While preparing to be away next Saturday, I thought I'd revisit an album of mine we last mentioned in late 2010 which is like 9 years and about ten months ago where I had replaced a worn lp with a distressed jacket for a brand new shiny cd issued through Edsel who then had got the rights to the pre 1976 O'Jay's catalogue over here.
In early January this year the pioneering re-issue company Vocalian-Dutton issued a bath of Super Audio cds and interestingly it included that title.
One interesting quirk of their decision to issue it back with the next O'Jay's album was this the original lp jacket wasn't used in any form for the re-issue front cover but shown on the rear.
Most companies tend to set both covers in a two on 1 on front reduced in size in a frame with the titles prominently displayed.
The cover of this album is important because the whole concept of the album is about "The Family" and this reflects their view at the point it was held the family was breaking down structurally not least in African-American society and the feeling this was fuelling other social ills such as criminality, single parenthood as choice (not the result of abuse or other issues within a relationship needing one party to leave) and unwanted babies.
That is the theme of the opening song, a meditation on the meaning of Family appropriately enough called Family Reunion and it includes the singles I Love Music and Living For The Weekend.
Coupled with this was the follow up album, Survival which I had bought a few years earlier home of the singles Give The People What They Want and the title track.
As with the others in this series they are presented with a regular stereo cd layer for standard cd players and cd rom drives for copying to Mp3 or Flac and a higher quality Super Audio cd layer that requires a dedicated player.
Both albums received short lived SQ Quadraphonic and Q8 tape issues in the four speaker form of surround sound at the time and this release includes for players that can access it those original long time unavailable mixes.
It sounds excellent and was well worth the modest cost of buying direct from the manufacture over here.
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There's a post planned for next Friday which will be published even though by the time you see it I'll be on a train making my way back here.
Recently I had a couple of new discs arrive here - so new they've only been out for a week from announcement - and train comes into it for one act's title.
The Hues Corporation come into it as they were on Soul Train, the black music tv show a lot during the mid 70's during the soul and 'disco' explosion of the summer of 1974 when what was played and danced to in underground clubs broke out to clubs and as I remember vividly even the children's dances in seaside resorts.
As it was the fantastic 70's, that wasn't all, these recording were issued in Quadraphonic 'surround' sound on SQ record and Q8 tape for tape players like Dad's in car one and this disc comprises of their second album Rockin' Soul that contained their smash hit Rock The Boat the title track of which was released in November 74 as a 45 and Love Corporation, the 1975 follow up that apart from having the title track issued on 45, also contained tracks such as Follow The Spirit that reminds one of the O'Jay's.
The first album contained Freedom For The Stallion written by Allen Toussiant issued in 1973 which I associate more with Edward Bear who covered it in Canada,to which I have ordered the regular cd in mini lp form. That album had the original version of Rock The Boat that was reworked for the 45 and featured on their second album.
Some artists start out as session musicians, some move to it from being in groups and in Rick Derringer's case he was a McCoy who had a big hit with Hang On Sloopy and a part of the group the Strangeloves who performed I Want Candy but by the early 70's was doing session work for Edgar Winter Group, Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan amongst others.
This lead on the back of that to be given a chance to do solo recording for Columbia.
All American boy was his first successful rock offering from 1973 that had Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo written by him originally for Johnny Winter and included on their album and it's 1975 follow up Spring Fever whose lead off single was a reworking of Hang On Sloopy is included as like the other these are 2 on 1 re-issues.
Rick managed to get some great session folk playing on these albums a number associated with to become Eagle Joe Walsh formally of James Gang, who in style this was a slightly more poppier version of which sold well and which I had the 8 track of as a kid.
The chance to get this on Super Audio cd as fan of early 70's rock was too much to miss especially as it too has the stereo and original Quadraphonic mixes we loved back then on the sacd layer.
For £11.99 each with two albums in stereo and Quad on them they're a bargain.
