The Main Ingredient - 1974 - Euphrates River

The Main Ingredient

1974

Euphrates River

01. Euphrates 4:44

02. Have You Ever Tried It 3:06

03. Summer Breeze 4:16

04. California My Way 4:36

05. Happiness Is Just Around The Bend 6:20

06. Looks Like Rain 3:17

07. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing 4:04

08. Just Don't Want To Be Lonely 3:32

Luther Simmons Jnr.

Tony Silvester

Cuba Gooding

Euphrates River happens to be one of my favorite albums from the 70’s. The fabulously rich, melodic and versatile voice of Cuba Gooding is enough to melt sugar in the Arctic and the song choices are first rate. If you thought that Seals & Crofts had a hit with “Summer Breeze” wait until you listen to this arrangement of the song. You will think you had an out of body experience! The voice of Cuba Gooding is so distinctive, he weaves completely different moods with the songs that are chosen for inclusion.The album doesn’t suffer from the ballad-heavy weight of their previous records. This time around there’s a pulse without being too aggressive. There is a tinge of disco in this on Happiness Is Just Around the Bend. Incredible song – I dare you to not smile while it plays. Euphrates is also an amazing song. Don’t misunderstand, their previous albums are certainly pretty good, but this one is the best by far.

While nothing soared as high as “Everybody Plays a Fool” from the Bitter Sweet LP, Euphrates River is tighter and has more zap than the previous year’s beautiful but hitless Afrodisiac. They nailed Seals & Croft’s “Summer Breeze“, the New Yorkers almost surpassed the Isley Brothers’ soulful version. Cuba Gooding sings the upbeat and funky “California My Way” from the heart (the soul singer moved his family to L.A. the only Main Ingredient to do so).

The trio gives Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry About a Thing” all they can muster; this is an excellent rendition that should have done better on the charts. Their version of “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” helped sell this LP; it was previously done by Blue Magic and Ronnie Dyson, but the Main Ingredient’s version reigns supreme. Rolling, midtempo beaters make up the bulk of the tunes with “Euphrates” and “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend” as prime examples.

As music continued to evolve during the time of cultural upheaval and change with an eye to the future of us all, the Main Ingredients embodied a recorded and for the times, an encapsulated event that provided great and memorable times for those of us who, were lucky to have heard it right off the record racks or then on the radio waves, anyone hearing them now, I sincerely wish for you to hear and absorb the fierce and yet sublime beauty on which they delivered for all time. Their wise and judicious capacity to simply sing beautifully and allow the music and words to speak for itself is what makes this album shine and last as it has - you would be lucky to find this on your musical shelf anywhere amongst your collection. The Japanese mastering is superb, adding a freshness I recall from the many months of spinning on the turntable when this was first issued back in 1974. Every track is a winner making this purchase essential and a value quantifiable only by those who take the time to consider it and then to spend their time to listen and allow the music within, once in you will discover not just the love with which this album was created, but the craft with which the Main Ingredient and their associates painted sonic strokes across the cultural canvas. As each track plays past you, the ensuing tracks build on a singer to listener relationship that is mutually consented to and carves out a space within which to be enraptured. I apologies but I must return to listening and being moved by this recording that can be appreciated all the way thru without hitting "next" AND there is a bonus track "Let Me Prove My Love To You", plaintively sung to grow on. If may add this arrived from Japan in 8-days - WOW!