Friday, September 20, 2024

Tommy Stewart - 1976 - Tommy Stewart

Tommy Stewart
1976
Tommy Stewart



01. Fulton County Line 4:50
02. Practice What You Preach 4:55
03. Bump And Hustle Music 5:02
04. Get Off Your Seats 4:30
05. Make Happy Music 3:49
06. Atlanta Get Down 5:00
07. Riding High 5:20
08. Disco Hop 3:52

Tommy Stewart: Trumpet
Charles Terrel: Bass
Herb Walton
Kenny Mims: Guitar
Mose Davis: Keyboard
Richard Marks: Guitar
Steve Milner: Drums



It's almost impossible to keep a straight face while listening to this album, but then, you really shouldn't have to try. It's a document of one of pop music's most simultaneously embarrassing and glorious periods -- the High Disco Era -- when all pretense of lyrical sophistication was abandoned in favor of occasional interjections of "Hey! Get down! Get off your seats and jam!" (a direct quote from this album), every guitar had a wah-wah pedal, and prestige was measured in the size of your horn and string sections. Now this stuff is called "rare groove," and it's at least as much fun now as it was then, maybe more so. Tommy Stewart, king of the legendary Abraxas label, recorded this album back when this candy-covered funk was the happening thing; and it includes, among other classics of the genre, the deathless "Bump and Hustle Music," along with the sexy-kitschy "Fulton County Line," and the charming "Practice What You Preach." The unison voices-and-strings on "Make Happy Music" were a bad, bad idea, but "Riding High" makes up for it by sounding like an airline advertisement circa 1976. A party classic.

Funky genius from the Hotlanta scene of the 70s – the one and only album recorded by Tommy Stewart, a huge force in some of the greatest club tracks of the south, including the massive Spirit Of Atlanta album! The record's a stone winner all the way through – filled with upbeat, uptempo tracks that really bring some funk into the dancefloor. The rhythms are tremendous – all very catchy and snapping, with a groove that goes way past the usual disco record, and which has made the album as much of a favorite amongst funk fans as it has for fans of classic club.

1 comment: