Friday, January 20, 2023

Karma - 1977 - For Everybody

Karma
1977
For Everybody




01. For Everybody (Feel The Whogga) 4:30
02. Surrender 3:30
03. I Heard Somebody Say 4:09
04. Spotty Funk 4:30
05. Now That's Bionic 3:51
06. Abundance 8:47
07. Mama Dear 3:50
08. All Love Needs 4:45
09. Difference Of Opinion 4:13
10. Ladies 2:38

Alto Saxophone – Ernie Watts
Clavinet, Backing Vocals – Michael Greene
Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals – Curtis Robertson, Jr.
Guitar – Al McKay
Keyboards, Timbales, Gong, Backing Vocals – Reggie Andrews
Lead Vocals, Drums – Josef Blocker
Trombone – George Bohanon
Trumpet – Oscar Brashear
Vocals – Syreeta Wright




With their second album, For Everybody, Karma added new member, vocalist Michael Greene, without altering their sound; the L.A. outfit still resembled a cross between Earth, Wind & Fire and the Crusaders. This time, however, Karma offered several gems that might have been hits if they had been released as singles and promoted aggressively.

Such gems include sweaty funk songs like “For Everybody (Feel the Whooga)“, “Now That’s Bionic” and “Spotty Funk“. However, this release also has its share of strong album tracks that didn’t have much black radio appeal, including the ethereal “All Love Needs” and the jazz-funk instrumental “Abundance“. This LP deserved to do well commercially, but unfortunately, it didn’t sell and was Karma’s final album.

Karma - 1976 - Celebration

Karma 
1976
Celebration



01. Funk de mambo 4:30
02. So True (Life Should Be) 5:35
03. Kwanzaa 5:40
04. Well 5:12
05. Karma 3:28
06. Suite Syreeta
    a)Piano Intro 0:55
    b) The Beauty 3:05
    c) The Creativity 2:35
    d) A Leo 5:05
07. Amani 9:27

Bass - Cuck Rainey (track 7)
Bass – Curtis Robertson, Jr.
Vocals, Drums – Josef Blocker
Vocals, Percussion – Vander "Stars" Lockett
Saxophone, Flute – Ernie Watts
Vocals, Trombone – George Bohanon (Saeed)
Trumpet – Oscar Brashear (Chache)
Vocals, Piano, Keyboards – Reggie Andrews
Congas – Earl Derouen
Drums – Ndugu (track 7)
Vocals – Deniece Williams, Syreeta Wright



Karma sounding like a cross between Earth, Wind & Fire and the Crusaders and was an interesting but underexposed 1970s soul/funk band that sometimes detoured into jazz fusion and quiet storm. Karma, formed in Los Angeles in 1974, wasn’t a full-time project for its members, who included saxophonist Ernie Watts, trombonist George Bohanon, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, keyboardist Reggie Andrews, bassist Curtis Robertson, Jr., and drummer Joe Blocker.

Many of Karma’s members, who shared vocal duties, had been keeping busy on the L.A. studio scene and had solid credentials in both R&B and jazz. Karma recorded two albums for Horizon/A&M, 1976’s Celebration and 1977’s For Everybody, before calling it quits in 1977.

Karma members were not only among the unsung heroes of 1970s soul and funk; they were also capable of playing solid jazz-fusion. With such talent on board as saxman Ernie Watts, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, and trombonist George Bohanon, the L.A.-based outfit should have hit it big with Celebration, their first of two albums. But the LP, which was recorded in 1974 and 1976, failed to take off commercially. That may stem from the fact that while Celebration is a fine album, it lacked the powerhouse single necessary for the band to grab the attention of soul radio.

Essentially, this is a collection of great album tracks, which range from the Earth, Wind & Fire inflected funk song “Karma” to the bluesy “Well” and the uplifting Brazilian jazz-pop number “Kwanzaa“. Karma’s members really put their jazz chops to work on the 20-minute “Suite Syreeta“, which gives the horn players plenty of room to stretch out. Regrettably, Celebration and its successor, For Everybody, have long been out of print, and it’s unlikely that they’ll ever be reissued on CD. So, if you come across either LP somewhere, grab it immediately.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Syreeta - 1974 - Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta

Syreeta
1974
Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta



01. I'm Goin' Left 3:33
02. Spinnin' And Spinnin' 4:22
03. Your Kiss Is Sweet 4:32
04. Come And Get This Stuff 3:37
05. Heavy Day 4:01
06. Cause We've Ended As Lovers 4:28
07. Just A Little Piece Of You 4:00
08. Waitin' For The Postman 1:52
09. When Your Daddy's Not Around 1:11
10. I Wanna Be By Your Side 4:01
11. Universal Sound Of The World (Your Kiss Is Sweet) 3:57


Backing Vocals – Anita Sherman, Deniece Williams, Lani Groves, Minnie Riperton, Shirley Brewer
Bass – Reggie McBride
Drums – Ollie Brown
Guitar – Marlo Henderson
Tenor Saxophone – Dennis Morouse
Trumpet – Steven Madaio




The union between Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright was a godsend.

