This album appears to be largely out-of-print and as such I've pieced it together from various sources. Hopefully I have found the official album versions of this material and not crappy live versions, bootlegs of outtakes, or the dreaded cover posing as the real thing.
"Peace Go with You, Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum)" is a tough listen on headphones. The funky organ opening quickly pans from one ear to the other and makes me dizzy. To make things worse the copy I'm listening to is a cheap MP3 rip, complete with pops and hiccups typical of a low bitrate rip. To really do this soulful song justice I should probably track down the latest CD remaster or a decent-quality vinyl, and play it on a good set of speakers at my brother's house. Basically "Peace Go with You, Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum)" has enough 70s soul to pass out evenly to every subsequent useless decade of music that's followed, and still have enough leftover to make a truckload of Aretha Franklin albums.
"Rivers of My Fathers" is an jazz piano concerto including some deep soul lyrics. It's easy to get lost in the extended piano solos. "Very Precious Time" is also quite lovely, but its unaccompanied organ backing isn't quite as effective as the piano. On the other hand another piano-backed sad soul track might have been a bit boring.
"H20 Gate Blues" is a fascinating blues screed on just about everything horrible that was going on in America in the 1974, starting with the Watergate scandal. The basic point is the country is corrupt from the top, but while Watergate was in the news and the people in power were to varying degrees brought to justice, the problems of the poor and racial minorities weren't really being addressed. The sad thing a lot of the problems the singer mentions aren't outdated. The players have changed in government, but the corruption is just as entrenched. Racial minorities have gained traction in their fight for equality but are still struggling. So yeah, we still have the H2O Gate Blues.
The album closes with a reprise of the first track, this time titled "Peace Go with You Brother (Wa-Alaikum-Salaam)". I thought Winter In America was a great listen, save for a minor slump during the middle tracks where I felt the unaccompanied organ backing was a bit overused. Still pretty awesome. 4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment