The debut album by the soon-to-be venerable
Fatback Band
is a mostly instrumental -- minus some
"What's Going On"
-style exclamations and raps in the background -- collection of pure
funk
grooves. More in the
Curtis Mayfield
vein of slick and nimble dancefloor fillers than loose
Parliament
/
Funkadelic
jams, these nine tracks are concise -- only one track breaks the four-minute barrier -- and tightly constructed, with little room for exploratory soloing or aimless vamping. The key tracks, however, are the three non-originals, cover choices that might surprise some folks who have never heard, say,
Isaac Hayes
'
Black Moses
: the
strips down any cheesy sentimentality from
Glen Campbell
's
Jimmy Webb
hit
"Wichita Lineman,"
Bread
's wimp-
rock
classic
"Baby I'm-A Want You,"
and even the moldy oldie
"Green Green Grass of Home,"
purifying the tunes down to their melodic basics and transforming them into absolutely ravishing
deep soul
ballads
. These are the sort of songs that keep people eagerly snapping up any '70s
soul
or
album they can find, looking for just this kind of effortless, slinky groove.
Let's Do It Again
is highly recommended for the three covers alone, but the six originals, all powered by drummer/bandleader
Bill Curtis
, are equally fine. ~ Stewart Mason