Near the second phase of his career, Wonder stood at a crossroads. He desired to break ties from Motown’s hit-making assembly that defined his earlier success to pursue greater freedom as a mature artist. Syreeta waited in the wings for her big break as a blossoming singer-songwriter. The Pittsburg native’s beginnings were marked by disappointments and false starts: she began as a secretary for Motown, got eyed as Diana Ross’ replacement in the Supremes after Ross pursued her solo career (a role she didn’t nab), and then scored modest duties as a demo and background singer, eventually cutting a failed single on Motown under her short-lived stage name ‘Rita Wright.’ Syreeta’s early work during this tentative period seemed like try-out rehearsals for her candidacy as the lead replacement for the Supremes, or undercooked stabs at material originally tailored for Ross that was rejected or ended up on her solo albums.


Whatever the case, change roamed her mind.

She simply went by ‘Syreeta’ and crossed paths with Wonder. Together, the two would create a fruitful musical bond that would not only help hone his artistic development but spread her wings as a singer-songwriter. They collaborated on “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” Wonder’s first self-produced single that became a huge hit in the summer of 1970. Then, they composed “It’s a Shame,” the Spinners’ lone hit for Motown in 1970. Their pact soon led to marriage in September of that same year, during the recording sessions for Wonder’s underrated 1971 epochal opus, Where I’m Coming From, which Syreeta entirely co-wrote with him. The album’s popular top 10 single, “If You Really Love Me” featured her spirited co-lead soprano. Stevie was 21; Syreeta was 25.

though their musical fruits soldiered on, infidelity and indifferences caused their marriage to peter out, dying after just 18 months. They remained close friends, but their music collaborations grew as introspective windows, mirroring their personal experiences and expressions of love.

By 1972, Wonder reestablished himself as a serious album artist with the pioneering masterpieces Music of My Mind and Talking Book, in which he and Syreeta wrote heartfelt songs that chronicled the highs and lows of their past relationship, such as “Love Having You Around,” “Blame It On the Sun,” and “Lookin’ For Another Pure Love.” It was also during this intensely prolific period that Wonder oversaw Syreeta’s debut album. Her first eponymous outing, Syreeta, released in the summer of 1972 on Motown’s subsidiary label, MoWest, was a gorgeously supple, yet vulnerable song cycle that flaunted the sweet-voiced Syreeta’s far-reaching lyrical and topical prowess. Both she and Wonder concocted a heady, psychedelic soul tapestry that drew from avant-pop, folk, jazz, funk, and orchestral pop influences to explore weighty meditations on black identity politics (“Black Maybe”), romantic disillusionment (“Baby Don’t You Let Me Lose This” and “How Many Days”), and faithful pursuits of love (“Keep Him Like He Is” and “Happiness.”)

While her adventurous debut granted Syreeta critical acclaim, it went nowhere. Motown folded their MoWest subsidiary soon after but kept Syreeta on their roster. In the meantime, Wonder leavened his creative spark, working on 1973’s Innervisions, while Syreeta began writing new material. Disappointed by the lackluster response of her debut, Wonder projected its follow-up to be a well-earned breakthrough that would ascend her to the top of the charts and everyone’s minds. He was experiencing meteoric success with his unparalleled pop-soul touch, so it was inevitable that his touch would strike gold for Syreeta. In the interim of finishing Innervisions, Wonder and his band, Wonderlove ventured off to Los Angeles’ famed Record Plant studio with Syreeta to craft her sophomore album, 1974’s Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta.

Despite the unimaginative title Motown utilized to score Syreeta a bigger audience with Wonder’s top-billing name branding it, Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta is an emotionally potent song cycle that surveys the arc of a woman’s romantic journey. Revolving loosely around Syreeta’s tumultuous relationship with Stevie Wonder, it traces the naiveté of her falling in love to the desperation she’s met with when the love implodes to her realizing that she must start love anew in making herself whole again (as alluded in the album’s central motto, “Upendo Ni Umoja,” which stands for “Love is Unity.”) Compared to most of Wonder’s classic period output, this album’s myriad of emotions and moods of love are mostly interwoven with a lighter, mischievous flair. But given the visceral bite of Syreeta’s songwriting focus, it’s far from a lighthearted vehicle. As they did for its predecessor, Syreeta and Wonder construct a wildly eclectic sonic kaleidoscope that anchors the songs’ lyrical and emotional terrain.

