August 17, 2004
In the stacks
I used to have more records than I do now. At some point last winter, I tried to pay off my lingering tuition bill at Columbia College by selling the remainder of my rock & miscellaneous big-ticket free-jazz LPs, probably around 350 or so. While it netted me a decent amount of money, it wasn't anywhere near the number that I needed & the situation (unpaid bill = no transcripts = incomplete grad school applications) seemed dire until my aunt saved the day.
When I went back to Reckless in January (everytime I think I get out...) I started to buy records at a reasonable clip, keeping in mind that I'd probably need to save money to move eventually. When the "new arrivals" section at home gets too full (hard to keep up) things just get filed away. The bad thing about that is that it keeps you from really being as familiar with your records as you should. The good thing is that every once in a while, when you're just thumbing through for something to listen to, you stumble across little gems that you'd forgotten about or never knew you had. The two LPs above are two such items.
The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band's Together is wrecked but still plays through about 90% of the time. It's a mix of instrumentals & vocal tracks that you might expect if you've heard Express Yourself but these earlier songs seem a little rawer, more to my liking. Favorites after this last listen include 65 Bars & A Taste of Soul, A Dance, A Kiss & A Song, and Giggin' Down 103rd. After checking around for a nicer copy (eBay etc), I've discovered that it fetches more money than I'll be able to throw down anytime soon so I'll deal with my fair copy. Oliver Wang waxes poetic about it here.
The other is Esther Phillips From A Whisper To A Scream which is somewhere in Millie Jackson territory but more mellow sadness than other woman anger & pleading. There are some funkier tracks on the first side including Home Is Where The Hatred Is, with drums supplied by the ubiquitous Bernard Purdie.
Posted by Rob at August 17, 2004 10:49 PM | TrackBack