Wednesday, February 10, 2016

NEW RELEASES: BARRY WHITE & THE LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA – TOGETHER BROTHERS; GEORGE SMALLWOOD – LOSER; AMANAR DE KIDAL – TUMASTIN

BARRY WHITE & THE LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA – TOGETHER BROTHERS

Barry White's entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack genre – and it's a doozy! The record's filled with lots of tight little instrumental grooves, produced in the hard edged Love Unlimited Orchestra way – with tight funky drums at the bottom, snapping snare in the middle, and sharp sweeping strings over the top. Love Unlimited sing on a few tracks, but the cuts are mostly instrumentals with a very hard groove. Titles include "Somebody's Gonna Off The Man", "Alive and Well", "Theme From Together Brothers", "Do Drop In", and "Here Comes The Man".  ~ Dusty Groove



GEORGE SMALLWOOD – LOSER

Unissued material from Maryland soul legend George Smallwood – an artist most folks know only from his few late 70s tracks that were issued, but clearly a singer who's kept on going strong over the years! These tracks were all recorded by George on a government-issued tape recorder he received as part of a library service for the blind – and that recording quality gives all the tracks a cool, compressed sort of sound – one that instantly condenses the space between the late 70s and 21st Century recordings in the set! There's no exact dates on the album, but to us, most of the material feels like late 70s or 80s indie vintage – mostly with George sliding out on these slinky, soulful vocals – with just a bit of keyboards and rhythm to back him up – mostly in grooves that have a mellow or midtempo mode, and almost make him feel like an 80s version of Larry Saunders. Titles include "Blues Man", "Do You Baby", "Into Your Love", "Not Gonna Give You Up", "Loser", "Touching Is My Thing", and a version of "Family Affair".  ~ Dusty Groove

AMANAR DE KIDAL – TUMASTIN

Great work from one of the darkest groups working on the current Tuareg scene – an ensemble who can vary their tone nicely, and produce a range of emotions and compelling sounds that really make this set stand out from the pack! Sure, there's plenty of offbeat guitar work with lots of snakey vibes – but there's also some pretty excellent work on the rhythm tip, too – including these dipping, turning lines that are more than compelling enough without the guitar or vocals – served up with excellent bass and spare percussion too. Titles include "Tumastin", "Tarha", "Dounia Tade", "Sin Orane", and "Tafouck". ~ Dusty Groove


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