It opens with the incendiary “I’m Goin’ Left” that’s also enigmatic in and of itself. From a lyrical standpoint, one can sense that the song plays like Syreeta’s political prelude to Stevie Wonder’s pointed critique of Richard Nixon’s presidency on his 1974 hit, “You Haven’t Done Nothin’.” Built on an energetic ARP 2600 synthesizer and fuzzy Moog bass groove, it takes on a similar vein to that song’s dense, brazen funk vibe as well. But if you’re paying closer attention to the lyrics, it can very well read as a fed-up lover’s kiss-off from a relationship that’s on the brink of dire straits.

Love’s complexities flow into “Spinnin’ and Spinnin’,” a beautifully cyclical ballad that cleverly uses a loopy, carnival-like arrangement to embellish Syreeta’s cautionary tale of romantic bliss and the chaos it ensues. Continuing the wicked love trip is “Your Kiss Is Sweet,” a carefree, reggae-tinged dig at the foolish games (read: infidelity) unfaithful men play when they’re in a committed, monogamous relationship. The sassy funk of “Come and Get This Stuff” follows, with its sensual come-ons initiating lustful desire. Originally, this song was intended for Rufus & Chaka Khan, but Khan refused to record it. She opted for the similarly themed, “Tell Me Something Good” instead, which Wonder wrote for the band, resulting in their breakthrough hit.

While the dizzying first half of Presents Syreeta centers on a woman’s outlook on unwieldy conditions that arise in a stormy relationship, its somber second half exposes her emotional toil from a failed one. Loneliness funnels through the soulful country-tinged “Heavy Day,” in which Syreeta poetically sings about a lonely spouse, who’s a working musician that longs for her significant other, who also happens to be a working musician. Punctuated by the soundscape of a tranquil storm, heartbreak takes on a ghastly air on “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” with Syreeta regretfully reminiscing on the love she and her spouse once shared right into its demise. The piano-based, MOR pop of “Just a Little Piece of You” conveys a mellow sentiment of longing similarly to “Heavy Day.” The next four songs that constitute the album’s conclusion—“Waitin’ for the Postman,” “When Your Daddy’s Not Around,” “I Wanna Be By Your Side,” and the celestial “Universal Sound of the World—spool as a dramatic, rock opera-like suite, distilling the aftermath of a deserted relationship that leads to a woman’s transformative renewal in the end.

Though its artistic charms were as sweet as candy, Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta didn’t pan out commercially as intended. Unlike Syreeta’s 1972 debut, it at least charted, peaking at #53 on Billboard’s Soul Albums chart. In the echelon of soul greats, Syreeta Wright has the unfortunate case of being placed in the uncelebrated ranks. Her angelic voice may be greeted as familiar to the general public for her 1979 hit duet ballad with the late great Billy Preston, “With You I’m Born Again.” But ever since her untimely death in 2004, the invaluable gravity of her overall work is passed over as either key source material for hip hop producers, or little-known curio pieces that are only of interest to crate diggers and classic soul purists. It’s quite a shame because Syreeta was a gifted singer-songwriter that was ahead of her time and deserved more. Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta is a first-rate tour-de-force that proves why.

fter a promising but uneven debut, Syreeta summoned her creative strengths and worked in tandem with creative partner Stevie Wonder to produce another album in 1974. The result was Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta, the most delightful and consistent album of her career. As with Syreeta, this album pursues a combination of smooth soul tracks ideally suited to Syreeta's silky vocal range and more experimental outings that are creatively in line with Wonder's then-current solo work. However, the eclecticism that weighed down Syreeta is transformed into a strength on Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta: the tracks pursue a dazzling array of different pop-soul styles, but everything is kept in check by solid performances from everyone involved and tight arrangements that keep the album's hook-filled songs on track. Highlights on the first side include "Spinnin' and Spinnin'," a clever tune that uses a spiraling, carnival-styled keyboard motif to bring its tale of an unwieldy relationship to life, and "Come And Get This Stuff," a funky pop number built on an infectious sing-along chorus. Another notable track is "Cause We've Ended As Lovers," a delicate breakup ballad with a stunning, ethereal vocal from Syreeta. On the second side, a majority of the running time is devoted to an Abbey Road-style medley of short tracks. Everything here is catchy and well-arranged, but the highlight is "I Wanna Be By Your Side," a heart-melting romantic duet between Syreeta and fellow Motown solo artist G.C. Cameron. All in all, Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta is the shining moment of Syreeta's solo career and a lost highlight of 1970's soul in general. Any fans of Stevie Wonder owe it to themselve to track this album down because it makes a worthy companion to albums like Talking Book and Innervisions.

