ROY AYERS-CURATED OUTFIT'S LANDMARK LP WIDELY OUT OF PRINT
FOR OVER 40 YEARS
Acid-jazz
legends RAMP's one and only album, Come Into Knowledge, which hasn't been
pressed on vinyl for a wide release since 1977, is available once again via
Verve/UMe. The Roy Ayers, William Allen and Edwin Birdsong-produced album is
pressed on black vinyl in a faithful reproduction of the original packaging.
Order Come Into Knowledge now: https://UMe.lnk.to/ComeIntoKnowledgePR
Come Into Knowledge was recorded by the Cincinnati-grown,
Ayers-curated jazz-funk pioneers before their split that same year. Uniquely,
Ayers didn't actually perform in the band he created. Instead, he and fellow
funk icon Birdsong carefully cherry-picked top-of-the-line session players to
bring their writing contributions to life: Spinners drummer John Manuel and
guitarist Landy Shores as the nucleus, Cincinnati bass legend Nate White
holding down the groove, and spitfire lead vocalists Sibel Thrasher and Sharon
Matthews on the front lines.
As a result, RAMP (an acronym for Roy Ayers Music
Productions), hit on a funky alchemy. These are heavily grooving songs of
romantic devotion and spiritual clarity — "Heaven and Earth are one, if
you can see / You are heaven in reality," Thrashers and Matthews insist on
the assertive title track. It was all reflective of Ayers and the groups'
mental state at the time. As Manuel put it to Mixcloud, "Roy himself had
the essence of being somewhat tuned into worldliness. He inspired the group to
be conscious. We wanted it to have a spiritual impact. Goodliness, cleanliness,
wholesomeness." The music expands upon and refracts those lofty, ethereal
topics — soul's bleeding heart and funk's keening edge as two sides of the same
coin.
Come Into Knowledge should have assumed its rightful place
as an innovative fusion of funk and soul, but it suffered from a classic case
of wrong place, wrong time. Knowledge was originally issued in 1977 on ABC Blue
Thumb, the company created when ABC Records' parent company acquired Blue Thumb
Records, an adventurous and imaginative imprint helmed by Bob Krasnow, who
would later become chairman of Elektra Records and co-found the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, and the late legendary producer Tommy LiPuma. The short-lived
label sadly closed its doors in 1978 following a series of shake-ups, not long
after the record was released, leaving the lone RAMP album almost totally
obscure.
But crate-diggers begged to differ. Come Into Knowledge
would go on to assume a legendary status among the "rare groove"
community, to whom Knowledge sounded like a lost masterpiece than bargain-bin
material. Its new fans included the likes of A Tribe Called Quest — of whom
sampled RAMP's highlight "Daylight" in 1990's "Bonita Applebum,"
and Common — who borrowed the same song's indelible hook for "Come Close
Remix (Closer)," which features Erykah Badu, Pharrell and Q-Tip. Badu
herself sampled "The American Promise" on her slyly titled
"Amerykahn Promise." Other avowed fans include Mary J. Blige, Jaden
Smith and the late PM Dawn.
Ayers is now rightfully seen as a funk-rock pioneer,
boasting a massive solo discography that spans over half a century. But Come
Into Knowledge remains one of his most underrated gems — and is now out of near-total
obsolescence on vinyl for the first time in 41 years. If you'd like a
crate-digging classic in your life without paying top dollar for a second-hand
copy, Knowledge is here again.
Come Into Knowledge Track Listing
Side A
1. The American Promise
2. I Just Love You
3. Give It
4. Everybody Loves The Sunshine
SIDE B
1. Come Into Knowledge
2. Try, Try, Try
3. Daylight
4. Look Into The Sky
5. Deep Velvet
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