to have been there"-kinda deal (and I'm not exactly the hugest Roberta/Herbie/Eckstine fan going).
As far as Curtis...you know how, on the Curtis/Live! elpee, the audience is hanging on his every word and responding in the right places during "Stone Junkie?" He kicks off the song by going, "I don't want to point any fingers because I don't want anybody pointing any fingers (back)" and the crowd laughs, knowingly? Well, Curtis makes the same finger-pointing remark at the start of the Newport "Stone Junkie" and he's met with total silence as the band plays on. Guess there's a big difference between an intimate folk-rock venue vs. an outdoor coliseum full of jazz fans, I dunno...
energy of the audience that makes Curtis Live work as well as it does. I think it's a 3-way-tie between that, James Brown Live and Lowdown Vol. 1, and Gene Chandler Live on Stage in 65 as my favorite live soul albums.
As far as the various-artists live albums, I'd say the best ones I've heard are Wattstax: The Living Word (i.e., the second Wattstax album w/Richard Pryor and Isaac Hayes), The Stax-Volt Revue Live In London, the Motown revue albums, Apollo Saturday Night and Saturday Night At The Uptown (the last two albums are mostly Atlantic soul acts). I'll even admit to liking the Woodstock LP. The soundtrack to Save The Children has damn near every major figure in black music as of 1972 (when it was recorded), and has its' moments.
On the other hand, The Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 on Atlantic is boring as all hell, considering the talent involved (Bobby Bland, Jr. Walker, Hound Dog Taylor, Luther Allison, Koko Taylor, etc.).
This was one of the first records I picked up when I started digging. The version of "Give Me Your Love" is pretty dope, the dude that does the Vinyl Podcast featured this track fairly recently.
That was a major hit single back in its' time.
I'm not much of a fan of either artist and neither song on here changed that opinion...
Pic is the CD issue, just found out that it has a 16-minute version of "Gypsy Man" by War that is not on my vinyl . Anyhow, the Willie Bobo and LAPD tracks are still nice.
Now who is this LAPD? Did a bunch of West Coast police form a band or something?
I must admit I have no idea who they are, but considering the song they're performing ("Compared To What"), I doubt they have any affiliation with the LA boys in blue.
I was juuuuuuuust thinking that same thing. I've never heard of LAPD, but I have seen them pull a gun on my friend coming out of a liquor store.
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not sure if this is the same group ...but i've always been curious about this record
web page
I think it is the same, based on the credits for that album and the credits for the Watts Jazz Festival line-up.
This is the lineup:
A fairly interesting group, that includes members of WAR, James Gang, Steppenwolf, etc.
Must be the same. The Watts Jazz live album is also on LA international. After their song, they introduce themselves by saying "they called us and said they needed a token white group, so we said 'we're on our way'".