Syreeta - 1972 - Syreeta

Syreeta
1972
Syreeta



01. I Love Every Liitle Thing About You
02. Black Maybe
03. Keep Him Like He Is
04. Happiness
05. She’s Leaving Home
06. What Love Has Joined Together
07. How Many Days
08. Baby Don’t You Let Me Lose This
09. To Know You Is To Love You

Producer – Stevie Wonder
Arranged By – Stevie Wonder, Trevor Lawrence, Yusuf Rahman

Backing Vocals – Gloria Barley (tracks: A1, A3, B2), James Gilstrap (tracks: A1, A3, B2), Lani Groves (tracks: A1, A3, B2), Linda Tucker (tracks: A1, A3, B2)

Bass – Scott Edwards (tracks: A1 to A4, B2 to B5)
Drums – Keith Copeland (tracks: A1 to A4, B2 to B5)
Guitar – Buzzy Feiton (tracks: A1 to A4, B2 to B5)
All Other Instruments – S. Wonder
Strings – Julian Gaillard Orchestra


Without doubt one of the best female vocalist albums ever made, Yet still it remains largely overlooked as a Stevie Wonder side-project withhis then wife Syreeta. Syreeta’s incredibly delicate voice fits perfectly with Stevie’s experimental use of synthesisers. Margouleff andCecil are credited as synth programmers and TONTO is clearly at work in the very opening bars of the album with a wonderful electronic rhythmic effect. The Moog basslines growl throughout – the first two tracks in particular are awash with Stevie’s synth playing – and the use of real strings on Keep Him Like He Is and What Love Has Joined Together givethis album a powerful uplifting feel despite its daring experimentation.

After growing up in Pittsburgh, Syreeta moved to Detroit, where she joined Motown Records with receptionist duties, while contributing vocals in singles by The Supremes and Martha and The Vandellas. As Rita Wright she released "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You", written and produced by Ashford & Simpson with Brian Holland. The single did well enough to convince Motown Records' president Berry Gordy that she could replace Diana Ross when she left the trio in 1970; but it was her association (and marriage) with Stevie Wonder that brought her wider recognition. They co-wrote several hits (Wonder's "If You Really Love Me", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" and "Superwoman", and "It's a Shame" and "We'll Have It Made" for The Spinners) and he produced her cult debut album Syreeta (on the MoWest label), followed by the classic Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta. They were divorced in 1972 and Syreeta married drummer Curtis Robertson Jr., but she continued working with Wonder, as well as with Leon Ware and Richard Perry. In 1979 she had a Top 5 pop hit with Billy Preston, the love ballad "With You I'm Born Again", from the 1979 comedy Fast Break. They recorded two albums together and released other singles, but in 1983, after The Spell, an album produced by Jermaine Jackson, Syreeta left Motown. She briefly joined the group Karma with Robertson, and worked only occasionally as guest vocalist in movie soundtracks and albums by musicians as Gary Bartz, George Harrison and Donald Byrd, among many others. She is considered one of the most talented and best voices Motown Records ever had under contract.

Around the time this album was made, Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright's marriage was on the rocks, culminating in their divorce before its release. However they remained on amicable terms and after Syreeta had effectively relaunched Stevie's career in what was to be even in its much briefer period the most creatively thriving husband-wife partnership in popular music after Richard and Linda Thompson, he felt naturally inclined to repay the favour in getting Syreeta's solo recording career up and running. Not surprisingly, there's quite a bit of overlap in personnel between this album and Stevie's surrounding ones of the same year; he uses the same co-producers as on Music of My Mind and Talking Book, three of the backing singers and the bass player that were to appear on the evergreen You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and Buzz Feiton who plays on Superwoman and Looking for Another Pure Love, also feature prominently, with curiously the bell tree performed by the same Trevor Lawrence who plays the famous saxophone part on Superstition. Sonically it also has much in common with Stevie's 1972 LPs, with him playing the majority of the instruments, including his tried and trusted synthesizers, the talk box and other innovative devices.

