Artist: The Blackbyrds
Title: Self-Titled
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1974
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Review
This is the first of many more great Blackbyrd albums, the groups 1974 debut LP release! They came out of the gate pretty damn strong, delivering some funky jazz fusion with a sound that was, and IS, true to them. Led by the multi-talented Kevin Toney, and brought to the masses by the great Mizell Brothers Sky High Productions and Donald Byrd…this record sets a standard in jazz fusion and funk, a high standard that not many groups could compare to. Back-alley grooves, as I like to call them, flood this album…deep bass, mystic sounds, and killer drums are what make them up. Every track is legit, no fluff here folks, click and listen to the samples below and get a sense of this masterpiece that I’m praising!
Life Styles
Reggins
Design
Pretty straight forward and obvious. The cover is a painting by a master, Vincent Van Gogh. They obviously picked the cover art because of the *ding ding* crows flying around, which complement the logo. The logo, I absolutely LOVE this logo (although there is no credit to the creator), the tight kerning, bold letter forms, and integrated crows (or blackbyrds) come together to make this a super strong mark! Peep the close-up below.
posted by: Darien of flwrpt
Take Em’ To Church.
Artist: Rance Allen Group
Title: Say My Friend
Label: Capitol
Year: 1977
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Review
Definitely one of my favorite Gospel albums of ALL TIME! Not your typical Gospel record though, a little more contemporary for the genre during that time period. Big man Rance brought that soul to the tracks with his amazing and unique voice, pushing out bass, baritone, and alto! The tracks on this record are very uplifting both lyrically and musically…the perfect combination. This record was produced by the Mizell Brothers for Sky High productions, and I must say, this was a challenge for them, because they had to produce and arrange a Gospel record, as well as play several instruments at the same time. Fonce, Larry and Rod Mizell were all involved as session musicians on this project. Moving on, the A side of the record is more upbeat and a lot more familiar to the ears of R&B, Soul, and Jazz Fusion fans, but the B side takes you to Church and tends to be a bit more traditional…they must have intentionally paced the album this way. RARE! But if you can manage to spot this joint, get it…it’s one of those records that you can pull out and honestly feel like nothing in your collection sounds like it, AND it’s Mizell, need I say more?…
Peace of Mind
Reason to Survive
Design
There are a couple things that I love about this cover. One being the color pencil illustration with the distorted figures, and two being the hand drawn type. What I don’t like, however, is the slapped-in photography on the back cover. I’m not sure why they thought that it would be a good idea. Anyway, the depth of field is pretty cool, but I am more drawn-in to the detail in the illustration, the highlights, the blending of colors…it’s great. Not often do you see a cover done in color pencil. Kudos to Abe Gurvin the illustrator…two thumbs down to Allen Bartsdale for the “basement” picture on the back cover LOL! Sorry I had to call it. Overall, the vibrant colors, the blatant distortion, lockup and balanced composition make this one of my favorite covers.
posted by: Darien of flwrpt