However, in most other respects this is where the similarities end. Despite plenty of fine songs and performances and Stevie contributing six of the songs (three of them as the sole writer), the album just doesn't flow together to anything like the extent as Music of My Mind let alone Talking Book - you'll likely get an equally enjoyable experience sampling the songs at random than listening to them in order as at times it feels like this album is more a platform for exercising Stevie's songwriting, producing and instrumental talents as a warm up for his next big project than a cohesive artistic statement - even some of his own Motown controlled albums had more logical sequencing. And not all of his compositions are vintage Stevie by a long shot - How Many Days is easily the worst of them, a waterered down cross between You and I and Something Out of the Blue, with the unfortunate combination of sounding even more dated than the latter while still looking forward to the overwrought, melismatic female fronted power ballads that plagued the charts in the 1980s. Songs like the funky electronic remake of I Love Everything About You and voicebox-dominated cover of She's Leaving Home are more interesting as production experiments than providing an emotional experience, and while the former is enjoyably upbeat and actually remarkably ahead of its time, almost anticipating the remix-oriented genres of the 1990s, the latter after a pleasant opening minute with just Syreeta and a nice guitar-imitating clavinet part in what initially appears to be a respectful Beatles tribute from the chorus onwards becomes an ill-conceived mess which seems to be just weirdness for weirdness' sake; the "Goodbye" coda is particularly cringe-making when Syreeta decides to join in with Stevie for the talk box lark. Apart from I Love Everything About You and To Know You is To Love You, the style is predominantly soft, slow to mid tempo soulful love themed pop with some of Stevie's typical harmonic sophistication; to some extent the same could be said about his surrounding albums, but this has nothing like their anguished edge - it's mostly very pleasant listening, but it doesn't have the same lasting impact, and unfortunately the comparative lack of flow is a clear contributory factor.

However, whatever its flaws and limitations, there's still a lot of beautiful music on it, and certainly not to be missed by hardcore Stevie fans. Syreeta, while her high notes tend to sound somewhat strained during the more emotive moments, has a very pleasing mezzo-soprano vocal, often understated without sacrificing emotion, which contributes to this album's often laidback mood. The sole social commentary song Black Maybe, is a brooding and jazzy blues-inflected ballad with haunting and inventive keyboard effects contributing to its dreamy and languid atmosphere and a quintessential example of Stevie's peerless gift for elastic melody, and could have just as easily been made for him to sing as it was for Syreeta - his finest composition here and one of those great lost Stevie classics. Keep Him Like He Is is a lovely lilting number with very beguiling vocals and lead guitar and a string backing that like on other songs (with the exception of How Many Days) is tastefully and freshly done and not at all saccharin. Syreeta shows her emerging and underrated talent as a songwriter with her solitary contribution Happiness, a highly melodic Hawaian flavoured lullaby with more poetic synthesizer backing only marred by being a bit on the long side and the odd bit of over-emoting, mostly near the end.

On the next side, What Love has Joined Together is a wonderful cover of a Smokey Robinson minor classic, its strings and Stevie's majestic piano contribution giving it a romantic and epic quality in a nostalgic throwback to the mid-1960s Motown era. The poppy piano and moog-driven Baby Don't You Let Me Lose It with its sumptuous swirling backing vocals from Stevie is another highlight, and with such an obviously sounding commercial (in a good way) chorus, it's surprising it wasn't chosen as the lead single. The multi-part To Know You Is To Love You, opening with Stevie on lead vocal but with Syreeta taking over shortly after, is an effective summation of the various styles collectively explored by the two on this album, an upbeat declaration of love lightly tinged with melancholy that blends in string-sweetened 1970s soul with mellow Fender Rhodes laden funk, with a long instrumental outro with Buzz Feiten shining on electric guitar. (The track time above is taken from the original LP version, which fades out somewhat earlier than the CD one which the YouTube clip is taken from.)

So, if a long way from an unjustly neglected masterpiece or the level of Stevie's best solo work, it's far from a mere historical curiosity or that of a master simply exercising his pen - there's plenty of fine music in its own right that at its best is on a par with the better female fronted soul material of its era. It's surprising given its high critical acclaim upon its release that it fared so poorly on the charts (#185 on the US pop and #38 on R&B) and given its association with the most commercially and critically successful R&B recording artist of the last fifty years that more people haven't been curious enough to seek it out or there hasn't been sufficient demand to permanently reissue it on CD - clearly releasing it on Motown's short-lived subsidiary label MoWest when the company were about to move to Los Angeles anyway didn't help, nor did Motown's fixation on Diana Ross's movie career (of which her second movie as lead actor was directed by none other than Mr. Gordy himself). Let's hope it finds its way into wider circulation for the benefit of fans who acknowledge Stevie's sterling work beyond a handful of acclaimed early to mid-1970s albums.

Sunday, January 15, 2023

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!